Grammar term · Nahw · syntax
شِبْه الْجُمْلَة
shibh al-jumla
Quasi-sentence (prep/adverbial phrase)
Nahw · syntaxClause/structurecore term3,207+ in the Qur'an
In one line
'Almost a sentence': a jarr phrase or a zarf — full of meaning, but incomplete until it hangs on a muta'allaq.
Definition (modern)
الْخَبَرُ شِبْهُ الْجُمْلَةِ: وَهُوَ نَوْعَانِ: (الظَّرْفُ، وَالْجَارُّ وَالْمَجْرُورُ).
“The khabar as a quasi-sentence: it is of two kinds — the adverbial (zarf) and the preposition with its noun.”
(النحو التطبيقي)
Key words in the Arabic
الظَّرْفadverb of place or time
الْجَارُّ وَالْمَجْرُورpreposition + its noun
Understand it
Arabic groups the zarf and the jarr phrase under one name because both carry near-sentence meaning — فَوْقَ الْمَكْتَبِ, فِي الْبَيْتِ — yet neither asserts anything on its own. They serve as khabar (the pin's case), sifa, hal or sila, and in every such role the same completion applies: a muta'allaq, stated or hidden, finishes the thought. Where the anchor is hidden, the i'rab supplies اسْتَقَرَّ or مُسْتَقِرٌّ.
How to spot it
Recognition test
A zarf or jarr-majrur doing a sentence-part's job — khabar, sifa, hal, sila — is a shibh jumla: name it, then immediately ask for its muta'allaq.
In the Qur'an
وَٱلرَّكْبُ أَسْفَلَ مِنكُمْ
Al-Anfal 8:42 — “and the caravan was below you”
The zarf أَسْفَلَ serves as khabar: a shibh jumla attached to a hidden مُسْتَقِرٌّ — 'was positioned below you'.
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