Grammar term · Sarf · morphology
مَقْصُور
maqsur
Maqsur (ending in alif)
Sarf · morphologyNoun ending typeadvanced term944+ in the Qur'an
In one line
The alif-ending noun — الْفَتَى، الْهُدَى: its final alif never changes, so all three case-vowels stay hidden.
Definition (modern)
الِاسْمُ الْمَقْصُورُ: هُوَ كُلُّ اسْمٍ مُعْرَبٍ آخِرُهُ أَلِفٌ لَازِمَةٌ. حُكْمُهُ: تُقَدَّرُ عَلَيْهِ الْحَرَكَاتُ الثَّلَاثُ (الضَّمَّةُ، وَالْفَتْحَةُ، وَالْكَسْرَةُ)، وَيَمْنَعُ مِنْ ظُهُورِهَا التَّعَذُّرُ.
“The maqsur is any declinable noun ending in a fixed alif. Its ruling: all three vowels (damma, fatha, kasra) are assumed on it, and their appearance is prevented by impossibility.”
(النحو التطبيقي)
Key words in the Arabic
أَلِفٌ لَازِمَةٌa fixed, inseparable alif
التَّعَذُّرُimpossibility — alif takes no vowel
Understand it
An alif simply cannot carry a vowel, so the maqsur shows the same face in every state: جَاءَ الْفَتَى، رَأَيْتُ الْفَتَى، مَرَرْتُ بِالْفَتَى. The i'rab is still there — the pin's word is muqaddar, assumed — and the sentence role alone tells you which state you are looking at. Contrast the manqus, whose ya can at least show the fatha.
How to spot it
Recognition test
A noun ending in ى or ا that keeps that alif in every use: state it as 'marfu'/mansub/majrur with a muqaddar vowel, prevented by ta'adhdhur'.
In the Qur'an
جَآءَهُمُ ٱلْهُدَىٰ
Al-Isra 17:94 — “guidance came to them”
ٱلْهُدَىٰ is fa'il — rafa' — but the alif shows nothing: a muqaddar damma, prevented by impossibility.
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