علمIbn Fāris gives one sound root: a mark or trace on a thing by which it is distinguished … (root lm)

ʿAlima yaʿlamu ʿilman (علم يعلم علما), the opposite of jahila. A man is ʿallāmah (علامة), ʿallām (علام), or ʿalīm (عليم); and if [some] deny [the use of] al-ʿalīm [for a human], God nonetheless relates of Yūsuf: "innī ḥafīẓun ʿalīm" (إني حفيظ عليم, "indeed I am a guardian, knowing"). The hāʾ is added to ʿallāmah for emphasis. "Mā ʿalimtu bi-khabarik" (ما علمت بخبرك) means "I was not aware of your news." Aʿlamtuhu bi-kadhā (أعلمته بكذا) means "I informed him of it," and ʿallamtuhu taʿlīman (علمته تعليما) means "I taught him." God is al-ʿĀlim, al-ʿAlīm, al-ʿAllām. Al-aʿlam (الأعلم) is one whose upper lip is split. A people [so described] are ʿulm (علم), and the condition is ʿalima ʿalaman (علم علما). ʿAntarah said: "...its flank rattles like the mouth-slit of the aʿlam..." Al-ʿalam is the tall mountain, plural aʿlām. [A poet] said: "Ibn Ṣāniʿah al-Zurūb said to his people: 'I cannot bear the towering mountains (aʿlām).'" From this is His saying [Most High]: "fī l-baḥri ka-l-aʿlām" (في البحر كالأعلام, "in the sea like mountains"), likening ships to mountains. Al-ʿalam is the banner, around which the army gathers. Al-ʿalam is also the ornamental mark of a garment. Al-ʿalam is what is set up on a road as a landmark by which one finds one's way, resembling a milestone (mīl), ʿalāmah, or maʿlam. Al-ʿalam is whatever you make into a mark for a thing. It is read "wa-innahu la-ʿilmun li-l-sāʿah" (وإنه لعلم للساعة), meaning the coming-forth of ʿĪsā, peace be upon him; and whoever reads "la-ʿalamun" means that by his coming forth the Hour's nearness becomes known. Al-ʿālam is al-ṭamsh (الطمش), i.e. mankind, meaning all creation; plural ʿālamūn. Al-maʿlam is the place of the mark. Al-ʿaylam is the sea, and the water upon which the earth rests; [a poet] said: "...in a gushing basin, its deep water (ʿaylam) far-reaching..." It is also said that al-ʿaylam is a well abundant in water; [a poet] said: "O abundance of the well (ʿaylam), we shall not care — / we water from every ravine-path (khalīf), tending." Al-khalīf is the path. Al-ʿallām is the sparrowhawk (al-bāshiq). ʿAlīm: a man's name.

Al-ʿalāmah and al-ʿalam mean: the mountain. Abū ʿUbaydah cited for Jarīr: "When they crossed one landmark (ʿalam), another landmark appeared." Al-ʿalam: the ornamental mark of a garment. Al-ʿalam: the banner. ʿAlima al-rajul yaʿlamu ʿalaman (علم الرجل يعلم علما), "the man became aʿlam," i.e. one whose upper lip is split; the woman [so described] is ʿalmāʾ. ʿAlimtu al-shayʾ aʿlamuhu ʿilman (علمت الشيء أعلمه علما): "I knew it." ʿĀlamtu al-rajula fa-ʿalamtuhu aʿlamuhu (عالمت الرجل فعلمته أعلمه), with ḍammah: "I vied in knowledge with him and defeated him." ʿAlamtu shafatahu aʿlamuhu ʿalman (علمت شفته أعلمه علما), like kasartuhu aksiruhu kasran: "I split it [the lip]." A man [called] ʿallāmah (علامة) means "exceedingly learned," the hāʾ being for intensification, as though they mean by it a formidable one (dāhiyah). Istaʿlamanī al-khabar fa-aʿlamtuhu iyyāhu (استعلمني الخبر فأعلمته إياه): "he asked me for the news and I informed him of it." Aʿlama al-qaṣṣār al-thawb (أعلم القصار الثوب): "the fuller marked the garment," so it [the fuller] is muʿlim and the garment is muʿlam. Aʿlama al-fāris (أعلم الفارس): "the horseman took for himself a mark of the brave," so he is muʿlim. Al-Akhṭal said: "The horses' picket-line, marked (muʿallamah), has never ceased among us, while in Kulayb is the picket-line of meanness and disgrace." His word muʿallamah has kasrah on the lām. ʿAllamtuhu al-shayʾ fa-taʿallama (علمته الشيء فتعلم): "I taught him the thing and he learned it" — here the doubling [of the lām] is not for intensification. It is also said taʿallam in place of iʿlam (know!). ʿAmr ibn Maʿdīkarib said: "Know (taʿallam) that the best of people altogether is the one slain among the rocks of al-Kilāb." Ibn al-Sikkīt said: taʿallamtu anna fulānan khārij is equivalent to ʿalimtu (علمت, "I knew"). He said: if someone says to you iʿlam anna Zaydan khārij ("know that Zayd is going out"), you reply qad ʿalimtu ("I already know"); but if he says taʿallam anna Zaydan khārij, you do not reply qad taʿallamtu. Taʿālamahu al-jamīʿ (تعالمه الجميع): "all of them came to know it." Al-ayyām al-maʿlūmāt (الأيام المعلومات) are the ten [days] of Dhū l-Ḥijjah. Their saying ʿulamāʾ banū fulān (علماء بنو فلان) means ʿalā l-māʾ ("by the water"), the lām being dropped for brevity. Al-maʿlam is the trace by which one is guided along a road. Al-ʿallām, with ḍammah and doubling, is henna. Al-ʿaylam is a well abundant in water; [a poet] said: "...from the abundant wells (al-ʿayālīm), the low-lying ones..." Al-ʿaylam is also [used for] the soft and tender one. Al-ʿaylām is the male hyena. Al-ʿālam is creation, plural al-ʿawālim. Al-ʿālamūn are the categories of creation.

The letters ʿayn, lām, and mīm form one sound root indicating a mark (athar) on a thing by which it is distinguished from others. From this comes al-ʿalāmah (العلامة, "the mark/sign"), which is well known. One says ʿalamtu ʿalā al-shayʾ ʿalāmah (علمت على الشيء علامة), "I put a mark on the thing." One says aʿlama al-fāris (أعلم الفارس), "the horseman marked himself," when he has a distinguishing mark in battle, and "so-and-so went out muʿliman (معلما) with such-and-such [i.e. marked by it]." Al-ʿalam (العلم) is the banner, plural aʿlām (أعلام). Al-ʿalam is also the mountain, and anything that serves as a landmark (maʿlam), the opposite of majhal (an unmarked/unknown place); the plural of al-ʿalam in this sense is likewise aʿlām. Al-Khansāʾ said: "Indeed Ṣakhr — the guides take their bearing by him, as though he were a landmark-mountain (ʿalam) with fire atop it." Al-ʿalam is also the slit in the upper lip, and the man [so marked] is aʿlam (أعلم); the derivation is the same, since it is like a mark on the person. Al-ʿallām (العلام), as some say, is henna, because when one dyes with it, that becomes like a mark. Al-ʿilm (العلم) is the opposite of jahl (ignorance), and its pattern of derivation is that of al-ʿalam and al-ʿalāmah. Proof that these are of one derivation is the reading of some Qurʾān-reciters: "wa-innahu la-ʿalamun li-l-sāʿah" (وإنه لعلم للساعة, "and indeed he is a landmark/sign of the Hour") — they said this means the descent of ʿĪsā, peace be upon him, and that by this the nearness of the Hour is known. Taʿallamtu al-shayʾ (تعلمت الشيء) means "I took knowledge of it." The Arabs say taʿallam annahu kāna kadhā (تعلم أنه كان كذا) meaning "know! (iʿlam)." Qays ibn Zuhayr said: "Know (taʿallam) that the best of people, alive, at Jafr al-Habāʾah, does not depart." The whole chapter is one derivation. From this chapter is al-ʿālamūn (العالمون, "the worlds/beings"), since every kind of creation is in itself "marked" (muʿlam) and a "landmark" (ʿalam). Some said al-ʿālam (العالم) is so named because of its being gathered together (ijtimāʿ); God Most High said: "wa-l-ḥamdu li-llāhi rabbi l-ʿālamīn" (والحمد لله رب العالمين, "praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds") — they said [this means] all created beings; and they cited as evidence: "I never saw nor heard of their like among al-ʿālamīn." And someone said of al-ʿālam: "So Khindif is the crown of this world (al-ʿālam)." What this speaker said — that there is in this an indication of gathering and collectivity — is not far-fetched, since they call the sea al-ʿaylam (العيلم), and it is said also to mean a well abundant in water.

"...that the she-camels attached [to their young] (al-ʿalīqāt) meet al-raqm..." Al-ʿalūq is the she-camel that takes to and becomes attached to her offspring; death, too, is [metaphorically] called ʿalūq. Al-ʿalqā is a plant to which one becomes attached; ʿalaqat al-marʾah (علقت المرأة) means "the woman conceived"; a man [called] miʿlāq is one who clings to/persists against his adversary [in dispute]. [ʿilm]: Al-ʿilm (العلم) is the apprehension of a thing according to its reality, and this is of two kinds: (1) apprehension of the essence of the thing; (2) judging concerning a thing by the existence of something predicated of it, or by the negation of something denied of it. The first is that [verbal use] which takes one object, as in: "lā taʿlamūnahum Allāhu yaʿlamuhum" (لا تعلمونهم الله يعلمهم, "you do not know them; God knows them" [Q. 8:60]). The second takes two objects, as in His saying: "fa-in ʿalimtumūhunna muʾminātin" (فإن علمتموهن مؤمنات, "if you know them to be believing women" [Q. 60:10]), and His saying: "yawma yajmaʿu Allāhu l-rusula" ... to His saying "lā ʿilma lanā" (لا علم لنا, "we have no knowledge" [Q. 5:109]) — an indication that their minds/reasoning failed [them]. Al-ʿilm, from one aspect, is of two kinds: theoretical (naẓarī) and practical (ʿamalī). The theoretical is that which, once known, is [thereby] complete, such as knowledge of the existents of the world (al-ʿālam). The practical is that which is not complete except by being acted upon, like knowledge of acts of worship. From another aspect it is of two kinds: rational (ʿaqlī) and transmitted (samʿī). Aʿlamtuhu (أعلمته) and ʿallamtuhu (علمته) are originally the same, except that al-ʾiʿlām (الإعلام, informing) is specific to what occurs by a swift report, while al-taʿlīm (التعليم, teaching) is specific to what occurs by repetition and multiplication until an effect is produced in the soul of the learner (mutaʿallim). Some said: al-taʿlīm is the alerting of the soul to conceive of meanings, and al-taʿallum is the soul's becoming alert to conceive of that; and it [taʿlīm] is sometimes used in the sense of al-ʾiʿlām when repetition is present in it, as in: "a-tuʿallimūna Allāha bi-dīnikum" (أتعلمون الله بدينكم, "do you inform God of your religion?" [Q. 49:16]). Examples of taʿlīm: His saying "al-Raḥmānu ʿallama l-Qurʾān" (الرحمن علم القرآن, "The Merciful taught the Qurʾān" [Q. 55:1–2]); "ʿallama bi-l-qalam" (علم بالقلم, "taught by the pen" [Q. 96:4]); "wa-ʿallamtum mā lam taʿlamū" (وعلمتم ما لم تعلموا, "and you taught what you did not know" [Q. 6:91]); "ʿallamnā manṭiqa l-ṭayr" (علمنا منطق الطير, "He taught us the speech of birds" [Q. 27:16]); "wa-yuʿallimuhumu l-kitāba wa-l-ḥikmah" (ويعلمهم الكتاب والحكمة, "and teaches them the Book and Wisdom" [Q. 2:129]), and the like. And His saying: "wa-ʿallama Ādama l-asmāʾa kullahā" (وعلم آدم الأسماء كلها, "and He taught Adam the names, all of them" [Q. 2:31]) — His teaching him the names means He gave him a faculty by which he uttered and coined names for things, casting this into his awareness; comparable to His teaching each animal a behavior it undertakes and a sound it seeks. He said: "wa-ʿallamnāhu min ladunnā ʿilman" (وعلمناه من لدنا علما, "and We taught him knowledge from Our presence" [Q. 18:65]); Moses said to him: "hal attabiʿuka ʿalā an tuʿallimani mimmā ʿullimta rushdan" (هل أتبعك على أن تعلمن مما علمت رشدا, "may I follow you that you teach me some of the right guidance you were taught?" [Q. 18:66]) — it is said this means the special knowledge hidden from mankind that they find strange when God has not made them aware of it, as shown by what Moses observed and disapproved of until he learned its reason; and it is said this same knowledge is meant by "qāla lladhī ʿindahu ʿilmun mina l-kitāb" (قال الذي عنده علم من الكتاب, "said he who had knowledge of the Book" [Q. 27:40]), and by His saying Most High: "wa-lladhīna ūtū l-ʿilma darajāt" (والذين أوتوا العلم درجات, "and those given knowledge [have] degrees" [Q. 58:11]) — an indication from Him, Exalted, of the disparity in ranks of knowledge and disparity... [entry continues]

Among the names of God, Mighty and Exalted, are al-ʿAlīm, al-ʿĀlim, and al-ʿAllām. God Mighty and Exalted said: "wa-huwa l-Khallāqu l-ʿAlīm" (وهو الخلاق العليم, "and He is the Creator, the All-Knowing"); He said: "ʿĀlimu l-ghaybi wa-l-shahādah" (عالم الغيب والشهادة, "Knower of the unseen and the witnessed"); He said: "ʿAllāmu l-ghuyūb" (علام الغيوب, "Knower of all unseen things"). So He is God, Knower of what was and what will be, before its coming to be, and of what will be and what had not yet been, before it comes to be; He has never ceased to be Knowing, nor will He cease to be Knowing, of what was and what will be, and nothing is hidden from Him in earth or heaven, glorified and exalted is He — His knowledge encompasses all things, their inward and outward, their minute and their momentous, in the fullest possible way. ʿAlīm is of the pattern faʿīl, one of the patterns of intensification. It is permissible to say of a human being whom God has taught some branch of knowledge that he is ʿalīm, just as Yūsuf said to the king: "innī ḥafīẓun ʿalīm" ("indeed I am a guardian, knowing"). And God Mighty and Exalted said: "innamā yakhshā Allāha min ʿibādihi l-ʿulamāʾ" (إنما يخشى الله من عباده العلماء, "only those of His servants who have knowledge fear God") — He informed, Mighty and Exalted, that among His servants are those who fear Him, and that they are the [true] scholars (al-ʿulamāʾ); and such likewise is the description of Yūsuf, peace be upon him: he had knowledge (ʿalīm) of the affair of his Lord, that He is One and there is nothing like unto Him, in addition to what God taught him of the interpretation of narratives by which he pronounced on the unseen — so he was knowing by virtue of what God had taught him. Al-Azharī related from Saʿd ibn Zayd, from Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Muqriʾ, concerning His saying Most High: "wa-innahu la-dhū ʿilmin li-mā ʿallamnāhu" (وإنه لذو علم لما علمناه, "and indeed he is possessed of knowledge because of what We taught him" [Q. 12:68]): he said, "[meaning] a possessor of action (ʿamal) in accordance with what We taught him." I [the narrator] said: "O Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, from whom did you hear this?" He said: "From Ibn ʿUyaynah." I said: "That suffices me." It is related from Ibn Masʿūd that he said: "Knowledge is not [measured] by abundance of ḥadīth, but knowledge is [measured] by fear [of God]." Al-Azharī said: this is supported by the word of God Mighty and Exalted: "innamā yakhshā Allāha min ʿibādihi l-ʿulamāʾ." And some said: al-ʿālim is one who acts according to what he knows; he said: this supports the saying of Ibn ʿUyaynah. Al-ʿilm is the opposite of al-jahl; ʿalima ʿilman, and ʿalima huwa nafsuhu; a man is ʿālim and ʿalīm, from a people [called] ʿulamāʾ for both together. Sībawayh said: one who says [only] ʿāliman [in the singular, without using ʿalīm,] [still] says ʿulamāʾ [as its plural]. Ibn Jinnī said: since knowledge, when described [by ʿālim], comes after practice and long familiarity with it, it becomes as though an inherent disposition (gharīzah), not present from one's first engagement with it — for had it been so [from the outset], one would be muta'allim (a learner), not ʿālim (a knower). So when it emerged, by virtue of being a disposition, into the pattern of faʿil, it became ʿālim in meaning like ʿalīm, and so was pluralized as ʿalīm's plural is; then they carried over to its opposite [the same pattern], saying juhalāʾ (جهلاء) like ʿulamāʾ, and ʿulamāʾ became like ḥulamāʾ (حلماء, "forbearing ones") because knowledge disposes its possessor to forbearance (ḥilm); similarly there came from them fāḥish and faḥshāʾ (فحشاء), since obscenity/excess (fuḥsh) is a kind of ignorance and the opposite of forbearance. Ibn Barrī said: the plural of ʿālim is ʿulamāʾ, and it is also said ʿallām (علام); Yazīd ibn al-Ḥakam said: "...and one who pilfers verses and resembles [others in it] — equal, in the sight of ʿallām al-rijāl (the great knower of men)..."