I'rab of Surah Al-Masad Ayah 5: word by word Arabic grammar
Surah Al-Masad (المسد) · Meccan · Ayah 5
فِى جِيدِهَا حَبْلٌۭ مِّن مَّسَدٍۭ Transliterationfī jīdihā ḥablun min masad(in)
MeaningAround her neck is a rope of twisted palm-fiber.
This ayah is a nominal sentence with a fronted predicate. The prepositional phrase fi jidiha ("around her neck") serves as the advanced predicate (khabar muqaddam), while hablun ("a rope") is the delayed subject (mubtada' mu'akhkhar). The phrase min masadin then describes that rope, qualifying it as twisted palm-fiber.
Word by word i'rab
preposition (harf jarr)
An indeclinable preposition meaning "in/around" that governs the following noun in the genitive.
indeclinableobject of preposition (majrur) + attached pronoun (mudaf ilayh)
The noun "neck" is genitive after fi, and the attached pronoun -ha ("her") is in the place of a genitive as the second term of the idafa; together the phrase functions as the fronted predicate.
genitivedelayed subject (mubtada' mu'akhkhar)
An indefinite noun "rope" in the nominative, marked by tanwin damm, serving as the delayed subject whose predicate is the preceding prepositional phrase.
nominativepreposition (harf jarr)
An indeclinable preposition expressing material/source ("made of"), governing the next noun in the genitive.
indeclinableobject of preposition (majrur); phrase qualifies hablun
The noun "twisted palm-fiber" is genitive after min, marked by tanwin kasr, and the whole phrase min masadin acts as a descriptive qualifier (na't) of hablun.
genitiveDetailed i'rab
The verse opens with the prepositional phrase فِى جِيدِهَا, where فِى is a preposition and جِيد is its genitive object, itself joined to the attached pronoun هَا ("her") as the second term of a genitive construction. This whole phrase is grammatically suspended to a fronted predicate (khabar muqaddam). The noun حَبْلٌ ("a rope") follows in the nominative as the delayed subject (mubtada' mu'akhkhar), its indefiniteness shown by the tanwin. Fronting the predicate here is natural because the subject is indefinite. Finally, مِّن مَّسَدٍ pairs the preposition مِن with its genitive object مَّسَدٍ, and this phrase attaches as a description (na't) of حَبْلٌ, specifying the rope's material as twisted palm-fiber. The sentence as a whole is a nominal clause describing the wife mentioned earlier.
Frequently asked
Why is hablun in the nominative even though it appears after the predicate?
Because hablun is the actual subject (mubtada') of the nominal sentence. The predicate fi jidiha has simply been moved to the front, a common construction when the subject is indefinite, but the subject keeps its nominative case regardless of word order.
What is the grammatical role of the phrase min masadin?
It is a descriptive qualifier (na't) of hablun. The preposition min plus its genitive noun masadin together describe the rope, telling us what it is made of (twisted palm-fiber).
Why is the predicate placed before the subject in this ayah?
When the subject is indefinite (hablun, "a rope") and the predicate is a prepositional phrase, Arabic typically fronts the predicate. Starting with an indefinite subject would be awkward, so fi jidiha comes first to provide a clear, definite anchor for the statement.