Mashrabaمشربة

أهلIbn Fāris finds two unrelated senses in this chapter: ahl, the people bound to a person … (root hl)

الهمزة والهاء واللام أصلان متباعدان أحدهما الأهل قال الخليل أهل الرجل زوجه والتأهل التزوج وأهل الرجل أخص الناس به وأهل …

Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-lugha · English rendering

أهل
Patterns computed · our data

The words of أ ه ل that our sources attest: the root's letters in green, the added letters in gold.

21 words6 verbs3 verbal nouns3 participles6 other nouns1 plural2 relatives and abstracts

  • أَهْلthe people of a house or dwelling, and of a town or village, and of a country
  • أَهْلِي—
  • أَهْلِيّdomestic beast or bird
  • تَأَهَّلَbe qualified; merit
  • آهِلplace peopled, or inhabited
The whole family6 groups, by pattern; tap a pattern to see what it does
Verbs6أَهَلَ · تَأَهَّلَ · أهّلَ

The root as an action: the bare Form I, and the Forms made by adding letters before, inside or after the root.grammar →

Form I vowels: فَعَلَ يَفْعُلُ (a – u; the imperfect from Lane's “aor.”)

Verbal nouns3أُهُول · إِيهَال · تَأْهِيل

The action itself, named as a noun (maṣdar).grammar →

  • أُهُولForm I · Lane: inf. n.Lane
  • إِيهَالForm IV · Lane: inf. n.Lane
  • تَأْهِيلForm IILane
Participles3مَأهُول · مُتَأَهِّل · مُسْتَأْهِل

The one who does it, and the one it is done to.grammar →

  • مَأهُولpassive, Form ILaneIbn Fāris
  • مُتَأَهِّلhaving a wifeLaneactive, Form VLane
  • مُسْتَأْهِلactive, Form XLane
Other nouns6أَهْل · آهِل · أَهِل

Nouns on other patterns; their meaning is learned word by word.grammar →

Plurals1أَهْلِي

Broken plurals rebuild the word on a new pattern; sound plurals add an ending.grammar →

Relative and abstract2أَهْلِيّ · أَهْلِيَّة

-iyy relates a thing to its source; -iyya makes an abstract noun.grammar →

  • أَهْلِيّdomestic beast or birdLanerelative adjective (-iyy)library ×2LaneIbn Fāris
  • أَهْلِيَّةthe quality of having a right, or just title, to a thingLaneabstract noun (-iyya)LaneIbn Fāris
Why this shape?What each of the 14 patterns does

What each pattern does. The pattern gives a tendency, not a rule: many words have drifted into meanings of their own.

The pattern machinePour the root into a pattern; see whether the word exists

Choose a pattern; the root's letters pour into it. Then see whether the word exists in our sources. The machine makes shapes; only usage makes words.

مَفْعَلَةأ ه لمَأْهَلَة

Not in our sources. A possible shape, not a word we can show: the Quran, the library and Lane do not have it for this root.

Place noun with -a. The place noun with the feminine -a. Sometimes it is only a variant of mafʿal; often it names the place where a thing is found in abundance (maʾsada, 'a place full of lions'). So maktab is the place of writing, and maktaba, where writings are gathered: a library, a bookshop. Our summary

But: maktaba is not in our classical dictionaries for k-t-b: Lane and al-Jawharī give maktab ('a school'), none gives maktaba. Its sense of 'library, bookshop' fits the pattern of abundance, but that is our reading of the pattern, not a classical entry. Many mafʿala words are single items of usage (maqbara 'cemetery'), which the grammarians call heard, not formed by rule.

The grammarians on this pattern (4)
  • ما يكون مفعلة لازمة لها الهاء والفتحة … وذلك إذا أردت أن تكثر الشيء بالمكان، وذلك قولك: أرض مسبعة، ومأسدة

    Chapter on what is mafʿala, with the -a and the a-vowel always: that is when you mean that a thing abounds in a place, as you say 'a land of many beasts of prey (masbaʿa), of many lions (maʾsada)'

    Sībawayh (d. c. 180/796), al-Kitāb, ed. ʿAbd al-Salām Hārūn, 3rd ed. (Cairo: al-Khānjī, 1988), 4:94 · OpenITI line 21027–21028 ↗ · on this site · OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

  • و نحو المظنة و المقبرة فتحا و ضما ليس بقياس

    and words like maẓinna and maqbara (with a or u) are not by rule

    Ibn al-Ḥājib (d. 646/1249), al-Shāfiya fī ʿilm al-taṣrīf, ed. Ḥasan Aḥmad al-ʿUthmān (Mecca: al-Maktaba al-Makkiyya, 1995), 1:30 · OpenITI line 223 ↗ · on this site · OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

  • “designate the place where the object signified by the noun from which they are formed, is found in large numbers or quantities” Wright, Grammar I, §247, p. 148 ↗ · on nouns of abundance, maf'ala · 3rd ed. (Cambridge, 1896) · public domain
  • “Nouns of time and place not unfrequently take the feminine form” Wright, Grammar I, §225, p. 128 ↗ · on maf'ala as a variant of maf'al · 3rd ed. (Cambridge, 1896) · public domain

This root has a weak or doubled letter, so real words change shape (qāla → qāʾil, not qāwil); the machine pours the letters in as they are, and matches attested words by their regular pattern.

About thisWhat “attested” means here; the sources

Attested means found in our data: the Quranic Arabic Corpus (lemmas, verb Forms, participles, verbal nouns, plurals), the library's words (automatic analysis), Lane's Lexicon (his headwords, the Forms he numbers, the verbal nouns and plurals he names) and Ibn Fāris's entry. Nothing is generated for this list. Meanings are Lane's first gloss in his entry, or else the analyser's gloss (“auto”). Vowelling follows the corpus, then Lane, then the analyser; verbs are given in the regular perfect. Lane's Lexicon thins out after qāf, and a few of his entries cover several roots at once: those roots show no Lane. The patterns, written with ف ع ل, are computed by us.

English: AI translation
  • al-Khalīl · 170Ahl al-rajul (أهل الرجل): his spouse (زوجه), and the people most closely attached to him.

    al-Khalīl b. Aḥmad (d. c. 170/786), Kitāb al-ʿAyn. The first Arabic dictionary, arranged by permutations of the root letters.

    Ahl al-rajul (أهل الرجل): his spouse (زوجه), and the people most closely attached to him. Al-ta'ahhul (التأهل) is marrying. Ahl al-bayt (أهل البيت) are its inhabitants, and ahl al-Islām (أهل الإسلام) are those who follow it as religion. [From this it is said: so-and-so is ahl (أهل) of such-and-such. God, Mighty and Majestic, said: 'He is worthy of fear and worthy to forgive' (هو أهل التقوى وأهل المغفرة) [Qur'an, al-Muddaththir 74:56]. It came in the exegesis that He, Mighty and Majestic, is worthy to be feared and not disobeyed, and worthy to forgive whoever fears Him.] The plural of ahl is ahlūn (أهلون) and ahlāt (أهلات), and al-awāhī (الأهالي) is the plural of the plural; the yā' in al-awāhī came from the wāw in al-ahlūn. You say: ahhaltuhu li-hādhā al-amr ta'hīlan (أهلته لهذا الأمر تأهيلا); and whoever says wahhaltuhu (وهلته) follows the dialect of those who say wa-amartuhu (وأمرته) and wa-akaltuhu (وأكلته). A place that is ma'hūl (مأهول) has ahl [inhabitants] in it. A place that is āhil (آهل) has ahl belonging to it. The poet said: "And formerly it was inhabited (ma'hūlan)... then it became the grazing-ground of wild asses (al-'ufr)." And he said: "I recognized at al-Naṣriyyah the encampments... desolate (qafran), though they had once been inhabited (ma'āhil) by them." Every riding animal and other creature, when it becomes accustomed to a place, is called āhil (آهل) and ahlī (أهلي), meaning it has become domesticated. From this it is said: ahlī (أهلي) for what people and dwellings have grown accustomed to, and barrī (بري) for what has grown wild, and waḥshī (وحشي). The Messenger of God (God bless him and grant him peace) forbade, on the day of Khaybar, the flesh of domestic donkeys (al-ḥumur al-ahliyyah). The Arabs say: 'marḥaban wa-ahlan' (مرحبا وأهلا), meaning: 'you have come to a spacious place (raḥban)', i.e., ample room, 'and you have come among family (ahlan), not strangers.' Al-ihālah (الإهالة) is the alyah (fat-tail fat) and the like, which is taken, cut up, then melted; it is also called al-jamīl (الجميل).

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    أهل الرجل: زوجه، وأخص الناس به. والتأهل: التزوج. وأهل البيت: سكانه، وأهل الإسلام: من يدين به [ومن هذا يقال: فلان أهل كذا أو كذا. قال الله عز وجل: هو أهل التقوى، وأهل المغفرة «3» جاء في التفسير أنه جل وعز أهل لأن يتقى فلا يعصى، وهو أهل لمغفرة من اتقاه «4» . وجمع الأهل: أهلون وأهلات، والأهالي: جمع الجمع، وجاءت الياء التي في الأهالي من الواو التي في الأهلون. وأهلته لهذا الأمر تأهيلا، ومن قال: وهلته ذهب به إلى لغة من يقول: وأمرته وأكلته. ومكان مأهول: فيه أهل.. ومكان آهل: له أهل. قال الشاعر «1» : وقدما كان مأهولا ... فأمسى مرتع العفر وقال «2» : عرفت بالنصرية المنازلا ... قفرا وكانت منهم مآهلا وكل دابة وغيرها إذا ألف مكانا فهو آهل وأهلي، أي: صار أهليا، ومنه قيل: أهلي لما ألف الناس والمنازل، وبري لما استوحش ووحشي، وحرم رسول الله ص يوم خيبر لحوم الحمر الأهلية. والعرب تقول: مرحبا وأهلا، ومعناه: نزلت رحبا، أي: سعة، وأتيت أهلا لا غرباء. والإهالة: الألية ونحوها، يؤخذ فيقطع، ثم يذاب، وهي: الجميل «3» أيضا.

  • al-Jawharī · 393Al-ahl (الأهل): the ahl of men, and ahl al-dār (أهل الدار), and likewise al-ahlah (الأهلة).

    al-Jawharī (d. c. 393/1003), al-Ṣiḥāḥ. Admits only usage he judged sound.

    Al-ahl (الأهل): the ahl of men, and ahl al-dār (أهل الدار), and likewise al-ahlah (الأهلة). The poet said: "Many a family/loved one worthy of affection (ahlata wuddin) have I sought out and drawn near, and for them I exhausted, in praise and giving, my utmost effort and my bounty." That is: many a one worthy (ahl) of affection have I approached and for whom I expended, in praise, my full capacity and my generosity. The plural is ahalāt (أهلات), ahlāt (أهلات), and āhāl (أهال) — they added the yā' in it against analogy, just as they made the plural of layl (ليل) layālī (ليال). It has also come in poetry as āhāl (آهال), like firkh/afrākh (فرخ وأفراخ) and zand/aznād (زند وأزناد). Al-Akhfash cited: "...and a land whose inhabitants (āhāluhā) are not [ordinary] folk..." A place that is manzil āhil (منزل آهل) means it has its ahl [inhabitants] in it. Al-ihālah (الإهالة) is al-wadak (الودك) [melted fat]. Al-musta'hil (المستأهل) is one who takes al-ihālah or eats it. The poet said: "Nay, eat, O Yāmā, and take your due (ista'hilī)! Indeed what I have spent is from my own wealth." You say: 'so-and-so is ahl (أهل) for such-and-such,' and do not say mustā'hil (مستأهل) — though the common people do say it. It is said: ahila fulānun ya'halu wa-ya'hulu uhūlan (أهل فلان يأهل ويأهل أهولا), meaning he married; likewise ta'ahhala (تأهل). Al-Kisā'ī said: ahiltu bi-l-rajuli (أهلت بالرجل) means I grew familiar with him. Their saying 'marḥaban wa-ahlan' (مرحبا وأهلا) means: you have come to spaciousness (si'ah) and you have come among family (ahlan) — so feel at ease, and do not feel a stranger. Abū Zayd said: āhalaka Allāhu fī al-jannah īhālan (آهلك الله في الجنة إيهالا) means He admitted you into it and gave you a spouse there. And ahhalaka Allāhu li-l-khayr ta'hīlan (أهلك الله للخير تأهيلا) [may God make you fit for good].

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    الاهل: أهل الرجال، وأهل الدار، وكذلك الأهلة. قال الشاعر (4) وأهلة ود قد تبريت ودهم وأبليتهم في الحمد جهدي ونائلي أي رب من هو أهل للود قد تعرضت له وبذلت له في ذلك طاقتي من نائلي. والجمع أهلات، وأهلات، وأهال، زادوا فيه الياء على غير قياس، كما جمعوا ليلا على ليال. وقد جاء في الشعر آهال مثل فرخ وأفراخ، وزند وأزناد. وأنشد الأخفش: وبلدة ما الإنس من آهالها (1) * ومنزل آهل، أي به أهله. والإهالة: الودك. والمستأهل: الذي يأخذ الإهالة، أو يأكلها. قال الشاعر (2) : لابل كلى يامى (3) واستأهلي إن الذى أنفقت من ماليه وتقول: فلان أهل لكذا، ولا تقل: مستأهل، والعامة تقوله. وقد أهل فلان يأهل ويأهل أهولا، أي تزوج، وكذلك تأهل. قال الكسائي: أهلت بالرجل، إذا آنست به. وقولهم: مرحبا وأهلا، أي أتيت سعة وأتيت أهلا، فاستأنس ولا تستوحش. قال أبو زيد: آهلك الله في الجنة إيهالا، أي أدخلكها وزوجك فيها. وأهلك الله للخير تأهيلا.

  • Ibn Fāris · 395The hamza, hā', and lām [root a-h-l] have two divergent original meanings.

    Ibn Fāris (d. 395/1004), Maqāyīs al-Lugha. Seeks each root's original sense (aṣl).

    The hamza, hā', and lām [root a-h-l] have two divergent original meanings. The first is ahl (الأهل). Al-Khalīl said: ahl al-rajul (أهل الرجل) is his spouse (زوجه — i.e., his wife). Al-ta'ahhul (التأهل) is marrying. Ahl al-rajul (أهل الرجل) are those most closely attached to him among people. Ahl al-bayt (أهل البيت) are its inhabitants. Ahl al-Islām (أهل الإسلام) are those who follow it as their religion. The plural of ahl is ahlūn (أهلون), and al-awāhī (الأهالي) is the plural of the plural. Al-Nābighah said: "Three families (ahlīn) I outlived/destroyed them... and God alone remained the one sought for solace (al-musta'āsā)." You say: ahhaltuhu li-hādhā al-amr ta'hīlan (أهلته لهذا الأمر تأهيلا) — 'I made him fit for this matter.' A place that is ma'hūl (مأهول) [is inhabited]. [The poet] said: "And formerly it was inhabited (ma'hūlan)... then it became the grazing-ground of wild asses (al-'ufr)." And the rajaz-poet said: "I recognized at al-Naṣriyyah the encampments... desolate (qafran), though they had once been inhabited (ma'āhil) by them." Everything among riding animals and others, when it becomes accustomed to a place, is called āhil (آهل) and ahlī (أهلي). In the hadith: 'He forbade the flesh of domestic donkeys (al-ḥumur al-ahliyyah)' [لحوم الحمر الأهلية]. Some said the Arabs say: āhalaka Allāhu fī al-jannah īhālan (آهلك الله في الجنة إيهالا), meaning 'may He give you a spouse there.' The other original meaning is al-ihālah (الإهالة). Al-Khalīl said: al-ihālah (الإهالة) is the alyah (fat-tail fat) and the like, which is taken, cut up, and melted down — that is al-ihālah, also called al-jamīl (الجميل) and al-jamālah (الجمالة).

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    الهمزة والهاء واللام أصلان متباعدان أحدهما الأهل قال الخليل أهل الرجل زوجه والتأهل التزوج وأهل الرجل أخص الناس به وأهل البيت سكانه وأهل الإسلام من يدين به وجميع الأهل أهلون والأهالي جماعة الجماعة قال النابغة — ثلاثة أهلين أفنيتهم … وكان الإله هو المستآسا … وتقول أهلته لهذا الأمر تأهيلا ومكان آهل مأهول قال — وقدما كان مأهولا … فأمسى مرتع العفر … وقال الراجز — عرفت بالنصرية المنازلا … قفرا وكانت منهم مآهلا … وكل شيء من الدواب وغيرها إذا ألف مكانا فهو آهل وأهلي وفي الحديث نهى عن لحوم الحمر الأهلية وقال بعضهم تقول العرب آهلك الله في الجنة إيهالا أي زوجك فيها والأصل الآخر الإهالة قال الخليل الإهالة الألية ونحوها يؤخذ فيقطع ويذاب فتلك الإهالة والجميل والجمالة

  • al-Rāghib · 502Ahl al-rajul (أهل الرجل): those joined with him and with whom he shares lineage (nasab) or religion (dīn), or whatever functions in their place, such as craft, household, or homeland.

    al-Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī (d. c. 502/1108), al-Mufradāt. Quranic vocabulary, from core sense to Quranic usage.

    Ahl al-rajul (أهل الرجل): those joined with him and with whom he shares lineage (nasab) or religion (dīn), or whatever functions in their place, such as craft, household, or homeland. Ahl al-rajul (أهل الرجل) originally means those with whom he shares a single dwelling; then it was extended metaphorically to those joined with him by lineage. It became customary, when 'ahl al-bayt' (أهل البيت) is used absolutely, to mean the family of the Prophet (peace and blessings upon him), because of His words, Mighty and Majestic: 'God only wishes to remove impurity from you, O People of the House (ahl al-bayt)' [Qur'an, al-Aḥzāb 33:33]. And 'ahl al-rajul' (أهل الرجل) is used to mean his wife. Ahl al-Islām (أهل الإسلام) are those joined together by it. Since the Sharī'ah ruled that the effect of lineage is lifted in many rulings between the Muslim and the disbeliever, He, Exalted, said: 'Indeed he is not of your family (ahlika); indeed his conduct is other than righteous' [Qur'an, Hūd 11:46], and He, Exalted, said: 'and your family (ahlaka), except him against whom the word has already gone forth' [Qur'an, Hūd 11:40]. It is said: ahila al-rajulu ya'halu uhūlan (أهل الرجل يأهل أهولا); and it is said: a place that is ma'hūl (مأهول) has its ahl [inhabitants] in it, and uhila bihi (أهل به) means it became populated with people and inhabitants. Any riding animal that becomes accustomed to a place is called āhil (آهل) and ahlī (أهلي). Ta'ahhala (تأهل) means he married; from this it is said: āhalaka Allāhu fī al-jannah (آهلك الله في الجنة), meaning He gave you a spouse there and made for you therein a family joining you together with them. It is said: 'so-and-so is ahl (أهل) for such-and-such,' meaning he is worthy of it. 'Marḥaban wa-ahlan' (مرحبا وأهلا) is a greeting to one who comes to lodge with someone, meaning: 'you have found spaciousness of place with us'; and from this comes [the expression] 'he is like an ahl bayt (أهل بيت) to you' in matters of affection. The plural of ahl is ahlūn (أهلون), āhāl (أهال), and ahlāt (أهلات).

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    أهل الرجل: من يجمعه وإياهم نسب أو دين، أو ما يجري مجراهما من صناعة وبيت وبلد، وأهل الرجل في الأصل: من يجمعه وإياهم مسكن واحد، ثم تجوز به فقيل: أهل الرجل لمن يجمعه وإياهم نسب، وتعورف في أسرة النبي عليه الصلاة والسلام مطلقا إذا قيل: أهل البيت لقوله عز وجل: إنما يريد الله ليذهب عنكم الرجس أهل البيت [الأحزاب/ 33] ، وعبر بأهل الرجل عن امرأته. وأهل الإسلام: من يجمعهم، ولما كانت الشريعة حكمت برفع حكم النسب في كثير من الأحكام بين المسلم والكافر قال تعالى: إنه ليس من أهلك إنه عمل غير صالح [هود/ 46] ، وقال تعالى: وأهلك إلا من سبق عليه القول [هود/ 40] . وقيل: أهل الرجل يأهل أهولا، وقيل: مكان مأهول «4» : فيه أهله، وأهل به: إذا صار ذا ناس وأهل، وكل دابة ألف مكانا يقال: أهل وأهلي. وتأهل: إذا تزوج، ومنه قيل: آهلك الله في الجنة «1» ، أي: زوجك فيها وجعل لك فيها أهلا يجمعك وإياهم، ويقال: فلان أهل لكذا، أي: خليق به، ومرحبا وأهلا في التحية للنازل بالإنسان، أي: وجدت سعة مكان عندنا، ومن هو أهل بيت لك في الشفقة «2» . وجمع الأهل: أهلون وأهال وأهلات.

  • Lisān · 711Al-ahl (الأهل): ahl al-rajul (أهل الرجل) and ahl al-dār (أهل الدار), and likewise al-ahlah (الأهلة).

    Ibn Manẓūr (d. 711/1311), Lisān al-ʿArab. The great compendium of the earlier dictionaries (entry shortened).

    Al-ahl (الأهل): ahl al-rajul (أهل الرجل) and ahl al-dār (أهل الدار), and likewise al-ahlah (الأهلة). Abū al-Ṭamḥān said: "Many a family/loved one worthy of affection (ahlata wuddin) have I sought out and drawn near, and for them I exhausted, in praise and giving, my utmost effort and my bounty." Ibn Sīdah [said]: ahl al-rajul (أهل الرجل) is his clan ('ashīrah) and his kinsmen (dhawū qurbāh); its plural is ahlūn (أهلون), āhāl (آهال), āhāl (أهال), and ahlāt/ahlāt (أهلات). Al-Mukhabbal al-Sa'dī said: "And they are families (ahlāt) around Qays ibn 'Āṣim, when they journey by night they call upon Kawthar." Al-Jawharī cited: "...and a land whose inhabitants (āhāluhā) are not [ordinary] folk, in which you see the 'awhaq [bird] among its refuge-takers (wa'āluhā)." Wa'āluhā (وئالها) is the plural of wā'il (وائل), like qā'im/qiyām (قائم وقيام); it is also transmitted as: "...and a land whose diviner (ḥāzī) traverses its mirage (āluhā)..." Sībawayh said: they say ahlāt (أهلات), lightening [the vowel], likening it to ṣa'bāt (صعبات), since ahl (أهل) is masculine and takes wāw and nūn [in its sound plural]; then when its feminine counterpart arose, like the feminine of ṣa'b (صعب), it was treated the same way. Ibn Barrī said: a witness for the use of al-ahl, as related by Abū al-Qāsim al-Zajjājī, is that Ḥakīm ibn Mu'ayyah al-Rab'ī used to favor al-Farazdaq over Jarīr; so Jarīr satirized Ḥakīm, and Kinānah ibn Rabī'ah — or his brother Rab'ī ibn Rabī'ah — took up his defense, saying in satire of Jarīr: "You grew angry at us because your maternal uncle surpassed him — why then are you not angry over your own two young goats? The two of them, when a man strives in the endeavor of his family (ahlihi), have knelt down [submitted], so may the twisted rope (al-'iqāl al-mu'arrab) bind you fast. Nor is the vast, swelling sea made like a doubtful well whose water is held in suspicion and watched. Are you not a Kulaybī, of the basest father? Or was your mother most base — the one who bore you — or your father?" Sībawayh related, in the plural of ahl, ahlūn (أهلون). Al-Khalīl was asked: why did they leave the hā' quiescent and not vowel it as they voweled arḍīn (أرضين)? He said: because ahl (أهل) is masculine. It was said: then why do they say ahlāt (أهلات)? He said: they likened it to arḍāt (أرضات); and he cited the verse of al-Mukhabbal al-Sa'dī. He said: some Arabs say ahlāt (أهلات) by analogy. Al-awāhī (الأهالي) is the plural of the plural, and the yā' in al-awāhī came from the yā' in al-ahlīn (الأهلين). In the hadith: 'Ahl al-Qur'ān (أهل القرآن) are the people of God (ahl Allāh) and His special ones' — meaning the memorizers of the Qur'an who act upon it are the friends of God and specially attached to Him, just as a man's ahl (family) are specially attached to him. In the hadith of Abū Bakr concerning his appointment of 'Umar as successor: 'I will say to him, when I meet him: you employed over them the best of your ahl (family)' — meaning the best of the Muhājirūn, for they used to call the people of Mecca 'Ahl Allāh' (أهل الله) in veneration of them, just as one says 'Bayt Allāh' (بيت الله); or he may have meant 'ahl bayt Allāh' [the people of the House of God], since they were its dwellers. In the hadith of Umm Salamah: 'There is no humiliation upon you before your ahl (أهلك)' — he meant by 'al-ahl' himself (peace be upon him), i.e., no humiliation attaches to you or befalls you before him. Ittahala al-rajulu (اتهل الرجل): he took a family/married. [The poet] said: "In an abode where provisions are divided among them, as though our family (ahlanā) from it were what he had taken as family (ittahala)." Thus it was cited. [entry continues]

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    الأهل: أهل الرجل وأهل الدار، وكذلك الأهلة؛ قال أبو الطمحان: وأهلة ود قد تبريت ودهم، ... وأبليتهم في الحمد جهدي ونائلي ابن سيده: أهل الرجل عشيرته وذوو قرباه، والجمع أهلون وآهال وأهال وأهلات وأهلات؛ قال المخبل السعدي: وهم أهلات حول قيس بن عاصم، ... إذا أدلجوا بالليل يدعون كوثرا وأنشد الجوهري: وبلدة ما الإنس من آهالها، ... ترى بها العوهق من وئالها وئالها: جمع وائل كقائم وقيام؛ ويروى البيت: وبلدة يستن حازي آلها قال سيبويه: وقالوا أهلات، فخففوا، شبهوها بصعبات حيث كان أهل مذكرا تدخله الواو والنون، فلما جاء مؤنثه كمؤنث صعب فعل به كما فعل بمؤنث صعب؛ قال ابن بري: وشاهد الأهل فيما حكى أبو القاسم الزجاجي أن حكيم بن معية الربعي كان يفضل الفرزدق على جرير، فهجا جرير حكيما فانتصر له كنان بن ربيعة أو أخوه ربعي بن ربيعة، فقال يهجو جريرا: غضبت علينا أن علاك ابن غالب، ... فهلا على جديك، في ذاك، تغضب؟ هما، حين يسعى المرء مسعاة أهله، ... أناخا فشداك العقال المؤرب «3». وما يجعل البحر الخضم، إذا طما، ... كجد ظنون، ماؤه يترقب ألست كليبيا لألأم والد، ... وألأم أم فرجت بك أو أب؟ وحكى سيبويه في جمع أهل: أهلون، وسئل الخليل: لم سكنوا الهاء ولم يحركوها كما حركوا أرضين؟ فقال: لأن الأهل مذكر، قيل: فلم قالوا أهلات؟ قال: شبهوها بأرضات، وأنشد بيت المخبل السعدي، قال: ومن العرب من يقول أهلات على القياس. والأهالي: جمع الجمع وجاءت الياء التي في أهالي من الياء التي في الأهلين. وفي الحديث: أهل القرآن هم أهل الله وخاصته أي حفظة القرآن العاملون به هم أولياء الله والمختصون به اختصاص أهل الإنسان به. وفي حديث أبي بكر في استخلافه عمر: أقول له، إذا لقيته، استعملت عليهم خير أهلك ؛ يريد خير المهاجرين وكانوا يسمون أهل مكة أهل الله تعظيما لهم كما يقال بيت الله، ويجوز أن يكون أراد أهل بيت الله لأنهم كانوا سكان بيت الله. وفي حديث أم سلمة: ليس بك على أهلك هوان ؛ أراد بالأهل نفسه، عليه السلام، أي لا يعلق بك ولا يصيبك هوان عليهم. واتهل الرجل: اتخذ أهلا؛ قال: في دارة تقسم الأزواد بينهم، ... كأنما أهلنا منها الذي اتهلا كذا أنشده بقلب الياء تاء ثم إدغامها في التاء الثانية، كما حكي من قولهم اتمنته، وإلا فحكمه الهمزة أو التخفيف القياسي أي كأن أهلنا أهله عنده أي مثلهم فيما يراه لهم من الحق. وأهل المذهب: من يدين به. وأهل الإسلام: من يدين به. وأهل الأمر: ولاته. وأهل البيت: سكانه. وأهل الرجل: أخص الناس به. وأهل بيت النبي، صلى الله عليه وسلم: أزواجه وبناته وصهره، أعني عليا، عليه السلام، وقيل: نساء النبي، صلى الله عليه وسلم، والرجال الذين هم آله. وفي التنزيل العزيز: إنما يريد الله ليذهب عنكم الرجس أهل البيت ؛ القراءة أهل بالنصب على المدح كما قال: بك الله نرجو الفضل وسبحانك الله العظيم، أو على النداء كأنه قال يا أهل البيت. وقوله عز وجل لنوح، عليه السلام: إنه ليس من أهلك ؛ قال الزجاج: أراد ليس من أهلك الذين وعدتهم أن أنجيهم، قال: ويجوز أن يكون ليس من أهل دينك. وأهل كل نبي: أمته. ومنزل آهل أي به أهله. ابن سيده: ومكان آهل له أهل؛ سيبويه: هو على النسب، ومأهول: فيه أهل؛ قال الشاعر: وقدما كان مأهولا، ... وأمسى مرتع العفر وقال رؤبة: عرفت بالنصرية المنازلا ... قفرا، وكانت منهم مآهلا ومكان مأهول، وقد جاء: أهل؛ قال العجاج: قفرين هذا ثم ذا لم يؤهل وكل شيء من الدواب وغيرها ألف المنازل أهلي وآهل؛ الأخيرة على النسب، وكذلك قيل لما ألف الناس والقرى أهلي، ولما استوحش بري ووحشي كالحمار الوحشي. والأهلي: هو الإنسي. ونهى رسول الله، صلى الله عليه وسلم، عن أكل لحوم الحمر الأهلية يوم خيبر ؛ هي الحمر التي تألف البيوت ولها أصحاب وهي مثل الأنسية ضد الوحشية. وقولهم في الدعاء: مرحبا وأهلا أي أتيت رحبا أي سعة، وفي المحكم أي أتيت أهلا لا غرباء فاسأنس ولا تستوحش. وأهل به: قال له أهلا. وأهل به: أنس. الكسائي والفراء: أهلت به وودقت به إذا استأنست به؛ قال ابن بري: المضارع منه آهل به، بفتح الهاء. وهو أهل لكذا أي مستوجب له، الواحد والجمع في ذلك سواء، وعلى هذا قالوا: الملك لله أهل الملك. وفي التنزيل العزيز: هو أهل التقوى وأهل المغفرة ؛ جاء في التفسير: أنه، عز وجل، أهل لأن يتقى فلا يعصى وأهل المغفرة لمن اتقاه، وقيل: قوله أهل التقوى موضع لأن يتقى، وأهل المغفرة موضع لذلك. الأزهري: وخطأ بعضهم قول من يقول فلان يستأهل أن يكرم أو يهان بمعنى يستحق، قال: ولا يكون الاستئهال إلا من الإهالة، قال: وأما أنا فلا أنكره ولا أخطئ من قاله لأني سمعت أعرابيا فصيحا من بني أسد يقول لرجل شكر عنده يدا أوليها: تستأهل يا أبا حازم ما أوليت، وحضر ذلك جماعة من الأعراب فما أنكروا قوله، قال: ويحقق ذلك قوله هو أهل التقوى وأهل المغفرة . المازني: لا يجوز أن تقول أنت …

  • Lane · 1876English, synthesising the classical dictionaries.

    E. W. Lane (d. 1876), An Arabic-English Lexicon. English, synthesising the classical dictionaries.

    أَهَلَ

    1. أَهَلَ, aor. اَهُلَ , inf. n. أُهُولٌ; (Msb;) or أُهِلَ, like عُنِىَ; (K, TA;) It (a place, Msb, TA) was, or became, peopled, or inhabited. (Msb, K, TA.) أَهَلَ, aor. اَهُلَ and اَهِلَ , inf. n. as above, He married, or took a wife; (Yoo, S, Msb, K;) as also تأهّل; (S, Mgh, Msb, K;) and ٱتَّهَلَ, [written with the disjunctive alif اِتَّهَلَ, like ٱتَّخَذَ and ٱتَّزَرَ and ٱتَمَنَ &c.], (K,) of the measure افتعل. (TA.) أَهَلَ; (Ks, S, Msb;) or أَهِلَ, aor. اَهَلَ ; (K;) or both; (JK;) بِهِ, (JK,) i. e. بِالرَّجُلِ, (Ks, S,) or بِالشَّىءِ; (Msb;) i. q. أَنِسَ [He was, or became, sociable, companionable, friendly, amicable, or familiar, with him, i. e. the man; or he was, or became, cheered, or gladdened, by his company or converse, or by his, or its (the thing's) presence]. (JK, S, Msb, K.)

    أهّل بِهِ

    2. أهّل بِهِ, (K,) or أهّلهُ, (Ham p. 184,) inf. n.

    تَأْهِيلٌ

    تَأْهِيلٌ, (Ham, K,) He said to him أَهْلًا: (Ham:) or he said to him مَرْحَبًا وَأَهْلًا: (K:) like رَحَّبَ بِهِ: (TA:) [see أَهْلٌ:] IB says that [the first pers. of] the aor. of this verb is with fet-h to the ه [contr. to rule: a strange assertion]. (TA.) أهّلهُ لِذٰلِكَ, inf. n. as above; and آهلهُ; He saw him, judged him, thought him, or held him, to be worthy, or deserving, of that; to merit it; to have a right, or just title or claim, to it: (K, * TA:) or he made him to be worthy, or deserving, of that; &c. (TA.) You say, أَهَّلَكَ ٱللّٰهُ لِلْخَيْرِ [May God make thee worthy, or deserving, of good, good fortune, prosperity, or the like]. (S.)

    آهَلَكَ ٱللّٰهُ فِى الجَنَّةِ

    4. آهَلَكَ ٱللّٰهُ فِى الجَنَّةِ, inf. n. إِيهَالٌ, May God make thee to enter with thy wife into Paradise: (AZ, S, TA:) or may God make thee to have a family in Paradise, and unite thee with them [therein]. (TA.) See also 2.

    تَاَهَّلَ

    5: see 1.

    إِاْتَهَلَ

    8: see 1.

    استأهلهُ

    10. استأهلهُ as signifying He was, or became, worthy, or deserving, of it, or he merited it, or he had a right, or just title or claim, to it, is not allowable: (Msb, * MF:) not only does J disallow it, but the generality of those before him do so; saying that it is not chaste: in the Fs it is said to be of weak authority; and the expositors thereof confirm this assertion, saying that it occurs, but is inferior to other words in chasteness; and El-Hareeree asserts it to be erroneous: (MF:) or it is good in this sense; and J's disallowance of it is of no account: (K:) Az and Z and Sgh and others assert it to be good: and Az says, in the T, some have asserted the saying فُلَانٌ يَسْتَأْهِلُ أَنْ يُكْرَمَ أَوْ يُهَانَ, as meaning [Such a one] is worthy, or deserving, [of being treated with honour, or of being held in light estimation,] to be erroneous; and الاِسْتِئْهَالُ to be only from الإِهَالَةُ; but I do not disallow it, nor charge with error him who says thus; for I have heard the verb thus used by a chaste Arab of the desert, of the BenooAsad, and there was present a number of Arabs of the desert who did not disapprove his saying: and this is confirmed by the saying in the Kur [lxxiv. 55], هُوَ أَهْلُ التَّقْوَي وَ أَهْلُ المَغْفِرَةِ [explained below: see أَهْلُ]. (T.) استأهل, (JK, K,) or استأهل الأَهَالَةَ, (Msb,) He took the إِهَالَةَ: (JK, K:) or he ate the اهالة: see this word below. (Msb, TA.)

    أَهْلٌ

    أَهْلٌ [The people of a house or dwelling, and of a town or village, and of a country: and the family of a man:] a man's cohabitants of one dwelling or place of abode, (Er-Rághib, Kull p. 84,) and of one town or country: (Er-Rághib:) afterwards applied to a man's fellow-members of one family or race, and of one religion, and of one craft or art or the like: (Er-Rághib, Kull:) or, as some say, relations, whether they have followers or dependents, or not; whereas آلٌ signifies relations with their followers or dependents: (Kull:) or it originally signifies relations: and sometimes is applied to followers or dependents: and signifies also the أَهْل [i. e. people, or inhabitants, or family,] of a house or tent: (Msb:) or a man's nearer, or nearest, relations by descent from the same father or ancestor; or his kinsfolk; his relations: (K:) or, accord. to [the Imám] Mohammad, a man's wife [or wives] and his children and household who are the objects of his expenditure; and thus, any brother and sister, or paternal uncle and son of a paternal uncle, or strange or distantly-related child, whom a man feeds or sustains in his abode: the most particular, or most special, dependents, or the like, of a man: on the authority of El-Ghooree: (Mgh:) [J indicates some of these meanings merely by saying that it signifies] the أَهْل of a man, and the أَهْل of a house; as also أَهْلَةٌ: (S:) [see also آلٌ; in the explanations of which, certain distinctions between it and أَهْلٌ will be found mentioned:] the pl. is أَهْلُونَ, [like أَرْضُونَ, a form sometimes used for أَرَضُونَ] (Mgh, Msb, K,) and أَهَالٍ, (S, Mgh, Msb, K,) with an additional ى [implied by the tenween, and expressed in the accus. case, and when the word is determinate, as in الأَهَالِى,] (S,) contr. to rule, (S, Mgh,) like لَيَالٍ, pl. of لَيْلٌ, (S,) [and like أَرَاض, respecting which and ليَالٍ and أَهَالٍ, see أَرْضٌ,] and آهَالٌ, (S, K,) a pl. [of pauc.] sometimes occurring in poetry, (S,) [like آرَاضٌ,] and أَهْلَاتٌ and أَهَلَاتٌ [as though pls. of أَهْلَةٌ]. (S, K.) أَهْلُ البَيْتِ The [people or] inhabitants [or family] of the house or tent. (Mgh, K.) But أَوْصَى لأَهْلِ بَيْتِهِ means the same as اوصى لِجِنْسِهِ, i. e. He left by will, of his property, to the children of his father, [or his kindred by the father's side,] exclusively of all relations of the mother. (Mgh in art. جنس.) [See also أَهْلُ الرَّجُلِ, below.] أَهْلَ القُرَى The [people or] inhabitants of the towns or villages. (TA.) And أَهْلُ البَلَدِ The settled, or constant, inhabitants of the country or town. (Msb.) And أَهْلُ الحَضَرِ The people of the region, or regions, of cities, towns, or villages, and of cultivated land. (A in art. حضر.) And أَهْلُ المَدَرِ وَ الوَبَرِ (S in art. مدر, &c.) [The people of the towns or villages, or] the inhabitants of the buildings, and of the tents, (Kull,) or deserts. (TA in art. وبر) [أَهْلُ القُبُورِ, and المَقَابِرِ, The people of the graces, and of the places of graves; i. e., those buried therein.] [أَهْلُ الجَنَّةِ The people of Paradise.] [أَهْلُ النَّارِ The people of the fire, i. e., of Hell.] See also أَهِلَةٌ. The following is an ex. of اهل as explained above in the first sentence on the authority of the K: الأَهْلُ إِلَى الأَهْلِ أَسْرَعُ مِنَ السِّيلِ إِلَى السَّهْلِ a prov. [meaning Kinsfolk are quicker of tendency to kinsfolk than the torrent to the plain]. (TA.) So, too, a saying of a poet cited voce خَفْضٌ. (TA.) [And] أَهْلَكَ وَاللَّيْلَ a prov. meaning بَادِر أَهْلَكَ وَٱحْذَرِ اللَّيْلَ وَ ظُلْمَتَهُ [Betake thyself early to thy family, and beware of the night and its darkness]. (Har p. 175.) [And] مَرْحَبًا وَأَهْلًا (S, K) a saying meaning Thou hast come to an ample, or a spacious, or roomy, place, and to [people like thine own] kinsfolk; therefore be cheerful, or sociable, not sad, or shy: (S:) or thou hast found, or met with, [an ample, or a spacious, or roomy, place, and] kinsfolk, not strangers. (K.) [And] أَهْلًا وَ سَهْلًا وَمَرْحَبًا Thou hast come to a people who are [like] kinsfolk, and to a place that is plain, even, not rugged, and that is ample, spacious, or roomy; therefore rejoice thyself, and be not sad, or shy. (Msb.) أَهْلُ النَّبِىِّ The [family or] wives and daughters of the Prophet, and his son-in-law 'Alee: or his women; and (as some say, TA) the men who are his آل; (K, TA;) comprising the grandchildren (أَحْفَاد) and [other] progeny: and so أَهْلُ البَيْتِ as used in the Kur xxxiii. 33, occurring also [in a like sense] in xi. 76: (TA:) and الأَهْلُ is conventionally applied to the nearer, or nearest, kinsfolk of the Prophet. (Er-Rághib.) أَهْلُ كُلِّ نَبِىٍّ also means The people to whom any prophet is sent; (K, TA;) and those who are of his religion. (TA.) In the phrase آلٌ ٱللّٰهِ وَرَسُولِهِ, meaning The friends, or the like, (أَوْلِيَآء K, TA,) and the assistants, (TA,) of God and of his apostle, the first word is originally أَهْل. (K, TA.) أَهْلُ ٱللّٰهِ is also an appellation which used to be applied to The readers or reciters [of the Kur-án]. (TA.) أَهْلُ الرَّجُلِ also signifies (tropical:) The man's wife; (Mgh, * Msb, * K;) as well as his wife and children; (TA;) [so, too, in the present day, أَهْلُ بَيْتِ الرَّجُلِ;] and so, too, أَهْلَتُهُ. (K.) Hence the phrase بَنَى عَلَي أَهْلِهِ [see art. بنىِ]: (Kull:) and دَخَلَ بِأَهْلِهِ and دَخَلَ عَلَى أَهْلِهِ [see art. دخل]. (Har p. 502; &c.) أَهْلُ مَذْهَبٍ [The people of, or] those who follow, (K, TA,) and believe, (TA,) a certain persuasion, or body of tenets. (K, TA.) [Hence,] أَهْلُ السُّنَةِ [Those who conform to the institutes of Mohammad]. (TA.) [And] أَهْلُ الأَهْوَآءِ [The people of erroneous opinions;] those whose belief is not that of the class termed أَهْلُ السُّنَّةِ, but who hare the same قِبْلَة. (TA.) [And] أَهْلُ الإِسْلَامِ Those who follow the religion of El-Islám. (Mgh.) [And] أَهْلُ القُرْآنِ Those who read, or recite, the Kur-án, and perform the duties enjoined thereby. (Mgh.) [And] أَهْلُ الكِتَابِ [The people of the Scripture, or Bible: and] the readers, or reciters, of the Mosaic Law, and of the Gospel. (TA.) أَهْلُ العِلْمِ [The people of knowledge, or science;] those who are characterized by knowledge, or science. (Msb.) أَهْلُ الأَمْرِ [The possessors of command: or] those who superintend the affairs [of others]; (K, TA;) like أُلُوالأَمرِ, q. v. (TA.) أَهْلُ المَرَاتِبِ [The people of exalted stations, posts of honour, or dignities]. (TA in art. رتب.) أَهْلُ الذِّمَّةِ (Mgh in art. ذم) and أَهْلُ العَهْدِ (TA in art. عهد) Those persons, (Mgh, TA,) of the unbelievers, (Mgh,) [namely, Christians, Jews, and Sabians, but no others,] who have a compact, or covenant, with the Muslims, (Mgh, TA,) paying a poll-tax, whereby they are secure of their property and blood, (Mgh,) or whereby the Muslims are responsible for their security [and freedom and toleration] as long as they act agreeably to the compact. (TA.) أَهْلٌ also signifies The possessors, or owners, of property: as in the Kur iv. 61. (TA.) أَهْلٌ لِكَذَا A person, (S, K,) and persons, for it is used as a sing. and as a pl., (K,) having a right, or just title, to such a thing; entitled thereto; worthy, or deserving, thereof; meet, or fit, for it: (S, K:) the vulgar say مُسْتَأْهِلٌ, which is not allowable: (S:) or this assertion of J's is of no account. (K: see 10.) You say, هُو أَهْلٌ لِإِكْرَامِ He is entitled to be, or worthy of being, treated with honour. (Msb.) And لِكُّلِ هُوَ أَهْلَةٌ خَيْر [He is entitled to, or worthy of, all that is good]. (Ibn- 'Abbád.) And وُدٍّ أَهلَةٌ He who is, or they who are, entitled to, or worthy of, love, or affection. (S, Sgh.) And hence, in the Kur [lxxiv. last verse], هُوَ أَهْلُ التَّقْوَى وَأَهْلُ المَغْفِرَةِ (TA) He is the Being entitled to be regarded with pious fear, and the Being entitled to forgive those who so regard Him. (Jel.) In the phrase أهْلَ الثَنَآءِ وَالمَجْدِ [0 Thou who art the Being entitled to praise and glory], occurring in a form of prayer, the first word is mansoob as a vocative: and it may be marfooa, as the enunciative of an inchoative suppressed; i. e. أَنْتَ أَهْلُ [Thou art the Being entitled &c.]. (Msb.) [Frequently, also, أَهْلٌ signifies The author, or, more commonly, authors, of a thing; like صَاحِبٌ and أَصْحَابٌ; as in أَهْلُ البِدَعِ The author, or authors, of innovations; and أَهْلُ الظُّلْمِ The author, or authors, of wrong.]

    أَهِلٌ

    أَهِلٌ: see أَهْلِيىٌ.

    أَهْلَةٌ

    أَهْلَةٌ: see أَهْلٌ, in four places: and see أَهلَةٌ.

    أَهِلَةٌ

    أَهِلَةٌ i. q. مَالٌ [Property; or cattle]: so in the saying إِنَّهُمْ لَأَهْلُ أَهِلَةٍ (JK, K) [app. meaning Verily they are sojourners, or settlers, possessed of property, or cattle]: أَهْلٌ here signifying حُلُولٌ [pl. of حَالٌّ]. (JK, TA.) [But] Yoo says that هُمْ أَهْلُ أَهْلَةِ and أَهِلَةٍ means They are people of the distinguished sort. (TA.)

    أَهْلِىٌّ

    أَهْلِىٌّ A domestic beast [or bird]; a beast [or bird] that keeps to the dwelling [of its owner]; (JK, Msb, K, TA;) contr. of وَحْشِىٌّ; (TA;) as also أَهِلٌ. (K.) You say حُمُرٌ أَهْلِيَّةٌ [Domestic asses]: (JK, TA:) occurring in a trad., in which their flesh is forbidden to be eaten. (TA.)

    Lane, Arabic-English Lexiconread Lane's entry online ↗

The same three letters in all six orders. Choose one.

أ ه ل

الهمزة والهاء واللام أصلان متباعدان أحدهما الأهل

a-h-l has two distant roots: one of them is al-ahl.

Ibn Fāris ↗Lisān ↗Lane ↗Quran ×127

an entry in Ibn Fārislater sources onlyin none of them

Do these six share one core meaning?

About thisal-Khalīl, Ibn Jinnī, Ibn Fāris; the counts across the dictionary

al-Khalīl (d. c. 170/786), Kitāb al-ʿAyn, as transmitted by al-Layth: a two-letter word “turns in two ways”, a three-letter word “in six ways” (masdūsa), four letters in 24, five in 120; “its used forms are written down and its unused ones dropped” (line 975 ↗). The dictionary is built on this: each chapter takes a set of letters and names which orders are used (mustaʿmal) and which unused (muhmal). The ring shows that verdict, from the chapter heading as edited (documented in the text; how much of the book is al-Khalīl's own is disputed).

A reported total. al-Suyūṭī transmits, from Ḥamza al-Iṣfahānī, that al-Khalīl put the possible forms, used and unused, of two to five letters at 12,305,412 (al-Muzhir, line 1347 ↗). It is reported, not found in the ʿAyn. It equals exactly the arrangements of 2 to 5 different letters out of 28 (756 + 19,656 + 491,400 + 11,793,600); the breakdown printed beside it is corrupt, and al-Zubaydī's count, given next, differs (6,659,400).

Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), al-Khaṣāʾiṣ, names the greater derivation (al-ishtiqāq al-akbar): bind a three-letter root and its six orders to one meaning, and bring stray members back “by the subtlety of the craft and interpretation” (line 7536 ↗). He says himself that it does not hold for every root (line 167 ↗; line 7603 ↗).

Ibn Fāris (d. 395/1004) gives each root its own aṣl and treats a rearranged word as maqlūb, “turned round”, and so not a root of its own: “j-b-dh is not a root, because it is a single word, turned round” (Maqāyīs, line 6147 ↗). The ring sets his aṣl for each order side by side; whether they meet is the question.

Neighbours on the ring differ by one swap of two letters.

The critique. A source quoted by al-Suyūṭī calls the greater derivation Ibn Jinnī's innovation, “not relied on in the language” (al-Muzhir, line 6159 ↗).

The other axis. The root's letters also go into patterns that keep their order and change the frame: the patterns (awzān) and the verb Forms I–X.

Across Ibn Fāris's dictionary. Of the 2,300 possible sets of three different sound letters (no hamza, w or y), 1,021 have at least one order as an entry. How many of their six orders are entries:

Ibn Fāris, entries found (1,021 letter-sets)
  1. 1 of 6319
  2. 2 of 6218
  3. 3 of 6164
  4. 4 of 6155
  5. 5 of 6107
  6. 6 of 658
al-Khalīl, orders his headings call used (746 letter-sets)
  1. 1 of 6148
  2. 2 of 6108
  3. 3 of 6157
  4. 4 of 6179
  5. 5 of 6111
  6. 6 of 643

Of the orders al-Khalīl calls used, 2,097 are entries in Ibn Fāris and 267 are not; 17 that he calls unused are entries in Ibn Fāris.

Our computation from the OpenITI texts; heading detection can miss entries

Attested here means found in our digital texts (Ibn Fāris, Lisān al-ʿArab, Lane, the Quranic Arabic Corpus), with w and y kept apart and hamza spellings merged; it is our data, not a classical verdict. English beside the Arabic is AI translation. Sources and grades: docs/research/root-permutations.md.

How each letter is made, in brief, from Sībawayh's and Ibn Jinnī's own sentences (linked); their words are under Reference.

Sharing two of its three letters (computed; kinship of form, not of meaning)

16 more
How it is madeSībawayh and Ibn Jinnī · phonetics

English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic

أ

فأقصاها مخرجا: الهمزة والهاء والألف

The furthest of them [the three in the throat] in place: the hamza, the hāʾ and the alif. Sībawayh, line 26548 ↗

فأولها من أسفله وأقصاه، مخرج الهمزة والألف والهاء، هكذا يقول سيبويه

The first of them [in the throat], from its lowest and furthest part, is the place of the hamza, the alif and the hāʾ: so Sībawayh says. Ibn Jinnī, line 965 ↗

ه

فأقصاها مخرجا: الهمزة والهاء والألف

The furthest of them [the three in the throat] in place: the hamza, the hāʾ and the alif. Sībawayh, line 26548 ↗

فأولها من أسفله وأقصاه، مخرج الهمزة والألف والهاء، هكذا يقول سيبويه

The first of them [in the throat], from its lowest and furthest part, is the place of the hamza, the alif and the hāʾ: so Sībawayh says. Ibn Jinnī, line 965 ↗

ل

ومن حافة اللسان من أدناها إلى منتهى طرف اللسان، من بينها وبين ما يليها من الحنك الأعلى، مما فويق الضاحك والناب والرباعية والثنية، مخرج اللام

From the edge of the tongue, from its nearest part to the end of its tip, between it and the upper palate next to it, just above the premolar, the canine, the lateral and the central incisor, is the place of the lām. Ibn Jinnī, lines 977–978 ↗

Sībawayh, al-Kitāb (ed. Hārūn) and Ibn Jinnī, Sirr ṣināʿat al-iʿrāb; OpenITI digital texts (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). Full credits on each letter's page.

In the Breath of the All-MercifulIbn ʿArabī · metaphysics

English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic

أ

وإلا الهاء والهمزة فإنهما باردتان رطبتان

And except hāʾ and hamza, for these two are cold and moist.

Ibn ʿArabī, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, line 2583

ه

Level of existence: أبتداء العالم · the beginning of the world

Divine Name: البديع · the Originator (who creates without prior model)

Lunar mansion: الشرطين · al-Sharaṭān (the Two Signs), first of daily time, when the sun is in Aries

Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 66017

Spheres of its simples (ch. 2): 10 line 2573 ↗

وإلا الهاء والهمزة فإنهما باردتان رطبتان

And except hāʾ and hamza, for these two are cold and moist.

Ibn ʿArabī, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, line 2583

ل

Level of existence: السماء الثالثة · the third heaven

Divine Name: القاهر · the Subduer (al-Qāhir)

Lunar mansion: العوا · al-ʿAwwā

Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 64654

Spheres of its simples (ch. 2): 7 line 2576 ↗

منها دون الألف فطبعها الحرارة واليبوسة

[Zāy and lām] of it, excluding alif: their nature is heat and dryness.

Ibn ʿArabī, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, line 2577
Meaning by vowelal-Dabbāgh · a visionary claim about a primordial “Syriac”, not historical Syriac

English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic

أ

فهي إشارة إلى جميع الأشياء قلت أو كثرت، وتكون الإشارة في بعض الأحيان من المتكلم إلى ذاته ونفسه، وهذه الإشارة سالمة من القبض.

It is an indication of all things, whether few or many. At times the indication is from the speaker to his own essence and self, and this indication is free of contraction (qabḍ).

فهي إشارة إلى الشيء القريب القليل.

It is an indication of the near, small thing.

فهي إشارة إلى الشيء القريب المناسب.

It is an indication of the near, fitting (congruent) thing.

al-Dabbāgh (d. 1132/1719), al-Ibrīz, ch. 2 §15, compiled by al-Lamaṭī

ه

فهي الرحمة الطاهرة التي لا نهاية لها.

It is pure mercy that has no end.

فهي اسم من أسمائه تعالى.

It is one of the names of God, Exalted is He.

فهي إشارة إلى الخير الذي يخرج من ذوات المخلوقات.

It is an indication of the good that issues from the selves of created beings.

al-Dabbāgh (d. 1132/1719), al-Ibrīz, ch. 2 §15, compiled by al-Lamaṭī

ل

فهي حصول المتكلم على شيء عظيم، وتكون إشارة إلى شيء عظيم.

It is the speaker's attaining of something great, and it serves as an indication of something great.

فهي إشارة إلى الشيء الذي لا نهاية له.

It is an indication of the thing that has no end.

فهي إشارة من المتكلم إلى وجود ذاته أو إلى ذاته.

It is an indication by the speaker of the existence of his self, or of his self.

al-Dabbāgh (d. 1132/1719), al-Ibrīz, ch. 2 §15, compiled by al-Lamaṭī
In the sister scriptsHebrew א ה לSyriac ܐ ܗ ܠ
Arabicأ ه ل
Hebrewא ה ל
Syriacܐ ܗ ܠ
Ancient South Arabian (musnad)𐩱 𐩠 𐩡
Phoenician𐤀 𐤄 𐤋

Letter for letter, by the regular sound correspondences of the Semitic languages (Arabic keeps several sounds the others merged). This shows how the root would be spelled; whether a related word exists is a separate question, answered in the Semitic lens. Where an Arabic sibilant (s, sh) continues two older sounds, both spellings are shown.

  • Classical lexiconAl-Khalīl already gives the full range: ahl al-rajul as spouse and closest kin, ahl al-bayt as a house's inhabitants, ahl al-islām as its adherents, with taʾahhul for marrying and mahūl/āhil for an inhabited place.well attested

    The lexicographers in chronological order, from al-Khalīl to Lane.

    Al-Khalīl already gives the full range: ahl al-rajul as spouse and closest kin, ahl al-bayt as a house's inhabitants, ahl al-islām as its adherents, with taʾahhul for marrying and mahūl/āhil for an inhabited place. Al-Jawharī adds little new sense but fixes the irregular plurals ahlāt and ahālī, comparing the extra yāʾ to layl/layālī. Ibn Fāris treats ahl as one of two unrelated aṣl in the hamza-hāʾ-lām chapter, restating Khalīl's definitions and adding the ḥadīth on domestic donkeys (al-ḥumur al-ahliyya) and the idiom āhalaka Allāh fī l-janna, 'may God give you a spouse in Paradise.' Al-Rāghib supplies the key semantic history: the original sense is those sharing one dwelling, extended by tajawwuz to those sharing lineage, then conventionally fixed for the Prophet's household by Q33:33; he notes the sharīʿa can strip the kinship sense, citing Q11:46 on Noah's son. Ibn Manẓūr and Lane confirm ʿashīra/dhawū qurbā as a further gloss and register both the marriage-verb reading (aʾhala/taʾahhala/ittahala) and the 'inhabited place' reading (uhūl).

    Draws on: cayn · sihah · Ibn Fāris · mufradat · lisan · Lane

  • Letters & soundNo letter-value is supplied for hamza in either system, so nothing can be said of it from the given data.speculative

    What the theorists of sound symbolism would say of these letters. Speculative by nature.

    No letter-value is supplied for hamza in either system, so nothing can be said of it from the given data. For hāʾ, al-Dabbāgh's table calls it 'pure mercy that has no end,' and the akbarī scheme assigns it 'the beginning of the world' — apt for a root whose commonest word denotes the people one belongs to from the outset. Lām is given as 'the third heaven' and, for al-Dabbāgh, 'the speaker's attaining of something great, an indication of something great' — consonant with ahl's honorific use (ahl al-bayt, huwa ahl li-kadhā, 'worthy of'). These are mystical correspondences from Ibn ʿArabī's circle and al-Dabbāgh, not linguistic derivations; mainstream historical linguistics treats such symbolism as at most suggestive.

    Draws on: akbari198 · dabbagh_fatha

  • Root structureIbn Fāris's permutation table for hamza-hāʾ-lām lists أهل, أله, هأل, هلا, لأه, لها, but marks only أهل, أله, هلا, and لها as genuinely coherent members;plausible

    The two-letter nucleus (Ibn Fāris's own chapters) and the permutations of the letters (Ibn Jinnī).

    Ibn Fāris's permutation table for hamza-hāʾ-lām lists أهل, أله, هأل, هلا, لأه, لها, but marks only أهل, أله, هلا, and لها as genuinely coherent members; هأل (hālah, the moon's halo) and لأه (a name of God formed by prefixing the article for glorification) are flagged as not properly belonging. The near-anagram أله, 'to worship,' whence ilāh, sits one metathesis from أهل, and the two share the hāʾ-lām skeleton, though Ibn Fāris keeps them as separate aṣl. Ibn Jinnī's greater derivation would license noting this proximity — the household one belongs to and the god one serves — but this remains juxtaposition, not an asserted etymology.

    Draws on: maqayis nucleus/permutations

    • Wiktionary Arabic root appendix ء-ه-ل (link not verified)
    • Ibn Jinnī, al-Khaṣāʾiṣ, greater derivation chapter (link not verified)
  • Semitic kin & loanwordsThe root has a solid West Semitic pedigree: compare Hebrew ʾōhel, 'tent,' and related Ugaritic/Akkadian terms for tent-dwelling, from which a family sense ('those of one tent') is a small step.plausible

    Cognates in the sister languages, and whether the word was borrowed.

    The root has a solid West Semitic pedigree: compare Hebrew ʾōhel, 'tent,' and related Ugaritic/Akkadian terms for tent-dwelling, from which a family sense ('those of one tent') is a small step. No confident Aramaic/Syriac or Gəʿəz cognate for the specifically social sense ('kinsfolk, household') is available beyond this tent-word; the move from 'tent' to 'those who share it' to 'kin, adherents' mirrors al-Rāghib's own account of the Arabic development. There is no reason to treat ahl as a loanword into Arabic; it is an inherited common-Semitic item that generalized independently.

    Draws on: comparative Semitic

    • BDB, s.v. אֹהֶל (tent)
  • Quranic exegesisQ33:33's 'ahl al-bayt' is the pivot of a long debate: al-Ṭabarī and al-Zamakhsharī record reports extending it from the Prophet's wives to the mubāhala household (ʿAlī, Fāṭima, al-Ḥasan, al-Ḥusayn), noting the verse's shift to masculine plural address as evidence for either reading;well attested

    How the classical exegetes read the word in the Quran.

    Q33:33's 'ahl al-bayt' is the pivot of a long debate: al-Ṭabarī and al-Zamakhsharī record reports extending it from the Prophet's wives to the mubāhala household (ʿAlī, Fāṭima, al-Ḥasan, al-Ḥusayn), noting the verse's shift to masculine plural address as evidence for either reading; al-Rāzī surveys both without resolving them. Q11:46, where Noah is told 'innahu laysa min ahlika,' is read by al-Ṭabarī and al-Rāghib as the paradigm case of ahl uncoupled from blood: the son is biologically his, but disbelief removes him from the ahl that matters religiously — exactly the move al-Rāghib names as the sharīʿa's suspension of nasab-based rulings. Al-Rāghib treats this verse as proof that ahl al-rajul, rooted in shared dwelling and extended to lineage, is finally governed by dīn.

    Draws on: Q33:33 · Q11:46

Neighbouring rootsThe roots that share letters with this one, as a map you can open out