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Five words: cutting short what people are owed, the judge Shuʿayb asks for, the people who grew many, the blessings from the sky and the earth, and feeling safe. Indonesian has words from three of these roots: maaf, berkah and aman. The first is a false friend here.
تَبْخَسُوا۟
tabkhasū · 7:85 · ▶ hear ayah 85
Saheeh International: “deprive” — and do not deprive people of their due
- Meaning in context
- To cut short what is owed: give a little less, take a part of someone’s due. Shuʿayb says it right after “So fulfill the measure and weight”, and what is cut short is “their things”, anything that belongs to people. Al-Qurtubi reads it widely: running down someone’s goods, talking a seller out of them, cheating on the value, or tricks in measuring.
- Root
- ب خ س b-kh-s, lessening. Lane: “He diminished to him his right, or due; deprived him, or defrauded him, of a part of it”, and he cites this ayah. Corpus root ↗ · Lane's Lexicon ↗
- For reflection
- Where is it easiest for you to give a little less than full: in work, in time, or in a price?
- In this surah
- Only here. But Shuʿayb says the same words in Surah Hud (11:85) and in Surah ash-Shuʿara (26:183): in all three places where his story is told.
Grammar, counts and cross-references
- Grammar
- Verb, form I — 2nd person masculine plural imperfect, jussive mood, after lā, “do not”. The twenty-third word of 7:85. Corpus 7:85 word by word ↗
- Elsewhere in the Qur'an
- The root occurs 7 times: 5 times as this verb and twice as the noun bakhs. In Surah Hud Shuʿayb says it again:
- 11:85 وَلَا تَبْخَسُوا النَّاسَ أَشْيَاءَهُمْ وَلَا تَعْثَوْا فِي الْأَرْضِ مُفْسِدِينَ — the same command as in ayah 85.
On the tafsir page → Ibn Kathir and al-Qurtubi on the measure and the weight. Q1 on the discussion page starts here.
ٱفْتَحْ
iftaḥ · 7:89 · ▶ hear ayah 89
Saheeh International: “decide” — Our Lord, decide between us and our people in truth
- Meaning in context
- The verb usually means “open”. Here every commentator gives “judge”: decide between us. The ayah ends on the same root: “You are the best of those who give decision”, ٱلْفَـٰتِحِينَ al-fātiḥīna. You know the root from al-Fātiḥa, the Opening, the first surah of the Qur’an.
- Root
- ف ت ح f-t-ḥ, opening. Lane says that in the dialect of Himyar the verb means he judged between people, and he gives “Judge thou between us” for this ayah. Corpus root ↗ · Lane's Lexicon ↗
- For reflection
- When you have said all you can in a disagreement, what does it look like to leave the judgment with Allah?
- In this surah
- The same verb comes back seven ayat later, in its usual sense: “We would have opened upon them blessings” (7:96). The surah also has it once in another form, at 7:40.
Grammar, counts and cross-references
- Grammar
- Verb, form I — 2nd person masculine singular imperative. The thirty-fifth word of 7:89. The ayah’s last word, al-fātiḥīna, is an active participle, and it occurs only here in the whole Qur’an. Corpus 7:89 word by word ↗
- Elsewhere in the Qur'an
- The root occurs 38 times, and this verb, form I, 16 times. At 34:26 the root names Allah as the Judge:
- 34:26 قُلْ يَجْمَعُ بَيْنَنَا رَبُّنَا ثُمَّ يَفْتَحُ بَيْنَنَا بِالْحَقِّ وَهُوَ الْفَتَّاحُ الْعَلِيمُ — “(is) the Judge”, in the corpus gloss.
On the tafsir page → Ibn Kathir on “judge between us”, and when Shuʿayb made this du'a.
عَفَوا۟
ʿafaw · 7:95 · ▶ hear ayah 95
Saheeh International: “they increased [and prospered]” — until they increased [and prospered]
- Meaning in context
- They grew many: in numbers, in wealth and in children. Ibn Kathir says so, and al-Tabari reports it from Ibn ʿAbbas and Mujahid: they grew as plants grow. The Indonesian maaf, sorry or forgive, comes from this root, from ʿafw, pardon. Here the word has nothing to do with forgiving. Al-Qurtubi says it is a word with two opposite senses: to grow abundant, and to be wiped away.
- Root
- ع ف و ʿ-f-w. Lane, on this ayah: “They became many, or numerous”. He gives the picture too: hair or herbage that “became abundant”. Lane numbers the ayah 93, by an older count. Corpus root ↗ · Lane's Lexicon ↗
- For reflection
- When things go well for a long stretch, what do you forget first?
- In this surah
- Once more, as a noun, at 7:199, in the sense of what is given freely.
Grammar, counts and cross-references
- Grammar
- Verb, form I — 3rd person masculine plural perfect. The seventh word of 7:95. The corpus files it with the other verbs of this root under “to forgive, to pardon”, and glosses it here as “they increased”. Corpus 7:95 word by word ↗
- Elsewhere in the Qur'an
- The root occurs 35 times, and this verb 27 times. Nearly everywhere else it means pardon:
- 2:52 ثُمَّ عَفَوْنَا عَنْكُمْ مِنْ بَعْدِ ذَٰلِكَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ — “We forgave”, in the corpus gloss.
On the tafsir page → The commentators on ʿafaw, and on “Our fathers [also] were touched with hardship and ease.” Q2 on the discussion page starts here.
بَرَكَـٰتٍۢ
barakātin · 7:96 · ▶ hear ayah 96
Saheeh International: “blessings” — We would have opened upon them blessings from the heaven and the earth
- Meaning in context
- Blessings: good that comes, stays and grows. Ibn Kathir and al-Jalalayn say that here they are rain from the sky and growth from the earth. In Indonesian, berkah and berkat come from this root. Al-Qurtubi warns that the ayah is not a promise that faith makes you rich; the tafsir page has his words.
- Root
- ب ر ك b-r-k. The concrete picture is a camel settling down: Lane, “He lay down, or kneeled and lay down, upon his breast”. From the same root comes the word for a pool, where water collects and stays. Of baraka itself, Lane gives “abundance of good”. Corpus root ↗ · Lane's Lexicon ↗
- For reflection
- Where have you seen a little go a long way?
- In this surah
- The root comes twice more, as a verb: at 7:54, where Allah is called blessed, and at 7:137.
Grammar, counts and cross-references
- Grammar
- Noun — accusative feminine plural, indefinite. The ninth word of 7:96. Corpus 7:96 word by word ↗
- Elsewhere in the Qur'an
- The root occurs 32 times, and this plural noun only 3 times: here, to Nuh as he comes down from the ship (11:48), and to the household of Ibrahim:
- 11:73 رَحْمَتُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ عَلَيْكُمْ أَهْلَ الْبَيْتِ إِنَّهُ حَمِيدٌ مَجِيدٌ — “and His blessings”, in the corpus gloss.
On the tafsir page → Ibn Kathir on rain and growth, and al-Qurtubi’s caution. On the hadith page, honesty in a sale brings baraka.
أَفَأَمِنُوا۟
afa-aminū · 7:99 · ▶ hear ayah 99
Saheeh International: “Then did they feel secure” — Then did they feel secure from the plan of Allah?
- Meaning in context
- To feel safe, free from fear. The verb comes four times in ayat 97–99: did they feel secure at night, in the morning, from the plan of Allah; and no one feels secure from it but the losing people. The same root gives āmanū, “believed”, in ayah 96. In Indonesian, aman, safe, and iman, faith, both come from it.
- Root
- أ م ن ʾ-m-n, safety. Lane: “originally, he was, or became, quiet, or tranquil, in heart, or mind”. And with an object, citing 7:97: “he thought himself secure, or safe, from him or it”. Corpus root ↗ · Lane's Lexicon ↗
- For reflection
- When do you feel so safe that you stop checking yourself?
- In this surah
- This form of the verb, “feel secure”, comes in Al-A'raf only in these four places. The form that means “believe” comes again and again, at 7:96 among them. That the two meet here is our observation.
Grammar, counts and cross-references
- Grammar
- Verb, form I — 3rd person masculine plural perfect, with the question a- and fa-, “then”, in front. The first word of 7:99. Corpus 7:99 word by word ↗
- Elsewhere in the Qur'an
- The root occurs 879 times. This form of the verb, “to feel secure”, 20 times, and the form “to believe” 537 times. At 16:45 the same question is asked again, of people who plan evil:
- 16:45 أَفَأَمِنَ الَّذِينَ مَكَرُوا السَّيِّئَاتِ أَنْ يَخْسِفَ اللَّهُ بِهِمُ الْأَرْضَ — “Do then feel secure”, in the corpus gloss.
On the tafsir page → The commentators on “the plan of Allah”, and al-Hasan al-Basri on fear and feeling safe.
More words to notice
- لَّخَـٰسِرُونَ la-khāsirūna · 7:90, 7:92, 7:99
- “Losers.” Three times in this passage: the chiefs (7:90), the Qur’an’s answer (7:92), and every city (7:99). Lane calls loss in buying and selling the word’s “original signification”. In Surah ash-Shuʿara Shuʿayb uses the same root for short-changing: “those who cause loss” (26:181).
- لَّمْ يَغْنَوْا۟ lam yaghnaw · 7:92
- “As though they had never resided there.” Al-Qurtubi: the verb means to stay long in a place. It looks like ghinā, wealth, but here it is about living somewhere. The same words come for Thamud at 11:68 and for Madyan at 11:95.
- ءَاسَىٰ āsā · 7:93
- “How could I grieve.” The verb comes 4 times in the Qur’an. At 5:26 Musa is told not to grieve over the defiantly disobedient people.
- بِٱلْبَأْسَآءِ وَٱلضَّرَّآءِ bil-baʾsāʾi wal-ḍarrāʾi · 7:94
- “With poverty and hardship.” Ibn Kathir and al-Jalalayn read the two words the opposite way round; the tafsir page has both. In ayah 95 al-ḍarrāʾ comes back beside al-sarrāʾ, ease: ٱلضَّرَّآءُ وَٱلسَّرَّآءُ. That pair comes only twice in the Qur’an, here and at 3:134.
- عِوَجًۭا ۚ ʿiwajan · 7:86
- “[Seem] deviant”: crookedness. Twice in this surah, here and at 7:45, both times of people who want Allah’s path to look crooked. The noun comes 9 times.
- مَكْرَ ٱللَّهِ ۚ makra llāhi · 7:99
- “The plan of Allah.” The commentators explain it as His punishment, or as His drawing people on by ease; none of them reads it as trickery. The noun comes 19 times.
- عَهْدٍۢ ۖ ʿahdin · 7:102
- “Covenant.” Ibn Kathir: the fitrah, placed in people from the start. The noun comes 29 times; its own ayah comes later in this surah, at 7:172.
Self-check
Find the word in the ayah, then open the answer.
Which word in ayah 85 means “deprive”?
تَبْخَسُوا۟
tabkhasū — the twenty-third word, after “and do not”.
Which word in ayah 89 means “decide”?
ٱفْتَحْ
iftaḥ — right after “Our Lord”.
Which word in ayah 95 means “they increased”?
عَفَوا۟
ʿafaw — the seventh word.
Which word in ayah 96 means “blessings”?
بَرَكَـٰتٍۢ
barakātin — the ninth word.
Which word in ayah 99 means “Then did they feel secure”?
أَفَأَمِنُوا۟
afa-aminū — the first word.
| Word | Transliteration | Ayah |
|---|---|---|
| تَبْخَسُوا۟ | tabkhasū | 7:85 |
| ٱفْتَحْ | iftaḥ | 7:89 |
| عَفَوا۟ | ʿafaw | 7:95 |
| بَرَكَـٰتٍۢ | barakātin | 7:96 |
| أَفَأَمِنُوا۟ | afa-aminū | 7:99 |