ف ل نf-l-n
— فُلَانfulān (noun of allusion, ism kināyah): so-and-so, a person whose name is not mentioned; feminine فُلَانَةfulānah. The grammarians state that it is used for rational beings, and with the article al- (الْفُلَانal-fulān) for non-rational beings. Only once in the Quran, in the expression of regret on the Day of Judgement over the companion who led one astray: ﴿يَاوَيْلَتٰى لَيْتَنِيْ لَمْ أَتَّخِذْ فُلَانًا خَلِيْلًا﴾ (Al-Furqān 25:28) — the withholding of the name is itself a rhetorical point here: every reader recognises his own «so-and-so» for himself.