Grammar term · Sarf · morphology
إِعْلَال بِالنَّقْل
i'lal bi-l-naql
Vowel transfer (i'lal by naql)
Sarf · morphologyMorphophonemic processadvanced term1,960+ in the Qur'an
In one line
Vowel-shifting: the weak letter hands its vowel to the still consonant before it — يَقْوُلُ becomes يَقُولُ.
Classical definition
الإِعْلَالُ بِالنَّقْلِ نَقْلُ حَرَكَةِ حَرْفِ العِلَّةِ إِلَى السَّاكِنِ الصَّحِيحِ قَبْلَهُ، كَيَقُومُ أَصْلُهُ يَقْوُمُ.
“I'lal by transfer is the moving of the weak letter's vowel to the vowel-less sound consonant before it.”
(بتصرف من شذا العرف)
Key words in the Arabic
نَقْل حَرَكَةtransferring the vowel
السَّاكِن الصَّحِيحthe vowel-less sound letter
Understand it
Arabic dislikes a vowelled weak letter after a silent consonant, so the vowel migrates backwards: the asl يَقْوُلُ shifts its damma from waw to qaf, giving يَقُولُ; يَبْيِعُ becomes يَبِيعُ. Often the transfer sets up a second step — once the weak letter is left vowel-less it may flip or drop, which is how forms like يَخَافُ (from يَخْوَفُ) and أَقَامَ (from أَقْوَمَ) arise. Naql is the quiet middleman of the i'lal system.
How to spot it
Recognition test
A long vowel in the mudari' of a hollow verb where the wazn expects consonant + vowelled weak letter: the vowel has been transferred back — read يَقُولُ as يَقْوُلُ rebalanced.
In the Qur'an
وَمِنَ ٱلنَّاسِ مَن يَقُولُ ءَامَنَّا بِٱللَّهِ
Al-Baqarah 2:8 — “And among the people are those who say: We believe in Allah”
يَقُولُ — the asl is يَقْوُلُ: the waw's damma moved back onto the qaf, leaving the smooth long vowel.
Related terms