Al-muqaddimah Al-ajurrumiyyah [on the Science of Arabic Grammar]
The Chapter on the ISTITHNĀ’
[^79]
The Ḥurūf[^80] (particles) of alistithnā’ (exception/exclusion) are eight, and they are:
إلاّ (except/save/excluding)
غير ** ** (other than)
سِوى (other than)
سُوى (other than)
سواء (other than)
خلا (except)
عدا (except)
حاشا (except)
The Mustathnā by means of إلاّ:
is Manṣūb when the Kalām is Tāmm (i.e. the Mustathnā minhu[^81] is mentioned in the sentence) and Mūjab (i.e. positive, and not negated by a negative particle), like:
قام القوم إلاّزيداً (The people came exceptZayd )
خرج الناس إلاّ عمراً (The people left/went out except‘Amr )
and if the Kalām is Manfiyy (negative) and Tāmm, then there are the options of (1) Badal and (2) Naṣb by virtue Istithnā’, like:
ما قام القومُ إلاّزيدٌ وإلاّزيداً (The people stood exceptZayd )
and if the Kalām is Nāqiṣ (i.e. the Mustathnā minhu is not mentioned), then it is according to the ‘Awāmil (that precede it), like:
ما قام إلاّزيدٌ (No one stood exceptZayd )
ما رأيتُ إلاّ زيداً (I did not see exceptZayd )
ما مررتُ إلاّ بزيدٍ (I did not pass except byZayd )
The Mustathnā with سُوى، سِوى، غير and سواء is Majrūr only and nothing else.
The Mustathnā with خلا، عدا and حاشا has the options of Naṣb and Jarr, like:
قام القوم خلازيداً وزيدٍ ، وعدازيداً وزيدٍ ، وحاشابكرا ً وبكرٍ (The people stood exceptZayd and exceptBakr )