Arabic words

Meaning in context

English “form” sounds like a result. The Arabic is a verb of shaping — Allah did the shaping, and did it to you, plural, before anyone was asked to bow to anyone.

Root

ص و ر ṣ-w-r. Lane gives the form I sense first, and it is physical: صَارَهُ “He made it (a thing … or, as some say, specially the neck) to incline, or lean,” and صُرْتُ الغُصْنَ لِأَجْتَنِىَ الثَّمَرَ “I inclined, or bent, the branch, that I might pluck the fruit.” Form II صوّر is then “He formed, fashioned, figured, shaped, sculptured, or pictured, him, or it.” Lane, s.v. صور ↗ · Corpus root ↗

For reflection

All four times this verb appears in the Qur'an, it is about you being shaped — including 3:6, which locates it in the wombs. When did you last think of your own body as something that was deliberately made?

In this surah

Only here in Al-A'raf, 7:11.

On the tafsir page → Al-Jalalayn reads “then shaped you” as Adam being shaped with his descendants already deposited in him.

Meaning in context

Corpus glosses it “you be arrogant” — second person, imperfect, addressed straight at Iblis. This is a form V verb. “Making yourself big” illustrates this word’s sense of arrogance; it is not a translation or a general rule for every form V verb.

Indonesian: takabur — in Indonesian it already carries the blame, which fits this word’s meaning in context. (Sombong is the everyday word; takabur is the one that came from this root.)

Root

ك ب ر k-b-r. Lane, form I: كَبُرَ “He, or it, was, or became, great … contr. of صَغُرَ.” On the noun كِبْر: “Greatness … Nobility; eminence; highness … i.q. عَظَمَةٌ [which, as an attribute of God, signifies greatness, or majesty … and as an attribute of a man, pride]: a subst. from التَّكَبُّرُ.” On form V Lane cites az-Zajjaj: تكبّر means “he considered himself as of the most excellent of the creation, and as having rights which others have not.” Lane, s.v. كبر ↗ · Corpus root ↗

For reflection

Az-Zajjaj's definition has two halves — thinking you are the best of creation, and thinking you have rights others do not. Which half is easier to miss in yourself?

In this surah

The form V verb occurs only twice in the whole Qur'an, and both are in Al-A'raf: here at 7:13 of Iblis, and at 7:146 of people — سَأَصْرِفُ عَنْ آيَاتِيَ الَّذِينَ يَتَكَبَّرُونَ فِي الْأَرْضِ.

On the tafsir page → Ibn Kathir says the excuse was worse than the crime, and that Iblis looked at the material he was made from rather than at the honour Allah had bestowed.

Meaning in context

The sentence is the exact reversal of the crime. He made himself big; the verdict places him among the humiliated. This is abasement imposed as a consequence, not smallness he chose.

Root

ص غ ر ṣ-gh-r. Lane: صَغُرَ “[He or] it was, or became, small, or little; صِغَرٌ being the contr. of كِبَرٌ.” And a second sense: “He was content with vileness, baseness, abasement, or ignominy” — with the note صَغُرَ فِى عُيُونِ النَّاسِ, “he became small in the eyes of men; i.e., he lost his reverence, or reverend dignity.” Lane, s.v. صغر ↗ · Corpus root ↗

For reflection

Reaching upward by putting someone else below you is the move that ends here. Where have you tried to raise yourself that way, and what did it actually cost you?

In this surah

The root occurs 13 times; this active participle five times. Two of the five are in Al-A'raf: here at 7:13, and at 7:119 — وَانْقَلَبُوا صَاغِرِينَ — of Fir'awn's magicians when they were beaten.

On the tafsir page → Al-Jalalayn glosses the word plainly as “the contemptible,” and Ibn Kathir reads the sentence as exact recompense for what Iblis intended.

Meaning in context

Iblis names what he is setting himself against: he aims to turn people away from grateful faith and obedience. Ibn Kathir reports Ibn 'Abbas glossing the grateful here as those who worship Allah alone — so shukr in this ayah is not a mood separate from belief, it is belief showing itself.

Indonesian: syukur — an Arabic loanword in Indonesian, from this root (bersyukur). Lane's line is worth keeping next to it: shukr is in word and in deed.

Root

ش ك ر sh-k-r. Lane: شَكَرَ لَهُ “He thanked him; or praised, eulogized, or commended, him, for a benefit or benefits … he was grateful, or thankful, to him; or he acknowledged his beneficence, and spoke of it largely.” And on the religious sense: “he acknowledged the beneficence of God, and acted in the manner incumbent on him in rendering Him obedience and abstaining from disobedience; so that شُكْر is in word and in deed.” Lane, s.v. شكر ↗ · Corpus root ↗

For reflection

What practice could help you remain grateful and resist his invitations this week?

In this surah

The root occurs 75 times in six derived forms; this active participle 14 times. Three of those are in Al-A'raf: here at 7:17, at 7:144 (وَكُنْ مِنَ الشَّاكِرِينَ, to Musa) and at 7:189.

On the tafsir page → Ibn Kathir closes the unit with 34:20–21: Iblis's guess turned out true, and he had no authority over them except as a test.