Lesson 64
Praise and Blame Madḥ and Dhamm
المدح والذم
Arabic has special verbs for praise (مَدْح) and blame (ذَمّ): نِعْمَ (how excellent!) and بِئْسَ (how wretched!). These have a unique syntactic structure and appear in the Quran.
Niʿma and Biʾsa Structure
PatternFāʿil typeMakhṣūṣ (praised/blamed)Example
Definite noun + separate nom.Definite nounSeparate nominative nounنِعْمَ الرَّجُلُ زَيْدٌ
Definite noun + impliedDefinite nounImplied from contextنِعْمَ الْعَبْدُ!
Indefinite tamyīzIndefinite acc. tamyīzSeparate nom. nounنِعْمَ رَجُلاً زَيْدٌ
بِئْسَ (blame)Definite nounExplicit or impliedبِئْسَ الرَّفِيقُ الشَّيْطَانُ
Alternative Praise and Blame Formulae
FormulaMeaningNotesExample
حَبَّذَاHow excellent!Invariable noun after it is nominativeحَبَّذَا الصَّبْرُ!
لَاحَبَّذَاHow wretched!Opposite of ḥabbadhāلَاحَبَّذَا الْكَذِبُ!
سَاءَ مَثَلاًHow wretched an example!Quranic مَثَلاً is tamyīzسَاءَ مَثَلاً الْقَوْمُ (7:177)
نِعْمَ الْعَبْدُ إِنَّهُ أَوَّابٌ
Niʿma l-ʿabdu innahu awwāb
"What an excellent servant indeed he was constantly turning (to Allah)." (38:30 about Prophet Ayyūb ﷺ)
نِعْمَ الصَّاحِبُ الْقُرْآنُ بِئْسَ الرَّفِيقُ الشَّيْطَانُ
Niʿma ṣ-ṣāḥibu l-Qurʾānu biʾsa r-rafīqu sh-shayṭānu
What an excellent companion the Quran is How wretched a companion Satan is.
- نِعْمَ + definite fāʿil (nominative) + مَخْصُوص the makhṣūṣ is the person/thing actually being praised or blamed.
- The مَخْصُوص is nominative when it is an explicit noun (نِعْمَ الرَّجُلُ زَيْدٌ) or the beginning of a following sentence.
- حَبَّذَا is entirely frozen it never changes for gender or number; the noun following it is always nominative.
- The Quran uses بِئْسَ as a forceful condemnation: بِئْسَ الِاسْمُ الْفُسُوقُ بَعْدَ الْإِيمَانِ (49:11) "Wretched is the name of immorality after faith."
- نِعْمَ and بِئْسَ are sometimes called "frozen verbs" (أَفْعَال الْجَامِدَة) their form never changes regardless of subject gender or number.