Grammar term · Nahw · syntax
مُسْتَثْنَى
mustathna
Excepted noun (mustathna)
Nahw · syntaxSyntactic roleadvanced term136+ in the Qur'an
In one line
The excepted noun — what is excluded after إلّا (and its sisters).
Classical rule
المُسْتَثْنَى بِإِلَّا يُنْصَبُ إِذَا كَانَ الكَلَامُ تَامًّا مُوجَبًا.
“The excepted with illa takes nasb when the sentence is complete and affirmative.”
(الآجرّومية)
Key words in the Arabic
تَامّcomplete — the excepted-from is mentioned
مُوجَبaffirmative — no negation before it
Understand it
فَشَرِبُوا مِنْهُ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا — a full, positive statement, so the excepted takes nasb. Turn the sentence negative and Arabic relaxes: the noun after إِلَّا may instead follow the case of what it excepts from (مَا فَعَلُوهُ إِلَّا قَلِيلٌ مِنْهُمْ). That one switch — affirmative nasb, negative choice — is most of the chapter.
How to spot it
Recognition test
The noun after إلّا / غير / سوى that is carved out of the preceding statement is the mustathna.
In the Qur'an
فَشَرِبُوا۟ مِنْهُ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا مِّنْهُمْ
Al-Baqarah 2:249 — “they drank from it, except a few of them”
قَلِيلًا is the mustathna after إلّا, in nasb.
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