Conditional Statement – جُمْلَةٌ شَرْطِيَّةٌ

Conditional statement using إِنْ

A Conditional Statement (جُمْلَةٌ شَرْطِيَّةٌ) can be defined as an ”if-then” statement.

It has two parts:

• شَرْط the condition
• جَوابُ الشَّرْطِ the answer to the condition, the consequence of the condition.

For Example: If Saad goes, then Ahmed will go.

Remember we stated in an earlier lesson that إِنْ means ”if” and it changes the present-tense into the lightest (مَجْزُوْمٌ) form. Note: it can also be used with a past-tense, however doesn’t change the past-tense form.

In the above statement Ahmed will only go, if Saad goes. Therefore, the condition is ”Saad goes” and the consequence is ”Ahmed will go”.

In Classical Arabic, the lightest (مَجْزُوْمٌ) form of a فَعْلٌ is used to communicate a شَرْط (Condition) and its جَوابُ (consequence). For Example:

إِنْ تَذْهَبْ سَعْدُ يَذْهَبْ أَحْمَدُ

If Saad goes, then Ahmed will go

Notice that both the أَفْعال, the تَذْهَبْ and يَذْهَبْ are in the جَزم form (i.e. they are مَجْزُوْمٌ).

Let us now look at an example from the Quran:

يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوٓا۟ إِن تَنصُرُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ يَنصُرْكُمْ وَيُثَبِّتْ أَقْدَامَكُمْ

O you who have believed, if you support Allah, He will support you and firmly plant your feet

[47:7]

شَرْط (Condition) : …إِن تَنصُرُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ… (…if you support Allah…)

جَوابُ الشَّرْطِ (Answer/Consequence): يَنصُرْكُمْ وَيُثَبِّتْ أَقْدَامَكُمْ… (He will support you and firmly plant your feet)

Notice that يَنصُرْ, تَنصُرُوا۟ and يُثَبِّتْ are مَجْزُوْمٌ

Conditional statement using ما and مَنْ

Another example of the conditional statements (جُمْلَةٌ شَرْطِيَّةٌ) is with the words ما which means ”whatever” and مَنْ which means ”whoever”. Just as the word إِنْ (if), there will be a شَرْط (condition) and جَوابُ الشَّرْطِ (answer). Let us look at some examples:

Example 1:

ما تُنْفِقْ يُقْبَلْ

Whatever you might spend will be accepted

شَرْط (Condition) : ما تُنْفِقْ (Whatever you might spend)

جَوابُ الشَّرْطِ (Answer/Consequence): يُقْبَلْ (will be accepted)

Notice that تُنْفِقْ and يُقْبَلْ are مَجْزُوْمٌ

Example 2:

مَنْ يَذْهَبْ يُفلِحْ

Whoever goes will succeed

شَرْط (Condition) : مَنْ يَذْهَبْ (Whoever goes)

جَوابُ الشَّرْطِ (Answer/Consequence): يُفلِحْ (will succeed)

Notice that يَذْهَبْ and يُفلِحْ are مَجْزُوْمٌ

Example 3 form Quran:

…وَمَا تَفْعَلُوا۟ مِنْ خَيْرٍ يَعْلَمْهُ ٱللَّهُ …

And Whatever good you might do, Allah knows it

[2:197]

شَرْط (Condition) : وَمَا تَفْعَلُوا۟ مِنْ خَيْرٍ

جَوابُ الشَّرْطِ (Answer/Consequence): يَعْلَمْهُ ٱللَّهُ

Notice that تَفْعَلُوا۟ and يَعْلَمْ are مَجْزُوْمٌ

Example 4 form Quran:

…وَمَن نُّعَمِّرْهُ نُنَكِّسْهُ فِى ٱلْخَلْقِ

And Whoever We grant long life We reverse in creation…

[36:68]

شَرْط (Condition) : وَمَن نُّعَمِّرْهُ

جَوابُ الشَّرْطِ (Answer/Consequence): نُنَكِّسْهُ فِى ٱلْخَلْقِ

Notice that نُّعَمِّرْ and نُنَكِّسْ are مَجْزُوْمٌ

Answering a Command (أَمْرٌ)/ Forbidding (نَهْيٌ)

Similar to a conditional statements (جُمْلَةٌ شَرْطِيَّةٌ), the consequence of a command or forbidding is made مَجْزُوْمٌ to indicate its relationship to the command/forbidding statements.

This will be covered in later under Command (أَمْرٌ)/ Forbidding (نَهْيٌ) lessons.