Grammar term · Nahw · syntax
جُمْلَة تَفْسِيرِيَّة
jumla tafsiriyya
Explanatory clause
Nahw · syntaxClause/structureadvanced term59+ in the Qur'an
In one line
The explaining clause: it unpacks what came before — أَيْ or explanatory أَنْ may introduce it — and takes no i'rab place.
Classical definition
الجُمْلَةُ التَّفْسِيرِيَّةُ مَا تُذْكَرُ لِتَفْسِيرِ مَا قَبْلَهَا، وَلَا مَحَلَّ لَهَا مِنَ الإِعْرَابِ.
“The explanatory clause is one mentioned to explain what precedes it, and it has no place in i'rab.”
(بتصرف من ابن هشام)
Key words in the Arabic
تَفْسِيرexplanation
مَا قَبْلَهَاwhat precedes it
Understand it
Sometimes a sentence gestures at a meaning and the next clause opens the box: إِنَّ مَثَلَ عِيسَى عِنْدَ اللَّهِ كَمَثَلِ آدَمَ — likeness how? — خَلَقَهُ مِنْ تُرَابٍ. The tafsiriyya may stand bare, or be introduced by أَيْ ('that is') or by the explanatory أَنْ after verbs carrying the sense of saying: فَأَوْحَيْنَا إِلَيْهِ أَنِ اصْنَعِ الْفُلْكَ. Because it restates rather than adds a new sentence-part, it has no mahall.
How to spot it
Recognition test
A clause answering 'what does that mean?' about the clause before it — often after أَيْ or explanatory أَنْ. If you could put a colon in front of it, it is tafsiriyya.
In the Qur'an
إِنَّ مَثَلَ عِيسَىٰ عِندَ ٱللَّهِ كَمَثَلِ ءَادَمَ ۖ خَلَقَهُۥ مِن تُرَابٍ
Al Imran 3:59 — “Indeed, the example of Jesus in the sight of Allah is like that of Adam: He created him from dust”
خَلَقَهُۥ مِن تُرَابٍ explains كَمَثَلِ ءَادَمَ — a tafsir clause with no i'rab place.
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