Grammar term · I'rab · The followers — al-tawābi'
What is the substitute (badal)?
badal
اَلْبَدَل
I'rabThe followers — al-tawābi'core term376+ in the Qur'an
Also written: Badal · Substitute · Apposition · Mubdal minhu
In one line
The badal (بَدَل) names a thing a second time, more precisely — and the second naming is the one the sentence is really about.
Definition
هُوَ التَّابِعُ الْمَقْصُودُ بِالْحُكْمِ بِلَا وَاسِطَةٍ.
“It is the follower that is itself the one meant by the statement, with nothing standing between.”
(النحو التطبيقي)
Key words in the Arabic
اَلْمَقْصُودُ بِالْحُكْمِthe one actually meant by the statement
بِلَا وَاسِطَةٍwith nothing standing between — no particle
Understand it
A word is given, then given again more exactly. The second is the بَدَل; the first is the مُبْدَل مِنْه (mubdal minhu). Nothing stands between them — no particle, unlike the 'aṭf.
عَدَلَ الْخَلِيفَةُ عُمَرُ (‘adala al-khalīfatu ‘umaru) — the caliph, Umar, was just. The statement is about Umar; الْخَلِيفَة only prepares the way for naming him.
The followers
A follower has no i'rab of its own. It copies the word before it — which is why the followers sit outside the twenty-two roles.
Three kinds are standard:1
The three kinds of badal
| Kind | Example | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|---|
| whole for whole | بَدَل كُلٍّ مِنْ كُلٍّ | عَدَلَ الْخَلِيفَةُ عُمَرُ | the caliph, Umar, was just |
| part for whole | بَدَل بَعْضٍ مِنْ كُلٍّ | قَرَأْتُ الْكِتَابَ نِصْفَهُ | I read the book, half of it |
| of inclusion | بَدَل اشْتِمَالٍ | نَفَعَنِي زَيْدٌ عِلْمُهُ | Zayd benefited me — his knowledge did |
In each one the second word is the one the sentence is really about; the first prepares the way for it.
How to spot it
Recognition test
Two nouns for one thing, side by side, with no particle between them, wearing the same ending — and the second is the one actually meant.
Related terms
Next in the guideعَطْفُ الْبَيَانWhat is the explanatory apposition ('aṭf bayān)? →
Notes
- اَلنَّحْو التَّطْبِيقِي (an-Naḥw at-Taṭbīqī) gives these three. اَلْآجُرُّومِيَّة (al-Ājurrūmiyya) gives four, adding بَدَل الْغَلَط — the substitute of a slip of the tongue: رَأَيْتُ زَيْدًا الْفَرَسَ, where the speaker meant “the horse”, said “Zayd”, and corrected himself mid-sentence. The fourth is real, but belongs to speech rather than to composition, which is why the applied books leave it out. ↩