Arabic words

Meaning in context

“Distress” sounds like sadness. The Arabic is about space: a chest with no room in it. The same noun is translated “difficulty” (22:78), “blame” (24:61) and “discomfort” (33:37) — the common idea underneath is no room to move.

Root

ح ر ج ḥ-r-j. The first sense is physical: things pressed together so there is no room. Lane's Lexicon opens with “became collected together: and, necessarily, became close, strait, or narrow,” and of the chest, “became strait, or contracted.” Think of a thicket so dense you cannot walk through it. Lane, s.v. حرج ↗ · Corpus root ↗

For reflection

The ayah is saying: do not let this Book make your chest tight. What makes yours tight when you open it?

In this surah

Only here, 7:2.

On the tafsir page → Ibn Kathir reports two readings — doubt about the revelation (Mujahid, Qatadah, as-Suddi), or hesitation to convey it. Jalalayn reads it as constraint about conveying, “for fear that you might be called a liar.” Both are a kind of tightness.

Meaning in context

“Remember” sounds like recalling a fact. The verb in 7:3 is Form V, tadhakkara, and the Corpus glosses that form as “to receive admonition” — the same shade Lane gives dhikrā. So qalīlan mā tadhakkarūn is closer to “little do you take it to heart” than “you have a poor memory.”

Root

ذ ك ر dh-k-r. Lane's Lexicon gives two senses side by side: to keep something in memory, remembering it with the heart (bi-qalbihi); and to mention it, saying it with the tongue (bi-lisānihi). Dhikrā he glosses as “a reminding, or causing to remember” and “remembrance with the reception of exhortation” — remembering that leads to taking the advice. Lane, s.v. ذكر ↗ · Corpus root ↗

For reflection

One way to hear it: remembering here is something you do, not something that happens to you — you bring yourself back to it. Ayah 2 also gives the Book two jobs: li-tundhira bihi, to warn with it, and dhikrā lil-mu'minīn, a reminder for the believers. The Book itself is the dhikrā.

In this surah

The surah keeps asking this. Tadhakkara (Form V) comes back at 7:26, 7:57, 7:130 and 7:201. Tonight's 7:3 is the first of five.

Indonesian

Zikir. In everyday Indonesian the word has narrowed to the spoken remembrance after salah — tasbih, tahmid, takbir. The Qur'an's dhikr is wider.

On the tafsir page → Ibn Kathir reads “little do you remember” alongside 12:103.

Meaning in context

“Allies” sounds like politics or war. The Corpus itself glosses the same word three ways in this surah — “allies” (7:3), “friends” (7:27), “allies” (7:30) — and the singular is “Protector” at 7:155 and 7:196. The word is about who has charge of you: who you turn to, who protects you, whose word decides.

Root

و ل ي w-l-y. The base idea is nearness — Lane: “it was next, or adjacent, to it.” From there he gives walī as “the manager of a thing, or of the affairs of another,” the guardian of an orphan; and waliyahu as “he held command or authority over it; had charge of it.” A walī is the one close enough to run your affairs. Lane, s.v. ولي ↗ · Corpus root ↗

For reflection

The ayah does not say you may have no guardians or leaders — wali nikah and wali murid are fine. Ibn Kathir's point is narrower: do not follow anyone against what was sent down. The walī the ayah warns about is whoever you follow when their word and the revelation disagree.

In this surah

Awliyā' comes three times: 7:3 (tonight), 7:27 — the devils as awliyā' of those who do not believe — and 7:30. The surah then answers its own warning: Musa says anta waliyyunā, “You are our Protector” (7:155), and the Prophet ﷺ is told to say inna waliyyiya Allāh, “my Protector is Allah” (7:196).

Indonesian

Wali. Same root, same idea: wali nikah, wali murid, wali kota, the Wali Songo, wali Allah. The one who is in charge because he is close. Notice the Qur'an uses the same word for the wrong ones too.

On the tafsir page → Ibn Kathir: following awliyā' besides Him means disregarding what the Messenger brought and following something else — “deviating from Allah's judgment to the decision of someone else.”

Meaning in context

Ayah 8 uses the root twice. First the act — وَٱلْوَزْنُ al-wazn, the weighing that Day is the truth — then the instrument, whose scales are heavy. And it is plural: his scales, not his scale. English readers usually hear one balance; the Arabic leaves it open, and the tafsir (below) discusses what exactly is weighed.

Root

و ز ن w-z-n. Lane's Lexicon: wazana, “it was heavy: or outweighed, or preponderated”; mīzān, “a weighing-instrument; a balance; a pair of scales.” Mawāzīn is its plural. Lane, s.v. وزن ↗ · Corpus root ↗

In this surah

7:8–9 tonight. The singular mīzān returns at 7:85 in Shu'ayb's story — “do not decrease from the measure and the scale” — the same word, this time for the market.

Indonesian

The everyday word is timbangan. Mizan is used as-is in religious speech for the scale of the Day of Judgment.

On the tafsir page → Jalalayn: “the true weighing, the fair weighing” — al-ḥaqq describes the weighing itself. Ibn Kathir grounds it in 21:47, the weight of a mustard seed, and reports three views on what is placed on the scale: the deeds, the scrolls, or the person — and accepts that all may occur.