ضعفtwo distinct roots — the opposite of strength; and the doubling/adding of a thing's like … (root df)

Ḍaʿufa yaḍʿufu (ضعف يضعف) — [with verbal nouns] ḍuʿf (ضعفا) and ḍaʿf (ضعفا). Al-ḍuʿf (الضعف) is the opposite of strength (quwwa). It is said: al-ḍaʿf (with fatḥa) applies to intellect and opinion, and al-ḍuʿf (with ḍamma) to the body. It is also said that both forms are permissible usable in every sense. It is said: whenever you open [the vowel of] the first letter in speech, you open it likewise in ḍaʿf. You say: raʾaytu bihi ḍaʿfan (رأيت به ضعفا) [I saw weakness in him], and anna bihi ḍaʿfan (أن به ضعفا) [that there is weakness in him]; but if you use the nominative or genitive case, the ḍamma form is better — you say: bihi ḍuʿfun shadīdun (به ضعف شديد) [there is severe weakness in him], and faʿala dhālika min ḍuʿfin shadīdin (فعل ذاك من ضعف شديد) [he did that out of severe weakness]. 'A weak man' (رجل ضعيف), 'a weak people' (قوم ضعفاء), 'weak women' (نسوة ضعيفات and ضعائف). ʿIrām recited: 'O soul, you have been negligent while [death] is near, / and you have worn out what weak souls (al-nufūs al-ḍaʿāʾif) wear out.' Men are also pluralized as ḍuʿfā (ضعفى), just as one says ḥumqā (حمقى) [for fools]. It is also said 'weak men' (rijāl ḍiʿāf, رجال ضعاف), just as one says khifāf (خفاف) [light ones]. You say aḍʿaftuhu iḍʿāfan (أضعفته إضعافا), meaning: I made him weak. And istaḍʿaftuhu (استضعفته): I found him weak and so oppressed him unjustly. In another sense: aḍʿaftu al-shayʾ iḍʿāfan (أضعفت الشيء إضعافا), ḍāʿaftuhu muḍāʿafatan (ضاعفته مضاعفة), and ḍaʿʿaftuhu taḍʿīfan (ضعفته تضعيفا) — this is when something is increased beyond its original amount, making it two or more times as much. And ḍaʿaftu al-qawm aḍʿafuhum ḍaʿfan (ضعفت القوم أضعفهم ضعفا) means: I outnumbered them, so that you and your companions had double (al-ḍiʿf) their number over them. [Separate entry] Ḍafaʿa–Faḍaʿa (ضفع-فضع): ḍafaʿa al-insān yaḍfaʿu ḍafʿan (ضفع الإنسان يضفع ضفعا) means he defecated (جعس). And faḍaʿa (فضع) ... are two dialectal variants, like jadhaba and jabadha (جذب وجبذ), a metathesis pair.

Al-ḍuʿf and al-ḍaʿf (الضعف والضعف): the opposite of strength (quwwa). One says ḍaʿufa (ضعف), so he is ḍaʿīf (ضعيف), and aḍʿafahu ghayruhu (أضعفه غيره) [someone else made him weak]. A group: ḍiʿāf (ضعاف), ḍuʿafāʾ (ضعفاء), and ḍaʿafa (ضعفة). Istaḍʿafahu (استضعفه) means: he counted him as weak. Al-Khalīl mentioned that al-taḍʿīf (التضعيف) means to increase something beyond its original amount, making it two or more times as much; likewise al-iḍʿāf (الإضعاف) and al-muḍāʿafa (المضاعفة). One says ḍaʿʿaftu al-shayʾ (ضعفت الشيء), aḍʿaftuhu (أضعفته), and ḍāʿaftuhu (ضاعفته), all with the same meaning. Ḍiʿf al-shayʾ (ضعف الشيء) means its equal (mithluhu). Ḍiʿfāhu (ضعفاه) means twice it (mithlāhu). Aḍʿāfuhu (أضعافه) means its multiples (amthāluhu). His saying, Exalted is He: 'Then We would have made you taste double [the punishment] of life and double [the punishment] of death' [Qur'an 17:75] means: double the punishment, both living and dead — i.e., We would have doubled the punishment for you in this world and the next. Their saying: 'So-and-so fell within the folds of his book' (waqaʿa fulān fī aḍʿāfi kitābihi) refers to his annotation within the lines or in the margin. Aḍʿafa al-qawm (أضعف القوم) means: it was doubled for them. Aḍʿaftu al-shayʾ (أضعفت الشيء) [passive] fa-huwa maḍʿūf (فهو مضعوف) — irregularly formed, according to Abū ʿAmr. Labīd said: 'Doubled and single [strands of pearls] hung upon them, / their rows of pearl and coral piercing the joints.' Aḍʿafa al-rajul (أضعف الرجل) means his riding-beast became weak; one says: huwa ḍaʿīfun muḍʿifun (هو ضعيف مضعف) — al-ḍaʿīf refers to weakness in his own body, al-muḍʿif to weakness in his mount, just as one says qawiyyun muqwin (قوي مقو) [strong man with a strong mount]. Ḍaʿʿafahu al-sayr (ضعفه السير) means the journey weakened him (aḍʿafahu). Al-taḍʿīf (التضعيف) also means: to attribute someone to weakness [to declare him weak]. Al-muḍāʿafa (المضاعفة) is the coat of mail woven with double rings.

Ḍād, ʿAyn, and Fāʾ (ض ع ف) form two distinct roots: one indicates the opposite of strength, and the other indicates that a thing is increased by adding its like to it. The first is ḍuʿf (الضعف) and ḍaʿf (الضعف), which is the opposite of strength (quwwa); one says ḍaʿufa yaḍʿufu (ضعف يضعف), 'a weak man' (رجل ضعيف), and 'a weak people' (قوم ضعفاء وضعاف). As for the other root, al-Khalīl said: aḍʿaftu al-shayʾ iḍʿāfan (أضعفت الشيء إضعافا), ḍaʿʿaftuhu taḍʿīfan (ضعفته تضعيفا), and ḍāʿaftuhu muḍāʿafatan (ضاعفته مضاعفة) — this is when a thing is increased beyond its original amount, made into two or more times its original. Others said: al-maḍʿūf (المضعوف) is a thing that has been doubled. Abū ʿAmr said: al-maḍʿūf (المضعوف) is derived from aḍʿaftu al-shayʾ (أضعفت الشيء); Abū ʿUbayd mentioned this under the chapter of afʿaltuhu fa-huwa mafʿūl [a passive participle formed from a hamza-causative verb]. And al-muḍāʿafa (المضاعفة) is a coat of mail woven with double rings.

Al-ḍuʿf (الضعف): the opposite of strength (quwwa). One says ḍaʿufa (ضعف), so he is ḍaʿīf (ضعيف). He, Mighty and Exalted, said: 'the seeker and the sought are weak' (ḍaʿufa al-ṭālibu wa-l-maṭlūb) [Qur'an 22:73]. Weakness may occur in the soul, in the body, or in one's condition. It is said that al-ḍuʿf and al-ḍaʿf are two dialectal variants. He, Exalted, said: 'and He knew that there is weakness in you' (wa ʿalima anna fīkum ḍaʿfan) [Qur'an 8:66]; and: 'and We wished to be gracious to those who were oppressed' (wa-nurīdu an namunna ʿalā-lladhīna-stuḍʿifū) [Qur'an 28:5]. Al-Khalīl, may God have mercy on him, said: al-ḍuʿf (with ḍamma) refers to the body, and al-ḍaʿf (with fatḥa) to intellect and opinion. From this comes His saying, Exalted is He: 'But if the one who owes the debt is foolish or weak (safīhan aw ḍaʿīfan)...' [Qur'an 2:282]. The plural of ḍaʿīf is ḍiʿāf and ḍuʿafāʾ. He, Exalted, said: 'There is no blame upon the weak (al-ḍuʿafāʾ)...' [Qur'an 9:91]. Istaḍʿaftuhu (استضعفته) means: I found him weak. He said: 'and the oppressed among men, women, and children' [Qur'an 4:75]; 'They said, In what [condition] were you? They said, We were oppressed in the land' [Qur'an 4:97]; 'Indeed, the people oppressed me' [Qur'an 7:150]. It is contrasted with 'arrogance' (istikbār) in His saying: 'Those who were oppressed said to those who were arrogant...' [Qur'an 34:33]. And His saying: 'God is He who created you from weakness, then made after weakness strength, then made after strength weakness [again]' [Qur'an 30:54]. The second [weakness] differs from the first, and likewise the third: 'He created you from weakness' [30:54] means from a sperm-drop (nuṭfa) or from dust; the second is the weakness found in the fetus and the infant; the third is that which comes after old age, referred to as 'the most decrepit age.' The first strength is that which enables the child to move, find his way, call for milk, and repel harm from himself by crying; the second strength is that which comes after puberty. What indicates that each occurrence of the word (ḍaʿf) refers to a different state from the one before is that it is mentioned indefinitely; an indefinite noun, when repeated with the same referent intended, becomes definite — as when you say 'I saw a man,' then say 'the man said to me such-and-such.' But when mentioned again still indefinite, something other than the first is intended. This is why Ibn ʿAbbās said, regarding: 'So indeed, with hardship comes ease; indeed, with hardship comes ease' [Qur'an 94:5-6]: 'One hardship will never overcome two eases.' And His saying: 'and man was created weak' [Qur'an 4:28] — his weakness is the abundance of his needs, from which the exalted assembly [of angels] is free. And His saying: 'indeed the plot of Satan is ever weak' [Qur'an 4:76] — the weakness of his plotting applies only to those who have become among the servants of God mentioned in: 'Indeed, over My servants you have no authority' [Qur'an 17:65]. Al-ḍuʿf is one of the correlative terms whose existence necessarily implies the existence of its counterpart, like 'half' (al-niṣf) and 'pair' (al-zawj); it consists of the combination of two equal quantities, and it is specific to... [entry continues]

Al-ḍuʿf and al-ḍaʿf (الضعف والضعف): the opposite of strength (quwwa). It is said: al-ḍuʿf (with ḍamma) refers to the body, and al-ḍaʿf (with fatḥa) to opinion and intellect. It is also said that both forms are permissible in every sense; al-Azharī restricted this to the people of Basra, saying: for the Basrans the two are equivalent, both used for weakness of body and weakness of opinion. In the Revelation: 'God is He who created you from weakness, then made after weakness strength, then made after strength weakness' [Qur'an 30:54]. Qatāda said: 'He created you from weakness' means from the sperm-drop, i.e. from semen; 'then made after strength weakness' he said refers to old age (al-haram). It is related from Ibn ʿUmar that he said: 'I recited to the Prophet, peace be upon him: God is He who created you from ḍaʿf; and he had me recite it as min ḍuʿf [with ḍamma].' ʿĀṣim and Ḥamza read 'wa-ʿalima anna fīkum ḍaʿfan' [Qur'an 8:66] with fatḥa, while Ibn Kathīr, Abū ʿAmr, Nāfiʿ, Ibn ʿĀmir, and al-Kisāʾī read it with ḍamma. His saying, Exalted is He: 'and man was created weak' [Qur'an 4:28] means: his passion sways him. Al-ḍaʿf (with fatḥa) is a dialectal variant of al-ḍuʿf, according to Ibn al-Aʿrābī, who cited: 'Whoever meets good fortune, Time presses his bone, / along with weakness and languor in his condition' — this concerns the body; and he cited, concerning opinion and intellect: 'I do not consult in opinion a brother of weak judgment (akhā ḍaʿf), / nor do I show softness to one who does not seek my gentleness.' One says ḍaʿufa yaḍʿufu (ضعف يضعف): ḍuʿf, ḍaʿf, and ḍiʿf [as verbal nouns] — the fatḥa form is from al-Liḥyānī — so he is ḍaʿīf, and the plural is ḍuʿafāʾ, ḍuʿfā, ḍiʿāf, ḍaʿafa, and ḍuʿāfā — the last from Ibn Jinnī, who cited: 'You see the feeble old men (al-shuyūkh al-ḍuʿāfā) around his bowl, / and beneath them, among the curving hollows, [his] scattered little children.' And for women: ḍaʿīfāt, ḍaʿāʾif, and ḍiʿāf. He said: 'Indeed life has increased in my love, / [because of] my daughters — they are among the weak ones (al-ḍiʿāf).' Aḍʿafahu and ḍaʿʿafahu: he made him weak. Istaḍʿafahu and taḍaʿʿafahu: he found him weak and so oppressed him unjustly — the latter form is from Thaʿlab, who cited: 'Take to yourselves the foremost line of combat, for it / is harder on him afflicted with rheumatism who is deemed weak (al-mutaḍaʿʿif).' Rabʿī al-ṭiʿān means: its beginning and its sharpest point. In [the account of] the conversion of Abū Dharr: 'la-taḍaʿʿaftu rajulan' (لتضعفت رجلا) meaning: I deemed a man weak (istaḍʿaftuhu). Al-Qutaybī said: istafʿaltu sometimes takes the place of tafaʿʿaltu in certain roots, such as: taʿaẓẓama and istaʿẓama, takabbara and istakbara, tayaqqana and istayqana, tathabbata and istathbata. In the ḥadīth: 'The people of Paradise are every weak person deemed weak (kullu ḍaʿīfin mutaḍaʿʿif)' — Ibn al-Athīr said: one says taḍaʿʿaftuhu and istaḍʿaftuhu with the same meaning, for one whom people treat as weak and oppress in this world because of his poverty and lowly condition. And in the ḥadīth of ʿUmar, may God be pleased with him: 'The people of Kūfa have overcome me: if I appoint over them the believer, he proves weak (yaḍʿufu); and if I appoint over them the strong one, he commits wrongdoing (yafjuru).' As for what came in the ḥadīth about Paradise: 'What is it with me that only the weak (al-ḍuʿafāʾ) enter it?' — it was said: they are those who absolve themselves of [claiming any] power and strength [for themselves]; and that which is in... [entry continues]