Grammar term · Nahw · syntax
نَاسِخ
nasikh
Abrogator (nasikh — kana/inna family)
Nahw · syntaxParticle/verb classcore term1,355+ in the Qur'an
In one line
The nawasikh — the “changers” (kana and inna families and their like) that overwrite the mubtada–khabar cases.
Classical definition
النَّوَاسِخُ مَا يَدْخُلُ عَلَى المُبْتَدَأِ وَالخَبَرِ فَيُغَيِّرُ حُكْمَهُمَا، كَكَانَ وَأَخَوَاتِهَا وَإِنَّ وَأَخَوَاتِهَا.
“The nawasikh are what enter upon the mubtada and khabar and change their ruling — like kana and her sisters and inna and her sisters.”
(بتصرف من ابن هشام)
Key words in the Arabic
يَدْخُلُ عَلَىenters upon
يُغَيِّرُ حُكْمَهُمَاchanges the ruling of both
Understand it
The plain nominal sentence holds both nouns in raf' — until a nasikh (“abrogator”) walks in and rewrites the endings. كَانَ's family keeps the subject and bends the predicate; إِنَّ's family does the reverse; ظَنَّ's family (to think, to find) swallows both into nasb. One concept, three families — and most of the case-changes you meet in nominal ayat.
How to spot it
Recognition test
A nominal sentence whose endings are not both raf' — name the nasikh that did it.