Grammar term · Nahw · syntax
حَرْف اسْتِئْنَاف
harf isti'naf
Resumption particle (isti'naf)
Nahw · syntaxParticle typecore term1,846+ in the Qur'an
In one line
A resumption particle — a و or ف that starts a fresh sentence rather than joining to the last one.
Classical definition
حَرْفُ الاسْتِئْنَافِ مَا يُبْتَدَأُ بِهِ كَلَامٌ جَدِيدٌ مُنْقَطِعٌ عَمَّا قَبْلَهُ، كَالوَاوِ وَالفَاءِ الاسْتِئْنَافِيَّتَيْنِ.
“The isti'naf particle is one with which fresh speech begins, cut off from what precedes — like the resumptive waw and fa.”
(بتصرف من ابن هشام)
Key words in the Arabic
يُبْتَدَأُ بِهِspeech begins with it
مُنْقَطِع عَمَّا قَبْلَهُdisconnected from what precedes
Understand it
Not every و means “and”. Sometimes it simply opens a new statement, and the sentence after it shares no case and no slot with what went before — which is why the sentence after it is la mahall laha. Telling connection from resumption is a genuinely interpretive act: many differences among the mufassirun begin at exactly this fork.
How to spot it
Recognition test
A و / ف after which the topic restarts — try replacing it with a full stop; if the sense survives, it is isti'naf.
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