Grammar term · Sarf · morphology
مَبْنِيّ لِلْمَعْلُوم
mabni li-l-ma'lum
Active voice
Sarf · morphologyVerb voicecore term16,348+ in the Qur'an
In one line
The active verb: its doer is named — كَتَبَ مُحَمَّدٌ tells you who did the writing.
Definition (modern)
الْمَبْنِيُّ لِلْمَعْلُومِ: هُوَ الَّذِي يُذْكَرُ مَعَهُ فَاعِلُهُ، نَحْوُ: كَتَبَ مُحَمَّدٌ الدَّرْسَ.
“The verb built for the known is the one whose doer is mentioned with it, as in: Muhammad wrote the lesson.”
(النحو التطبيقي)
Key words in the Arabic
لِلْمَعْلُومِfor the KNOWN doer
يُذْكَرُ مَعَهُ فَاعِلُهُits doer is stated with it
Understand it
This is the verb's default dress: the doer stands in the sentence, in rafa', answering 'who did it?' before you ask. Every verb form you first learn — كَتَبَ، يَكْتُبُ، اكْتُبْ — is built for the known. The term earns its keep only as the partner of its opposite: flip the vowels to كُتِبَ and the doer vanishes — see al-mabni li-l-majhul.
How to spot it
Recognition test
Normal verb vowels and a stated (or clearly implied) fa'il: ma'lum. If the verb opens with damma and the pre-final vowel is kasra (madi) or fatha (mudari'), suspect the majhul instead.
In the Qur'an
كَتَبَ ٱللَّهُ لَأَغْلِبَنَّ أَنَا۠ وَرُسُلِىٓ
Al-Mujadila 58:21 — “Allah has decreed: I will surely prevail, I and My messengers”
كَتَبَ names its doer — ٱللَّهُ, fa'il in rafa': the verb built for the known.
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