Grammar term · Murakkab tām · Jumlah ismiyyah

What is a nominal sentence (jumlah ismiyyah)?

al-jumla al-ismiyya
الْجُمْلَة الِاسْمِيَّة
Murakkab tāmJumlah ismiyyahcore term2+ in the Qur'an
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 marfū' noun free of any governing word; the khabar is the noun that, with the mubtada', completes the meaning.”
(بتصرف من النحو التطبيقي)
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
1مُبْتَدَأ–(mubtada')2خَبَر–(khabar)

Every jumlah ismiyyah has a mubtada' — what it is about — and a khabar — what is said about it. Both are marfū'.

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).

In the language — فِي اللُّغَة

Like most Arabic grammar terms, اِسْمِيَّة (ismiyyah) was taken from everyday speech and then given one precise technical sense.

In everyday Arabic it 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.

Draft · awaiting final review. This page is being rewritten and checked against the source books.