Nahw · syntaxPronoun typecore term1,201+ in the Qur'an
Also written: Damir · Dameer · Damaa'ir · Pronouns · Arabic pronouns · Detached pronouns
In one line
A detached pronoun — one that stands alone as its own word.
Classical definition
الضَّمِيرُ المُنْفَصِلُ مَا يُبْتَدَأُ بِهِ وَيَقَعُ بَعْدَ إِلَّا، كَأَنَا وَنَحْنُ وَإِيَّاكَ.
“The detached pronoun is one that speech can begin with, and that can follow إِلَّا (“except”) — like أَنَا, نَحْنُ and إِيَّاكَ.”
(بتصرف من الألفية)
Key words in the Arabic
يُبْتَدَأُ بِهِspeech can begin with it
يَقَعُ بَعْدَ إِلَّاit can come after illa
Understand it
A detached pronoun stands on its own — هُوَ (he), هِيَ (she), أَنَا (I), نَحْنُ (we) — the fourteen subject pronouns of Arabic. Unlike the attached pronouns, these begin a word and often open a nominal sentence, telling you at once who is being spoken about. The fourteen detached raf' pronouns appear 1,370 times in the Quran — there is almost no page without one.
How to spot it
Recognition test
If the pronoun is written as a separate word — or can sit after إِلَّا — it is munfasil.
In the Qur'an
إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ
Al-Fatiha 1:5 — “You alone we worship, and You alone we ask for help”
إِيَّاكَ is a detached object-pronoun; bringing it before the verb creates the meaning “You alone”.
Related terms
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From the free course The Language of Quran — Easier than English (Book 1) (LoQ1), taught by Ustad Muhammad Arjan Ali.
Common questions
Why do هُمْ and أَنتُمْ sometimes appear as هُمُ and أَنتُمُ?
When followed by a word beginning with hamzat al-wasl (اَلْـ), two sukoons would meet — impossible to pronounce — so a helper damma sits on the meem: هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ. A reading adjustment, not a different word.
Domain: Nahw · Category: Pronoun type · Frequency in the Qur'an: 1,201 · Source: بتصرف من الألفية, cross-checked against the Quranic corpus · Reviewed by Ustad M. Arjan Ali