مُبْتَدَأ
mubtada'
Subject of nominal sentence (mubtada)
Nahw · syntaxSyntactic rolecore term5,922+ in the Qur'an
Also written: Mubtada · Khabar · Subject and predicate
In one line
The subject of a nominal sentence — the noun you start with, in raf'.
Classical definition
المُبْتَدَأُ هُوَ الاسْمُ المَرْفُوعُ العَارِي عَنِ العَوَامِلِ اللَّفْظِيَّةِ.
(الآجرّومية)
What it is
Arabic can build a complete sentence from two nouns with no verb. The first, what you are talking about, is the mubtada — always in raf'. The second completes the thought (the khabar).
How to spot it
Recognition test
At the start of a verb-less sentence, the noun you are making a statement about is the mubtada, in raf'.
In the Qur'an
ٱللَّهُ نُورُ ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ
An-Nur 24:35 — “Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth”
ٱللَّهُ is the mubtada in raf'; نُورُ is its khabar.
Don't confuse it with
The mubtada (subject) is paired with the khabar (predicate); together they are the two pillars of the nominal sentence.
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.