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The Islamic expression لَبَّيْكَ: grammar and usage explained
The phrase لَبَّيْكَ (labbaika) is said during the pilgrimage in Islam (Hajj) before the pilgrims enter Mecca. It means: “Here I am! At your service!” But what kind of form is لَبَّيْكَ?
In this article, we will examine a pretty tricky Arabic expression: لَبَّيْكَ
The Arabic phrase لَبَّيْكَ (labbaika) translates to “Here I am” or “At your service” in English. It is often used during the Hajj pilgrimage by Muslims as a declaration of their readiness and willingness to serve and obey Allah: لَبَّيْكَ اللَّهُمَّ لَبَّيْكَ
The phrase signifies continuous submission and devotion.
Let us check it step by step.
Linguistic Breakdown of لَبَّيْكَ in Arabic
The root of لَبَّيْكَ
It is ل – ب – ى. This root is only used as a II-verb and means to follow, to obey (a call, an invitation), to say “labbaika”.
The مَصْدَر of لَبَّي
The مَصْدَر of لَبَّي – a form-II-verb (فَعَّلَ) – would be تَلْبِية . But we don’t use this word for our expression. Instead, we use لَبٌّ which is the so called اِسْم الْمَصْدَر of the verb لَبَّى. If you are not sure what a ism al-Masdar is, click here.
The dual of لَبٌّ
The word لَبٌّ is put into the dual form for the sake of corroboration (emphasis). It has somehow the meaning of: “answer after answer“, “saying after saying”, etc. –> أُلَبِّي لَبَّيْكَ=تَلْبِيَة بَعْدَ تَلْبِيَة
Check the table below for other examples. The dual is لَبَّانِ in مَرْفُوع (nominative case) or لَبَّيْنِ in مَجْرُور or مَنْصُوب (genitive, accusative case).
The accusative (مَنْصُوب) of لَبَّانِ
Why is that? Let us explain this by the famous Arabic expression سُبْحانَ اللَّهِ (Praise Allah! Or: God be praised!)
This expression (similar to labbaika) is used as an exclamation of surprise – a special form of the أُسْلُوب التَّعَجُّب.
Grammatically speaking, سُبْحانَ is a so called اِسْم مَصْدَر and is used as an absolute object – مَفْعُول مُطْلَق – which always has to be مَنْصُوب/accusative.
Many common expressions in Arabic have a مَفْعُولٌ مُطْلَقٌ serving as the first part of a إضافة-construction.
Actually, there is no other application. This word is only used as a مَفْعُول مُطْلَق.
So we need لَبَّيْنِ in our example.
Adding a personal pronoun to لَبَّيْنِ
As we connect the personal pronoun you (you here refers to Allah) and since we use the word as a مَفْعُول مُطْلَق the ن is elided – because it is connected to a personal pronoun.
Result
Finally, we get: لَبَّيْكَ
There are a bunch of expressions that are constructed similarly using a مَفْعُول مُطْلَق (sometimes in connection with the dual form, for example: سَعْدَيْكَ)
Some common expressions
| meaning | original meaning | expression |
|---|---|---|
| Praise God! | أُسَبِّحُ اللَّه تَسْبِيحًا | سُبْحانَ اللَّهِ |
| God forbid! God save (protect) me (us) from that! | أَعْوُذُ بِاللَّهِ مَعاذًا | مَعاذَ اللَّهِ |
| Here I am! At your service! | أُلِبُّ لَكَ إِلْبابًا or أَلُبُّ لَكَ لَبًّا | لَبَّيْكَ |
| And all good is in your hands. | أسْعَدْتُكَ إسعادًا بَعْدَ إسعادٍ | سَعْدَيْكَ |
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Hi There !
Thank you again for the explanations. I love your blog and find it absolutely necessary.
I have noticed that the “Books for Arabic Nerds” section is empty, but would really appreciate if you could find some time to recommand some references you deem worth mentioning (aside from yours which I obviously just ordered ! – eager to read it).
Many thanks
Hi – I have done that. In the menu you will see “Books for Nerds” – just click on it. If you have other recommendations, please use the comment section. It will be beneficial for other readers, I am sure. Appreciate it.