Root · 261 in the Quran · 408 in 20 texts of the library
خلقtwo roots, the measuring or determining of a thing and the smoothness of a thing. (root khlq)
الخاء واللام والقاف أصلان أحدهما تقدير الشيء والآخر ملاسة الشيء فأما الأول فقولهم خلقت الأديم للسقاء إذا قدرته قال : — …
Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-lugha · English rendering AI
The family of the root
Patterns computed · our dataThe words of خ ل ق that our sources attest: the root's letters in green, the added letters in gold.
48 words6 verbs8 verbal nouns4 participles1 place or instrument5 intensives and elatives15 other nouns6 plurals3 relatives and abstracts
- خَلَقَhe measured, or proportioned, the hide, and sewed it
- خَلْقman complete, or perfect, in respect of make, or proportion
- خُلْقmorals; character
- خَالِقwomen working in leather, as engaged in dividing a hide , El-Kumeyt likens …
- أَخْلاق—
The whole family8 groups, by pattern; tap a pattern to see what it does
Verbs6خَلَقَ · تَخَلَّقَ · خَلَّقَ
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.”)
- خَلَقَhe measured, or proportioned, the hide, and sewed itLaneForm IQurʾān ×184library ×26LaneIbn Fāris
- تَخَلَّقَbe perfumed; be moldedauto · Lane: see Form IForm Vlibrary ×6Lane
- خَلَّقَForm IILaneIbn Fāris
- خَالَقَhe consorted or comported himself with them according to their natures, or …LaneForm IIILane
Verbal nouns8خَلْق · خَلَق · اخْتِلَاق
The action itself, named as a noun (maṣdar).grammar →
- خَلْقman complete, or perfect, in respect of make, or proportionLaneForm I · Lane: inf. n.Qurʾān ×52library ×81LaneIbn Fāris
- خَلَقshabby; threadbareautoForm I · Lane: inf. n.library ×2LaneIbn Fāris
- اخْتِلَاقForm VIIIQurʾān ×1
- إِخْلَاقForm I · Lane: inf. n.Lane
Participles4خَالِق · مَخْلُوق · مُخَلَّق
The one who does it, and the one it is done to.grammar →
- خَالِقwomen working in leather, as engaged in dividing a hide , El-Kumeyt likens …Laneactive, Form IQurʾān ×12library ×7Lane
- مَخْلُوقcreatureautopassive, Form Ilibrary ×17Lane
- مُخَلَّقpassive, Form IILaneIbn Fāris
- مُخْتَلَقpassive, Form VIIILaneIbn Fāris
Place, time and instrument1مَخْلَقَة
Where or when it happens, and what it is done with: the m- nouns.grammar →
- مَخْلَقَةnoun of place (with -a)Lane
Intensives, qualities and the elative5خَلِيق · خَلَّاق · أَخْلَق
The quality carried far, held as a trait, or compared.grammar →
Other nouns15خُلْق · خَلَاق · خُلُق
Nouns on other patterns; their meaning is learned word by word.grammar →
Plurals6أَخْلاق · خَلائِق · خَالِقِين
Broken plurals rebuild the word on a new pattern; sound plurals add an ending.grammar →
- أَخْلاقbroken plural of خُلْقlibrary ×22
- خَلائِقbroken plural of خَلِيقlibrary ×11
- خَالِقِينsound plural of خَالِقQurʾān ×2
- مَخْلُوقاتplural of creaturefrom the singularsound plural of مَخْلُوقlibrary ×4
Relative and abstract3خَلَقِيّ · خُلْقَانِيّ · خِلْقِيّ
-iyy relates a thing to its source; -iyya makes an abstract noun.grammar →
Reference
Why this shape?What each of the 20 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.
- Attested: مَخْلَقَة, noun of place (with -a) (Lane)
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 AI
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)' AI
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 AI
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
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.
The dictionaries
English: AI translation AIal-Khalīl · 170Al-khalīqa (الخليقة) means al-khalq (الخلق) [creation/mankind], and al-khalīqa also means 'nature/disposition' (al-ṭabīʿa).
al-Khalīl b. Aḥmad (d. c. 170/786), Kitāb al-ʿAyn. The first Arabic dictionary, arranged by permutations of the root letters.
AI AI translation of the Arabic belowal-Jawharī · 393Al-khalq (الخلق) [means] 'measuring/proportioning' (al-taqdīr).
al-Jawharī (d. c. 393/1003), al-Ṣiḥāḥ. Admits only usage he judged sound.
AI AI translation of the Arabic belowIbn Fāris · 395Kh-l-q (خلق): [The root] khāʾ, lām, and qāf has two basic meanings: one is the measuring/proportioning (taqdīr) of a thing, and the other is the smoothness (malāsa) of a thing.
Ibn Fāris (d. 395/1004), Maqāyīs al-Lugha. Seeks each root's original sense (aṣl).
AI AI translation of the Arabic belowal-Rāghib · 502Al-khalq (الخلق): its basic meaning is 'correct/proper measuring' (al-taqdīr al-mustaqīm).
al-Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī (d. c. 502/1108), al-Mufradāt. Quranic vocabulary, from core sense to Quranic usage.
AI AI translation of the Arabic belowLisān · 711God, exalted and sanctified, is al-Khāliq (الخالق) and al-Khallāq (الخلاق) [the Creator].
Ibn Manẓūr (d. 711/1311), Lisān al-ʿArab. The great compendium of the earlier dictionaries (entry shortened).
AI AI translation of the Arabic belowLane · 1876English, synthesising the classical dictionaries.
E. W. Lane (d. 1876), An Arabic-English Lexicon. English, synthesising the classical dictionaries.
Lane, Arabic-English Lexiconread Lane's entry online ↗
Technical definitions2 · Ibn ʿArabī’s Iṣṭilāḥ, al-Jurjānī’s Taʿrīfāt
الخلق
عبارة عن هيئة للنفس راسخة تصدر عنها الأفعال بسهولة ويسر من غير حاجة إلى فكر وروية، فإن كانت الهيئة بحيث تصدر عنها الأفعال الجميلة عقلا وشرعا بسهولة، سميت الهيئة: خلقا حسنا، وإن كان الصادر منها الأفعال القبيحة، سميت الهيئة: خلقا سيئا، وإنما قلنا: إنه هيئة راسخة؛ لأن من يصدر منه بذل المال على الندور بحالة عارضة لا يقال: خلقه السخاء، ما لم يثبت ذلك في نفسه، وكذلك من تكلف السكوت عند الغضب بجهد أو روية لا يقال: خلقه الحلم، وليس الخلق عبارة عن الفعل، فرب شخص خلقه السخاء، ولا يبذل، إما لفقد المال أو لمانع، وربما يكون خلقه البخل وهو يبذل، لباعث أو رياء.
Al-khuluq (الخلق): an expression for a firmly established disposition of the soul from which actions proceed easily and readily, without need for reflection or deliberation. If the disposition is such that praiseworthy actions - rationally and legally - proceed from it with ease, it is called 'good character' (khuluq ḥasan); if blameworthy actions proceed from it, it is called 'bad character' (khuluq sayyiʾ). We say 'a firmly established disposition' because one from whom the giving of wealth proceeds only rarely, due to some incidental circumstance, is not said to have generosity as his character unless this has become established in his soul; likewise one who forces himself to remain silent when angry, through effort or deliberation, is not said to have forbearance as his character. Character is not [identical with] action, for many a person has generosity as his character yet does not give - either from lack of wealth or some impediment - and many a person's character may be stinginess, yet he gives, whether from some motive or for the sake of ostentation (riyāʾ). AI
الخلق
هو أن يجمع بين ماء التمر والزبيب ويطبخ بأدنى طبخة ويترك إلى أن يغلي ويشتد.
Al-khalq (الخلق): it is [made by] combining date-juice and raisin-juice, cooking it with a light cooking, and leaving it until it ferments/boils and becomes strong. AI
The same letters, turned
The same three letters in all six orders. Choose one.
خ ل ق
الخاء واللام والقاف أصلان أحدهما تقدير الشيء والآخر ملاسة الشيء
kh-l-q has two roots: one is the determining of a thing, and the other is the smoothness of a thing. AI
an entry in Ibn Fārislater sources onlyin none of them
Do these six share one core meaning?
Reference
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:
- 1 of 6319
- 2 of 6218
- 3 of 6164
- 4 of 6155
- 5 of 6107
- 6 of 658
- 1 of 6148
- 2 of 6108
- 3 of 6157
- 4 of 6179
- 5 of 6111
- 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.
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.
Letters & sound
- خkhāʾtop of the throat · voiceless, continuantSīb. · I. Jinnī
- لlāmedge of the tongue · voiced, in betweenI. Jinnī
- قqāffar back of the tongue · voiced, stopSīb. · I. Jinnī
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)
Reference
How it is madeSībawayh and Ibn Jinnī · phonetics
English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic AI
خ
وأدناها مخرجا من الفم: الغين والخاء
The nearest of them to the mouth in place: the ghayn and the khāʾ. Sībawayh, line 26549 ↗
ومما فوق ذلك مع أول الفم، مخرج الغين والخاء
From above that, at the start of the mouth, is the place of the ghayn and the khāʾ. Ibn Jinnī, line 971 ↗
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 ↗
ق
ومن أقصى اللسان وما فوقه من الحنك الأعلى مخرج القاف
From the furthest part of the tongue and the upper palate above it is the place of the qāf. Sībawayh, line 26550 ↗
ومما فوق ذلك من أقصى اللسان، مخرج القاف
From above that, at the furthest part of the tongue, is the place of the qāf. Ibn Jinnī, line 972 ↗
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 AI
خ
Spheres of its simples (ch. 2): 10 line 2573 ↗
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 64654Spheres of its simples (ch. 2): 7 line 2576 ↗
Nature (ch. 2)
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 2577ق
Spheres of its simples (ch. 2): 10 line 2573 ↗
Nature (ch. 2)
المرتبة العشرية فحروفها حارة يابسة
The tenfold rank: its letters are hot and dry.
Ibn ʿArabī, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, line 2582Meaning by vowelal-Dabbāgh · a visionary claim about a primordial “Syriac”, not historical Syriac
English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic AI
خ
With fatḥa ـَ
فهي طول إلى النهاية مع رقة.
It is length to the utmost, together with fineness/thinness.
With ḍamma ـُ
فهي اسم لكمال في الحيوانات.
It is a name for a perfection in animals.
With kasra ـِ
فهي اسم لكمال في الجمادات.
It is a name for a perfection in inanimate things.
ل
With fatḥa ـَ
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.
With ḍamma ـُ
فهي إشارة إلى الشيء الذي لا نهاية له.
It is an indication of the thing that has no end.
With kasra ـِ
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.
ق
With fatḥa ـَ
فهي إشارة إلى حيازة الخيرات أو إلى جميع الأنوار.
It is an indication of the acquisition of goods, or of all lights.
With ḍamma ـُ
فهي إشارة إلى النشأة الأصلية أو العلم القديم وما أشبه ذلك.
It is an indication of the original creation, or eternal knowledge, and the like.
With kasra ـِ
فهي إشارة إلى الذل.
It is an indication of abasement.
Two-letter nucleus9 roots in Ibn Fāris’s chapterخ ل
Ibn Fāris groups his roots under two-letter chapters (“the X and the Y and what makes them three”). These are the roots of this root's chapter with the core sense he gives each. Setting them side by side is our juxtaposition; he does not himself draw a shared meaning. His chapter heading, line 8939 ↗
- خلمالخاء واللام والميم أصل واحد يدل على الإلف والملازمة فالخلم كناس الظبي ثم اشتق منه الخلم وهو الخدن والأصل واحدL8940
- خلوالخاء واللام والحرف المعتل أصل واحد يدل على تعري الشيء من الشيءQ 28 · L8941
- خلبالخاء واللام والباء أصول ثلاثة أحدها إمالة الشيء إلى نفسك والآخر شيء يشمل شيئا والثالث فساد في الشيءL8955
- خلجالخاء واللام والجيم أصل واحد يدل على لي وفتل وقلة استقامة فمن ذلك الخليج وهو ماء يميل ميلة عن معظم الماء فيستقر وخليجا النهر أو البحر جناحاه وفلان يتخL8965
- خلدالخاء واللام والدال أصل واحد يدل على الثبات والملازمة فيقال خلد أقام وأخلد أيضا ومنه جنة الخلدQ 87 · L8982
- خلسالخاء واللام والسين أصل واحد وهو الاختطاف والالتماعL8994
- خلصالخاء واللام والصاد أصل واحد مطرد وهو تنقية الشيء وتهذيبه يقولون خلصته من كذا وخلص هو وخلاصة السمن ما ألقي فيه من تمر أو سويق ليخلص بهQ 31 · L8997
- خلطالخاء واللام والطاء أصل واحد مخالف للباب الذي قبله بل هو مضاد له تقول خلطت الشيء بغيره فاختلط ورجل مخلط أي حسن المداخلة للأمور وخلافه المزيلQ 6 · L8999
- خلقالخاء واللام والقاف أصلان أحدهما تقدير الشيء والآخر ملاسة الشيء فأما الأول فقولهم خلقت الأديم للسقاء إذا قدرتهQ 261 · L9063
In the sister scriptsHebrew ח ל קSyriac ܚ ܠ ܩ
| Arabic | خ ل ق |
| Hebrew | ח ל ק |
| Syriac | ܚ ܠ ܩ |
| Ancient South Arabian (musnad) | 𐩭 𐩡 𐩤 |
| Phoenician | 𐤇 𐤋 𐤒 |
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.
Lenses
AIClassical lexiconAl-Khalīl gives khalīqa as both creation and natural disposition, al-khāliq as al-ṣāniʿ (the maker), and khalaqtu al-adīm as 'I measured the hide'.well attested
The lexicographers in chronological order, from al-Khalīl to Lane.
Al-Khalīl gives khalīqa as both creation and natural disposition, al-khāliq as al-ṣāniʿ (the maker), and khalaqtu al-adīm as 'I measured the hide'. He also records khalīq and makhlaqa for being fit or worthy, mukhtaliq for a well-proportioned person, and khalāq as a share of good. Al-Jawharī opens with al-khalq al-taqdīr, measuring a hide before cutting it. He cites Zuhayr's line contrasting the man who measures and then cuts with the one who measures and does not, and he adds khilqa as fiṭra. Ibn Fāris derives khuluq (character) from taqdīr, as what has been measured out for a person, and likewise khalāq (allotted share) and ikhtilāq (fabricating a lie, Q 29:17). His second root is smoothness, as in ṣakhra khalqāʾ, 'a smooth rock'. Al-Rāghib gives the root sense as right measuring (al-taqdīr al-mustaqīm). He distinguishes originating without precedent (ibdāʿ), which belongs to God alone, from making one thing out of another, and cites Q 16:17. Ibn Manẓūr reports al-Azharī that al-khāliq with the article is used of God only and that God is khāliq both in determining things and in bringing them into being according to that determination. Lane gives taqdīr as the primary meaning.
Draws on: al-Khalīl · al-Jawharī · Ibn Fāris · al-Rāghib · Ibn Manẓūr · Lane
- al-Khalīl, Kitāb al-ʿAyn, s.v. kh-l-q
- al-Jawharī, al-Ṣiḥāḥ, s.v. kh-l-q
- Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-lugha, s.v. kh-l-q
- al-Rāghib, al-Mufradāt, s.v. kh-l-q
- Ibn Manẓūr, Lisān al-ʿArab, s.v. kh-l-q
- Lane, Arabic-English Lexicon, s.v. خلق
Letters & soundIbn Jinnī's best-known pair of examples sets khaḍima, eating soft moist food with the soft khāʾ, against qaḍima, gnawing hard dry food with the hard qāf.speculative
What the theorists of sound symbolism would say of these letters. Speculative by nature.
Ibn Jinnī's best-known pair of examples sets khaḍima, eating soft moist food with the soft khāʾ, against qaḍima, gnawing hard dry food with the hard qāf. By that reasoning, kh-l-q opens with the softer sound and closes with the harder. Al-Dabbāgh reads khāʾ as extreme length together with fineness, lām as the speaker's attaining of something great, and qāf as the acquisition of goods or of lights. The supplied data give no correspondence from Ibn ʿArabī's Breath for these three letters. Mainstream linguistics treats such readings as suggestive at most.
Draws on: Ibn Jinnī imsās · al-Dabbāgh
- Ibn Jinnī, al-Khaṣāʾiṣ (link not verified)
- al-Dabbāgh, as reported in Ibn al-Mubārak, al-Ibrīz
Root structureIbn Fāris's kh-l chapter places kh-l-q beside kh-l-d (permanence), kh-l-ṣ (purifying) and kh-l-ṭ, which he calls its opposite (mixing).plausible
The two-letter nucleus (Ibn Fāris's own chapters) and the permutations of the letters (Ibn Jinnī).
Ibn Fāris's kh-l chapter places kh-l-q beside kh-l-d (permanence), kh-l-ṣ (purifying) and kh-l-ṭ, which he calls its opposite (mixing). The other siblings are kh-l-w (bareness), kh-l-m (companionship), kh-l-j (twisting), kh-l-s (snatching) and kh-l-b. Kh-l-f, the root of khalīfa, is not among the supplied siblings, so any pairing of khalq with khilāfa rests on the Fuṣūṣ, not on the lexicon. Of the permutations, only q-l-kh ('the camel's roaring', one word in Ibn Fāris) and l-kh-q are marked as attested, and neither shares a sense with kh-l-q. Ibn Jinnī's greater derivation therefore does not apply here.
Draws on: Maqāyīs nucleus siblings · permutations
- Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs, bāb al-khāʾ wa-l-lām
- Wiktionary, Arabic root خ ل ق ↗
Semitic kin & loanwordsProto-Semitic *ḫ appears as ḥ in Hebrew, so Hebrew ḥ-l-q is the regular counterpart of Arabic kh-l-q.uncertain
Cognates in the sister languages, and whether the word was borrowed.
Proto-Semitic *ḫ appears as ḥ in Hebrew, so Hebrew ḥ-l-q is the regular counterpart of Arabic kh-l-q. Hebrew ḥālaq I, 'to be smooth', is commonly compared with Ibn Fāris's second root (khalqāʾ, 'smooth rock'). Ḥālaq II, 'to divide, apportion', with ḥēleq, 'portion', is compared with Arabic khalāq, 'share'. The sense 'to create' has no secure parallel elsewhere in Semitic; Hebrew uses bārāʾ, and Akkadian ḫalāqu means 'to perish, escape'. The creation sense is best treated as an Arabic development of 'measuring out', and the word is not a loan.
Draws on: Hebrew ḥlq · sound correspondence ḫ > Hebrew ḥ
- Brown–Driver–Briggs, s.v. חָלַק I–II
- Wiktionary, Arabic root خ ل ق ↗
Quranic exegesisExegetes use the lexical root sense, taqdīr, to explain the plural in aḥsanu l-khāliqīn (Q 23:14).plausible
How the classical exegetes read the word in the Quran.
Exegetes use the lexical root sense, taqdīr, to explain the plural in aḥsanu l-khāliqīn (Q 23:14). Others may 'create' in the sense of measuring or fashioning, as Jesus fashions birds from clay (Q 5:110), while origination without precedent belongs to God alone. Al-Rāghib supports this by pairing khalaqa al-samāwāt (Q 6:1) with badīʿ al-samāwāt (Q 2:117). Allāhu khāliqu kulli shayʾ (Q 13:16) became a proof-text in the dispute over human acts. Al-Zamakhsharī, a Muʿtazilī, keeps human acts outside its scope, whereas al-Rāzī uses the verse to argue that God creates all acts. In Q 29:17 takhluqūna ifkan is read as 'you fabricate a falsehood', ikhtilāq in Ibn Fāris's sense.
Philosophy & kalāmIn kalām, khalq refers to God's bringing the world into being after non-existence (ḥudūth al-ʿālam).plausible
The word as a technical term in falsafa and theology.
In kalām, khalq refers to God's bringing the world into being after non-existence (ḥudūth al-ʿālam). Two major controversies also turned on it: whether human acts are created (khalq al-afʿāl) and whether the Quran is created (khalq al-Qurʾān). Avicenna distinguishes ibdāʿ, giving being without prior matter or time, from making that involves matter (takwīn) or time (iḥdāth). This allows him to speak of the world as originated in being while eternal in time. Al-Ghazālī in the Tahāfut rejects that eternity, and elsewhere he uses the Quranic pair khalq and amr (Q 7:54) to distinguish the measured, bodily world from the world of command.
Draws on: kalām · Avicenna · al-Ghazālī
Akbarian readingIn Faṣṣ Ādam the human is the pupil of the eye by which al-Ḥaqq looks upon His creation (khalqihi) and has mercy on it.well attested
The word in Ibn ʿArabī's text and terminology.
In Faṣṣ Ādam the human is the pupil of the eye by which al-Ḥaqq looks upon His creation (khalqihi) and has mercy on it. By the human He also preserves His creation, as a king's seal guards his treasuries, which is why Adam is called khalīfa. The two hands that turned toward the creation of the perfect human correspond to two sets of attributes and make him the one who gathers the realities of the world. God's words to Iblīs, 'what I created with My two hands' (Q 38:75), are read as Adam's joining of two forms, the form of the world and the form of al-Ḥaqq. Here khalq is always correlated with ḥaqq, and this pairing structures Ibn ʿArabī's thought generally. The supplied data contain no definition of this root in his Iṣṭilāḥ.
Draws on: Fuṣūṣ, Faṣṣ Ādam · ḥaqq/khalq
- Ibn ʿArabī, Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam, Faṣṣ Ādam
- Q 38:75 ↗
Reference