ذللPer Ibn Fāris: khuḍūʿ, istikāna, līn — submission, abasement, and pliancy. (root dhll)

Dhill (الذل) [with kasra] is the maṣdar (verbal noun) of dhalūl (الذلول), i.e., a tractable riding-beast. One says 'dhalla yadhillu' (ذل يذل), and a riding-beast is 'dhalūl' (ذلول), 'bayyinat al-dhill' [manifestly docile] — and likewise of anything else. One says 'dhallaltuhu tadhlīlan' (ذللته تذليلا) [I made it docile]. Of a grapevine, when its clusters have been let down, one says 'qad dhullila tadhlīlan' (قد ذلل تذليلا). Dhull (الذل) [with ḍamma] is the maṣdar of dhalīl (الذليل) [abject]; one says 'dhalla yadhillu' (ذل يذل), and likewise 'al-dhilla' (الذلة). Al-dhaldhal (الذلذل) is the lower part of a shirt, cloak, or the like; one says 'shammir dhalādhilaka' (شمر ذلاذلك) [tuck up your skirts]. He said [poetry]: 'And she taught it, in [its] running, to raise the skirts (al-dhalādhil).'

Al-dhull (الذل) [with ḍamma] is the opposite of al-'izz (العز) [might]. A man is dhalīl (ذليل), 'bayyin al-dhull wa-l-dhilla wa-l-madhalla' [manifestly abject, in abasement and humiliation], from a people who are adhillā' (أذلاء) and adhilla (أذلة). Al-dhill (الذل) with kasra means softness/pliancy, the opposite of intractability (الصعوبة). One says: a riding-beast is dhalūl (ذلول), 'bayyinat al-dhill,' from animals that are dhulul (ذلل). From this comes the saying: 'ba'ḍ al-dhull abqā li-l-ahl wa-l-māl' (بعض الذل أبقى للأهل والمال) ['a measure of abasement better preserves one's family and wealth']. 'Ayyir al-madhalla' (عير المذلة) is the tent-peg, because its head is struck/split. Dhalādhil al-qamīṣ (ذلاذل القميص) are the lower parts of a shirt near the ground, singular dhaldhal (ذلذل), like qumqum/qamāqim. Al-Zafayān said [poetry]: 'Tucked up, having raised the hem-skirts (al-dhalādhil).' Likewise 'dhaldhal al-qamīṣ' (ذلذل القميص) means the shortness of the hem-skirts. 'Adhallahu' (أذله), 'dhallalahu' (ذلله), and 'istadhallahu' (استذله) all bear the same meaning [to abase/tame]. His saying, Exalted is He: {wa-dhullilat quṭūfuhā tadhlīlan} (وذللت قطوفها تذليلا) ["and its clusters of fruit made to hang low, easy to reach"], means: its clusters were made even and let down for us. 'Tadhallala lahu' (تذلل له) means he submitted/humbled himself to him. 'Adhalla al-rajul' (أذل الرجل) means his companions became abject (adhillā'). Their saying 'jā'a 'alā adhlālihi' (جاء على أذلاله) means 'he came in his [usual] manner.' One says 'da'hu 'alā adhlālihi' (دعه على أذلاله), meaning 'leave him as he is.' And 'umūr Allāhi jāriyatun 'alā adhlālihā' (أمور الله جارية على أذلالها) means 'running along their [natural] courses and paths.' Abū 'Amr cited, from al-Khansā' [poetry]: 'Let death drag, after the departed youth, / its courses (adhlāl) along with effacement' — meaning: I shall not grieve after him for anything.

The letters dhāl (ذ) and lām (ل), doubled and matching, form a single root indicating submission, humility, and softness. Thus dhull (الذل) is the opposite of 'izz (العز) [might/glory] — and this is a correct antithetical correspondence pointing to the wisdom which the Arabs alone, among all nations, were given for it, because 'izz (العز) derives from 'azāz (العزاز), hard and firm ground, while dhull (الذل) is the opposite of hardness/difficulty (الصعوبة). It is related that someone said: 'ba'ḍ al-dhill (بعض الذل), with kasra on the dhāl, better preserves one's family and wealth.' From this [sense, with kasra] one says: a riding-beast is dhalūl (ذلول), 'bayyin al-dhill' [manifestly tractable]; and from the first sense [with ḍamma] one says: a man is dhalīl (ذليل), 'bayyin al-dhill wa-l-madhalla wa-l-dhilla' [manifestly abased, in abasement and humiliation]. It is said of a road-surface that has been trodden smooth: 'dhalla' (ذل). And 'dhullila al-qiṭf tadhlīlan' (ذلل القطف تذليلا) means the grape-cluster became soft and hung down. One says 'ajri al-umūra 'alā adhlālihā' (أجر الأمور على أذلالها), meaning 'their proper, natural course,' i.e., the course along which a matter proceeds easily and submits. Also belonging to this root are 'dhalādhil al-qamīṣ' (ذلاذل القميص), the lower hems of a shirt that hang near the ground, singular 'dhaldhal' (ذلذل). And they say 'idhlawlā al-rajulu idhlīlā'an' (اذلولى الرجل إذليلاء) when a man hastens — this too belongs to the root.

...as [the Arabs] sometimes picture the morning (al-ṣubḥ) as a son of the sun, and sometimes as its brow, so they say 'the brow of the sun.' They expressed swiftness of comprehension and sharpness of understanding by dhakā' (الذكاء) [keenness/intelligence], as in their saying, 'so-and-so is a flame of fire.' 'Dhakkaytu al-shāh' (ذكيت الشاة) means: I slaughtered the sheep. The true meaning of tadhkiya (التذكية) is the expulsion of the innate [vital] heat, but in the Sacred Law it has been restricted to mean the ending of life in one manner rather than another. This etymology is supported by their calling the dead 'khāmid' (خامد) and 'hāmid' (هامد), and calling an extinguished fire 'hāmida' (هامدة) [dead]. 'Dhakā al-rajul' (ذكى الرجل) is said when a man has grown old and attained keenness (dhakā') through much practice and experience. According to this derivation, an old man is not called 'mudhkī' (مذك) unless he possesses experience and practice. And since experience and practice are rarely found except in the old, owing to the length of their lives, the term dhakā' came to be applied to them, and also to seasoned, mature thoroughbred horses. Hence their saying: 'the running of the mudhkiyāt (مذكيات) [seasoned horses] overcomes [that of the young]' (جري المذكيات غلاب). Dhull (ذل): Al-dhull (الذل) [with ḍamma] is what results from being overpowered/subjugated; one says 'dhalla yadhillu dhullan' (ذل يذل ذلا). Al-dhill (الذل) [with kasra] is what results after intractability and unruliness, without subjugation; one says 'dhalla yadhillu dhillan' (ذل يذل ذلا). His saying, Exalted is He: {wakhfiḍ lahumā janāḥa al-dhulli min al-raḥma} (واخفض لهما جناح الذل من الرحمة) ["and lower to them the wing of humility, out of mercy"], means: be like one subjugated toward them; it is also read '(janāḥ al-dhill)' [with kasra], meaning: be gentle and submissive to them. One says al-dhull and al-qull, al-dhilla and al-qilla [as pairs]. He, Exalted, said: {tarhaquhum dhillatun} (ترهقهم ذلة) ["abasement will cover them"]; and He said: {ḍuribat 'alayhimu al-dhillatu wa-l-maskanatu} (ضربت عليهم الذلة والمسكنة) ["humiliation and wretchedness were stamped upon them"]; and He said: {sa-yanāluhum ghaḍabun min rabbihim wa-dhillatun} (سينالهم غضب من ربهم وذلة) ["a wrath from their Lord and humiliation will overtake them"]. 'Dhallat al-dābbatu ba'da shimāsin' (ذلت الدابة بعد شماس), 'dhillan' (ذلا) — [the beast] became tractable after unruliness — and it is dhalūl (ذلول), i.e., not intractable. He, Exalted, said: {lā dhalūlun tuthīru al-arḍa} (لا ذلول تثير الأرض) ["not broken to plow the earth"]. Al-dhull, when it comes from a person toward himself of his own accord, is praiseworthy, as in His saying, Exalted is He: {adhillatin 'alā al-mu'minīna} (أذلة على المؤمنين) ["humble toward the believers"]; and He said: {wa-laqad naṣarakumu Allāhu bi-Badrin wa-antum adhillatun} (ولقد نصركم الله ببدر وأنتم أذلة) ["and Allah had already given you victory at Badr while you were few/humble"]; and He said: {fa-slukī subula rabbiki dhulalan} (فاسلكي سبل ربك ذللا) ["then follow the ways of your Lord, made smooth [for you]"], meaning: submissively, without intractability. He, Exalted, said: {wa-dhullilat quṭūfuhā tadhlīlan} (وذللت قطوفها تذليلا) ["and its clusters of fruit hanging low, made easy"], meaning: made easy. It is said: 'al-umūru tajrī 'alā adhlālihā' (الأمور تجري على أذلالها) ["matters run along their courses"], meaning: their paths and routes.

Al-dhull (الذل) is the opposite of al-'izz (العز) [might]. One says 'dhalla yadhillu dhullan wa-dhillatan wa-dhalālatan wa-madhallatan' (ذل يذل ذلا وذلة وذلالة ومذلة); thus he is dhalīl (ذليل), 'bayyin al-dhull wa-l-madhalla' [manifestly abject, in abasement], from a people who are adhillā' (أذلاء), adhilla (أذلة), and dhilāl (ذلال). 'Amr ibn Qami'a said [poetry]: 'And the poet of a people possessed of hatred — / I suppressed [them], so they became muzzled [and] abject (dhilāl).' 'Adhallahu' (أذله) [he abased him], and 'adhalla al-rajul' (أذل الرجل) [means] his companions became abject. 'Adhallahu' [also] means: he found him to be abject. 'Istadhallūhu' (استذلوه): they deemed him abject. Al-dhalīl among people is pluralized as adhilla (أذلة) and dhilān (ذلانا). Al-dhull [means] baseness. 'Adhallahu' and 'istadhallahu' both bear one meaning. 'Tadhallala lahu' (تذلل له) means he submitted to him. Among the names of Allah, Exalted is He, is al-Mudhill (المذل) [the Abaser]: He who attaches abasement (al-dhull) to whomever He wills of His servants, and removes from him every kind of might ('izz). 'Istadhalla al-ba'īru al-ṣa'bu' (استذل البعير الصعب): removing ticks from an unruly camel so that it feels relief, grows tame through it, and becomes docile. Al-Ḥuṭay'a intended this by his saying [poetry]: 'By your life, the tick of Banū Quray' — / when the tick is removed, is not [easily] obtainable.' And concerning his saying, which Ibn al-A'rābī cited [poetry]: 'May my legacy be a blessing to a man free of abasement (dhilla) — / sharp arrows, unmatched, having a whistling sound.' He meant: not abject, or not possessed of abasement; and 'ṣanābir' (صنابر) is raised [in case] as substitute for 'turāth' (تراث) [legacy]. In the Mighty Revelation: {sa-yanāluhum ghaḍabun min rabbihim wa-dhillatun fī al-ḥayāti al-dunyā} (سينالهم غضب من ربهم وذلة في الحياة الدنيا) ["a wrath from their Lord and humiliation will overtake them in the life of this world"]. It is said: al-dhilla here refers to what they were commanded, namely, killing themselves. And it is [also] said: al-dhilla refers to the imposition of the jizya (poll-tax). Al-Zajjāj said: the jizya was not imposed on those who worshipped the calf, because Allah, Exalted is He, accepted their repentance through their killing of themselves. 'Dhullun dhalīlun' (ذل ذليل) [utter abasement]: either this is for intensification, or it carries the meaning of 'mudhill' (مذل) [humiliating]. Sībawayh cited, from Ka'b ibn Mālik [poetry]: 'Qurayẓa indeed met with what grieved it, / and utter abasement (dhullun dhalīlun) alighted in their abode.' Al-dhill, with kasra, means softness/pliancy, the opposite of intractability (al-ṣu'ūba). Both al-dhill and al-dhull [with either vowel] mean the opposite of intractability. One says 'dhalla yadhillu dhillan wa-dhullan' (ذل يذل ذلا وذلا), so it is dhalūl (ذلول) — used of both humans and riding-beasts. Tha'lab cited [poetry]: 'Whatever hardship or ease there be, indeed I am / docile (dhalūl) with the needs of petitioners, skilled.' He attached 'dhalūlan' with the preposition 'bi' because it carries the meaning of 'kind' and 'compassionate.' The plural is dhulul (ذلل) and adhilla (أذلة). A riding-beast is dhalūl (ذلول), the masculine and feminine being equal in this [usage]; one says 'dhallalahu' (ذلله) [he made it docile]. Al-Kisā'ī [said]: a horse is dhalūl, 'bayyin al-dhill' [manifestly docile]; a man is dhalīl, 'bayyin al-dhilla wa-l-dhull' [manifestly abased]; and a riding-beast is dhalūl, 'bayyinat al-dhill,' among docile (dhulul) beasts. In the ḥadīth of Ibn al-Zubayr: 'ba'ḍ al-dhulli abqā li-l-ahli wa-l-māl' (بعض الذل أبقى للأهل والمال) ["a measure of abasement is more preserving of family and wealth"]. Its meaning is: if a man is afflicted with a circumstance of wrong in which he suffers some abasement, and he bears it patiently, this better preserves him, his family, and his wealth; but if he does not bear it patiently, and proceeds seeking honor ('izz), he exposes himself, his family, and his wealth to danger, and this may sometimes cause his destruction. 'Ayyir al-madhalla' (عير المذلة) is the tent-peg, because its head is struck. And his saying [poetry]: 'I gave him to drink the cup of destruction with spearheads, / made docile (dhulul), keen-edged, sharp' — he meant 'made docile through sharpening,' i.e., they had been thinned and honed. And his saying, which he cited... [entry continues]