Grammar term · Nahw · syntax
اللَّام
al-lam
The lam (various roles)
Nahw · syntaxSpecific particle (lam)core term3,860+ in the Qur'an
In one line
The letter لِ — 'for, belonging to': a preposition of ownership and purpose whose letter-shape also serves emphasis and command.
Definition (modern)
مِنْ مَعَانِي (اللَّامِ): (الْمِلْكُ، وَالاخْتِصَاصُ، وَالاسْتِحْقَاقُ، وَالتَّعْلِيلُ). فَالْمِلْكُ تَقَعُ بَيْنَ ذَاتَيْنِ وَتَدْخُلُ عَلَى الذَّاتِ الَّتِي تَمْلِكُ الْأُخْرَى.
“Among the meanings of the lam: ownership, association, deserving, and purpose. Ownership falls between two entities, the lam entering upon the one that owns the other.”
(النحو التطبيقي)
Key words in the Arabic
الْمِلْكownership
الاخْتِصَاصbelonging without owning
الاسْتِحْقَاقbeing due, deserved
Understand it
The pin's four meanings all live in the preposition: milk between two beings (لِلَّهِ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ), ikhtisas where belonging involves no owning (الْبَابُ لِلدَّارِ — the house cannot own), istihqaq between a meaning and a being (الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ), and ta'lil, the lam of purpose (سَافَرْتُ لِلْحَجِّ). The same letter does non-jarr work too: the emphasis lam that slides onto inna's khabar, and the command lam that clips the mudari' — each has its own entry.
How to spot it
Recognition test
لِ (or لَ) fused to the word after it. Before a noun in jarr: preposition — test milk against istihqaq against ta'lil. Before a mudari' in jazm: command. Sitting on inna's khabar with a fatha: emphasis.
In the Qur'an
لِلَّهِ مَا فِى ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ
Luqman 31:26 — “To Allah belongs whatever is in the heavens and the earth”
لِ of ownership — possession stated by a single letter, with ٱللَّه in jarr.
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