عبدIbn Fāris gives two sound roots 'as if contraries': one denotes softness and lowliness, … (root bd)

Al-ʿabd (العبد): the human being, whether free or enslaved. He is ʿabd Allāh (عبد الله). It is pluralized as ʿibād and ʿabdīn (عباد وعبدين). Al-ʿabd: the owned one (al-mamlūk), plural ʿabīd (عبيد), 'three of them,' who are also al-ʿibād. The common people have agreed to distinguish between 'servants of God' and 'owned slaves.' [One says] ʿabdun bayyinu l-ʿubūda (عبد بين العبودة), and 'he acknowledged slavery' (aqarra bi-l-ʿubūdiyya); I have not heard them derive a verb from it, though if derived one would say ʿabada (عبد), i.e., 'he became a slave' — but the verb from it has been left unused. One says ʿabbada taʿbīdatan (عبد تعبيدة), i.e., 'he and his forefathers before him remained continuously in it [slavery].' As for ʿabada yaʿbudu ʿibādatan (عبد يعبد عبادة), it is said only of one who worships God. Taʿabbada taʿabbudan (تعبد تعبدا) means 'he devoted himself solely to worship.' As for ʿabada [meaning] he served his master, one does not say ʿabadahu nor yaʿbudu mawlāhu (يعبد مولاه). Istaʿbadtu fulānan (استعبدت فلانا), i.e., 'I took him as a slave.' Taʿabbada fulānun fulānan (تعبد فلان فلانا), i.e., 'he made him like a slave to himself even though he was free.' [Poetry:] 'Nimr ibn Saʿd enslaved me (taʿabbadanī), while I see / Nimr ibn Saʿd obedient and submissive to me.' It is said: if the pursuer pursues you and will not let up (yanjumu ʿanka) — i.e., does not desist — then he has 'enslaved you thoroughly' (taʿabbadaka taʿabbudan). Aʿbada fulānun fulānan (أعبد فلان فلانا): 'he made him a slave.' This verse is read in seven ways: the common reading is 'wa-ʿabada l-ṭāghūt' (وعبد الطاغوت), i.e., 'he worshipped the false deity (al-ṭāghūt)' besides God. Or 'ʿabbada l-ṭāghūt' (عبد الطاغوت) as one says 'ḍaraba ʿabdu llāh' ('the slave of God struck'). Or 'ʿabuda l-ṭāghūt,' meaning 'the false deity came to be worshipped,' as one says 'faquha l-rajulu' and 'ẓarufa.' Or 'ʿabbada l-ṭāghūt,' meaning 'ʿibād (worshippers) of the false deity,' plural, as one says 'rakaʿa wa-sajada.' Or 'ʿabuda l-ṭāghūt' — they meant 'ʿabadat al-ṭāghūt' (عبدة الطاغوت), like fajara and kafara (فجرة وكفرة), the hāʾ dropped while its meaning remains. Or 'ʿābid al-ṭāghūt,' as one says 'ḍārib al-rajul.' Or 'ʿabūd al-ṭāghūt' [collective] — one does not say ʿābid and ʿabd, but rather ʿabūd and ʿabd (عبود وعبد). The polytheists are called 'worshippers of the false deity and idols,' and the Muslims are called ʿibād who worship God. And [there was] one named ʿAbada (عبدة); sukūn with tāʾ marbūṭa is an error — rather it is ʿAbada on the pattern of Salama. You say: istaʿbadtuhu (استعبدته), close in meaning to taʿabbadtu, except that taʿabbadtuhu is more specific. They are al-ʿabdā (العبدى), the group of slaves born into slavery, taʿbīdatu bni taʿbīdatin (تعبيدة ابن تعبيدة), i.e., [born] into slavery back through his forefathers. Aʿbadanī fulānan (أعبدني فلانا), i.e., 'he made me owner of him.' A camel that is muʿabbad (بعير معبد): smeared with tar (mahnūʾ bi-l-qaṭirān), and left alone so none approaches it. [Poetry:] 'and I was left solitary like the tarred camel (al-baʿīr al-muʿabbad)' — it is [also used for] the docile one (al-dhalūl), i.e., [entry continues]

Al-ʿabd (العبد): the opposite of al-ḥurr (the free man). The plural is ʿabīd (عبيد), like kalb/kulayb (كلب وكليب) — a rare plural pattern — and aʿbud and ʿibād (أعبد وعباد), and ʿubdān with ḍamma (عبدان) like tamr/tumrān, and ʿibdān with kasra (عبدان) like juḥshān, and ʿibbdān with doubled dāl, and ʿabdāʾ (عبدا) with or without madd, and maʿbūdāʾ (معبوداء) with madd. Al-Akhfash related [the form] ʿabd like suqf/sufq (سقف وسقف), and cited: 'Trace the ʿabd (العبد) back to his forefathers — / black of skin, from a people [called] ʿabd (عبد).' He said: from this some read '(the) ʿabd al-ṭāghūt' (عبد الطاغوت), making it a construct [iḍāfa]. He said: and some read '(and) ʿabbid al-ṭāghūt' (وعبد الطاغوت), also a construct — the meaning being, as said, 'servant of the false deity.' He said: this is not a plural, for [the pattern] faʿl is not pluralized as faʿl; rather it is a noun built on the pattern faʿl, like ḥadhir (حذر) and nadis (ندس), so the meaning is 'servant of the false deity' (khādim al-ṭāghūt). As for the words of the poet Aws ibn Ḥajar: 'O sons of Bīnā, indeed your mother / is a slave-woman (ama), and indeed your father is a slave (ʿabd)' — al-Farrāʾ says he only put ḍamma on the bāʾ for metrical necessity (ḍarūra), because the poem is in the metre kāmil and is truncated (ḥadhdhāʾ). You say: ʿabdun bayyinu l-ʿubūda wa-l-ʿubūdiyya (عبد بين العبودة والعبودية). The root meaning of al-ʿubūdiyya is submission and abasement (al-khuḍūʿ wa-l-dhull). At-taʿbīd (التعبيد): making tractable — one says ṭarīqun muʿabbad (طريق معبد), 'a well-trodden road.' The camel that is muʿabbad: smeared with tar, made tractable. Al-muʿabbada (المعبدة): a ship coated with pitch. Bishr said, about a ship he rode (preceded by): 'O sons of Bīnā, I am not one who confesses [a fault], / that any of you be more disgraceful than I' — 'a coated ship (muʿabbada) with strong seams (dusur), / thick, broad-flanked planks (mudabbara jawānibuhā raddāḥ).' At-taʿbīd is also al-istiʿbād — taking someone as a slave; likewise al-iʿtibād (الاعتباد). In a ḥadīth: 'a man who enslaved (iʿtabada) a freed person (muḥarraran).' Al-iʿbād (الإعباد) is similar. The poet said: 'Why do my people enslave me (yaʿbudunī), when I have become many, / with camels among them, as many as they wish, and slaves (ʿibdān)?' Likewise al-taʿabbud (التعبد). And the poet said: 'Nimr ibn Saʿd enslaved me (taʿabbadanī), while I see / Nimr ibn Saʿd obedient and submissive to me.' Al-ʿibāda (العبادة): obedience (al-ṭāʿa). At-taʿabbud: asceticism/devotion (al-tanassuk). At-taʿbīd, from their saying 'mā ʿabida an faʿala dhāka' (ما عبد أن فعل ذاك), meaning 'he did not delay in doing that.' Ibn al-Sikkīt related: 'aʿbada bi-fulānin' (أعبد بفلان), meaning 'so-and-so was overcome/struck,' when his mount's foot was exhausted or broke down. Abū Zayd: al-ʿabad (العبد), with fatḥa: anger and indignation (al-ghaḍab wa-l-anaf); the noun is al-ʿabda (العبدة), like al-anafa. One says ʿabida (عبد), i.e., 'he became indignant.' Al-Farazdaq said: 'Those are my comrades — bring me their like, / for I am indignant (aʿbadu) to satirize Kulayb through Dārim.' Abū ʿAmr said: and His saying, Exalted, '(fa-anā awwalu l-ʿābidīn)' is from al-anaf [indignation], and... [entry continues]

ʿAyn, bāʾ, and dāl (ع ب د) constitute two sound roots that seem contradictory. The first of these two roots indicates softness/pliancy and abasement, and the other indicates hardness and coarseness. The first is al-ʿabd (العبد), which is 'the owned one' (the slave); the plural is al-ʿabīd (العبيد), and 'three of them' are aʿbud (أعبد), who are also called al-ʿibād (العباد). Al-Khalīl said: the common people have agreed to distinguish between 'the servants of God' (ʿibād Allāh) and 'owned slaves' (al-ʿabīd al-mamlūkīn); one says hādhā ʿabdun bayyinu l-ʿubūda (هذا عبد بين العبودة) — 'this is manifestly a slave' — and we have not heard them derive a verb from it, though if one were derived one would say ʿabuda (عبد), i.e., 'he became a slave' and acknowledged slavery (al-ʿubūdiyya); but the verb was left unused. He said: as for ʿabada yaʿbudu ʿibādatan (عبد يعبد عبادة), this is said only of one who worships God, Exalted; one says ʿabada yaʿbudu ʿibādatan and taʿabbada yataʿabbadu taʿabbudan (تعبد يتعبد تعبدا) — al-mutaʿabbid (المتعبد) is one wholly devoted to worship. Istaʿbadtu fulānan (استعبدت فلانا) means 'I took so-and-so as a slave.' As for ʿabada (عبد) meaning 'he served his master,' one does not say ʿabadahu (عبده), nor yaʿbudu mawlāhu (يعبد مولاه). Taʿabbada fulānun fulānan (تعبد فلان فلانا) means 'he made so-and-so like a slave to himself,' even though he is free. [Poetry:] 'Nimr ibn Saʿd enslaved me (taʿabbadanī), while I see / Nimr ibn Saʿd obedient and submissive to me.' One says aʿbada fulānun fulānan (أعبد فلان فلانا), i.e., 'he made him a slave.' The polytheists are called 'worshippers of the false deity and idols' (ʿabadat al-ṭāghūt wa-l-awthān), and the Muslims are called ʿibād (عباد) who worship God, Exalted. Some mention ʿābid and ʿabd (عابد وعبد) like khādim and khadam (خادم وخدم). The feminine of al-ʿabd is ʿabda (عبدة), as one says mamlūk and mamlūka. Al-Khalīl said: al-ʿabdāʾ (العبداء) is the collective of slaves born into slavery. From this same root is the camel called al-muʿabbad (المعبد), i.e., smeared with tar (al-mahnūʾ bi-l-qaṭirān); this too shows what we said, for that abases and lowers it. Ṭarafa said: 'Until the whole clan shunned me / and I was left solitary like the tarred camel (al-baʿīr al-muʿabbad).' Al-muʿabbad is also used to describe a tractable/docile camel (al-dhalūl). From this same [root-meaning] is al-ṭarīq al-muʿabbad (الطريق المعبد), the well-trodden, beaten path (al-maslūk al-mudhallal). The other root is al-ʿubda (العبدة), meaning strength and firmness; one says hādhā thawbun lahu ʿubda (هذا ثوب له عبدة), 'this garment has firmness,' when it is closely-woven and strong; from this is [the name] ʿAlqama ibn ʿAbada (علقمة بن عبدة), with fatḥa on the bāʾ. From this same analogy is al-ʿabad (العبد), like al-anaf (الأنف) — indignation; one says huwa yaʿbadu li-hādhā l-amr (هو يعبد لهذا الأمر), 'he is indignant about this matter.' And His saying, Exalted, 'Say: if the Most Merciful had a son, then I would be the first of the ʿābidīn (العابدين)' is explained as meaning 'the first of those who feel anger and indignation at this saying.' It is related of ʿAlī, peace be upon him, that he said 'ʿabidtu fa-ṣumtu' (عبدت فصمت), meaning 'I felt indignant, so I kept silent.' And [a poet] said: 'The ignorant, coarse man resents (yaʿbudu) their right / after judgment has been passed against him, when resentment (ʿabd) avails nothing.' Another said: 'I am indignant (aʿbadu) that Kulayb be satirized through Dārim,' meaning 'I feel indignant and angry about that.'

Al-ʿubūdiyya (العبودية): the manifestation of self-abasement (iẓhār al-tadhallul). Al-ʿibāda (العبادة) is more emphatic than it, since it is the utmost degree of self-abasement, and none deserves it except the one possessing the utmost bestowal of favor (ghāyat al-ifḍāl), which is God, Exalted; hence He said: 'that you worship none but Him' (allā taʿbudū illā iyyāhu) [Qur'an, al-Isrāʾ 17:23]. Al-ʿibāda is of two kinds: worship by compulsion (bi-l-taskhīr), as mentioned regarding prostration (al-sujūd), and worship by choice (bi-l-ikhtiyār), belonging to rational beings, commanded in such verses as 'worship your Lord' (uʿbudū rabbakum) [Qur'an, al-Baqara 2:21], and 'worship God' (uʿbudū llāh) [Qur'an, al-Nisāʾ 4:36]. Al-ʿabd (العبد) is used in four senses. First: a slave by ruling of the Sacred Law (bi-ḥukmi l-sharʿ), a human being whose sale and purchase is valid, as in: 'the slave for the slave' [Qur'an, al-Baqara 2:178], and 'a slave who is owned, having power over nothing' [Qur'an, al-Naḥl 16:75]. Second: a servant through creation (bi-l-ījād), which belongs only to God, meant by His saying: 'There is none in the heavens and earth but comes to the Most Merciful as a servant (ʿabdan)' [Qur'an, Maryam 19:93]. Third: a servant through worship and service, and people are of two kinds here: a sincere servant of God, meant by His saying: 'And remember Our servant Job (Ayyūb)' [Qur'an, Ṣād 38:41], 'Indeed he was a grateful servant' [Qur'an, al-Isrāʾ 17:3], 'He sent down the Criterion upon His servant' [Qur'an, al-Furqān 25:1], '[the Book] upon His servant' [Qur'an, al-Kahf 18:1], 'Indeed My servants — you have no authority over them' [Qur'an, al-Ḥijr 15:42], 'Be servants to Me' [Qur'an, Āl ʿImrān 3:79], 'except Your sincere servants among them' [Qur'an, al-Ḥijr 15:40], 'the Most Merciful has promised His servants in the unseen' [Qur'an, Maryam 19:61], 'and the servants of the Most Merciful are those who walk upon the earth gently' [Qur'an, al-Furqān 25:63], 'So travel with My servants by night' [Qur'an, al-Dukhān 44:23], 'and they found a servant from among Our servants' [Qur'an, al-Kahf 18:65]. And [the other kind is] a servant of the world and its trappings, devoted to serving and tending it, meant by the Prophet's, peace and blessings upon him, saying: 'Wretched is the servant of the dirham, wretched is the servant of the dinar' (taʿisa ʿabdu l-dirham, taʿisa ʿabdu l-dīnār). In this sense it is valid to say not every human is a servant of God, for al-ʿabd here means al-ʿābid (the worshipper), though al-ʿabd is more emphatic than al-ʿābid. All people are servants of God — indeed all things likewise — some by compulsion, some by choice. The plural of al-ʿabd meaning 'enslaved one' is ʿabīd, also said to be ʿabdā (عبدى); the plural of al-ʿabd meaning 'worshipper' is ʿibād (عباد). Thus al-ʿabīd, when ascribed to God, is more general than al-ʿibād; hence He said: 'and I am not [in the least] unjust to the servants (al-ʿabīd)' [Qur'an, Qāf 50:29], indicating He does not wrong those specifically devoted to His worship, nor those who ascribe themselves to others named ʿAbd al-Shams, ʿAbd al-Lāt, and the like. It is said: ṭarīqun muʿabbad (طريق معبد), made tractable by treading; baʿīrun muʿabbad, made tractable by tarring. ʿAbadtu fulānan (عبدت فلانا): I made him tractable/abased him, or took him as a slave. [entry continues]

Al-ʿabd (العبد): the human being, whether free or enslaved — meant to indicate that he is a subject (marbūb) of his Creator, Glorified and Exalted. In the ḥadīth of ʿUmar concerning ransom: 'in place of a slave, a slave (makāna ʿabdin ʿabd)' — this reflected ʿUmar's, God be pleased with him, view regarding Arabs captured in pre-Islamic times who were reached by Islam while still with their captor: that the free person be restored to his lineage and his value be paid by him to his captor; so he substituted for each of their persons a slave. As for his saying, 'and for the son of a slave-woman [there are] two slaves' (wa-fī bni l-amati ʿabdān) — he means an Arab man who marries a slave-woman belonging to some people and she bears him a child; he does not make the child a slave but ransoms him with two slaves — this was the view of al-Thawrī and Ibn Rāhawayh, while the rest of the jurists held otherwise. Al-ʿabd: the owned one (al-mamlūk), opposite of al-ḥurr. Sībawayh said it is originally an adjective (ṣifa) — they said 'rajulun ʿabdun' — but it came to be used as a noun; the plural is aʿbud and ʿabīd, like kalb/kulayb, a rare plural pattern, and ʿibād and ʿabd, like suqf/sufq. Al-Akhfash cited: 'Trace the ʿabd back to his forefathers — / black of skin, from a people [called] ʿabd.' From this some read '(wa-)ʿabda l-ṭāghūt.' Among the [other] plurals is also ʿibdān, with kasra, like juḥshān; in the ḥadīth of ʿAlī: 'these — your slaves (ʿibdānukum) have risen up with them.' And ʿubdān, with ḍamma, like tumur/tumrān; and ʿibbdān, with doubled dāl; and aʿābid, plural of aʿbud — Abū Dawād al-Iyādī said, describing a fire: 'Like the fire on the hilltop (al-ʿalyāʾ), / kindled by the aʿābid.' One says: fulānun ʿabdun bayyinu l-ʿubūda wa-l-ʿubūdiyya wa-l-ʿabdiyya. The root meaning of al-ʿubūdiyya is submission and self-abasement (al-khuḍūʿ wa-l-tadhallul). Al-ʿabdā (maqṣūr), al-ʿabdāʾ (mamdūd), al-maʿbūdāʾ (mamdūd), and al-maʿbada are all collective nouns. In the ḥadīth of Abū Hurayra: 'Let none of you say to his slave, "my ʿabd," and to his slave-woman, "my amah," but let him say "my youth (fatāya)" and "my young woman (fatātī)"' — this negates arrogant superiority over them, [teaching] that servitude to Him should be ascribed to God, for the one truly deserving that is God, Exalted, Lord of all servants (al-ʿibād) and slaves (al-ʿabīd). Some restricted al-ʿibād to God [alone], and used the other plurals for both God and created beings. Some specified al-ʿabdā for slaves born into ownership, the feminine being ʿabda. Al-Azharī said: the common people agreed to distinguish between 'servants of God' and 'owned ones' (al-mamālīk), saying 'this is a servant among the servants of God,' and 'these are owned slaves' (ʿabīd mamālīk). He said: one does not say ʿabada yaʿbudu ʿibādatan except of one who worships God, and whoever worships besides Him a deity is among the losers. He said: as for ʿabada [meaning] he served his master, one does not say ʿabadahu. Al-Layth said: it is said of polytheists, 'they are worshippers of the false deity' (ʿabadat al-ṭāghūt), and of Muslims, 'servants of God who worship God.' Al-ʿābid: the monotheist (al-muwaḥḥid). Al-Layth said: al-ʿabdā is the collective of slaves born in... [entry continues]