Grammar term · Nahw · syntax
فَاء السَّبَبِيَّة
fa' al-sababiyya
Fa of causation
Nahw · syntaxSpecific particleadvanced term1+ in the Qur'an
In one line
The فَ of 'so that': after a negation or request it makes what follows the result — and the mudari' after it turns mansub.
Definition (modern)
فَاءُ السَّبَبِيَّةِ: هِيَ الَّتِي تَدُلُّ عَلَى أَنَّ مَا قَبْلَهَا سَبَبٌ فِي حُصُولِ مَا بَعْدَهَا. شَرْطُهَا: يُشْتَرَطُ فِيهَا أَنْ تُسْبَقَ بِنَفْيٍ مَحْضٍ أَوْ طَلَبٍ.
“The fa' of causation is the one showing that what precedes it is the cause of what follows it coming about. Its condition: it must be preceded by pure negation or a request.”
(النحو التطبيقي)
Key words in the Arabic
سَبَبٌ فِي حُصُولِa cause of the occurrence
نَفْيٍ مَحْضٍpure negation
طَلَبٍa request — amr, nahy, question…
Understand it
The logic is cause and effect: ذَاكِرْ فَتَنْجَحَ — revise, and success follows from the revising. The licence to read فَ this way needs the pin's condition, a pure negation or a talab (command, prohibition, question, wish, hope) standing before it. Grammatically the mudari' after it is mansub by a hidden أَنْ — and that fatha (or dropped nun) is precisely what tells the fa of cause apart from the fa of mere sequence.
How to spot it
Recognition test
Negation or request + فَ + mudari' with a fatha or a dropped nun = sababiyya. If the verb after فَ stays marfu', it is ordinary 'atf or isti'naf.
In the Qur'an
لَا يُقْضَىٰ عَلَيْهِمْ فَيَمُوتُوا۟
Fatir 35:36 — “Death is not decreed for them so that they might die”
Pure negation, then فَ — and يَمُوتُوا۟ drops its nun: nasb by the hidden أَنْ.
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