Grammar term · Nahw · syntax
اِسْم لَا النَّافِيَة لِلْجِنْس
ism la al-nafiya li-l-jins
Noun of la of absolute negation
Nahw · syntaxSyntactic roleadvanced term3+ in the Qur'an
In one line
The noun of لا of absolute negation — “no X whatsoever”: an indefinite in nasb with no tanwin.
Classical rule
اعْلَمْ أَنَّ «لَا» تَنْصِبُ النَّكِرَاتِ بِغَيْرِ تَنْوِينٍ إِذَا بَاشَرَتِ النَّكِرَةَ وَلَمْ تَتَكَرَّرْ «لَا».
“Know that la puts indefinite nouns into nasb without tanwin, when it directly precedes the indefinite and is not repeated.”
(الآجرّومية)
Key words in the Arabic
بَاشَرَتْdirectly touches, immediately precedes
بِغَيْرِ تَنْوِينٍwithout tanwin
Understand it
This لا denies a whole category at once: لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ — no deity of any kind, except Allah. Its noun stands in nasb stripped of tanwin (fatha, no -an), which is how you tell this لا from ordinary negation. The kalima itself runs on this rule — grammar you already recite every day.
How to spot it
Recognition test
لا + indefinite noun on a bare fatha (no tanwin) = absolute negation of the kind.
Related terms