Nahw · syntaxParticle typecore term13,370+ in the Qur'an
Also written: Huruf al-jarr · Jarr · Prepositions · Harf of jarr
In one line
A preposition — a particle that puts the noun after it into jarr.
The classical list
وَحُرُوفِ الْخَفْضِ وَهِيَ: مِنْ، وَإِلَى، وَعَنْ، وَعَلَى، وَفِي، وَرُبَّ، وَالْبَاءُ، وَالْكَافُ، وَاللَّامُ، وَحُرُوفُ الْقَسَمِ وَهِيَ: الْوَاوُ، وَالْبَاءُ، وَالتَّاءُ.
“The particles of khafd: min (from), ila (to), 'an (about), 'ala (upon), fi (in), rubba (many a…), the ba' (with/by), the kaf (like), the lam (for) — and the oath particles: the waw, the ba' and the ta'.”
(الآجرّومية)
Key words in the Arabic
رُبَّmany a… — often in poetry
حُرُوف الْقَسَمِthe oath particles: وَاللهِ، بِاللهِ، تَاللهِ
Understand it
The huruf al-jarr are Arabic's prepositions — مِنْ (from), فِي (in), عَلَى (on), بِ (with), لِ (for) and their fellows. Each one pulls the noun that follows it into the jarr state. This is the first of only two reasons a noun is ever in jarr (the other being the idafa), which makes a preposition one of the most reliable signposts in a Quranic phrase: see the harf, and you know the next noun is in jarr. The jarr phrase this builds appears roughly 13,000 times in the Quran, against some 9,000 lines in the standard mushaf — at least one on every line you will ever read.
How to spot it
Recognition test
A short particle (مِنْ، فِي، بِ، لِ، عَلَى…) followed by a noun in jarr is a harf jarr.
In the Qur'an
ٱلْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ ٱلْعَٰلَمِينَ
Al-Fatihah 1:2 — “All praise is for Allah, Lord of the worlds”
لِ is a harf jarr putting ٱللَّه into jarr.
Related terms
▶ Watch the lessons
From the free course The Language of Quran — Easier than English (Book 1) (LoQ1), taught by Ustad Muhammad Arjan Ali.
Common questions
What happens when a harf of jarr meets an attached pronoun?
The pronoun simply takes the noun's place: بِهِ (with it), عَلَيْهِمْ (upon them), لَكَ (for you). Recognising harf + pronoun combinations unlocks an enormous amount of Quranic text.
Domain: Nahw · Category: Particle type · Frequency in the Qur'an: 13,370 · Source: الآجرّومية, cross-checked against the Quranic corpus · Reviewed by Ustad M. Arjan Ali