Grammar term · Nahw · syntax
الِاشْتِغَال
al-ishtighal
Pre-occupation construction (ishtighal)
Nahw · syntaxSyntactic roleadvanced term546+ in the Qur'an
In one line
The “pre-occupation” pattern — a fronted noun whose verb is already busy with its pronoun: زَيْدًا ضَرَبْتُهُ.
Classical definition
الاشْتِغَالُ أَنْ يَتَقَدَّمَ اسْمٌ وَيَتَأَخَّرَ عَنْهُ فِعْلٌ قَدِ اشْتَغَلَ بِضَمِيرِهِ، فَيُنْصَبُ الاسْمُ بِفِعْلٍ مُقَدَّرٍ.
“Ishtighal is when a noun comes first and a verb follows that is occupied with its pronoun; the noun is then put in nasb by an implied verb.”
(بتصرف من الألفية)
Key words in the Arabic
اشْتَغَلَ بِضَمِيرِهِbecame occupied with its pronoun
فِعْل مُقَدَّرan implied, unspoken verb
Understand it
In زَيْدًا ضَرَبْتُهُ (“Zayd — I struck him”), the verb's object slot is already filled by ـهُ, so what governs fronted زَيْدًا? The grammarians supply an unspoken twin verb before it: (ضَرَبْتُ) زَيْدًا ضَرَبْتُهُ. An advanced pattern, but the Quran uses its shape for emphasis, and recognising it stops the double object from confusing you.
How to spot it
Recognition test
A fronted noun in nasb + a verb whose object is a pronoun pointing back at it — ishtighal.
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