Arabic The Substitute

الْبَدَل

Explanation:

When you say: “وَاضِعُ النَّحْوِ عَلِيٌّ” (The Pioneer and Founder of Nahw is Ali), then your sentence conveys a complete and self-contained message. However, when you say:        “وَاضِعُ النَّحْوِ الإِمَامُ عَلِيٌّ” (The Pioneer and Founder of Nahw is Imam Ali), then your sentence will have an even stronger effect and greater impact on the mind of the listener, as though you had ascribed the founding and development of Nahw to Ali twice – once via the title and epithet “الإِمَام” and once via the name “عَلِيّ”.

The word “عَلِيٌّ” in this construction is called “بَدَل” (substitute) and follows what is before it in the latter’s specific type of الإِعْرَاب . Therefore, it is:

• in this example مَرْفُوْع due to it following the word “الإِمَامُ” which is مَرْفُوْع as a خَبَر,
• in “إِنَّ الإِمَامَ عَلِياًّ وَاضِعُ النَّحْوِ” (Truly, Imam Ali is the Pioneer and Founder of Nahw) مَنْصُوْب due to it following “الإِمَامَ” which is مَنْصُوْب as the اسْم “إِنَّ” and
• in “النَّحْوُ مِنْ وَضْعِ الإِمَامِ عَلِيٍّ“ (Nahw is the result of the pioneering work of Imam Ali) مَجْرُوْر due to it following “الإِمَامِ” which is مَجْرُوْر as the مُضَاف إِلَيْهِ .

The same can be said for “جَدَّدَ الأَمِيْرُ الْقَصْرَ أَكْثَرَهُ” (The Emir renovated the castle, most of it) and “اِنْصَرَفَ الدِّيْوَانُ عُمَّالُهُ” (The Registration Office, its workers, left) except that the الْبَدَل :

• in the first example (i.e. “وَاضِعُ النَّحْوِ الإِمَامُ عَلِيٌّ“ ) is مُطَابِق (i.e. congruent in meaning to the what precedes it) because “عَلِيٌّ” is congruent to “الإِمَامُ” in meaning,
• in the second example بَدَل بَعْضٍ مِنْ كُلٍّ (substitute of the part for the whole) because “أَكْثَرَ” (most of) is part of the whole of it (i.e. the whole of the castle), and
• in the third example بَدَل اشْتِمَالٍ (Substitute of Relation i.e. other than being a part) because of the relationship, that is, the connection, that exists between “الدِّيْوَانُ” and “عُمَّالُهُ” .