What is the excepted noun (mustathna)?
In one line
Classical definition
Understand it
A statement is made about a group, then one member is pulled out of it. The one pulled out is the مُسْتَثْنَى; the group is the مُسْتَثْنَى مِنْهُ; and the tool that does the pulling is إِلَّا or one of its sisters.
إِلَّا and its sisters
| # | Meaning | What it is | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | إِلَّا | illa | except | a particle — the primary tool |
| 2 | غَيْر | ghayr | other than | an ism — takes the i'rab the mustathna would have had |
| 3 | سِوَى | siwa | other than | an ism — works exactly as غَيْر does |
| 4 | خَلَا | khala | excepting | used either as a verb or as a preposition |
| 5 | عَدَا | 'ada | excepting | used either as a verb or as a preposition |
| 6 | حَاشَا | hasha | excepting | used either as a verb or as a preposition |
With إِلَّا the excepted word carries the i'rab. With غَيْر and سِوَى the reverse happens: they carry it, and the word after them is always majrur as a mudaf ilayh.2
حَضَرَ الطُّلَّابُ إِلَّا مُحَمَّدًا (hadara al-tullabu illa muhammadan) — the students came, except Muhammad.
The parts of an exception
The group is named, the tool pulls one out, and the one pulled out is the mustathna.
The books make a distinction worth keeping. Speech is تَامّ (complete) when the group is actually named, and نَاقِص (incomplete) when it is not — مَا حَضَرَ إِلَّا مُحَمَّدٌ, only Muhammad came. In the incomplete case the excepted word simply takes whatever i'rab its own role in the sentence requires, and is often not mansub at all.
Which is why this twelfth role carries an honest caution in the books themselves: the mustathna is not always mansub. It is counted here because most of the time it is.1
How to spot it
In the Qur'an
When it is not mansub
This is the one role in the twelve that is not always in nasab — and the books say so themselves.
When the group is named and the sentence is affirmative, the mustathna is mansub: حَضَرَ الطُّلَّابُ إِلَّا مُحَمَّدًا.
When the group is not named, the word takes whatever its own role demands, and is commonly marfu': مَا حَضَرَ إِلَّا مُحَمَّدٌ — here مُحَمَّدٌ is simply the doer of حَضَرَ.
It is kept among the twelve anyway, because most of the time it is mansub.
Related terms
Common questions
Does the excepted word always take nasab?
No. It depends on whether the sentence is affirmative or negative, and on whether what it is excepted from is mentioned at all. In a complete affirmative sentence it takes nasab; in a negative one it may instead follow the case of the word before it.
Next in the guideاَلْمَجْرُورَاتWhat are the majrurat (al-majrurat)? →Notes
- تَسْهِيل النَّحْو (Tasheel al-Nahw) keeps the mustathna in the list of twelve and notes plainly that there are exceptions to the rule — it is listed because in most cases it is mansub. ↩
- The six tools, and the rule that غَيْر and سِوَى take the ruling the excepted noun would have had, follow اَلنَّحْو التَّطْبِيقِي (an-Nahw at-Tatbiqi). ↩
Updated