خبل (root khbl)

Al-khabl (الخبل) is madness or something like it in the heart. A man is makhbūl (مخبول) if he has khabl, and he is mukhbil (مخبل), meaning he has no heart (no mind). Time, grief, Satan, love and illness have afflicted him with khabl. The verb is khabila, khabālan, and the man is akhbal (أخبل). A khabil time (دهر خبل) is one twisted upon its people, in which they see no joy. Khabl is also a corruption in the legs, so that the animal does not know how to walk; it is then mutakhabbil khabil. The mukhtabal (مختبل) of the beast is its action, its mukhtabal (as a noun) is its legs, and its ikhtibāl is its failure to stay firm in its footfalls. Abū al-Najm said: "When I saw that time's derangement was abundant…" Bihi khabāl (به خبال) means a touch of madness and evil. God the Exalted said: "they do not spare you khabāl", that is, evil. "He is a khabāl upon his family" means a hardship to them. Ṭīn al-khabāl (طين الخبال) is what melts from the bodies of the people of Hell. A man may be struck by a year of drought and come to his brother and ask him to lend him khabl (فيستخبله), meaning sheep and camels from which he can benefit. He said: "There, if they are asked to lend property, they lend; if they are asked, they give; and if they become prosperous, they excel."

Al-khabl (الخبل), with sukūn, is corruption, and the plural is khubūl (خبول). One says: "We have blood-claims and khubūl against Banū so-and-so." Khubūl means the cutting off of hands and feet. Al-khabal (الخبل), with fatḥa on the bāʾ, means the jinn. One says bihi khabal, meaning something from the people of the earth. Khabalahu, khabbalahu and ikhtabalahu are said when one corrupts a person's mind or limb. A rajul mukhbal (رجل مخبل) is a man as if his extremities had been cut off. Mukhabbil is the name of a poet from Banū Saʿd. A khabil time (دهر خبل) is one twisted upon its people. Mukhbil (مخبل), with kasra on the bāʾ, is a name for time. Al-Ḥārith ibn Ḥilliza said: "So put down your veil, for the misfortune of time destroyed Maʿadd." One says fulān khabāl ʿalā ahlihi, meaning he is a hardship to them. Al-khabāl is also corruption. As for what is in the hadith: "Whoever accuses (qafā) a believer of what is not in him, God the Exalted will make him stand in radghat al-khabāl (ردغة الخبال) until he comes with a way out of it", it is said to be the pus of the people of Hell. His saying qafā means he accused. Al-radgha is mud. The Khabāl in Labīd's poetry is the name of a horse. Akhbaltuhu al-māl (أخبلته المال) is said when you lend him a she-camel so that he may benefit from its milk and hair, or a horse to raid on; it is like ikfāʾ. From this comes Zuhayr's saying: "There, if they are asked to lend property, they lend."

The letters khāʾ, bāʾ and lām (خبل) form a single root indicating the corruption of the limbs. Khabl (الخبل) is madness. One says ikhtabalahu al-jinn (اختبله الجن), "the jinn drove him mad"; the jinni is khābil (خابل), and the plural is khabl. Khabl is also the corruption of the limbs. One says khubilat yaduhu (خبلت يده) when his hand has been cut off and ruined. Aws said: "O sons of Lubayna, you are not a hand, except a hand with a ruined arm", that is, an arm that has been corrupted. One says fulān khabāl ʿalā ahlihi (فلان خبال على أهله), meaning he is a hardship to them and avails them nothing. As for ṭīnat al-khabāl (طينة الخبال) in the hadith, it is said to be the pus of the people of Hell. Among the words that depart from this chapter is ikhbāl (الإخبال). It is said to mean that a man divides his camels into two halves and breeds one half each year, as is done with land in farming. It is also said that ikhbāl means that a man grants someone khabl (يخبل), by lending him a she-camel to ride or a horse to raid on. In this connection Zuhayr's verse is recited: "There, if they are asked to lend property, they lend; if they are asked, they give; and if they become prosperous, they excel."

Al-khabāl (الخبال) is the corruption that afflicts a living creature and brings about disturbance in it, such as madness and illness that affects the mind and thought. One says khabl, khabal and khabāl. One says khabalahu and khabbalahu, so he is khābil, and the plural is al-khabl. A man is mukhbal (مخبل). God the Exalted said: "O you who believe, do not take as intimates those other than yourselves; they do not fall short in [causing] you khabāl" [Āl ʿImrān 118]. And the Mighty and Majestic said: "They would not have increased you except in khabāl" [al-Tawba 47]. In the hadith: "Whoever drinks wine three times, it is a right upon God the Exalted to give him to drink from ṭīnat al-khabāl." Zuhayr said: [entry continues]

Al-khabl (الخبل), with sukūn, is corruption. Ibn Sīda said: Al-khabl is the corruption of the limbs, so that one does not know how to walk; he is then mutakhabbil, khabil and mukhtabil. Banū so-and-so demand from Banū so-and-so blood and khabl, that is, the cutting off of hands and feet; the plural is khubūl, from Ibn Jinnī. One says: "We have blood-claims and khubūl against Banū so-and-so"; khubūl means the cutting off of hands and feet. A man of the Arabs said: "We have khabl against Banū so-and-so from the Jāhiliyya", meaning cut hands and feet and wounds. It is related from the Prophet, peace be upon him, that he said: "Whoever is afflicted with blood or khabl…" Here al-khabl means wounds. That is, whoever is afflicted with the killing of a person or the cutting off of a limb has a choice among one of three. If he wants a fourth, seize his hands. The three are: to take retaliation, or to take the blood-money, or to pardon. Whoever accepts any of that and then transgresses afterwards and kills, for him is the Fire, abiding therein eternally. One says khabala al-ḥubbu qalbahu when love corrupts his heart with a khabla (خبلة). Ibn al-Aʿrābī: Al-khabla is corruption from a wound or a word. A rajul mukhbal is a man as if his extremities had been cut off. Al-khabl, with sukūn, is the cutting off of a hand or foot. Ibn al-Aʿrābī: Al-khabal (الخبل), with fatḥa, is the jinn; al-khabl is humankind; al-khabl is a wound; al-khabl is the water-skin (mazāda); al-khabl is excellence of stupidity without madness; and al-khabl is the full water-skin (qirba). Khubilat yaduhu is said when it has withered (shullat). In the prosody of the basīṭ and rajaz meters, al-khabl is the loss of the sīn and the tāʾ from mustafʿilun. It is derived from khabl, which is the cutting off of a hand. Abū Isḥāq said: because the sākin is like the hand of the sabab, when the two sākin letters are deleted the foot becomes as if both its hands were cut off, so it remains unsteady; the foot has been khubila and khabbalahu. Aṣābahu khabl means paralysis and corruption of the limbs and mind. Al-khabal, with fatḥa, is the jinn, and they are al-khābil (الخابل). It is also said that al-khābil is the jinn and al-khabal is a collective noun, like al-qaʿd and al-rawḥ, which are two nouns for the plural of qāʿid and rāʾiḥ. It is also said to be a plural. Ibn Barrī said: From it is the saying of Ḥātim al-Ṭāʾī: "And do not say of anything I was destroying, 'Easy!', even if I were giving to the jinn and the khabal." He said: Al-khabal is a kind of jinn, called al-khābil; that is, do not blame me about my wealth even if I were giving it to the jinn and to those who do not praise me. He said: As for the saying of Muhalhil: "If I were killing the jinn of the Khābilīn as I kill Bakr, the jinn would have run out", nafida yanfadu means to perish. God the Exalted said: "The sea would be exhausted before the words of my Lord are exhausted." Nafadha yanfudhu means to go out. God the Exalted said: "Pass through; you will not pass through except with authority." Al-khābilān are the night and the day, because they come upon no one but they afflict him with khabl through old age. Al-khābil is Satan. Al-khābil is the corrupter. Al-khabāl is corruption. In the hadith of Ibn Masʿūd: that [entry continues]