Root · 29 in the Quran · 86 in 22 texts of the library
رفعThe opposite of placing down: to raise, lift, or elevate. (root rf)
الراء والفاء والعين أصل واحد يدل على خلاف الوضع تقول رفعت الشيء رفعا وهو خلاف الخفض ومرفوع الناقة في سيرها خلاف الموضوع …
Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-lugha · English rendering AI
The family of the root
Patterns computed · our dataThe words of ر ف ع that our sources attest: the root's letters in green, the added letters in gold.
29 words7 verbs8 verbal nouns3 participles2 places and instruments3 intensives and elatives5 other nouns1 plural
- رَفَعَhe raised it
- رَفِيعhigh, elevated, exalted, lofty, or eminent, in rank, condition, or state
- أَرْفَعhigher, or more elevated
- رَفْعraising; lifting
- اِرْتَفَعَit became raised
The whole family7 groups, by pattern; tap a pattern to see what it does
Verbs7رَفَعَ · اِرْتَفَعَ · رَفَّعَ
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 يَفْعَلُ (a – a; the imperfect from Lane's “aor.”)
- رَفَعَhe raised itLaneForm IQurʾān ×22library ×18LaneIbn Fāris
- اِرْتَفَعَit became raisedLaneForm VIIIlibrary ×5Lane
- رَفَّعَForm IILaneIbn Fāris
- رَافَعَForm IIILaneIbn Fāris
Verbal nouns8رَفْع · رُفْعَان · رِفْعَة
The action itself, named as a noun (maṣdar).grammar →
- رَفْعraising; liftingautoForm I · Lane: inf. n.library ×6LaneIbn Fāris
- رُفْعَانForm I · Lane: inf. n.LaneIbn Fāris
- رِفْعَةhigh, elevated, exalted, lofty, or eminent, rank or condition or stateLaneForm I · Lane: inf. n.library ×1Lane
- مَرْفُوعForm I · Lane: inf. n.LaneIbn Fāris
Participles3رَافِع · مَرْفُوع · مُرْتَفِع
The one who does it, and the one it is done to.grammar →
- رَافِعraisingLaneactive, Form IQurʾān ×1library ×1LaneIbn Fāris
- مَرْفُوعlifted; raisedautopassive, Form IQurʾān ×1library ×1LaneIbn Fāris
- مُرْتَفِعhigh mountainLaneactive, Form VIIIlibrary ×2Lane
Place, time and instrument2مَرْفَع · مِرْفَع
Where or when it happens, and what it is done with: the m- nouns.grammar →
Intensives, qualities and the elative3رَفِيع · أَرْفَع · رَفَّاع
The quality carried far, held as a trait, or compared.grammar →
- رَفِيعhigh, elevated, exalted, lofty, or eminent, in rank, condition, or stateLanequality (faʿīl)Qurʾān ×1library ×6Lane
- أَرْفَعhigher, or more elevatedLaneelative or colour adjective (afʿal)library ×7Lane
- رَفَّاعone who traces up traditions to the Prophet, or to his CompanionsLaneintensive (faʿʿāl)LaneIbn Fāris
Other nouns5رَفَاع · رِفَاع · رَفِيعَة
Nouns on other patterns; their meaning is learned word by word.grammar →
Reference
Why this shape?What each of the 19 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.
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 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 · 170Rafaʿtuhu rafʿan fa-rtafaʿa (رفعته رفعا فارتفع), 'I raised it and it rose.' Barq rāfiʿ (برق رافع) means 'gleaming, radiant lightning,' as [the poet] said: "Alas — did it not grieve you, a sickly wind, and lightning gleam
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-rafʿ (الرفع): the opposite of al-waḍʿ (الوضع, placing down).
al-Jawharī (d. c. 393/1003), al-Ṣiḥāḥ. Admits only usage he judged sound.
AI AI translation of the Arabic belowIbn Fāris · 395Rāʾ, fāʾ, and ʿayn (ر ف ع): a single root indicating the opposite of placing/setting down.
Ibn Fāris (d. 395/1004), Maqāyīs al-Lugha. Seeks each root's original sense (aṣl).
AI AI translation of the Arabic belowal-Rāghib · 502Al-rafʿ (الرفع) is used sometimes of physical bodies that have been placed, when you elevate them from their resting place, as in: "wa-rafaʿnā fawqakumu al-ṭūr (ورفعنا فوقكم الطور)" [Qur'an, al-Baqarah 93], 'And We raise
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 · 711Among the names of God, exalted, is al-Rāfiʿ (الرافع): He who raises the believer by granting felicity, and raises His close friends by drawing them near.
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 definitions1 · Ibn ʿArabī’s Iṣṭilāḥ, al-Jurjānī’s Taʿrīfāt
المرفوع من الحديث
ما أخبر الصحابي عن قول رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم.
Al-marfūʿ min al-ḥadīth (المرفوع من الحديث): that which a Companion reports as the saying of the Messenger of God, God bless him and grant him peace. AI
The same letters, turned
The same three letters in all six orders. Choose one.
ر ف ع
الراء والفاء والعين أصل واحد يدل على خلاف الوضع تقول رفعت الشيء رفعا وهو خلاف الخفض ومرفوع الناقة في سيرها خلاف الموضوع
r-f-ʿ is a single root indicating the opposite of placing down; you say "rafaʿtu al-shayʾa rafʿan," which is the opposite of lowering; and "marfūʿ" of a she-camel in her gait is the opposite of "mawḍūʿ." 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
- رrāʾtip of the tongue, near the nūn · voiced, in betweenSīb. · I. Jinnī
- فfāʾlower lip and upper teeth · voiceless, continuantSīb. · I. Jinnī
- عʿaynmiddle of the throat · voiced, in betweenSīb. · 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
ر
ومن مخرج النون غير أنه أدخل في ظهر اللسان قليلا لانحرافه إلى اللام مخرج الراء
From the place of the nūn, except that it goes a little further onto the back of the tongue, because it leans towards the lām, is the place of the rāʾ. Sībawayh, lines 26557–26558 ↗
ومن مخرج النون غير أنه أدخل في ظهر اللسان قليلا، لانحرافه إلى اللام، مخرج الراء
From the place of the nūn, except that it goes a little further onto the back of the tongue, because it leans towards the lām, is the place of the rāʾ. Ibn Jinnī, lines 980–981 ↗
ف
ومن باطن الشفة السفلى وأطراف الثنايا العلى مخرج الفاء
From the inside of the lower lip and the edges of the upper front teeth is the place of the fāʾ. Sībawayh, line 26562 ↗
ومن باطن الشفة السفلى وأطراف الثنايا العلى، مخرج الفاء
From the inside of the lower lip and the edges of the upper front teeth is the place of the fāʾ. Ibn Jinnī, line 985 ↗
ع
ومن أوسط الحلق مخرج العين والحاء
From the middle of the throat is the place of the ʿayn and the ḥāʾ. Sībawayh, lines 26548–26549 ↗
ومن وسط الحلق مخرج العين والحاء
From the middle of the throat is the place of the ʿayn and the ḥāʾ. Ibn Jinnī, line 970 ↗
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
ر
Level of existence: السماء الخامسة · the fifth heaven
Divine Name: المصور · the Form-Giver (al-Muṣawwir)
Lunar mansion: الغفر · al-Ghafr
Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 64675Spheres 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 2582ف
Level of existence: الملائكة · the angels
Divine Name: القوى · the Strong (al-Qawī)
Lunar mansion: سعد الأخبية · Saʿd al-Akhbiya
Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 65823Spheres 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 2582ع
Level of existence: الطبيعة · Nature
Divine Name: الباطن · The Inward (al-Bāṭin)
Lunar mansion: الثريا · al-Thurayyā (the Pleiades)
Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 63825Spheres of its simples (ch. 2): 9 line 2572 ↗
Meaning by vowelal-Dabbāgh · a visionary claim about a primordial “Syriac”, not historical Syriac
English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic AI
ر
With fatḥa ـَ
فهي إشارة إلى جميع الخيرات الظاهرة والباطنة.
It is an indication of all goods, outward and inward.
With ḍamma ـُ
فهي إشارة إلى الواحد في نفسه وهو ظاهر.
It is an indication of the one in itself, and it is manifest.
With kasra ـِ
فهي إشارة إلى الشيء الذي فيه الروح وليس من بني آدم، أو إشارة إلى الروح نفسها.
It is an indication of a thing that has spirit in it but is not of the children of Adam, or an indication of the spirit itself.
ف
With fatḥa ـَ
فهي لنفي الخبث بعد ما كان جنسه معلوما بالخبث، فهي إشارة إلى أنه طاهر وجنسه خبيث، والخبث مثل المعاصي وما أشبهها.
It is for negating foulness in something whose genus is known for foulness. It thus indicates that the thing is pure while its genus is foul; foulness being like sins and the like.
With ḍamma ـُ
فهي لتزويل الخبث.
It is for removing foulness.
With kasra ـِ
فهي إشارة إلى الذات وما احتوت عليه، وفي بعض الأحيان قد يكون معها التقليل.
It is an indication of the self and what it contains; at times it may carry a sense of diminution.
ع
With fatḥa ـَ
فهي اسم لقدوم أو رحيل.
It is a name for arrival or departure.
With ḍamma ـُ
فهي اسم للساكن في الذات التي تقوم به.
It is a name for that which dwells in the self and by which the self subsists.
With kasra ـِ
فهي اسم لخبث الذات.
It is a name for the foulness of the self.
Two-letter nucleus13 roots in Ibn Fāris’s chapterر ف
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 11651 ↗
- رفقالراء والفاء والقاف أصل واحد يدل على موافقة ومقاربة بلا عنف فالرفق خلاف العنفQ 5 · L11652
- رفلالراء والفاء واللام أصل واحد يدل على سعة ووفورL11667
- رفنالراء والفاء والنون ليس أصلا وإنما النون في رفن مبدلة من لام لأنه في الأصل رفل فأما قولهم ارفأن إذا سكن فإن النون فيه زائدةL11669
- رفةالراء والفاء والهاء أصل واحد يدل على نعمة وسعة مطلبL11671
- رفوأالراء والفاء والحرف المعتل أو الهمزة أصل واحد يدل على موافقة وسكون وملاءمةL11677
- رفتالراء والفاء والتاء أصل واحد يدل على فت وليQ 2 · L11687
- رفثالراء والفاء والثاء أصل واحد وهو كل كلام يستحيا من إظهاره وأصله الرفث وهو النكاحQ 2 · L11689
- رفدالراء والفاء والدال أصل واحد مطرد منقاس وهو المعاونة والمظاهرة بالعطاء وغيره فالرفد مصدر رفده يرفده إذا أعطاه والاسم الرفد وجاء في الحديث ( ويكون الفيQ 2 · L11692
- رفزالراء والفاء والزاء ليس هو عندنا أصلا لكنهمL11707
- رفشالراء والفاء والشين ليس شيئا ويقولون الرفش الأكلL11711
- رفصالراء والفاء والصاد فيه كلمة واحدة يقولون ارتفص السعر غلا فأما الرفصة فالماء يكون بين القوم نوبة ويقال إنه مقلوب من الفرصةL11712
- رفضالراء والفاء والضاد أصل واحد وهو الترك ثم يشتق منهL11715
- رفعالراء والفاء والعين أصل واحد يدل على خلاف الوضع تقول رفعت الشيء رفعا وهو خلاف الخفض ومرفوع الناقة في سيرها خلاف الموضوعQ 29 · L11727
In the sister scriptsHebrew ר פ עSyriac ܪ ܦ ܥ
| Arabic | ر ف ع |
| Hebrew | ר פ ע |
| Syriac | ܪ ܦ ܥ |
| Ancient South Arabian (musnad) | 𐩧 𐩰 𐩲 |
| Phoenician | 𐤓 𐤐 𐤏 |
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 the base sense rafaʿtu...well attested
The lexicographers in chronological order, from al-Khalīl to Lane.
Al-Khalīl gives the base sense rafaʿtu... fa-irtafaʿa, and extends it to lightning that blazes upward (barq rāfiʿ), to a mount's gait that is "raised" above mere walking (marfūʿ, opposite of mawḍūʿ), and to a man's rising in nobility (rafīʿ). Al-Jawharī confirms rafʿ as the plain contrary of waḍʿ, then adds two specialized idioms: rafaʿa 'alā al-ʿāmil, to lodge a report or complaint against an official with higher authority, and rafʿ al-zarʿ, to carry the harvested crop to the threshing floor. Ibn Fāris fixes khilāf al-waḍʿ as the single core sense, from which he derives the quickened gait of a she-camel (rāfiʿ), and — importantly — the sense of making something known or public (idhāʿa), citing the ḥadīth "kullu rāfiʿatin rafaʿat ʿalaynā min al-balāgh," every group that conveys a report to us. Al-Rāghib distinguishes four registers: raising solid bodies from their place (rafaʿnā fawqakum al-ṭūr, Q2:93), raising in construction (yarfaʿu Ibrāhīm al-qawāʿid, Q2:127), raising in renown (rafaʿnā laka dhikrak, Q94:4), raising in rank (rafaʿnā baʿḍahum fawqa baʿḍ darajāt, Q43:32) and, as a distinct case, God's bodily raising of Jesus to Himself (rafaʿahu Allāh ilayh, Q4:158). Ibn Manẓūr collects these and adds the divine name al-Rāfiʿ, He who raises the believer through felicity and His friends through nearness, and glosses khāfiḍatun rāfiʿah (Q56:3) — per al-Zajjāj — as the Day that lowers the disobedient and raises the obedient. Lane's entry confirms rafaʿahu as the general verb of upraising, contrary to waḍaʿahu, with the same range of concrete and figurative extensions.
Draws on: al-Khalīl, al-ʿAyn · al-Jawharī, al-Ṣiḥāḥ · Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs · al-Rāghib, al-Mufradāt · Ibn Manẓūr, Lisān al-ʿArab · Lane, Lexicon
Letters & soundIn the correspondences given, rāʾ is assigned to the fifth heaven, and by al-Dabbāgh to all goods, outward and inward;speculative
What the theorists of sound symbolism would say of these letters. Speculative by nature.
In the correspondences given, rāʾ is assigned to the fifth heaven, and by al-Dabbāgh to all goods, outward and inward; fāʾ to the angels, and by al-Dabbāgh to the negation of foulness within a foul genus; ʿayn to Nature (al-Ṭabīʿa), and by al-Dabbāgh to a name for arrival or departure. One could read ر-ف-ع as a movement through the heavenly (ر) by angelic mediation (ف) away from Nature (ع) — a reading that happens to echo the verb's own sense of ascent — but this is speculative resonance only, not a linguistic derivation, and mainstream philology assigns no fixed meaning to individual Arabic letters.
Draws on: Ibn ʿArabī, letters in the Breath (akbari198) · al-Dabbāgh, letter meanings
Root structureIbn Fāris's nucleus for ر-ف-ع is khilāf al-waḍʿ, contrary of placing down.uncertain
The two-letter nucleus (Ibn Fāris's own chapters) and the permutations of the letters (Ibn Jinnī).
Ibn Fāris's nucleus for ر-ف-ع is khilāf al-waḍʿ, contrary of placing down. Its chapter-neighbors under ر-ف- cluster around gentleness without violence (رفق), ampleness and abundance (رفل, رفة), concord and stillness (رفوأ), and aid given by extending something to another (رفد) — a family loosely oriented toward upward or outward extension and ease, into which "raising" fits comfortably though this is juxtaposition, not proof. The permutation فرع (elevation, branching, height — the one Qurʾānic occurrence being the tall tree of Q14:24) shares both letters and the semantic field of height with رفع; whether this reflects Ibn Jinnī's greater derivation (al-ishtiqāq al-akbar) or mere coincidence of small root-inventory is left open.
Draws on: Ibn Fāris nucleus ر-ف-ع · sibling chapters ر-ف-ق/ر-ف-ل/ر-ف-د · permutation ف-ر-ع
Semitic kin & loanwordsNo confident Semitic cognate for ر-ف-ع in this specific sense of "to raise" is evident from the standard comparanda: Hebrew instead uses rûm/hērîm and nāśāʾ for elevation, and Aramaic likewise has other roots (e.g.uncertain
Cognates in the sister languages, and whether the word was borrowed.
No confident Semitic cognate for ر-ف-ع in this specific sense of "to raise" is evident from the standard comparanda: Hebrew instead uses rûm/hērîm and nāśāʾ for elevation, and Aramaic likewise has other roots (e.g. zqp, ʿly) for this sense, not a reflex of r-f-ʿ. Any resemblance to distantly attested Akkadian rapû, "to be wide/broad," would be semantically distant and is not put forward with confidence. The root should be treated as Arabic-internal for present comparative purposes, with no established loan relationship.
Draws on: no confident cognate identified
Quranic exegesisAt Q2:63 and 2:93, "wa-rafaʿnā fawqakum al-ṭūr," al-Ṭabarī and later exegetes read the raising of the mountain as a literal miracle, the mountain lifted like a canopy over the Israelites at the moment of covenant, meant to compel their assent.well attested
How the classical exegetes read the word in the Quran.
At Q2:63 and 2:93, "wa-rafaʿnā fawqakum al-ṭūr," al-Ṭabarī and later exegetes read the raising of the mountain as a literal miracle, the mountain lifted like a canopy over the Israelites at the moment of covenant, meant to compel their assent. At Q3:55, "innī mutawaffīka wa-rāfiʿuka ilayya," concerning Jesus, al-Ṭabarī records the majority reading as a bodily raising to heaven prior to any death, while al-Rāzī engages the theological stakes given the Qurʾān's denial of the crucifixion at 4:157, treating rafʿ here as preservation from death by ascent rather than mere elevation of rank. At Q56:34 and 80:14, marfūʿah describes couches and scrolls that are "raised" — al-Zamakhsharī glosses this as elevation in honor and worth, the scrolls held by honored, purified scribes and the couches signifying rank in Paradise rather than mere physical height.
Draws on: al-Ṭabarī · al-Zamakhsharī · al-Rāzī
Akbarian readingIn Faṣṣ Ādam, Ibn ʿArabī uses rafīʿah for the lofty station the angels claim for themselves on the ground of their divine comprehensiveness (jamʿiyya ilāhiyya), a claim the chapter goes on to relativize.plausible
The word in Ibn ʿArabī's text and terminology.
In Faṣṣ Ādam, Ibn ʿArabī uses rafīʿah for the lofty station the angels claim for themselves on the ground of their divine comprehensiveness (jamʿiyya ilāhiyya), a claim the chapter goes on to relativize. Elsewhere he uses rafʿ in a logical-technical sense: universal realities (al-umūr al-kulliyya) cannot be "lifted away" (lā yumkin rafʿuhā) from the intellect, even though they have no independent existence in the concrete particular — rafʿ here means removal or negation, not spatial elevation. A third passage speaks of a veil that "is never lifted" (lā yurfaʿ), despite the creature's knowledge of its own ontological poverty before its Originator — rafʿ as the removal of a cognitive/existential barrier that, in this life, never actually occurs.
Draws on: Faṣṣ Ādam, three occurrences of ر-ف-ع
Reference