بله (root blh)

Al-balah (البله): heedlessness of evil. A man is abalah, and al-bulh is the plural. In the hadith: "Most of the people of Paradise are the bulh." «2»

A man is abalah, clearly showing balah and balāhah (البلاهة); he is one overcome by soundness of heart (salāmat al-ṣadr). The verb is balaha (بله), with kasra on the second radical, and tabalaha. The woman is balhāʾ. In the hadith: "Most of the people of Paradise are the bulh", meaning the simple-hearted in the affairs of this world, because of how little they concern themselves with it, while they are shrewd in the affairs of the Hereafter. Al-Zibriqān ibn Badr said: "The best of our children is the abalah, the intelligent (ʿaqūl)", meaning that because of his intense modesty he is like the simpleton, though he is intelligent. One says shabāb abalah (a naive youth) because of the inexperience in it; it is described thus just as it is described with forgetfulness and madness, because of its resemblance to these things. ʿAysh abalah means a life with few worries. The poet said: "After naive youth had nourished me…" Tabāla means to show oneself to be so when one is not. One says: he is in a balhaniyah (بلهنية) of life, that is, ease and breadth. The alif became yāʾ because of the kasra before it, and the nūn is additional according to Sībawayh. Balha (بله) is a word indeclinable with fatḥa, like kayfa, and its meaning is "leave" (daʿ). Kaʿb ibn Mālik said, describing swords: "They leave skulls with their crowns exposed, balha the hands, as if they had not been created." Al-Akhfash said: balha here stands in the position of a verbal noun, as you say 'the striking of Zayd' (ḍarba Zaydin). It is also permissible to put al-akuff (the hands) in the accusative, in the sense of "leave the hands". Ibn Harma said: "The slow-paced camel walks, when the drivers sing to her, with the gait of the noble she-camel, balha the great, noble ones." It is also said that its meaning is "other than" (siwā). In the hadith: "I have prepared for My righteous servants what no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and what has never occurred to the heart of any human, balha what I have shown them of it."

The letters bāʾ, lām and hāʾ (الباء واللام والهاء) form a single root, which is something like naïveté and heedlessness. Al-Khalīl and others said: al-balah (البله) is weakness of intellect. The Messenger of God, peace be upon him, said: "Most of the people of Paradise are the bulh (البله)", meaning those who are shrewd in the affairs of the Hereafter and simple in the affairs of this world. Al-Zibriqān ibn Badr said: "The best of our children is the abalah, the intelligent (ʿaqūl)", meaning that because of his intense modesty he is like the simpleton, though he is intelligent. One says shabāb abalah (a naive youth) because of the inexperience in it, and ʿaysh abalah (a carefree life) for one with few worries. Ruʾba said: "After naive youth had nourished me…" As for their saying balha (بله), it may be irregular, and it may possibly, though remotely, be referred back to the analogy of this chapter, in the sense of "leave" (daʿ). This is what occurs in the hadith: "God, the Exalted, says: 'I have prepared for My righteous servants what no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and what has never occurred to the heart of any human, balha what I have shown them of it'", that is, leave aside what I have shown them; be heedless of it.

Al-balah (البله): heedlessness of evil and not being skilled in it. The verb is balaha, with kasra, balahan, and tabalaha; he is abalah, and also ibtalaha like balaha. Ibn al-Aʿrābī recited: "He who hopes for this world is truly simple-minded, and everyone with hope for it will be preoccupied." «1» A man is abalah, clearly showing balah and balāhah; he is one overcome by soundness of heart and good opinion of people, because they neglected the affairs of their worldly life and so were ignorant of the cleverness of managing it, and they turned to their Hereafter and busied themselves with it. So they deserved to be most of the people of Paradise. As for the abalah who has no intellect at all, he is not what is meant in the hadith, which is his saying, peace be upon him: "Most of the people of Paradise are the bulh." He meant the simple-hearted in the affairs of this world, because of how little they concern themselves with it, while they are shrewd in the affairs of the Hereafter. Al-Zibriqān ibn Badr said: "The best of our children is the abalah, the intelligent (ʿaqūl)"; he meant that because of his intense modesty he is like the simpleton, though he is intelligent. The verb is balaha, with kasra, and tabalaha. From al-Tahdhīb: The abalah is one who was naturally disposed to good, so he is heedless of evil and does not know it; hence "Most of the people of Paradise are the bulh." Al-Naḍr said: The abalah is one whose ailment is dead; he means that his evil is dead and is not stirred up. Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, in explaining the saying "the bulh are at rest", said: They are those heedless of this world and its people, and of their corruption and their rancour; but when they come to command and prohibition, they are the intelligent, the jurists. The woman is balhāʾ. Ibn Shumayl recited: "I have indeed amused myself with a swaying young girl, balhāʾ, who lets me know her secrets." He meant that she is naive and without guile, so she tells me her secrets and does not perceive what harm that does her. Another recited: "…from a woman balhāʾ, neither guarded nor neglected." He says: she was not guarded for the sake of her chastity, yet she was not neglected in what sustains and protects her, so she is delicate and chaste. Al-balhāʾ among women is the noble, the well-provided, the unsuspecting, the heedless. Al-tabāluh is the use of balah, and tabāla means he showed himself to be so when he is not. Al-abalah is also the foolish man who has no discernment, and the woman is balhāʾ. Al-taballuh is the search for a lost animal. Al-taballuh is also the wandering along a road without guidance and without asking; this last is from Abū ʿAlī. Al-Azharī said: The Arabs say "so-and-so yatabalah taballuhan" when he wanders along a road on which he is not guided and does not keep to its direction. Labīd said: "She was frantic, wandering (tabluh) on the heights of a slope"; but the well-known transmission is: "she was frantic, bewildered (tabluд)". Al-balhaniyah (البلهنية) is ease and breadth of life. One says: he is in a balhaniyah of life, that is, breadth. The alif became yāʾ because of the kasra before it, and the nūn is additional according to Sībawayh. ʿAysh abalah means a wide life with few worries; and one says: shābb abalah (a naive youth) because of what is in it of… [entry continues]