Root · 10 in the Quran · 50 in 11 texts of the library
سفلThe opposite of height — lowness, being beneath, per Ibn Fāris. (root sfl)
السين والفاء واللام أصل واحد وهو ما كان خلاف العلو فالسفل سفل الدار وغيرها والسفول ضد العلو والسفلة الدون من الناس
Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-lugha · English rendering AI
The family of the root
Patterns computed · our dataThe words of س ف ل that our sources attest: the root's letters in green, the added letters in gold.
24 words5 verbs3 verbal nouns1 participle2 intensives and elatives9 other nouns3 plurals1 relative or abstract
- أَسْفَلlower, and lowest
- سَافِلlowly; base
- سُفْلِيّlower; bottom
- سَافِلِين—
- أَسْفَلِينplural of lower, and lowest
The whole family7 groups, by pattern; tap a pattern to see what it does
Verbs5سَفَلَ · سَفَّلَ · سَافَلَ
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.”)
Verbal nouns3سَفَالَة · سَفْل · سُفُول
The action itself, named as a noun (maṣdar).grammar →
Participles1سَافِل
The one who does it, and the one it is done to.grammar →
- سَافِلlowly; baseautoactive, Form IQurʾān ×3library ×8Lane
Intensives, qualities and the elative2أَسْفَل · سَفِيل
The quality carried far, held as a trait, or compared.grammar →
- أَسْفَلlower, and lowestLaneelative or colour adjective (afʿal)Qurʾān ×6library ×16Lane
- سَفِيلquality (faʿīl)Lane
Other nouns9سُفْل · سَفِل · سَفِلَة
Nouns on other patterns; their meaning is learned word by word.grammar →
Plurals3سَافِلِين · أَسْفَلِين · أَسَافِل
Broken plurals rebuild the word on a new pattern; sound plurals add an ending.grammar →
- سَافِلِينsound plural of سَافِلQurʾān ×1library ×5
- أَسْفَلِينplural of lower, and lowestfrom the singularsound plural of أَسْفَلQurʾān ×2
- أَسَافِلplural of lower, and lowestfrom the singularbroken plural of أَسْفَلLane
Relative and abstract1سُفْلِيّ
-iyy relates a thing to its source; -iyya makes an abstract noun.grammar →
- سُفْلِيّlower; bottomautorelative adjective (-iyy)library ×12
Reference
Why this shape?What each of the 13 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 · 170Asfal (أسفل) and aʿlā (أعلى), sufl (سفل) and ʿuluww (علو), tasaffal (تسفل) and taʿallā (تعلى), sāfila (سافلة) and ʿāliya (عالية), suflā (سفلى) and ʿulyā (عليا), safāl (سفال) and ʿalāʾ (علاء), and sufūl (سفول) and ʿuluww
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-sufl (السفل), al-sufl (السفل), al-sufūl (السفول), al-safāl (السفال), and al-safāla (السفالة), with ḍamma: the opposite of al-ʿuluww (العلو), al-ʿuluww (العلو), al-ʿuluww (العلو), al-ʿalāʾ (العلاء), and al-ʿalāwa (العل
al-Jawharī (d. c. 393/1003), al-Ṣiḥāḥ. Admits only usage he judged sound.
AI AI translation of the Arabic belowIbn Fāris · 395Sīn, fāʾ, and lām form a single root, which is what is opposite of height (al-ʿuluww).
Ibn Fāris (d. 395/1004), Maqāyīs al-Lugha. Seeks each root's original sense (aṣl).
AI AI translation of the Arabic belowal-Rāghib · 502Al-sufl (السفل): the opposite of al-ʿuluww (العلو - height).
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 · 711Al-sufl (السفل), al-sufl (السفل), al-sufūl (السفول), al-safāl (السفال), and al-safāla (السفالة), with ḍamma: the opposite of al-ʿuluww (العلو), al-ʿuluww (العلو), al-ʿuluww (العلو), al-ʿalāʾ (العلاء), and al-ʿalāwa (العل
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 ↗
The same letters, turned
The same three letters in all six orders. Choose one.
س ف ل
السين والفاء واللام أصل واحد وهو ما كان خلاف العلو فالسفل سفل الدار وغيرها والسفول ضد العلو والسفلة الدون من الناس
s-f-l: one root, which is whatever is the opposite of height. Al-sufl is the lower part of a house or other things, al-sufūl is the opposite of height, and al-saflah is the lowly among people. 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
- سsīntongue-tip, by the front teeth · voiceless, continuantSīb. · I. Jinnī
- فfāʾlower lip and upper teeth · voiceless, continuantSīb. · I. Jinnī
- لlāmedge of the tongue · voiced, in betweenI. 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
س
ومما بين طرف اللسان وفويق الثنايا مخرج الزاي، والسين، والصاد
From between the tip of the tongue and just above the front teeth is the place of the zāy, the sīn and the ṣād. Sībawayh, line 26560 ↗
ومما بين الثنايا وطرف اللسان، مخرج الصاد والزاي والسين
From between the front teeth and the tip of the tongue is the place of the ṣād, the zāy and the sīn. Ibn Jinnī, line 983 ↗
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 ↗
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 ↗
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
س
Level of existence: ما ظهر في الماء · what appears in water
Divine Name: المحيي · al-Muḥyī, the Life-Giver
Lunar mansion: النعائم · al-Naʿāʾim
Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 62110Spheres of its simples (ch. 2): 9 line 2572 ↗
Nature (ch. 2)
السين والشين فطبعهما الحرارة واليبوسة
Sīn and shīn: their nature is heat and dryness.
Ibn ʿArabī, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, line 2581ف
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 2582ل
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 2577Meaning by vowelal-Dabbāgh · a visionary claim about a primordial “Syriac”, not historical Syriac
English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic AI
س
With fatḥa ـَ
فهي إشارة إلى الشيء المليح الذي من طبعه الرقة.
It is an indication of the comely thing whose nature is delicacy.
With ḍamma ـُ
فهي إشارة إلى الشيء القبيح الخشن، أو إشارة إلى سواد حسا ومعنى.
It is an indication of the ugly, rough thing, or of blackness, sensible and figurative.
With kasra ـِ
وبالكسر إشارة إلى الشيء الطابع وتكون الإشارة منه.
With kasra it is an indication of the impressing/stamping thing, and the indication proceeds from it.
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.
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.
Two-letter nucleus8 roots in Ibn Fāris’s chapterس 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 13799 ↗
- سفقالسين والفاء والقاف أصيل يدل على خلاف السخافة فالسفيق لغة في الصفيق وهو خلاف السخيف ومنه سفقت الباب فانسفق إذا أغلقته وهو يرجع إلى ذاك القياس ومنه رجلL13800
- سفكالسين والفاء والكاف كلمة واحدةQ 2 · L13803
- سفلالسين والفاء واللام أصل واحد وهو ما كان خلاف العلو فالسفل سفل الدار وغيرها والسفول ضد العلو والسفلة الدون من الناسQ 10 · L13804
- سفنالسين والفاء والنون أصل واحد يدل على تنحية الشيء عن وجه الشيء كالقشرQ 4 · L13808
- سفهالسين والفاء والهاء أصل واحد يدل على خفة وسخافة وهو قياس مطرد فالسفة ضد الحلمQ 11 · L13816
- سفدالسين والفاء والدال ليس أصلا يتفرع منه وإنما فيه كلمتان متباينتان في الظاهر وقد يمكن الجمع بينهما من طريق الاشتقاقL13843
- سفطالسين والفاء والطاء ليس بشيء وما في بابه ما يعول عليه إلا أنهم سموا هذا السفط ويقولون السفيط السخي من الرجال وأنشدوا — ليس بذي حزم ولا سفيط … وهذا ليسL13864
- سفعالسين والفاء والعين أصلان أحدهما لون من الألوان والآخر تناول شيء باليدQ 1 · L13866
In the sister scriptsHebrew ס/ש פ לSyriac ܣ/ܫ ܦ ܠ
| Arabic | س ف ل |
| Hebrew | ס/ש פ ל |
| Syriac | ܣ/ܫ ܦ ܠ |
| Ancient South Arabian (musnad) | 𐩯/𐩦 𐩰 𐩡 |
| Phoenician | 𐤎/𐤔 𐤐 𐤋 |
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 already sets safal/sifl as the fixed antonym of ʿuluw, with sāfila/ʿāliya, sufla/ʿulyā as paired opposites.well attested
The lexicographers in chronological order, from al-Khalīl to Lane.
Al-Khalīl already sets safal/sifl as the fixed antonym of ʿuluw, with sāfila/ʿāliya, sufla/ʿulyā as paired opposites. Al-Jawharī expands the morphology (sufl, sifl, sufūl, sifāl, safāla) and adds concrete extensions: sifāla al-rīḥ, the leeward quarter a wind blows toward; sāfila as buttocks; and, citing Ibn al-Sikkīt, sifla as a collective noun for the dregs or riffraff of people (one should not say a single person is 'sifla', since it is already plural in sense). Ibn Fāris states the single unifying meaning is simply 'what is contrary to height,' covering both the physical floor of a house and the moral baseness of a sifla-person. Al-Rāghib grounds the word in Qurʾānic usage — the overturned cities of Lot (15:74), the caravan positioned lower at Badr (8:42), the disbelievers' word made 'the lowest' (9:40) — and extends sifla al-nās to mean the ignoble, al-nadhl. Ibn Manẓūr synthesizes these, adding that sāfil/ʿālī apply equally to a spear-shaft or a river, and notes the two Qurʾānic readings (naṣb/rafʿ) of asfal minkum at 8:42.
Draws on: cayn · sihah · Ibn Fāris · mufradat · lisan
- al-Khalīl, al-ʿAyn
- al-Jawharī, al-Ṣiḥāḥ
- Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-Lugha
- al-Rāghib, al-Mufradāt
- Ibn Manẓūr, Lisān al-ʿArab
Letters & soundIn the letter-tables given, س is 'what appears in water,' ف is 'the angels,' and ل is 'the third heaven.' Al-Dabbāgh's fatḥa-values read س as indicating a comely thing whose essence is delicate, ف as marking purity within a genus otherwise known for foulness, and ل as the speaker's attaining of something great.speculative
What the theorists of sound symbolism would say of these letters. Speculative by nature.
In the letter-tables given, س is 'what appears in water,' ف is 'the angels,' and ل is 'the third heaven.' Al-Dabbāgh's fatḥa-values read س as indicating a comely thing whose essence is delicate, ف as marking purity within a genus otherwise known for foulness, and ل as the speaker's attaining of something great. There is an evident tension worth noting only as a curiosity: a root whose plain sense is 'lowness' is built from a letter (ل) that these theorists associate with greatness — one could read this as the paradox that what is sāfil in position is not sāfil in essence, but this is pure speculation, unsupported by any lexicographer and not defensible as linguistic fact.
Draws on: akbari198 · dabbagh_fatha
- Ibn ʿArabī, letter-correspondence table (akbari198)
- al-Dabbāgh, letter-meanings (fatḥa)
Root structureAmong Ibn Fāris's س-ف- neighbors, سفل stands as its own clean unit ('what is contrary to height'), distinct from سفن (paring something away) and سفه (levity, folly) though a family resemblance with the latter — lowness as moral lightness — is suggestive rather than stated.plausible
The two-letter nucleus (Ibn Fāris's own chapters) and the permutations of the letters (Ibn Jinnī).
Among Ibn Fāris's س-ف- neighbors, سفل stands as its own clean unit ('what is contrary to height'), distinct from سفن (paring something away) and سفه (levity, folly) though a family resemblance with the latter — lowness as moral lightness — is suggestive rather than stated. Among the permutations, سلف ('advancing, preceding') is the striking counterpart: the same three letters transposed yield a sense of temporal priority/height rather than spatial depth, and فسل ('weakness, paucity') echoes the debasement sense carried by sifla. Ibn Fāris treats these as separate, unconnected roots, so any pairing of سفل/سلف as a spatial/temporal mirror-pair is a juxtaposition of the data, not an assertion found in his text.
Draws on: nucleusSiblings · permutations
- Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-Lugha, root-siblings and permutation table (supplied)
Semitic kin & loanwordsArabic س-ف-ل has solid Semitic cognates: Hebrew שָׁפֵל (shāfēl) 'low, humble,' with the noun שְׁפֵלָה (shephēlāh) 'lowland';well attested
Cognates in the sister languages, and whether the word was borrowed.
Arabic س-ف-ل has solid Semitic cognates: Hebrew שָׁפֵל (shāfēl) 'low, humble,' with the noun שְׁפֵלָה (shephēlāh) 'lowland'; Aramaic/Syriac ܫܦܠ (šp̄al) 'to be low, abased'; and Akkadian šapālu 'to be low, to sink, to be humbled,' with the related šaplu 'below.' The regular sound correspondences (Arabic س = Hebrew/Aramaic ש, Arabic ف = Hebrew/Aramaic פ) support a shared Proto-Semitic root *ŠPL rather than borrowing in either direction. This is a native pan-Semitic root, not a loanword.
Draws on: comparative Semitic
- Wiktionary: שפל (link not verified)
- Wiktionary: ܫܦܠ ↗
Quranic exegesisAt 15:74 (and 11:82), 'We made its highest its lowest' (jaʿalnā ʿāliyahā sāfilahā) is read literally by the exegetes as the physical overturning of Lot's cities, a paradigmatic sign of divine punishment.well attested
How the classical exegetes read the word in the Quran.
At 15:74 (and 11:82), 'We made its highest its lowest' (jaʿalnā ʿāliyahā sāfilahā) is read literally by the exegetes as the physical overturning of Lot's cities, a paradigmatic sign of divine punishment. At 9:40, 'the word of those who disbelieved is the lowest, while the word of God is the highest' is read metaphorically: al-Rāghib and the exegetes take sufla here as debasement in status and truth-value, not spatial position. At 4:145, the hypocrites are placed 'in the lowest level of the Fire' (al-darak al-asfal), taken by the exegetes as marking the worst degree of punishment within a stratified Hell. At 8:42, the Muslim caravan's being 'lower' than the enemy at Badr is read as straightforward battlefield topography, later used homiletically to stress that God's victory did not depend on the tactically superior position.
Draws on: mufradat · quran
Akbarian readingIn Faṣṣ Ādam, Ibn ʿArabī writes that universal Nature (al-ṭabīʿa al-kulliyya) 'encompasses the receptacles of the whole world, its highest and its lowest' (aʿlāhu wa asfalahu).plausible
The word in Ibn ʿArabī's text and terminology.
In Faṣṣ Ādam, Ibn ʿArabī writes that universal Nature (al-ṭabīʿa al-kulliyya) 'encompasses the receptacles of the whole world, its highest and its lowest' (aʿlāhu wa asfalahu). Here asfal names the lower pole of a cosmological hierarchy that Nature contains as a totality — not primarily a moral or physical location but a rank within the single receptive order from which all levels of existence, high and low, are given form. The term thus functions structurally, paired with aʿlā, to mark the full span of what universal Nature receives, with Adam's engendered constitution understood as drawing on that entire range.
Draws on: inFassAdam
- Ibn ʿArabī, Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam, Faṣṣ Ādam
Reference