With the Qur’an (Parts 1–39)
A series of short word-studies on Qur’anic Arabic — taking a single root, uncovering its core meaning, and seeing how that meaning lights up the verses.
[Front-matter names in the scan are unclear; they appear to read “Amran Helal,” “with humble gratitude,” and “Saifur Aslam.”]
[01] — أَحْوَىٰ (aḥwā)
When green deepens until it is almost black, and the eye sees it as dark, the Arabs called that deep blackish-green أَحْوَىٰ (aḥwā). If a woman’s lips were naturally dark, they would call her لَمْيَاء (lamyāʾ).
Now read Sūrat al-Aʿlā (87:4–5):
وَالَّذِي أَخْرَجَ الْمَرْعَىٰ فَجَعَلَهُ غُثَاءً أَحْوَىٰ
“And [He] who brings out the pasture, and then makes it black stubble (ghuthāʾan aḥwā).” (Sahih International)
[Taisirul Quran, Bangla: “He who brought forth the vegetation, then turned it into dark refuse.”]
That is: Allah brings forth green, fresh grass from the soil; then, when that grass dries under the sun, He strips away its freshness and greenness and turns it into dark, blackish dried-up refuse and chaff.
[02] — أَكْدَىٰ (akdā)
When digging a well in the desert, or digging down into the earth, sometimes a huge, hard rock would suddenly appear that simply could not be broken. One was forced to abandon the digging altogether. Such a rock the Arabs spoke of with the verb أَكْدَىٰ (akdā) — meaning, in effect, “our work ends here.”
In Sūrat an-Najm (53:33–34) Allah says:
أَفَرَأَيْتَ الَّذِي تَوَلَّىٰ وَأَعْطَىٰ قَلِيلًا وَأَكْدَىٰ
“Have you seen the one who turned away, and gave a little, then withheld (akdā)?”
That is: while digging, when the hard rock (akdā) appeared, people would stop work and leave. In just the same way, those who have turned away from Allah’s religion give a little, then draw back their hand (akdā) — as though a huge barrier had risen before them and giving any more were impossible.
[03] — فَاقِرَة (fāqirah)
Sometimes a terrible disaster or catastrophe suddenly falls upon our lives, and it feels as if its weight will break our very spine. In Arabic the spine/backbone is called فَقَارَة (faqārah), and such a back-breaking catastrophe the Arabs called فَاقِرَة (fāqirah).
Sūrat al-Qiyāmah (75:24–25):
وُجُوهٌ يَوْمَئِذٍ بَاسِرَةٌ تَظُنُّ أَن يُفْعَلَ بِهَا فَاقِرَةٌ
“And [some] faces, that Day, will be gloomy, certain that there will be done to them something back-breaking (fāqirah).”
The closest rendering is Mufti Taqi Usmani’s: “And many faces, that day, will be gloomy, realizing that a backbreaking calamity is going to be afflicted on them.”
That is: in the very moments before entering Hell, the faces of the disbelievers will turn dark with grief and anxiety, because they will understand that they are about to face a destruction so great it is like the breaking of the spine. We seek refuge in Allah from such an end.
[04] — جَوَاب (jawāb) / جَابِيَة (jābiyah)
In the old days there were no tanks for storing water. People would dig huge, deep pits in the ground for their livestock and store water there — rather like a pond or cistern. In Arabic, the singular was جَابِيَة (jābiyah) and the plural جَوَاب (jawāb).
Allah subjected a number of the jinn to His Prophet Sulaymān. They built various things at his command, and among them were great basins or vessels from which people would eat. And do you know how large each one was?
Sūrat Sabaʾ (34:13):
وَجِفَانٍ كَالْجَوَابِ وَقُدُورٍ رَّاسِيَاتٍ
“…and basins like reservoirs (jawāb), and cauldrons fixed [in place].”
Subḥānallāh! It is said that a thousand people could eat together from these enormous vessels.
Special note: Another very interesting thing in this verse is the adjective رَاسِيَات (rāsiyāt) for the cauldrons. This word is usually used for mountains, because a mountain cannot be moved. But why could these cauldrons not be moved? Because of their enormous size — or because they were carved and built fixed in place.
[05] — أَوْتَاد (awtād) / وَتَد (watad)
Have you ever pitched a tent? So that the tent does not blow away in the wind, its edges are fixed firmly into the ground with strong pegs or long stakes. In Arabic these are called أَوْتَاد (awtād), singular وَتَد (watad).
Now read Sūrat an-Nabaʾ (78:7):
وَالْجِبَالَ أَوْتَادًا
“(And did We not make) the mountains as pegs (awtād)?”
We know the earth turns around the sun and spins on its own axis as well. But despite all this turning, does everything on the surface get overturned? No! Everything we do, day by day, stays settled in its own place, calm and steady. But how? Because Allah has made the mountains like pegs, so that the surface of the earth keeps its balance. Alḥamdulillāh.
Special note: This word is used two more times in the Qur’an, and both times with Firʿawn (Pharaoh). Pharaoh is called “the owner of the stakes / pegs.” But why? That is your homework.
[06] — أَعْلَام (aʿlām) / عَلَم (ʿalam)
Sūrat ash-Shūrā (42:32):
وَمِن آيَاتِهِ الْجَوَارِ فِي الْبَحْرِ كَالْأَعْلَامِ
“And among His signs are the ships sailing in the sea like mountains (aʿlām).”
Though we are fairly familiar with the Arabic word for mountain (جَبَل, jabal), another synonym for it is عَلَم (ʿalam), whose plural أَعْلَام (aʿlām) is used in this verse.
Notice how close the word is to عِلْم (ʿilm, knowledge). Anything by which a person can know or recognize something specific is a ʿalam. In the old days there were no maps; people would remember mountains as landmarks to find their way, since a mountain stays fixed in one place. A mountain is called ʿalam because people recognized their route by it. For the very same reason, an army’s battle-flag is called ʿalam, because the identity of the fighting force is known by it. Even in modern Arabic, a country’s flag is called ʿalam. And for exactly the same reason, a person’s name (proper noun) in Arabic is ʿalam.
[07] — بَسّ (bass)
Take wheat or rice in your hand and you’ll find it quite hard. But look at wheat flour, fine flour, or rice powder — how is it? This very process of grinding into powder is بَسّ (bass).
A description of the Day of Judgement, in Sūrat al-Wāqiʿah (56:5–6):
وَبُسَّتِ الْجِبَالُ بَسًّا فَكَانَتْ هَبَاءً مُّنبَثًّا
“And the mountains will be ground to powder (bussat… bassā), and will become scattered dust (habāʾan munbaththā).”
Abdel Haleem renders it: “And the mountains are ground to POWDER and turn scattered dust.”
These vast, mighty mountains — the Rockies, Uḥud, Kilimanjaro, K2 — will all simply turn to powder and rise up that Day. Allah’s might and power, and the terror of the Day of Judgement, burst forth most intensely in verses of this kind.
[08] — عَقْل (ʿaql) / حِجْر (ḥijr) / نُهَى (nuhā)
Today I’ll give you the meaning of a familiar word in a slightly different way. Tell me — what does عَقْل (ʿaql) mean? That’s easy: intellect, reason, the faculty of understanding.
Well — ʿaql originally means to bind, hold, or restrain something. For example, ʿaqalati’l-marʾatu shaʿrahā means “the woman tied up her hair”; and the rope by which a camel is tied is called عِقَال (ʿiqāl). But what is the connection between binding/restraining and the intellect? There is one: because the intellect or conscience restrains a person from saying or doing anything blameworthy.
For exactly this reason, another synonym for ʿaql is حِجْر (ḥijr) — which also means to prevent/restrain. For instance, the semicircular wall on one side of the Kaʿbah is named Ḥijr, because it prevents people from making ṭawāf through the area inside it. In the same way, the intellect or conscience prevents a person from doing what he ought not to do.
Sūrat al-Fajr (89:5):
هَلْ فِي ذَٰلِكَ قَسَمٌ لِّذِي حِجْرٍ
“Is there [not] in that an oath [sufficient] for one of understanding (ḥijr)?”
Now another synonym: نُهَى (nuhā), singular نُهْيَة (nuhyah). This is even easier to grasp, because everyone knows نَهَىٰ (nahā) means to forbid — as in nahy ʿani’l-munkar, forbidding evil. So the intellect, too, forbids a person from what is bad or harmful. Allah says in Sūrat Ṭā Hā (20:54):
إِنَّ فِي ذَٰلِكَ لَآيَاتٍ لِّأُولِي النُّهَىٰ
“Indeed, in that are signs for those of intelligence (nuhā).”
Fun, isn’t it?
[09] — The root ج ن ن (to cover / conceal): جَنَّ · جِنّ · جَنِين
A wonderful feature of Arabic is that it is root-based: from one root come many words, and analysing them you find the meaning of the original root running through them all. An example will make this clear. The root ج ن ن carries the core sense of to cover, hide, or be concealed. Let us look at the words that come from it (only those used in the Qur’an).
1) Sūrat al-Anʿām (6:76):
فَلَمَّا جَنَّ عَلَيْهِ اللَّيْلُ رَأَىٰ كَوْكَبًا ۖ قَالَ هَٰذَا رَبِّي
“When the night covered him (janna), he saw a star and said, ‘This is my lord.'”
The verb جَنَّ (janna) means to cover, envelop — i.e., when night fell over him.
2) جِنّ (jinn). This is clear: the race of jinn is hidden, screened from human sight. Sūrat al-Aʿrāf (7:27):
إِنَّهُ يَرَاكُمْ هُوَ وَقَبِيلُهُ مِنْ حَيْثُ لَا تَرَوْنَهُمْ
“Indeed, he sees you — he and his tribe — from where you do not see them.”
3) The embryo in the mother’s womb is called جَنِين (janīn), plural أَجِنَّة (ajinnah), because it is hidden and concealed from human eyes. Sūrat an-Najm (53:32):
هُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِكُمْ إِذْ أَنشَأَكُم مِّنَ الْأَرْضِ وَإِذْ أَنتُمْ أَجِنَّةٌ فِي بُطُونِ أُمَّهَاتِكُمْ
“He knows you best, when He produced you from the earth and when you were fetuses (ajinnah) in the wombs of your mothers.”
[10] — The root ج ن ن (continued): جُنَّة · جَنَّة · جُنُون
We were speaking of the relationship between the meaning of a root and the words that come from it, taking the root ج ن ن — “to cover, hide, conceal” — as our example.
4) On the battlefield, a shield protects its bearer from the enemy’s blows — it covers the body. In Arabic a shield is called جُنَّة (junnah). Sūrat al-Mujādalah (58:16):
اتَّخَذُوا أَيْمَانَهُمْ جُنَّةً
“They have taken their oaths as a shield (junnah).”
5) جَنَّة (jannah) — Paradise — is broadly known to mean a garden. But there are other Arabic words for garden too, such as بُسْتَان (bustān), حَدِيقَة (ḥadīqah), and so on. A garden is called jannah because it covers what lies inside it. For this reason some have said that only a garden so surrounded by tall trees (such as date palms) that you cannot see inside it from without is truly called jannah. Sūrat al-Kahf (18:32):
وَاضْرِبْ لَهُم مَّثَلًا رَّجُلَيْنِ جَعَلْنَا لِأَحَدِهِمَا جَنَّتَيْنِ مِنْ أَعْنَابٍ وَحَفَفْنَاهُمَا بِنَخْلٍ وَجَعَلْنَا بَيْنَهُمَا زَرْعًا
“Present to them an example of two men: We gave to one of them two gardens of grapevines, surrounded them with date palms, and placed crops between the two.”
6) Our last word is جُنُون (junūn), meaning madness; and a madman is called مَجْنُون (majnūn). Because madness, whatever its cause, becomes a barrier between a person and his intellect (ʿaql) — it covers the intellect. Allah says in Sūrat Sabaʾ (34:46):
مَا بِصَاحِبِكُم مِّن جِنَّةٍ
“There is no madness (jinnah) in your companion.”
And Sūrat at-Takwīr (81:22):
وَمَا صَاحِبُكُم بِمَجْنُونٍ
“And your companion is not mad (majnūn).”
[11] — صِدْق (ṣidq) / صَدِيق (ṣadīq)
The meaning of صِدْق (ṣidq) is more or less known to us all — truth, truthfulness. As Allah says in Sūrat al-Aḥzāb (33:24):
لِّيَجْزِيَ اللَّهُ الصَّادِقِينَ بِصِدْقِهِمْ
“That Allah may reward the truthful (ṣādiqīn) for their truthfulness (ṣidq).”
Now then — in Arabic a friend is called صَدِيق (ṣadīq). The root of both words is the same. So there must be a connection. It is this: a ṣadīq is the friend who is truthful (ṣādiq) in his bond of friendship and love — that is, a true friend, not the fair-weather kind who abandons you in hard times.
But on the Day of Judgement? On that Day, when the misguided are cast into Hell, they will say (Sūrat ash-Shuʿarāʾ 26:100–101):
فَمَا لَنَا مِن شَافِعِينَ وَلَا صَدِيقٍ حَمِيمٍ
“So now we have no intercessors, nor any devoted friend (ṣadīq).”
Alas! If worldly friendship is not for the sake of Allah, it will be of no use on that Day.
[12] — رَمَضَان (Ramaḍān) / رَمَض (ramaḍ)
Of the twelve months of the Arabic calendar, only one is named in the Qur’an — and that is رَمَضَان (Ramaḍān). Allah says in Sūrat al-Baqarah (2:185):
شَهْرُ رَمَضَانَ الَّذِي أُنزِلَ فِيهِ الْقُرْآنُ
“The month of Ramaḍān, in which the Qur’an was revealed…”
Many hold that the word Ramaḍān comes from رَمَض (ramaḍ), meaning intense heat. When the desert sand became scorching under the summer sun, it was said arḍun ramiḍah, or ash-shamsu armaḍat-hu — “the fierce summer heat scorched it.” So when the Arabs were fixing the names of their months from the old language, the time of Ramaḍān fell in the height of summer, and they named the month accordingly.
But is there any link between ṣawm (fasting) and the root of Ramaḍān? Perhaps. The burning of hunger is called إِرْتِمَاض (irtimāḍ) — in Bangla too we say “my stomach is burning with hunger!” Again, رَمَض (ramaḍ) means to scorch/burn — as in ramaḍtu’l-laḥm, “I scorched the meat.” In the same way, the fasting of Ramaḍān burns away the sins of the one who fasts.
[13] — زَكَاة (zakāh) / the root ز ك و (growth & purity)
Zakāh is one of the pillars of Islam, and in importance it stands right after ṣalāh. Allah has joined ṣalāh and zakāh together in many places in the Qur’an:
وَأَقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَآتُوا الزَّكَاةَ
“And establish the prayer and give zakāh.”
The meanings of the root of zakāh (ز ك و) circle around two things: growth and purity. For example, zakā’z-zarʿ means “the crop grew.” So the zakāh of wealth is called zakāh because through it the giver hopes for blessing and growth from Allah in his wealth. Some say it is because zakāh purifies the wealth and makes it pure. Many say it is both. And zakāh purifies not only the wealth, causing it to grow, but also purifies the giver’s nafs (soul) and raises the rank of his reward.
We usually use صَدَقَة (ṣadaqah) to mean voluntary (nafl) giving beyond zakāh — but in the Qur’an and Hadith, ṣadaqah is also used to mean zakāh itself. Look at the very verse that lists the recipients of zakāh, Sūrat at-Tawbah (9:60):
إِنَّمَا الصَّدَقَاتُ لِلْفُقَرَاءِ وَالْمَسَاكِينِ…
“Zakāh (ṣadaqāt) is only for the poor and the needy…”
Or when the Messenger ﷺ sent Muʿādh (raḍiyallāhu ʿanhu) to Yemen, he instructed:
أَعْلِمْهُمْ أَنَّ اللَّهَ افْتَرَضَ عَلَيْهِمْ فِي أَمْوَالِهِمْ صَدَقَةً تُؤْخَذُ مِنْ أَغْنِيَائِهِمْ
“…inform them that Allah has obligated upon them a ṣadaqah (charity) in their wealth, to be taken from their rich…”
In an earlier part we spoke of the link between ṣidq (truthfulness) and ṣadīq (friend). In just the same way, zakāh is called ṣadaqah because it bears witness to the ṣidq (truthfulness) of the giver’s faith in the unseen and his love of Allah. For the person who does not truly believe in the Hereafter, and does not love Allah more than his own wealth, cannot bring himself to spend zakāh from his hard-earned, beloved property.
[14] — قِطْمِير (qiṭmīr)
Iftar or the month of Ramaḍān is unthinkable without dates. And within this very date there are some powerful, thought-provoking words of the Qur’an hidden away!
Take a date in your hand and split it in two. You will see, between the fleshy juicy part and the pit, a very thin white covering. In Arabic its name is قِطْمِير (qiṭmīr).
[Image: the thin white membrane of a date, captioned القطمير.]
Now read Sūrat Fāṭir (35:13):
يُولِجُ اللَّيْلَ فِي النَّهَارِ وَيُولِجُ النَّهَارَ فِي اللَّيْلِ وَسَخَّرَ الشَّمْسَ وَالْقَمَرَ ۖ كُلٌّ يَجْرِي لِأَجَلٍ مُّسَمًّى ۚ ذَٰلِكُمُ اللَّهُ رَبُّكُمْ لَهُ الْمُلْكُ ۚ وَالَّذِينَ تَدْعُونَ مِن دُونِهِ مَا يَمْلِكُونَ مِن قِطْمِيرٍ
“He makes the night enter into the day and the day into the night, and He has subjected the sun and the moon, each running for an appointed term. That is Allah, your Lord; to Him belongs all sovereignty. And those whom you call upon besides Him do not own even the membrane of a date-stone (qiṭmīr).”
Subḥānallāh! How weak are the deities people invoke, abandoning the All-Powerful Allah — they who do not even own the thin membrane of a trifling date-pit.
[15] — فَتِيل (fatīl)
We spoke of qiṭmīr; but inside the date there is something smaller and slighter still — and that is فَتِيل (fatīl).
Take the pit out of a date. You will see a crack along one side of the pit. Look a little more closely, and you will see something thread-like inside that crack. Yes — that is the fatīl.
[Image: the thread-like fibre in the crack of a date stone.]
Allah says in Sūrat al-Isrāʾ (17:71):
يَوْمَ نَدْعُو كُلَّ أُنَاسٍ بِإِمَامِهِمْ ۖ فَمَنْ أُوتِيَ كِتَابَهُ بِيَمِينِهِ فَأُولَٰئِكَ يَقْرَءُونَ كِتَابَهُمْ وَلَا يُظْلَمُونَ فَتِيلًا
“Remember the Day We shall call every people with their record (imām); then those given their record in their right hand will read their record, and they will not be wronged by [even] a thread (fatīl).”
“A little” — how little? Not even by the amount of the thread in a date-pit’s crack will anyone be wronged.
[16] — نَقِير (naqīr)
The very smallest visible part inside a date is نَقِير (naqīr).
Take out the date-pit. On the side opposite the crack, look very carefully, and you will see a tiny, dot-like hollow. That is the naqīr!
[Image: the tiny dot-like pit on the back of a date stone.]
Allah says in Sūrat an-Nisāʾ (4:124):
وَمَن يَعْمَلْ مِنَ الصَّالِحَاتِ مِن ذَكَرٍ أَوْ أُنثَىٰ وَهُوَ مُؤْمِنٌ فَأُولَٰئِكَ يَدْخُلُونَ الْجَنَّةَ وَلَا يُظْلَمُونَ نَقِيرًا
“And whoever does righteous deeds — male or female — while being a believer, they will enter Paradise and will not be wronged [even by] the speck on a date-stone (naqīr).”
Subḥānallāh! Meaning not even by the amount of this tiny dot-like pit.
From now on, whenever you eat a date, look at these three things — qiṭmīr, fatīl, naqīr — and show them to anyone with you. Don’t be surprised if I tell you that a Swedish Christian woman embraced Islam after being shown what qiṭmīr is!
[17] — شَفْع (shafʿ) / شَفَاعَة (shafāʿah)
شَفْع (shafʿ) means even (a pair) — the opposite of odd. For example, the ewe with its young beside it is called ash-shāh ash-shāfiʿ. Allah says in Sūrat al-Fajr (89:3):
وَالشَّفْعِ وَالْوَتْرِ
“By the even (shafʿ) and the odd (watr).”
شَفَاعَة (shafāʿah) means intercession, as everyone knows, and شَفِيع (shafīʿ) is the intercessor. As Allah says of the disbelievers in Sūrat al-Muddaththir (74:48):
فَمَا تَنفَعُهُمْ شَفَاعَةُ الشَّافِعِينَ
“So the intercession of intercessors (shāfiʿīn) will not benefit them.”
But where is the connection between these two words? It is this: the intercessor is one (alone); then through intercession he joins another to himself — that is, he makes a pair (an even number).
[18] — The root ظ ه ر (manifest / strength): ظَاهِر · ظَهْر · ظَهِير · ظُهْر
The words derived from the root ظ ه ر relate to two core meanings: the apparent / outward, and strength / power. For example, ظَاهِر (ẓāhir) means the outer, the apparent. Sūrat ar-Rūm (30:7):
يَعْلَمُونَ ظَاهِرًا مِّنَ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَهُمْ عَنِ الْآخِرَةِ هُمْ غَافِلُونَ
“They know what is apparent (ẓāhir) of the worldly life, but of the Hereafter they are heedless.”
The back / spine in Arabic is ظَهْر (ẓahr), and both meanings are present in it. The back is at once the visible part of a creature’s body and one of its strong parts — which is why carrying a load on the back is comparatively easy. Sūrat al-Inshiqāq (84:10):
وَأَمَّا مَنْ أُوتِيَ كِتَابَهُ وَرَاءَ ظَهْرِهِ
“But as for the one given his record behind his back (ẓahr)…”
A helper has many Arabic synonyms; one is ظَهِير (ẓahīr), because a helper strengthens you — as though setting his back against your back to lend you strength. Sūrat Sabaʾ (34:22):
وَمَا لَهُ مِنْهُم مِّن ظَهِيرٍ
“And He has no helper (ẓahīr) among them.”
And which time of day is most apparent and bright? Noon — which is why its Arabic is ظُهْر (ẓuhr).
[19] — عِيد (ʿīd) / the root عود (return)
The root of عِيد (ʿīd) is عود (ʿawd), meaning to return after going away, or to do again something one began before. As Allah says in Sūrat ar-Rūm (30:27):
وَهُوَ الَّذِي يَبْدَأُ الْخَلْقَ ثُمَّ يُعِيدُهُ
“And He is the One who originates creation, then repeats it (yuʿīduhu).”
So ʿīd is called ʿīd because this day of joy returns every year. Another view is that it is because people return / gather to it. The first view is the more famous.
In any case, does the word ʿīd appear in the Qur’an? Yes — but not meaning our Eid al-Fitr or Eid al-Adha. Rather, it appears in a supplication of ʿĪsā ʿalayhis-salām, Sūrat al-Māʾidah (5:114):
قَالَ عِيسَى ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ اللَّهُمَّ رَبَّنَا أَنزِلْ عَلَيْنَا مَائِدَةً مِّنَ السَّمَاءِ تَكُونُ لَنَا عِيدًا لِّأَوَّلِنَا وَآخِرِنَا وَآيَةً مِّنكَ ۖ وَارْزُقْنَا وَأَنتَ خَيْرُ الرَّازِقِينَ
“ʿĪsā, son of Maryam, said, ‘O Allah, our Lord, send down to us a table [of food] from heaven, to be a festival (ʿīd) for the first of us and the last of us, and a sign from You. And provide for us; You are the best of providers.'”
[20] — The root ب ط ن (hidden / inner): بَطْن · بَاطِن · بِطَانَة
The root ب ط ن is the exact opposite of ظ ه ر — meaning the hidden, the unseen, the obscure, the inner. As Allah says in Sūrat al-Anʿām (6:151):
وَلَا تَقْرَبُوا الْفَوَاحِشَ مَا ظَهَرَ مِنْهَا وَمَا بَطَنَ
“And do not approach immoralities — what is open of them (ẓahar) and what is concealed (baṭan).”
Just as ẓahr means back, بَطْن (baṭn) means belly. Sūrat al-Muʾminūn (23:21):
وَإِنَّ لَكُمْ فِي الْأَنْعَامِ لَعِبْرَةً ۖ نُّسْقِيكُم مِّمَّا فِي بُطُونِهَا
“And indeed, there is a lesson for you in the livestock: We give you to drink from what is in their bellies (buṭūn).”
The inner part of a thing is بَاطِن (bāṭin). As in Sūrat ar-Raḥmān (55:54), describing the people of Paradise:
مُتَّكِئِينَ عَلَىٰ فُرُشٍ بَطَائِنُهَا مِنْ إِسْتَبْرَقٍ
“Reclining upon couches whose inner linings (baṭāʾin) are of rich brocade.”
And lastly, the friend — an intimate companion who knows even your inner secrets — is بِطَانَة (biṭānah). Allah says in Sūrat Āl ʿImrān (3:118):
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَتَّخِذُوا بِطَانَةً مِّن دُونِكُمْ
“O you who believe, do not take as intimate friends (biṭānah) those outside yourselves.”
[21] — فِتْنَة (fitnah)
There is probably no one who has not heard the word فِتْنَة (fitnah), though it is Arabic. When we say “these times are full of fitnah,” we mainly mean that the times are troubled and dangerous. Fitnah basically means test or trial. But it also has a connection with burning. When gold is burned in fire to test its quality, it is said fatanti’dh-dhahab; and burnt silver is wariqun fatīn.
That is why, in some verses, both meanings are considered in tafsīr. For example, in the story of the People of the Ditch (Aṣḥāb al-Ukhdūd), Sūrat al-Burūj (85:10):
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ فَتَنُوا الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَالْمُؤْمِنَاتِ
“Indeed, those who persecuted / tried the believing men and believing women (fatanū)…”
— that is, those who put the believing men and women to trial so they might turn back from their religion; or those who burned the believing men and women, for they dug fiery ditches and cast the believers into them. Both meanings fit here and come from the salaf. For this reason many translate it: “Indeed, those who burned the believing men and women, persecuting them.”
[22] — تَوْبَة (tawbah) and its prepositions
Remember “appropriate prepositions” from English grammar at school — how the same word’s meaning changes with a different preposition? The first example I still recall: abide in (to dwell) vs. abide by (to comply). Arabic is no exception.
The root of tāba (تَابَ), from which تَوْبَة (tawbah) comes, essentially means to return — because after sinning, the servant, regretful, returns toward Allah. That is why, to mean “to repent,” we say تَابَ إِلَى (tāba ilā) — “toward.” As in Sūrat an-Nūr (24:31):
وَتُوبُوا إِلَى اللَّهِ جَمِيعًا أَيُّهَ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ
“And turn to Allah in repentance, all of you, O believers, that you may succeed.”
Or Sūrat al-Māʾidah (5:74):
أَفَلَا يَتُوبُونَ إِلَى اللَّهِ وَيَسْتَغْفِرُونَهُ ۚ وَاللَّهُ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ
“Will they not turn to Allah in repentance and seek His forgiveness? And Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.”
But when the word tawbah is used of Allah — to mean accepting repentance — it takes تَابَ عَلَى (tāba ʿalā). As in Sūrat al-Baqarah (2:187):
فَتَابَ عَلَيْكُمْ وَعَفَا عَنكُمْ
“So He accepted your repentance and pardoned you.”
Or Sūrat al-Baqarah (2:37):
فَتَابَ عَلَيْهِ ۚ إِنَّهُ هُوَ التَّوَّابُ الرَّحِيمُ
“So He accepted his repentance. Indeed, He is the Accepter of repentance, the Merciful.”
One more thing arose in passing. In the verse above, one of Allah’s attributes is التَّوَّاب (at-Tawwāb), because He repeatedly accepts the servant’s repentance. The attribute at-tawwāb is also used of the servant — then meaning one who repeatedly repents. As in Sūrat al-Baqarah (2:222):
إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُحِبُّ التَّوَّابِينَ
“Indeed, Allah loves those who repeatedly turn to Him in repentance (at-tawwābīn).”
[23] — كُفْر (kufr) / the root (to cover)
We all know كُفْر (kufr) means disbelief, the opposite of faith. There are several other words derived from it whose meanings you can only grasp once you know the literal sense of kufr. Kufr means to cover or conceal something. For this reason, night was called kāfir, because it covers the day.
When a person refuses to acknowledge a favour and denies it, it is as though he wishes to cover that blessing. So, to mean ingratitude, kufr is used in many places in the Qur’an as the opposite of shukr (gratitude). As in Sūrat al-Baqarah (2:152):
وَاشْكُرُوا لِي وَلَا تَكْفُرُونِ
“And be grateful to Me, and do not deny Me (lā takfurūn).”
How many of Allah’s blessings are upon man! Yet, instead of showing gratitude, he denies even Allah’s very oneness! What greater kufr could there be? Sūrat az-Zukhruf (43:15):
إِنَّ الْإِنسَانَ لَكَفُورٌ مُّبِينٌ
“Indeed, mankind is clearly ungrateful (kafūr).”
So (literally) the denier is kāfir, the ingrate is kāfir — and, in the same way, the farmer is kāfir too! How? Because what does a farmer do? He sows seed in the soil and covers those seeds. As in Sūrat al-Ḥadīd (57:20):
كَمَثَلِ غَيْثٍ أَعْجَبَ الْكُفَّارَ نَبَاتُهُ
“…like rain whose growth pleases the tillers (kuffār).”
You know the rulings of kaffārah (expiation) — for breaking an oath, for breaking a fast, for accidental killing, and so on — because the kaffārah “covers” that fault, as an atonement (see Sūrat al-Māʾidah 5:89).
And when a person repents after sinning, Allah forgives his sins, covering them as if he had never sinned at all. As Allah says in Sūrat al-Māʾidah (5:65):
وَلَوْ أَنَّ أَهْلَ الْكِتَابِ آمَنُوا وَاتَّقَوْا لَكَفَّرْنَا عَنْهُمْ سَيِّئَاتِهِمْ وَلَأَدْخَلْنَاهُمْ جَنَّاتِ النَّعِيمِ
“Had the People of the Scripture believed and been mindful of Allah, We would surely have removed (covered) from them their sins, and admitted them into Gardens of Bliss.”
[24] — مَوَاخِر (mawākhir)
Have you ever ridden a boat, launch, or ship? Even if not, you’ve surely seen one. The sight of a boat cutting through the water with sound and moving forward — the Arabs describe it beautifully. Allah, the Most High, says in Sūrat an-Naḥl (16:14):
وَهُوَ الَّذِي سَخَّرَ الْبَحْرَ لِتَأْكُلُوا مِنْهُ لَحْمًا طَرِيًّا وَتَسْتَخْرِجُوا مِنْهُ حِلْيَةً تَلْبَسُونَهَا وَتَرَى الْفُلْكَ مَوَاخِرَ فِيهِ وَلِتَبْتَغُوا مِن فَضْلِهِ وَلَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ
“And it is He who subjected the sea, that you may eat fresh meat (fish) from it and extract from it ornaments to wear. And you see the ships plowing through it (mawākhir), so that you may seek of His bounty and that you may be grateful.”
Did you notice the adjective for the ships — مَوَاخِر (mawākhir)? Sometimes, when a Qur’anic word comes before you, you have to scratch your head a while. This is one of those words. (It carries the sense of vessels cleaving / plowing through the water with that distinctive sound.)
[25] — مَوْج (mawj) / يَمُوج (yamūj)
I was sitting in a boat waiting to set off. The passengers were ambling toward the jetty at their leisure. The boatman shouted: “Hurry and get on. Let me get you across before the mawjā comes. If the mawjā arrives, you’ll get soaked.”
The word “mawjā” was new to me. I could tell it was something to do with the tide, but couldn’t pin it down exactly. The next morning, in conversation, I asked my father what mawjā meant. He said — waves. Oh! So “mawjā” is the altered Bangla form of the Arabic مَوْج (mawj)!
In the account of Nūḥ ʿalayhis-salām, Sūrat Hūd (11:42):
وَهِيَ تَجْرِي بِهِمْ فِي مَوْجٍ كَالْجِبَالِ
“And it [the ark] sailed with them through waves (mawj) like mountains.”
Why is a wave called mawj in Arabic? Because the root of mawj means restlessness, agitation, disorder. I trust that anyone who has seen waves — in person or on video — needs no further explanation of the link.
Have you ever seen footage of insects swarming on TV? When hundreds of thousands of insects move together, climbing over one another, one going this way and another that — a thoroughly restless and chaotic state. The Qur’an describes just such a scene, Sūrat al-Kahf (18:99):
وَتَرَكْنَا بَعْضَهُمْ يَوْمَئِذٍ يَمُوجُ فِي بَعْضٍ
“And on that Day We shall leave them surging (yamūj) over one another.”
Notice the verb — يَمُوج (yamūj). When will such a state occur? Those who connect it to the previous verse say: when Allah releases Yaʾjūj and Maʾjūj (Gog and Magog), their state will be like this. Those who connect it to what follows say: on the Day of Judgement people’s state will be like this. And Allah knows best.
[Note: Parts 26 and 27 are absent from the scanned pages.]
[28] — أَزْر (azr) / إِزَار (izār)
Mūsā ʿalayhis-salām prayed to Allah that his brother Hārūn ʿalayhis-salām be made his helper, so that his strength might increase. The answer to that prayer I mentioned in a previous part. Today I’ll tell you how Allah set down the wording of that prayer in the Qur’an. Sūrat Ṭā Hā (20:29–32):
وَاجْعَل لِّي وَزِيرًا مِّنْ أَهْلِي هَارُونَ أَخِي اشْدُدْ بِهِ أَزْرِي وَأَشْرِكْهُ فِي أَمْرِي
“And appoint for me a helper from my family — Hārūn, my brother. Strengthen my back (azrī) through him, and let him share in my task.”
The word used for “strength” is أَزْر (azr), which in fact means the back or the loins / waist. So “ishdud bihi azrī” is like saying “strengthen my waist through him.” That this is the strongest part of the waist you’ll grasp even better when I tell you it is the very part where the lungi or pajama-cord is knotted. And do you know the Arabic for the lungi, pajama, or lower garment? إِزَار (izār)!
[29] — بهت (baht) / بُهْتَان (buhtān)
The root بهت (baht) means to be struck dumb, stunned, dumbfounded. As in the Qur’an, the state of Namrūd (Nimrod) when he heard the argument of Ibrāhīm ʿalayhis-salām, Sūrat al-Baqarah (2:258):
أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى الَّذِي حَاجَّ إِبْرَاهِيمَ فِي رَبِّهِ أَنْ آتَاهُ اللَّهُ الْمُلْكَ إِذْ قَالَ إِبْرَاهِيمُ رَبِّيَ الَّذِي يُحْيِي وَيُمِيتُ قَالَ أَنَا أُحْيِي وَأُمِيتُ ۖ قَالَ إِبْرَاهِيمُ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ يَأْتِي بِالشَّمْسِ مِنَ الْمَشْرِقِ فَأْتِ بِهَا مِنَ الْمَغْرِبِ فَبُهِتَ الَّذِي كَفَرَ
“Have you not considered the one who argued with Ibrāhīm about his Lord, because Allah had given him kingship? When Ibrāhīm said, ‘My Lord is He who gives life and causes death,’ he said, ‘I give life and cause death.’ Ibrāhīm said, ‘Indeed, Allah brings the sun from the east, so bring it from the west’ — and the disbeliever was dumbfounded (fa-buhita).”
Arabic has several words for false accusation / slander: kādhib, ifk, iftirāʾ, and so on. One of them is بُهْتَان (buhtān), which is connected to the root بهت. When a false accusation is made so monstrous and vile that the listener is left stunned — unable to grasp what to say — that slander is buhtān. This is why, in several verses describing slander against innocent people, this word is used — including the two incidents involving Maryam and ʿĀʾishah (raḍiyallāhu ʿanhumā).
As in ʿĀʾishah’s (raḍiyallāhu ʿanhā) incident, Sūrat an-Nūr (24:16):
وَلَوْلَا إِذْ سَمِعْتُمُوهُ قُلْتُم مَّا يَكُونُ لَنَا أَن نَّتَكَلَّمَ بِهَٰذَا سُبْحَانَكَ هَٰذَا بُهْتَانٌ عَظِيمٌ
“And why, when you heard it, did you not say, ‘It is not for us to speak of this. Glory be to You! This is a great slander (buhtān)’?”
[30] — قُرْبَان (qurbān) / the root قرب (nearness)
My acquaintance with the word uḍḥiyyah is at most five or six years old. Before that I only ever heard “qurbāni Eid,” “qurbāni cow,” “qurbāni holiday.” Even now, ninety-nine percent of people would not recognise the word uḍḥiyyah. Though uḍḥiyyah is more current in Arabia, in the subcontinent it’s qurbān / qurbāni that prevails. My point in saying all this is: the word قُرْبَان (qurbān) is used in the Qur’an.
Even a beginner Arabic student knows that قَرِيب (qarīb) means near, close, and this root points to nearness / closeness. As in Sūrat al-Isrāʾ (17:32):
وَلَا تَقْرَبُوا الزِّنَىٰ
“And do not approach (lā taqrabū) unlawful intercourse.”
Servants brought near (to Allah) are called مُقَرَّبُون (muqarrabūn). As said of ʿĪsā ʿalayhis-salām, Sūrat Āl ʿImrān (3:45):
وَجِيهًا فِي الدُّنْيَا وَالْآخِرَةِ وَمِنَ الْمُقَرَّبِينَ
“…honoured in this world and the Hereafter, and among those brought near (muqarrabīn).”
So what does qurbān mean? Qurbān is anything that brings the servant closer to Allah — by which nearness to Allah is gained. As in the story of Adam’s two sons, Sūrat al-Māʾidah (5:27):
وَاتْلُ عَلَيْهِمْ نَبَأَ ابْنَيْ آدَمَ بِالْحَقِّ إِذْ قَرَّبَا قُرْبَانًا فَتُقُبِّلَ مِنْ أَحَدِهِمَا وَلَمْ يُتَقَبَّلْ مِنَ الْآخَرِ قَالَ لَأَقْتُلَنَّكَ ۖ قَالَ إِنَّمَا يَتَقَبَّلُ اللَّهُ مِنَ الْمُتَّقِينَ
“Recite to them the true story of Adam’s two sons, when they each offered a sacrifice (qurbān); it was accepted from one of them but not from the other. He said, ‘I will surely kill you.’ The other said, ‘Allah only accepts from the God-fearing (muttaqīn).'”
[31] — The root صدع (to split / shatter): مُتَصَدِّع · صَدْع · صُدَاع
To convey something breaking, shattering, or being torn to pieces, words from the root صدع (ṣadʿ) are used. As Allah says in Sūrat al-Ḥashr (59:21):
لَوْ أَنزَلْنَا هَٰذَا الْقُرْآنَ عَلَىٰ جَبَلٍ لَّرَأَيْتَهُ خَاشِعًا مُّتَصَدِّعًا مِّنْ خَشْيَةِ اللَّهِ ۚ وَتِلْكَ الْأَمْثَالُ نَضْرِبُهَا لِلنَّاسِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ
“Had We sent down this Qur’an upon a mountain, you would have seen it humbled and splitting apart (mutaṣaddiʿ) out of fear of Allah. Such examples We set forth for people, that they may reflect.”
The mountain would become مُتَصَدِّع (mutaṣaddiʿ) — that is, shattered to bits.
In Sūrat aṭ-Ṭāriq (86:12), where Allah swears by the earth:
وَالْأَرْضِ ذَاتِ الصَّدْعِ
“By the earth that splits open (ṣadʿ).”
When does the earth split? When the sprout of a plant breaks through the soil and emerges.
But a word that may seem odd here is صُدَاع (ṣudāʿ) — a headache. Sūrat al-Wāqiʿah (56:19), of the wine of Paradise:
لَّا يُصَدَّعُونَ عَنْهَا وَلَا يُنزِفُونَ
“From it they will get no headache (ṣudāʿ), nor will they be intoxicated.”
What is the connection between a headache and splitting? You’ll understand it well if you ever suffer a severe headache. What do we say then? “Ah! My head is splitting — my head feels like it’s cracking apart!”
[32] — غَمَام (ghamām) / the root (to cover)
In the Qur’an, several words are used for cloud. One of them is غَمَام (ghamām). This Arabic root essentially conveys covering, veiling, shutting off. For example, when hair covers the forehead in front or the neck behind, it is called ghamam; and the patch tied over a camel’s nose or eyes, so it can neither smell nor see, is called غِمَامَة (ghimāmah).
So a thick, dense cloud that covers the sun is ghamām. When Allah recounts His favours upon the Children of Israel, He mentions providing them shade in the desert. Sūrat al-Baqarah (2:57):
وَظَلَّلْنَا عَلَيْكُمُ الْغَمَامَ وَأَنزَلْنَا عَلَيْكُمُ الْمَنَّ وَالسَّلْوَىٰ
“And We shaded you with the cloud (ghamām), and sent down to you the manna and the quails (salwā).”
[33] — غَمّ (ghamm)
To convey grief, anguish, distress, calamity, the Qur’an uses several different words; one is غَمّ (ghamm). It is an intense suffering or distress that overspreads the heart and clouds the mind — much like what we mean today by “depression.”
The Muslims faced such a situation on the day of Uḥud. Because of disobeying the Prophet’s ﷺ command, a certain victory slipped from the Muslims’ hands. Not only that — the very spoils (ghanīmah) for which they had disobeyed were not even gained; instead the polytheists turned upon them, and under their blows the Muslims scattered in every direction. One after another the Companions were martyred; others were wounded. And atop all this grief, a rumour suddenly spread — the Prophet ﷺ has been killed (ṣallallāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam)! It was as though grief upon grief, calamity upon calamity.
Sūrat Āl ʿImrān (3:153):
إِذْ تُصْعِدُونَ وَلَا تَلْوُونَ عَلَىٰ أَحَدٍ وَالرَّسُولُ يَدْعُوكُمْ فِي أُخْرَاكُمْ فَأَثَابَكُمْ غَمًّا بِغَمٍّ
“[Remember] when you were fleeing without looking back at anyone, while the Messenger was calling you from behind. So He repaid you with distress upon distress (ghamman bi-ghamm)…”
This state is perhaps impossible truly to grasp; you can read the whole episode from any book of sīrah. Afterwards, Allah, to make the Muslims forget this grief, cast a slumber over them on the very battlefield (see the next verse).
A similar situation befell our master Mūsā ʿalayhis-salām. Trying to save a quarrelling Israelite, he struck a Copt with his fist — and with that one blow the man died! The very next day, Mūsā went from being a royal resident of the palace to a fugitive fleeing the land. The remorse of having killed a man, the fear of Pharaoh’s punishment, departing his homeland empty-handed for a foreign land — what intense anguish and anxiety that was.
Later, at the time of his meeting with Allah, the Lord reminds him of His favour in that hour. Sūrat Ṭā Hā (20:37 onward):
وَلَقَدْ مَنَنَّا عَلَيْكَ مَرَّةً أُخْرَىٰ إِذْ أَوْحَيْنَا إِلَىٰ أُمِّكَ مَا يُوحَىٰ أَنِ اقْذِفِيهِ فِي التَّابُوتِ فَاقْذِفِيهِ فِي الْيَمِّ فَلْيُلْقِهِ الْيَمُّ بِالسَّاحِلِ يَأْخُذْهُ عَدُوٌّ لِّي وَعَدُوٌّ لَّهُ ۚ وَأَلْقَيْتُ عَلَيْكَ مَحَبَّةً مِّنِّي وَلِتُصْنَعَ عَلَىٰ عَيْنِي … فَفَتَنَّاكَ فُتُونًا
“And We had already shown you favour another time, when We inspired to your mother what was inspired: ‘Cast him into the chest, then cast it into the river, and the river will throw him onto the bank; an enemy of Mine and an enemy of his will take him.’ And I cast upon you love from Me, so that you would be brought up under My eye… And We tried you with [many] trials (futūnan)…”
[34] — سَنَة (sanah) / تَسَنَّهَ (tasannah)
One Arabic word for year is سَنَة (sanah). As Allah says in Sūrat al-Baqarah (2:96):
يَوَدُّ أَحَدُهُمْ لَوْ يُعَمَّرُ أَلْفَ سَنَةٍ
“Each one of them wishes he could be granted a life of a thousand years (sanah).”
But today’s word is a verb — تَسَنَّهَ (tasannaha) — meaning to spoil or change. As Allah says in Sūrat al-Baqarah (2:259), of the man whom Allah brought back to life one hundred years after his death:
قَالَ كَمْ لَبِثْتَ ۖ قَالَ لَبِثْتُ يَوْمًا أَوْ بَعْضَ يَوْمٍ ۖ قَالَ بَل لَّبِثْتَ مِائَةَ عَامٍ فَانظُرْ إِلَىٰ طَعَامِكَ وَشَرَابِكَ لَمْ يَتَسَنَّهْ
“He said, ‘How long have you remained?’ He said, ‘I remained a day, or part of a day.’ He said, ‘Rather, you have remained a hundred years. Now look at your food and drink — it has not spoiled (lam yatasannah)…'”
That is: even after a hundred years (sanah) the food had not spoiled or changed (tasannah). That is the relationship between sanah and tasannah — since with the passing of years, things change. And for the same reason, a date palm that has passed many years is described as an-nakhlatu’s-sanihah.
[35] — The root فصل (to separate): يَوْم الفَصْل · فِصَال · فَصَلَ
Of all the words from the Arabic root فصل (f-ṣ-l), the general sense you’ll find is to be separated, to be set apart from one another. For example, when a camel’s calf is separated from its mother, that calf is called فَصِيل (faṣīl); and a joint of the body (where bones meet) is مَفْصِل (mafṣil) — the reason being obvious, since a joint separates two bones.
Now to the Qur’an. On the Day of Judgement, Allah will pass judgement (fayṣalah) — in other words, He will separate truth from falsehood, and the believers from the disbelievers. So another name for the Day of Judgement is يَوْم الفَصْل (Yawm al-Faṣl). As in Sūrat ad-Dukhān (44:40):
إِنَّ يَوْمَ الْفَصْلِ مِيقَاتُهُمْ أَجْمَعِينَ
“Indeed, the Day of Decision (faṣl) is the appointed time for them all.”
The weaning of a child from the breast is called فِصَال (fiṣāl). As in Sūrat al-Baqarah (2:233):
فَإِنْ أَرَادَا فِصَالًا عَن تَرَاضٍ مِّنْهُمَا وَتَشَاوُرٍ فَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْهِمَا
“And if the two desire weaning (fiṣāl) by mutual consent and consultation, there is no blame upon them.”
I had wondered: the verb فَصَلَ (faṣala) means to set out / depart — where is the “separation” in that? Then I understood: when one departs from a place or settlement, one becomes separated from that place and its people. As in Sūrat Yūsuf (12:94):
وَلَمَّا فَصَلَتِ الْعِيرُ قَالَ أَبُوهُمْ إِنِّي لَأَجِدُ رِيحَ يُوسُفَ
“And when the caravan departed (faṣalat), their father said, ‘Indeed, I sense the scent of Yūsuf…'”
[36] — The root فسق (to go out / transgress): فَاسِق · طُغْيَان · طَاغُوت
When a fruit ripens excessively but is left as it is, what happens? In time its inside swells so much that it bursts its skin and comes out. To describe this, the Arabs said fasaqati’r-ruṭabatu ʿan qishrihā (the ripe date burst out of its skin). Do the wrongdoers — those disobedient to Allah’s command — bear any resemblance to this? They too, as it were, have burst past the boundary Allah set and gone outside it. That is why one Arabic word for committing sin is فَسَقَ (fasaqa), and a sinner is فَاسِق (fāsiq). As in Sūrat as-Sajdah (32:20):
وَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ فَسَقُوا فَمَأْوَاهُمُ النَّارُ
“But as for those who defiantly disobeyed (fasaqū), their refuge is the Fire.”
Likewise, another familiar Arabic word carrying this same sense of disobedience is طُغْيَان (ṭughyān). As in Sūrat an-Nāziʿāt (79:17), when Mūsā ʿalayhis-salām was commanded to go to Pharaoh:
اذْهَبْ إِلَىٰ فِرْعَوْنَ إِنَّهُ طَغَىٰ
“Go to Pharaoh; indeed, he has transgressed (ṭaghā).”
From the very word “transgress” you can tell that someone has crossed a boundary. This is understood even more beautifully when you see the same root used in describing the flood of Nūḥ ʿalayhis-salām’s time. Sūrat al-Ḥāqqah (69:11):
إِنَّا لَمَّا طَغَى الْمَاءُ حَمَلْنَاكُمْ فِي الْجَارِيَةِ
“Indeed, when the water overflowed (ṭaghā), We carried you in the sailing ship.”
That is why one who is a sinner and disobedient, who crosses every measure of transgression, is a طَاغُوت (ṭāghūt).
[37] — The root فجر (to split / crack): فَجْر · فَاجِر · فُجَّار
The original meaning of the root فجر (f-j-r) is a hole, gap, crack, fissure. In the Qur’an, words from this root are used several times in describing springs — because a spring or fountain bursts out by splitting rock and mountain.
For example, when the Children of Israel were thirsty in the desert and Mūsā ʿalayhis-salām prayed, Allah commanded him to strike a rock with his staff. Sūrat al-Baqarah (2:60):
وَإِذِ اسْتَسْقَىٰ مُوسَىٰ لِقَوْمِهِ فَقُلْنَا اضْرِب بِّعَصَاكَ الْحَجَرَ ۖ فَانفَجَرَتْ مِنْهُ اثْنَتَا عَشْرَةَ عَيْنًا ۖ قَدْ عَلِمَ كُلُّ أُنَاسٍ مَّشْرَبَهُمْ
“And [recall] when Mūsā prayed for water for his people, and We said, ‘Strike the rock with your staff’ — and there gushed forth (fanfajarat) from it twelve springs, each people knowing its drinking place.”
Now tell me — what is the Arabic for dawn? فَجْر (fajr). Because dawn comes by splitting open the breast of the night.
In an earlier part I said the Arabic for a sinner is fāsiq. Another widely-used synonym is فَاجِر (fājir), plural fujjār and fajarah. As in Sūrat al-Infiṭār (82:14):
وَإِنَّ الْفُجَّارَ لَفِي جَحِيمٍ
“And indeed, the wicked (fujjār) will be in Hellfire.”
What is the link with cracks and fissures? It is said: the fājir keeps “looking for the cracks of sin,” and plunges into sin the moment he gets the chance. Or because the sinner tears open the veil of piety and righteousness. And Allah knows best.
[38] — خِمَار (khimār) / خَمْر (khamr)
Most are more or less familiar with خِمَار (khimār) — the cloth or scarf with which women cover the head. Its plural is خُمُر (khumur), as in Sūrat an-Nūr (24:31):
وَلْيَضْرِبْنَ بِخُمُرِهِنَّ عَلَىٰ جُيُوبِهِنَّ
“And let them draw their head-coverings (khumur) over their bosoms.”
The original meaning of this root is to cover. That is clear in khimār. It also appears in a hadith of al-Bukhārī, where the Messenger ﷺ said:
…خَمِّرُوا الْآنِيَةَ
“…cover the vessels…”
But does another familiar word come to mind? خَمْر (khamr) — wine, intoxicants. As in Sūrat al-Māʾidah (5:90):
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِنَّمَا الْخَمْرُ وَالْمَيْسِرُ وَالْأَنصَابُ وَالْأَزْلَامُ رِجْسٌ مِّنْ عَمَلِ الشَّيْطَانِ فَاجْتَنِبُوهُ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ
“O you who believe! Intoxicants (khamr), gambling, [sacrificing on] altars, and divining arrows are but filth from the work of Satan, so avoid it, that you may be successful.”
What is the connection between khamr and covering? It is said: wine or intoxicants cover the brain or the intellect (ʿaql), so that in the state of intoxication one can no longer tell good from bad. For this reason it is called khamr.
[39] — سَيَّارَة (sayyārah) / the root سار (to travel)
Even students newly learning Arabic know the meaning of سَيَّارَة (sayyārah) — a car, a motor vehicle. But the word sayyārah is in the Qur’an too! As in Sūrat Yūsuf (12:19):
وَجَاءَتْ سَيَّارَةٌ
“And there came a caravan (sayyārah)…”
There were certainly no motorcars in the time of Yūsuf ʿalayhis-salām! So what does it mean here? Its root verb سَارَ (sāra) means to walk, move forward, travel. As comes many times in the Qur’an:
أَفَلَمْ يَسِيرُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ
“Have they not traveled (yasīrū) through the earth…?”
Or as a command:
سِيرُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ
“Travel (sīrū) through the earth…”
So the point is: anything that moves along a path is a sayyārah. In the old days that was the camel caravan; now the motorcar has taken its place. But despite the change of times, the vehicle’s name has remained “sayyārah.” Shall we see another verse’s example? Sūrat al-Māʾidah (5:96):
أُحِلَّ لَكُمْ صَيْدُ الْبَحْرِ وَطَعَامُهُ مَتَاعًا لَّكُمْ وَلِلسَّيَّارَةِ
“Lawful to you is the game of the sea and its food, as provision for you and for the travelers (sayyārah).”
A musāfir (traveler) walks the path, doesn’t he? So he too is a sayyārah.
So, what did we learn? We learned that before applying the modern meaning of an Arabic word to the Qur’an, we must think “a little.”
[To be continued… in shā Allah.]