Grammar term · Nahw · syntax
اللَّام الْمُزَحْلَقَة
al-lam al-muzahlaqa
Displaced lam of emphasis
Nahw · syntaxSpecific particleadvanced term368+ in the Qur'an
In one line
The emphasis lam that slides off the front of an إِنَّ-sentence onto whatever follows — two confirmations without a clumsy start.
Definition (modern)
يَأْتِي بَعْدَ (إِنَّ) لَامٌ لِتَأْكِيدِ مَضْمُونِ الْجُمْلَةِ، تُسَمَّى بِلَامِ الابْتِدَاءِ أَوْ بِاللَّامِ الْمُزَحْلَقَةِ؛ لِأَنَّهَا تُزَحْلَقُ فِي بَابِ (إِنَّ) عَنْ صَدْرِ الْجُمْلَةِ كَرَاهِيَةَ ابْتِدَاءِ الْكَلَامِ بِمُؤَكِّدَيْنِ.
“After inna there may come a lam confirming the content of the sentence, called the lam of beginning or the slid-along lam — because in the inna-construction it is slid away from the front of the sentence, it being disliked to open speech with two emphasisers.”
(النحو التطبيقي)
Key words in the Arabic
تُزَحْلَقُis slid along
مُؤَكِّدَيْنِtwo emphasisers
Understand it
Since إِنَّ is itself an emphasiser, stacking لَ directly on top of it would double up at the door — so the lam slides inward: onto the khabar (إِنَّكَ لَعَلَىٰ خُلُقٍ), onto a delayed ism (إِنَّ فِي ذَٰلِكَ لَعِبْرَةً), or onto what stands between. Meaning is unchanged; force is doubled. It adds emphasis but no i'rab — whatever it enters keeps its own ending.
How to spot it
Recognition test
A لَ with fathah inside an إِنَّ-sentence, sitting on the khabar or a postponed ism, with no jarr after it. If لَ opens a sentence that has no إِنَّ, it is plain lam al-ibtida'.
In the Qur'an
وَإِنَّكَ لَعَلَىٰ خُلُقٍ عَظِيمٍ
Al-Qalam 68:4 — “And indeed, you are of a great moral character”
لَ has slid from before إِنَّكَ onto the khabar عَلَىٰ خُلُقٍ — two emphases, one sentence.
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