Grammar term · Nahw · syntax
جُمْلَة مَقُول الْقَوْل
jumlat maqul al-qawl
Direct-speech clause (maqul al-qawl)
Nahw · syntaxClause/structurecore term164+ in the Qur'an
In one line
The quoted words after قَالَ: a whole sentence doing the job of one object — in mahall nasb.
Classical definition
جُمْلَةُ مَقُولِ القَوْلِ هِيَ المَحْكِيَّةُ بِالقَوْلِ، وَتَقَعُ فِي مَحَلِّ نَصْبِ مَفْعُولٍ بِهِ.
“The clause of the said-speech is the one related by the verb of saying, and it stands in the place of nasb as its object.”
(بتصرف من ابن هشام)
Key words in the Arabic
الْمَحْكِيَّة بِالْقَوْلِrelated by 'saying'
فِي مَحَلِّ نَصْبٍin the place of nasb
Understand it
What did he say? — the answer is the maf'ul of قَالَ, and with verbs of saying that object is a whole sentence kept exactly as spoken: قَالَ إِنِّي عَبْدُ اللَّهِ. The quoted clause keeps its own internal grammar — إِنَّ, its ism and its khabar all parse normally — while the clause as one block sits in mahall nasb. The Qur'an, rich in dialogue, uses this on nearly every page.
How to spot it
Recognition test
Any form of قَالَ / يَقُولُ / قُلْ followed by the speech itself: bracket the quotation as one block in mahall nasb (maf'ul bih), then parse inside the brackets separately.
In the Qur'an
قَالَ إِنِّى عَبْدُ ٱللَّهِ
Maryam 19:30 — “He said: I am truly a servant of Allah”
Everything after قَالَ is the maqul al-qawl — a clause in mahall nasb as the object of 'said'.
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