Grammar term · I'rab · Position
In place of rafa
fi mahall rafa
فِي مَحَلّ رَفْع
I'rabPositioncore term
In one line
“In the place of rafa” (فِي مَحَلّ رَفْع) describes a mabni word or a whole sentence occupying a slot that rafa would otherwise fill.
Classical definition
المَحَلُّ الإِعْرَابِيُّ هُوَ المَوْقِعُ الَّذِي تَشْغَلُهُ الكَلِمَةُ المَبْنِيَّةُ أَوِ الجُمْلَةُ؛ فَتَكُونُ فِي مَحَلِّ رَفْعٍ إِذَا وَقَعَتْ مَوْقِعَ مَرْفُوعٍ.
“The i'rab place (mahall) is the position occupied by a mabni word or by a sentence; it is “in the place of rafa” when it stands where a rafa word would stand.”
Key words in the Arabic
مَحَلّplace, slot
مَوْقِعposition
Understand it
هُوَ in هُوَ اللهُ أَحَدٌ is the mubtada — a rafa job — but being mabni it cannot show a damma. Grammar solves this with the mahall: the word holds the place of rafa even though its form cannot say so. The same logic lets whole sentences fill noun slots, as when a sentence serves as a khabar.
How to spot it
Recognition test
A mabni word or a sentence doing a rafa job — mubtada, fa'il, khabar… — is fi mahall rafa.
Related terms
فِي مَحَلّ جَرّ · fi mahall jarr
فِي مَحَلّ جَزْم · fi mahall jazm
فِي مَحَلّ نَصْب · fi mahall nasab
لَا مَحَلّ لَهُ مِنَ الْإِعْرَاب · la mahall lahu min al-i'rab
Common questions
How can a sentence be in rafa?
By standing where a marfu' ism would stand — most commonly as the khabar of a nominal sentence. The sentence has no ending to raise, so the grammar records the position instead: it is in the place of rafa.
Next in the guideلَا مَحَلّ لَهُ مِنَ الْإِعْرَابWithout grammatical position →Updated