Murakkab tamJumlah ismiyyahcore term
Also written: Nominal sentence · Jumla Ismiyya · Ismiyyah · Jumlah Ismiyyah
In one line
A jumlah ismiyyah (جُمْلَة اِسْمِيَّة) is a sentence that opens with a noun, built from two parts: the mubtada' and the
khabar.
Definition
الْمُبْتَدَأُ هُوَ الِاسْمُ الْمَرْفُوعُ الْمُجَرَّدُ عَنِ الْعَوَامِلِ اللَّفْظِيَّةِ، وَالْخَبَرُ هُوَ الِاسْمُ الَّذِي تَتِمُّ بِهِ مَعَ الْمُبْتَدَأِ الْفَائِدَةُ.
“The mubtada' is the marfu' noun free of any governing word; the khabar is the noun that, with the mubtada', completes the meaning.”
Understand it
A sentence that opens with a noun is a جُمْلَة اِسْمِيَّة (jumlah ismiyyah). It has two parts and no verb is needed.
The two parts
Every jumlah ismiyyah has a mubtada' — what it is about — and a khabar — what is said about it. Both are marfu'.
In مُحَمَّدٌ مُجْتَهِدٌ (muhammadun mujtahidun), “Muhammad is hard-working”, مُحَمَّد is the mubtada' and مُجْتَهِد is the khabar. English needs is; Arabic does not.
The order can turn over. When the khabar comes first it is مُقَدَّم (muqaddam), and the mubtada' behind it is مُؤَخَّر (mu'akhkhar).
How to spot it
Recognition test
Look at the first word. If the sentence opens with an
ism and not a verb it is ismiyyah — and you should then be able to split it in two: the thing talked about, and what is said about it.
In the Qur'an
ٱللَّهُ ٱلصَّمَدُ
Al-Ikhlas 112:2 — “Allah, the Eternal, Absolute;”
A whole sentence in two words, and it opens with an ism. ٱللَّهُ is the
mubtada — the thing being talked about — and ٱلصَّمَدُ is the khabar, what is said about it. Both in rafa.
In the language — فِي اللُّغَة
The word اِسْمِيَّة (ismiyyah) in everyday Arabic simply means “to do with a name”.
جُمْلَةٌ اِسْمِيَّةٌ (jumlatun ismiyyatun) — “a noun-sentence”
In Arabic grammar it marks the sentence that opens with a noun rather than a verb.
▶ Watch the lessons
From the free course The Language of Quran — Easier than English (Book One) (LoQ1), taught by Ustadh Muhammad Arjan Ali.
Common questions
Can a nominal sentence contain a verb?
Yes. What names the sentence is its first word, not whether a verb turns up later. A nominal sentence can take a whole verbal sentence as its khabar — it still opens with an ism, so it is still ismiyyah.
“And We have indeed made the Quran easy to understand and remember.”
Al-Qamar 54:17
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