Grammar term · I'rab · i'rab
لَا مَحَلّ لَهُ مِنَ الْإِعْرَاب
la mahall lahu min al-i'rab
Without grammatical position
I'rab · i'rabLocal position (mahall)advanced term3,423+ in the Qur'an
In one line
“No place in i'rab” — a sentence that fills no slot: commentary, connection or fresh start, not a building block.
Classical definition
الجُمَلُ الَّتِي لَا مَحَلَّ لَهَا مِنَ الإِعْرَابِ هِيَ الَّتِي لَا تَقَعُ مَوْقِعَ المُفْرَدِ، كَالاسْتِئْنَافِيَّةِ وَالصِّلَةِ وَالاعْتِرَاضِيَّةِ.
“The sentences that have no place in i'rab are those that do not stand where a single word could stand — like the fresh-start sentence, the sila and the parenthesis.”
(بتصرف من ابن هشام)
Key words in the Arabic
الاسْتِئْنَافِيَّةthe fresh-start sentence
الصِّلَةthe relative's link-sentence
الاعْتِرَاضِيَّةthe parenthesis
Understand it
Some sentences are load-bearing — khabar, hal, quoted speech — and some simply begin afresh, link a mawsul, or interject. Those carry no mahall. The definition hides a beautifully simple test: could you swap the sentence for one word? If no single word could stand in its position, the sentence has no i'rab place.
How to spot it
Recognition test
Opening sentences, sila clauses, parentheses, oath-answers — the swap-one-word test fails, so la mahall laha.
Related terms