Mudhaaf and Mudhaaf ilaihi

مُضَاف وَ مُضَاف إِلَيه

Till now in this course, we looked at isms (nouns) and fi’ls (verbs) in Arabic. If you have not gone through those lessons, be sure to go through them and be clear with them before you start on this new chapter.

Previously we looked at how different words appear in the Arabic language. Today, we are starting a new chapter named ‘Fragments.’ or phrases. A fragment is more than a word and less than a sentence.

Eg: Tall tree.

When at least two words come together, they make  a fragment. There are 5 kinds of fragments.

Today we are going to learn one kind of fragment called ‘mudhaaf-mudhaaf ilaihi’.

Let’s look at examples of mudhaaf-mudhaaf ilaihi in English.

The Day of Judgement

The house of Allah

My car (Car of mine)

Your pencil (Pencil of yours)

Aisha’s notebook (Notebook of Aisha)

We can’t put a full-stop at the end of these hence these are fragments, not sentences.

All the above phrases have something in common. And that is the word ‘of’ in between the two words.

The first kind of ‘of’ is obvious and the other kind is not obvious.

For example the fragments that have: her, his, my, our, your, their.

These are after ‘of’

Her binder – Binder of hers

His nose – Nose of his

My test – Test of mine

Our house – House of ours

Your class – Class of yours

Their school – School of theirs.

So when you see her, his, my, our, your, their you know that there is an ‘of’ hidden.

These words are always after ‘of’.

The third kind of ‘of is with an ‘s

Eg:     Allah’s house – House of Allah

          Father’s computer – Computer of father

Whatever is with ‘s is the word after ‘of’.

In Arabic there is only one way of doing all 3

The part before ‘of’ comes first and the part after ‘of’ comes second.

Terms to remember:

Part before ‘of’ = Mudhaaf

Part after ‘of’ = Mudhaaf ilaihi

Exercise: Identify the Mudhaaf and Mudhaaf ilaihi

Eg: The Day of Judgement

Mudhaaf – Day

Mudhaaf ilaihi – Judgement

Eg 2: My car

Can be said as ‘car of mine’

Hence: Mudhaaf is car and mudhaaf ilaihi is ‘my’

Fragment	Mudhaaf	Mudhaaf ilaihi
House of Allah
My book
Your pencil
Aisha’s notebook

Now, let’s take a look at an Arabic example

كِتَابُ اللّهِ

In Arabic, the word ‘of’ does not exist. So how do we know which is the mudhaaf and which is the mudhaaf-ilaihi.

We have to look for other clues to find out the mudhaaf and mudhaaf ilaihi.

NOTHING comes in between a mudhaaf and mudhaaf ilaihi in Arabic. Those two are inseparable.

Mudhaaf has 2 rules and mudhaaf ilaihi has 1 rule

2 Rules of Mudhaaf

1.    Mudhaaf has to be light (can’t have a tanween or a ن – view previous lesson on light vs heavy)

2.    Mudhaaf cannot have an ال

Rule of Mudhaaf ilaihi

Mudhaaf ilaihi has to be in Jarr status. (should end with a kasra/AINI sound or EENA sound – view lessons of status)

Look at this example:

كِتَابُ اللّهِ

كِتَابُ is the mudhaaf. It does not have a tanween or a ن. And it does not have an ال either.

The word اللّهِ is the mudhaaf ilaihi. As you can see it is in Jarr status since it ends with a kasra.

Hence this fragment can be translated as ‘Book of Allah.’ Since we can identify this fragment as a mudhaaf-mudhaaf ilaihi fragment.

More examples of identifying whether the fragment is mudhaaf-mudhaaf ilaihi or not.

1.    غَفُوْرٌ رَّحِيْمٌ

There is no mudhaaf-mudhaaf ilaihi in this. Since mudhaaf has to be light and there is no word that is light.

2.    يَوْمٍ كَبِيْرٍ

Cannot be mudhaaf and mudhaaf ilaihi since mudhaaf has to be light and there is no light word.

3.    يَوْمِ نَحْسٍ

Can be mudhaaf and mudhaaf ilaihi since it follows all the rules.

4.    الْيَوْمِ الْمَوْعُوْدِ

Cannot be mudhaaf and mudhaaf ilaihi since the first word has an ال . Mudhaaf can’t have an ال.

Mudhaaf-mudhaaf ilaihi (Exercise 1)

Identify the mudhaaf and mudhaaf ilaihi in the following.

Fragment	Mudhaaf	Mudhaaf ilaihi
Night of power
Messenger of Allah
The Creator of the universe
The people of the book
Our signs
The teacher’s book
Their hands
Your Master
His permission
Their prayer