Grammar term · Nahw · syntax
جَوَاب الْقَسَم
jawab al-qasam
Answer of the oath
Nahw · syntaxClause/structureadvanced term3+ in the Qur'an
In one line
The sentence an oath exists to deliver: after وَاللَّهِ comes the sworn statement — and it takes no i'rab place.
The rule (modern)
كُلُّ قَسَمٍ لَهُ جَوَابٌ، وَالْجَوَابُ إِمَّا جُمْلَةٌ فِعْلِيَّةٌ أَوِ اسْمِيَّةٌ، وَجُمْلَةُ جَوَابِ الْقَسَمِ لَا مَحَلَّ لَهَا مِنَ الْإِعْرَابِ.
“Every oath has an answer, and the answer is either a verbal or a nominal sentence; the clause of the oath's answer has no place in i'rab.”
(النحو التطبيقي)
Key words in the Arabic
مُقْسَمٌ عَلَيْهِthe thing sworn TO
لَا مَحَلَّ لَهَاno place in i'rab
Understand it
An oath is a drumroll: وَالْعَصْرِ raises the question 'and…?', and the jawab answers it — إِنَّ الْإِنْسَانَ لَفِي خُسْرٍ. The answer usually arrives marked: لَ with إِنَّ for a nominal answer, لَ…ـنَّ for a positive verbal one, مَا or لَا when negated, قَدْ for the past. However weighty the content, the jawab stands outside i'rab — no mahall.
How to spot it
Recognition test
After any qasam (وَ / بِ / تَ + majrur, or أُقْسِمُ), the next full clause — typically opening with لَقَدْ، لَ، إِنَّ or مَا — is the jawab.
In the Qur'an
وَٱلضُّحَىٰ وَٱلَّيْلِ إِذَا سَجَىٰ مَا وَدَّعَكَ رَبُّكَ وَمَا قَلَىٰ
Ad-Duha 93:1–3 — “By the morning brightness, and by the night when it grows still: your Lord has not abandoned you, nor has He detested you”
مَا وَدَّعَكَ رَبُّكَ is the answer the two oaths were building to — negated with مَا, no i'rab place.
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