Passive Voice (al-Majhul)

Introduction

One of the most powerful verses about Ramadan contains a verb form that hides its subject entirely:

The verb كُتِبَ (kutiba) means “it was prescribed” or “it was written.” But WHO prescribed it? The verb does not say. Compare it with the active form كَتَبَ (kataba) “he wrote” — the vowels have changed, and the doer has vanished. This is passive voice: the agent who performed the action is hidden, and the focus shifts entirely to the action itself and its recipient.

In the Quran, when the passive voice is used, the doer is most often Allah — but the passive construction deliberately shifts emphasis from WHO did it to WHAT was done. When Allah says كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمُ ٱلصِّيَامُ, the emphasis lands squarely on fasting being prescribed, not on restating that Allah is the one who prescribed it — because that is already understood.

In this lesson, you will:

• Understand how passive voice differs from active voice in Arabic
• Learn the vowel patterns that transform any active verb into passive
• Conjugate past and present passive for all 14 persons
• Identify the deputy subject (na’ib al-fa’il) and its grammatical case
• Recognize the most common passive verbs in the Quran
• Analyze complete Quranic verses containing passive constructions

Connection to previous learning: In L3.03 Past Tense and L3.04 Present Tense, you learned all 14 conjugations for active voice verbs. The passive voice uses the EXACT same suffix and prefix system — the only difference is the vowels on the root letters themselves. If you know how to conjugate active verbs, you already know 90% of passive conjugation.

Forward connection: Passive voice appears throughout the verb forms you will study later (Forms II-X in L3.12 through L3.18). It also connects directly to L3.19 Active and Passive Participles, where you will learn the noun forms that derive from both active and passive verbs.

Active vs. Passive: The Core Concept

Plain English first: Every sentence has an action and (usually) someone who performs it. In the sentence “The teacher wrote the exam,” the teacher is the doer (the agent) and the exam is the thing affected. This is active voice — the agent is stated.

Now consider: “The exam was written.” The same action happened, but the doer is gone. We know the exam was written, but we don’t know (or don’t care) who wrote it. This is passive voice — the agent is removed.

English creates the passive with the helper verb “was” plus the past participle: “was written,” “was killed,” “was sent.” Arabic does something far more elegant: it changes the VOWELS inside the verb itself. The consonants — the root letters — stay absolutely identical. Only the short vowels shift.

Arabic terminology: Active voice is called al-maʿlūm (al-maʿlūm / ٱلْمَعْلُومُ) — literally “the known,” because the agent IS known and stated. Passive voice is called al-majhūl (al-majhūl / ٱلْمَجْهُولُ) — literally “the unknown,” because the agent is NOT stated.

The Transformation: Vowels Only

Here is the fundamental insight: Arabic passive voice changes ONLY the vowels. The root letters and all suffixes/prefixes remain identical:

The pattern is always the same: In the past tense passive, put damma (ـُ) on the first root letter and kasra (ـِ) on the second root letter. That is it. Regardless of what vowels the active form had (fatha-fatha, fatha-kasra, or fatha-damma), the passive is always damma-kasra.

Think of it like a uniform: every past passive verb “wears” the same damma-kasra pattern, no matter what its active form looked like.

Past Passive Conjugation

The Pattern: fu’ila (فُعِلَ)

The past passive pattern is فُعِلَ (fuʿila):

• Damma (ـُ) on the first root letter
• Kasra (ـِ) on the second root letter (the letter before the last)

Active to Passive: Side-by-Side

Let’s see the transformation for several common verbs:

Full 14-Person Conjugation

The suffixes are identical to active voice. Only the stem vowels change. Here is the complete past passive paradigm using the root ك-ت-ب:

Key insight: Look at the Active and Passive columns carefully. The ONLY difference is the first two vowels of the stem: كَتَ (ka-ta) becomes كُتِ (ku-ti). Every suffix — ـَتْ, ـَا, ـَتَا, ـُوا, ـْنَ, ـْتَ, ـْتِ, ـْتُمَا, ـْتُمْ, ـْتُنَّ, ـْتُ, ـْنَا — remains exactly the same.

Present Passive Conjugation

The Pattern: yuf’alu (يُفْعَلُ)

The present passive uses a different vowel shift:

• Damma (ـُ) on the prefix letter (يُ, تُ, أُ, نُ)
• Fatha (ـَ) on the second root letter (the letter before the last)

Compare active and passive present tense:

• Active: يَكْتُبُ (yaktubu) — fatha on prefix, damma on second root letter
• Passive: يُكْتَبُ (yuktabu) — damma on prefix, fatha on second root letter

Full 14-Person Conjugation

The Deputy Subject (na’ib al-fa’il)

What Happens to the Object?

In an active sentence, you have a subject (the doer) and an object (the thing affected):

Here, ٱللَّهُ is the subject (fa’il / فَاعِلٌ) — nominative case with damma. And ٱلصِّيَامَ is the object (maf’ul bihi / مَفْعُولٌ بِهِ) — accusative case with fatha.

Now when this becomes passive, the subject (Allah) disappears. But a sentence needs a grammatical subject. So the OBJECT gets promoted: it steps into the subject position and takes nominative case:

Notice: ٱلصِّيَامُ now ends with damma (ـُ), not fatha. It has been promoted from object (accusative) to deputy subject (nominative). It is no longer called the “object” — it is now the na’ib al-fa’il (nā’ib al-fāʿil / نَائِبُ ٱلْفَاعِلِ), literally “the substitute of the doer” or “the deputy subject.”

English analogy: In “The teacher wrote the exam,” “the teacher” is the subject and “the exam” is the object. In “The exam was written,” “the exam” has been promoted to subject. The same promotion happens in Arabic, and the grammatical case marking (damma vs. fatha) makes this visible.

Verb Agreement with the Deputy Subject

Just like with active voice subjects, the passive verb must agree with its deputy subject in gender and number:

Passive in Derived Verb Forms

So far we have focused on Form I. But passive voice works in ALL verb forms (II through X). The principle is the same — change the internal vowels — but the specific vowel pattern depends on the form.

Past Passive in Derived Forms

Present Passive in Derived Forms

Common Passive Verbs in the Quran

The following passive verbs appear frequently throughout the Quran. Memorizing them will help you recognize passive constructions instantly during recitation:

Quranic Examples with Full Analysis

Example 1: The Fasting Verse

Complete morphological analysis:

Word	Analysis
كُتِبَ	Root: ك-ت-ب. Form I past passive. Pattern: فُعِلَ. 3rd person masculine singular. The damma-kasra pattern (كُتِ) identifies it as passive.
عَلَيْكُمُ	Preposition عَلَى (upon) + attached pronoun كُمْ (you, m pl). “Upon you all.”
ٱلصِّيَامُ	Root: ص-و-م. Verbal noun (masdar) meaning “fasting.” Nominative case (damma) because it is the deputy subject (na’ib al-fa’il). In the active form, this would be the object in accusative: كَتَبَ ٱللَّهُ ٱلصِّيَامَ (with fatha).

Example 2: The Defeat of Rome

Complete morphological analysis:

Word	Analysis
غُلِبَتِ	Root: غ-ل-ب. Form I past passive. Pattern: فُعِلَتْ (with feminine ـَتْ suffix). 3rd person feminine singular — feminine because ٱلرُّومُ (the Romans) is treated as a feminine collective noun. The kasra on the final tā (غُلِبَتِ instead of غُلِبَتْ) is for smooth connection to the next word.
ٱلرُّومُ	Proper noun, “the Romans/Byzantines.” Nominative case (damma) as the deputy subject.

Historical note: This verse was revealed when the Persian Sasanid Empire defeated the Byzantine Romans. The Quran then prophesied their comeback in [Ar-Rum 30:3]: وَهُم مِّنۢ بَعْدِ غَلَبِهِمْ سَيَغْلِبُونَ — “And they, after their defeat, will triumph.”

Example 3: Prohibited Foods (Form II Passive)

Complete morphological analysis:

Word	Analysis
حُرِّمَتْ	Root: ح-ر-م. Form II past passive. Active: حَرَّمَ (ḥarrama) “he prohibited.” Passive: حُرِّمَ (ḥurrima) “it was prohibited.” The doubled middle letter (shadda on ر) marks Form II. Feminine suffix ـَتْ agrees with ٱلْمَيْتَةُ.
عَلَيْكُمُ	Preposition عَلَى + pronoun كُمْ. “Upon you.”
ٱلْمَيْتَةُ	Root: م-و-ت. Noun meaning “dead animal / carrion.” Nominative case (damma) as deputy subject. The verse continues to list several more prohibited foods, all as deputy subjects of this same passive verb.

Example 4: Those Given the Book (Passive with Retained Object)

Complete morphological analysis of أُوتُوا ٱلْكِتَابَ:

Word	Analysis
أُوتُوا	Root: ء-ت-ي. Form IV past passive. Active: آتَى (ātā) “he gave.” The plural masculine suffix ـُوا marks 3rd person masculine plural: “they were given.”
ٱلْكِتَابَ	Root: ك-ت-ب. Noun meaning “the Book” (the Scripture). Accusative case (fatha) — this is a retained object.

Important grammar point: The active verb آتَى takes TWO objects: آتَى ٱللَّهُ ٱلنَّاسَ ٱلْكِتَابَ “Allah gave the people the Book.” When made passive, the first object (ٱلنَّاسَ “the people”) becomes the deputy subject (hidden in the verb as the plural suffix ـُوا), but the SECOND object (ٱلْكِتَابَ “the Book”) remains as a retained object in accusative case. This is why ٱلْكِتَابَ has fatha, not damma — it is not the deputy subject.

Example 5: Present Passive in Surah Al-Ikhlas

Complete morphological analysis:

Word	Analysis
لَمْ	Negation particle that puts the present tense verb into jussive mood (majzūm) and gives it past tense meaning.
يَلِدْ	Root: و-ل-د. Form I present active. Pattern: يَفْعِلُ → jussive يَفْعِلْ. Prefix يَ (fatha) marks active voice. “He begets.” With لَمْ: “He did not beget.” The initial و of the root is dropped (assimilated hollow verb).
يُولَدْ	Root: و-ل-د. Form I present passive. Pattern: يُفْعَلُ → jussive يُفْعَلْ. Prefix يُ (damma) marks passive voice. The fatha on لَ confirms passive. “He was begotten.” With لَمْ: “He was not begotten.”

Connection to L3.06 Imperative: Notice that لَمْ puts the verb into jussive mood — the same mood form you studied briefly in the imperative lesson. The jussive shortens the final vowel to sukūn: يُولَدُ → يُولَدْ. This verse beautifully pairs an active verb (يَلِدْ “begets”) with its passive counterpart (يُولَدْ “was begotten”) to emphasize Allah’s absolute uniqueness.

Summary of Passive Voice Patterns

Here is a quick-reference summary of the two core passive transformations:

Practice Exercises

Related Lessons

Prerequisites:

• L3.03 Past Tense Conjugation — Active past tense suffixes are identical to passive
• L3.04 Present Tense Conjugation — Active present tense prefixes and suffixes carry over to passive

Next Steps:

• L3.10 Demonstrative Pronouns — Continue building your grammar toolkit
• L3.12 Verb Form II — Form II passive (حُرِّمَ) is extremely common in the Quran
• L3.14 Verb Form IV — Form IV passive (أُنزِلَ) appears in nearly every surah

Advanced Topics:

• L3.19 Active and Passive Participles — The noun forms مَفْعُولٌ (passive participle) and فَاعِلٌ (active participle) derive from these voice distinctions
• L3.20 Verbal Nouns — The masdar connects to both active and passive verb forms

Reference Resources:

• Verb Forms Chart — Complete passive conjugation patterns for Forms I-X
• Glossary: Passive Voice (al-majhul) — Full terminology and examples