Jawāb al-Qasam (جواب القسم)
Summary: The "response to the oath" — the main clause that follows a Quranic oath; sometimes stated, sometimes omitted; and how related sūrahs supply the missing answer.
Definition
In Arabic, an oath (qasam) is followed by a response clause called the jawāb al-qasam (جواب القسم) — the statement the oath is meant to affirm. For example:
"By the Quran, [you are among the messengers]." — The bracketed part is the jawāb al-qasam.
The jawāb al-qasam may be stated explicitly or omitted for rhetorical effect. (source: session-3.md)
The Three Sūrahs with an Oath by "Qur'ān"
Across the entire Quran, there are only three sūrahs where Allah takes an oath using the word القرآن by name:
| Sūrah | Muqattaʿāt | Jawāb al-Qasam |
|---|---|---|
| Sūrah Yā-Sīn (يس) | يس — 2 letters | ✅ Stated: "Innaka la-mina al-mursalīn" — "Indeed you are among the messengers" |
| Sūrah Sād (ص) | ص — 1 letter | ❌ Omitted |
| Sūrah Qāf (ق) | ق — 1 letter | ❌ Omitted |
The pattern: The sūrah with two Muqattaʿāt letters (Yā-Sīn) states its jawāb al-qasam. The sūrahs with one Muqattaʿ letter (Sād, Qāf) omit theirs. (source: session-3.md)
Recovering the Missing Jawāb al-Qasam
When we want to recover the omitted jawāb al-qasam in Sūrah Sād or Sūrah Qāf, Sūrah Yā-Sīn provides the answer — since all three share the same oath by the Quran, and Yā-Sīn makes it explicit. The implied meaning across all three is: "Indeed you (the Prophet ﷺ) are among the messengers."
The Principle: Al-Qur'ān Yufassiru Baʿduhu Baʿḍan
This recovery illustrates the great principle of Quranic tafsīr:
"Al-Qur'ān yufassiru baʿduhu baʿḍan" القرآن يفسر بعضه بعضاً One part of the Quran explains another part of the Quran.
This is considered the most authoritative method of tafsīr — before consulting hadith, before consulting the statements of the Companions, and before linguistic analysis.
Teacher's reflection: "This is something we need to train our minds towards — making connections between one part of the Quran and another. The Hurūf Muqattaʿāt are an interesting kind of mystery. Scholars have spent their lives on such connections and found deeply beneficial insights. Who knows — perhaps we will too." (source: session-3.md)
Grammatical Rules for Jawab al-Qasam
The jawab al-qasam is always a sentence (joomla). Its emphasis markers depend on the sentence type:
Summary Chart
Jawab al-Qasam
│
├── Joomla ISMIA (Nominal)
│ ├── Affirmative → inna + lam (or one alone)
│ └── Negative → no emphasis
│
└── Joomla FA'LIYA (Verbal)
├── Fail MADI, Affirmative → lam + qad
├── Fail MADI, Negative → no emphasis
├── Fail MUDARI, Future, Aff. → lam + nunu sakhila
├── Fail MUDARI, Present, Aff.→ lam only (no nunu)
└── Fail MUDARI, Negative → no emphasis
Case 1 — Joomla Ismia, Affirmative
Must use inna + lam al-muzahlaka (or one of the two).
The "skidding lam" (لَامُ المُزَاحَلَقَة) slips from the beginning of the sentence and attaches to the khabar of inna. It represents the highest level of emphasis for a nominal sentence.
Levels of emphasis progression: - al-baytu jamilun → no emphasis - lal-baytu jamilun → lam al-ibtida - inna al-bayta jamilun → inna - inna al-bayta la-jamilun → inna + lam (maximum for ismia) - wallahi inna al-bayta la-jamilun → qasam + inna + lam (oath level)
Case 2 — Joomla Fa'liya, Fail Madi, Affirmative
Must use lam + qad.
Exception: with jammed verbs (ni'ma, bi'sa) that have no mudari form — use lam only (qad cannot accompany them).
تَاللهِ لَقَد آثَرَكَ اللهُ عَلَينَا (Surah Yusuf 12:91) — lam + qad on fail madi.
Case 3 — Joomla Fa'liya, Fail Mudari, Future, Affirmative
Must use lam + nunu sakhila, with three conditions: 1. Meaning is future (mustaqbal), not present (hal) 2. Verb directly attached to lam — not separated by saufa/sa or a shibujumla 3. No element stands between lam and the verb
If saufa/sa separates lam and verb → lam only, no nunu.
وَلَسَوفَ يُعطِيكَ رَبُّكَ (Surah al-Duha 93:5) — saufa present → lam only.
Case 4 — All Negative Sentences
Never emphasised. No inna, no lam, no nunu. Negation only with مَا (ma) or لَا (la); not lam or lan.
مَا وَدَّعَكَ رَبُّكَ وَمَا قَلَى (Surah al-Duha 93:3) — both negative madiverbs, no emphasis.
When the Qasam Itself Is Omitted
Sometimes the full qasam construct (waw/ba/ta/verb) is omitted and only the jawab remains. A lam al-tauki at the beginning of the jawab is the clue that a qasam was present but is implied.
لَتُسأَلُنَّ عَمَّا كُنتُم تَعمَلُونَ (Surah al-Nahl 16:93) The lam before تُسأَلُنَّ signals an implicit oath even with no explicit qasam particle.
Reading Case 2 Backwards — لَقَدْ Signals an Omitted Oath
From Surah Yusuf Session 9.
The Case 2 rule works in both directions, and the reverse direction is the more useful one when reading:
Wherever You See لَقَدْ, There Is a قَسَم
لَقَدْ marks a جَوَاب القَسَم — and if a sentence begins as a jawāb al-qasam, the oath is implied even when its words are absent. The قَسَم is مَحذُوف (omitted), not explicit.
How to reconstruct it: wherever لَقَدْ appears this way in the Quran, understand before it an oath in which Allah swears by Himself — by His might and His majesty. English translations usually mark this with a bracketed "[I swear]" or "[by My might and majesty]", precisely because the oath is implied rather than present.
Composing vs. Reading
When composing, you check the conditions and then add لَـ + قَدْ. When reading, you see لَقَدْ and immediately know an omitted oath stands before it.
The Overlooked Condition — مُتَصَرِّف
Case 2 requires the past-tense verb to be مُتَصَرِّف (fully conjugating), not جَامِد (frozen).
Why This Is a نَحو Point, Not a صَرف Point
Grammarians say the فِعل مَاضٍ is always مَبنِي — but that is the morphological statement. Syntactically there is a further division: some past-tense verbs are جَامِد — they have no muḍāriʿ and no amr. لَيْسَ and عَسَى are the classic cases (compare the نِعمَ / بِئسَ exception already noted above).
كَانَ is not like that — كَانَ / يَكُونُ / كُنْ runs through the tenses. It is مُتَصَرِّف, so the rule applies to it in full. Had the sentence begun with لَيْسَ or عَسَى, it would not.
Worked Example — Sūrat Yūsuf 12:7
لَّقَدْ كَانَ فِي يُوسُفَ وَإِخْوَتِهِ آيَاتٌ لِّلسَّائِلِينَ
| Test | Result |
|---|---|
| Is the jawāb a جُملَة فِعلِيَّة? | Yes |
| Does it begin with a فِعل مَاضٍ? | Yes — كَانَ |
| Is it مُتَصَرِّف? | Yes — كَانَ / يَكُونُ |
| Is it مُثبَت? | Yes — no negation |
→ لَـ + قَدْ are obligatory, and the oath itself is omitted.
What Is Being Sworn To
Read this way, the āyah says: Allah swears by His might and majesty that in Yūsuf and his brothers there are signs — answers — for those who seek them. Given that Sūrat Yūsuf is a story of emotions mastered and emotions surrendered to, that is an enormous claim: this sūrah will answer a great many of your questions.
With the Oath Explicit
وَاللَّهِ لَقَدْ حَفِظْتُ القُرْآنَ كُلَّهُ — the qasam is stated (وَ + the name of Allah), and the jawāb still takes لَـ + قَدْ.
Compare تَاللَّهِ لَقَدْ آثَرَكَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْنَا (Yūsuf 12:91) above, where the instrument of oath is the تَاء.
Jawab al-Qasam in the La-In Construction
In the combination لَئِن (la-in) — which appears 60+ times in the Quran — the lam marks an implicit kasam before the shart. The jawab follows qasam rules (not shart rules), so no fa appears where shart would normally demand one, and the appropriate emphasis markers (inna/lam/nunu) appear instead.
See: lain-combination