Mashrabaمشربة

Root · 96 in the Quran · 162 in 24 texts of the library

قربthe opposite of farness: nearness in place, time, kinship, and standing (root qrb)

القاف والراء والباء أصل صحيح يدل على خلاف البعد

Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-lugha · English rendering

قرب

The family of the root

Patterns computed · our data

The words of ق ر ب that our sources attest: the root's letters in green, the added letters in gold.

60 words8 verbs10 verbal nouns8 participles4 places and instruments5 intensives and elatives17 other nouns8 plurals

  • قَرِيبnear in respect of place
  • أَقْرَبnearer, and nearest, in respect of place, and in respect of time
  • قُرْبproximity; nearness
  • قَرِبَit, and he, was, or became, near
  • قُرْبَىaffinity; kinship
The whole family7 groups, by pattern; tap a pattern to see what it does
Verbs8قَرِبَ · قَرَّبَ · اِقْتَرَبَ

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: فَعِلَ يَفْعُلُ (i – u; the imperfect from Lane's “aor.”)

Verbal nouns10قُرْب · تَقْرِيب · تَقَرُّب

The action itself, named as a noun (maṣdar).grammar →

Participles8مُقَرَّب · مُتَقَارِب · قَارِب

The one who does it, and the one it is done to.grammar →

  • مُقَرَّبclose; nearautopassive, Form IVlibrary ×6
  • مُتَقَارِبshort manLaneactive, Form VIlibrary ×2Lane
  • قَارِبone seeking, or seeking to attain, or journeying to, waterLaneactive, Form ILaneIbn Fāris
  • مُقَارَبpassive, Form IIILaneIbn Fāris
Place, time and instrument4مَقْرَبَة · مَقْرُبَة · مَقْرِبَة

Where or when it happens, and what it is done with: the m- nouns.grammar →

  • مَقْرَبَةnoun of place (with -a)Qurʾān ×1LaneIbn Fāris
  • مَقْرُبَةnoun of place (with -a)LaneIbn Fāris
  • مَقْرِبَةnoun of place (with -a)LaneIbn Fāris
  • مَقْرَبnear, or the nearest, road or wayLanenoun of place or timeLane
Intensives, qualities and the elative5قَرِيب · أَقْرَب · قُرْبَان

The quality carried far, held as a trait, or compared.grammar →

Other nouns17قُرْبَى · قُرْبَة · قَرَابَة

Nouns on other patterns; their meaning is learned word by word.grammar →

Plurals8مُقَرَّبُون · أَقْرَبِين · أَقْرَاب

Broken plurals rebuild the word on a new pattern; sound plurals add an ending.grammar →

  • مُقَرَّبُونsound plural of مُقَرَّبQurʾān ×8
  • أَقْرَبِينsound plural of أَقْرَبQurʾān ×4
  • أَقْرَابbroken plural of قُرْبLaneIbn Fāris
  • قاربbroken plural of قَارِبLaneIbn Fāris

Reference

Why this shape?What each of the 22 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.

مَفْعَلَةق ر بمَقْرَبَة
  • Attested: مَقْرَبَة, noun of place (with -a) (Qurʾān, Lane, Ibn Fāris)
  • Attested: مَقْرُبَة, noun of place (with -a) (Lane, Ibn Fāris)
  • Attested: مَقْرِبَة, noun of place (with -a) (Lane, Ibn Fāris)

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

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)'

    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

    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
  • al-Khalīl · 170Al-qarb (القرب) is when people graze [their livestock] between themselves and the watering place, traveling part of the way, until, when an evening or a night's distance remains between them and the water, they hasten an

    al-Khalīl b. Aḥmad (d. c. 170/786), Kitāb al-ʿAyn. The first Arabic dictionary, arranged by permutations of the root letters.

    Al-qarb (القرب) is when people graze [their livestock] between themselves and the watering place, traveling part of the way, until, when an evening or a night's distance remains between them and the water, they hasten and draw near (qarabū / قربوا). They say: yaqrubūn qarban (يقربون قربا), and aqrabū ibilahum (أقربوا إبلهم) [they made their camels head for water at night], and qaribat al-ibil (قربت الإبل) [the camels approached the water at night]. A donkey that seeks water is called qārib (قارب). It is said [in verse]: "They brought me forward for iqrāb (إقراب) and for returning (iṣdār)."

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    القرب أن يرعى القوم بينهم وبين المورد وهم يسيرون بعض السير حتى إذا كان بينهم وبين الماء عشية أو ليلة عجلوا فقربوا، وهم يقربون قربا، واقربوا إبلهم، وقربت الإبل. وحمار قارب يطلب الماء، قال: قد قدموني لإقراب وإصدار «2»

    al-Khalīl · 170 · OpenITIvowelled page on al-Maktaba al-Shāmila (print 5, p. 152) ↗
  • al-Jawharī · 393Qaruba al-shayʾu (قرب الشئ), with ḍamma, yaqrubu qurban (يقرب قربا), means it became near.

    al-Jawharī (d. c. 393/1003), al-Ṣiḥāḥ. Admits only usage he judged sound.

    Qaruba al-shayʾu (قرب الشئ), with ḍamma, yaqrubu qurban (يقرب قربا), means it became near. And His saying, Exalted is He: "Indeed the mercy of God is qarīb (قريب) from the doers of good" — He did not say qarība [feminine], because He meant by "mercy" beneficence (iḥsān), and because whatever does not have a real (ḥaqīqī) feminine gender may be treated as masculine. Al-Farrāʾ said: when qarīb (قريب) has the sense of distance, it may be masculine or feminine; when it has the sense of kinship, it is feminine without disagreement among them. You say: 'this woman is qarībatī (قريبتي),' meaning 'possessing kinship with me.' Qarabtuhu (قربته), with kasra, aqrubuhu qurbānan (أقربه قربانا), means I drew near to him. And qarabtu aqrubu qarāba (قربت أقرب قرابة), like katabtu kitāba, means I traveled toward water while a night's journey remained between me and it; the noun is al-qarb (القرب). Al-Aṣmaʿī said: I asked a Bedouin, 'What is al-qarb?' He said: 'Night travel to reach water the next morning.' I asked him, 'What is al-ṭalaq (الطلق)?' He said: 'Night travel to reach water on the second day (al-ghibb).' One says 'qarb baṣbāṣ (قرب بصباص)' [a swift approach to water] — this is because people let their camels graze while heading toward the water, and when an evening's distance remains between them and the water, they hasten toward it, and that night is laylat al-qarb (ليلة القرب). Aqraba al-qawmu (أقرب القوم) — when their camels are qawārib (قوارب) [approaching water at night] — so they are qāribūn (قاربون); one does not say muqribūn (مقربون). Abū ʿUbayd said: this word is anomalous (shādhdh). Al-qārib (القارب): a small boat that accompanies seafaring ships, used for their light needs. Al-Khalīl said: al-qārib is one who seeks water by night; this term is not used for one who seeks water by day. Qarabtu al-sayfa (قربت السيف) also means I put it in its sheath (qirāb / القراب). Al-qurbān (القربان), with ḍamma, is what you offer to draw near to God, Mighty and Exalted; hence: qarrabtu li-llāhi qurbānan (قربت لله قربانا). Al-qurbān also means one of a king's qarābīn (قرابين), i.e., his companions and intimates. You say: 'So-and-so is among the qurbān of the emir,' and 'among his buʿdān (بعدان)' [those distant from him]. Taqarraba ilā Allāhi bi-shayʾin (تقرب إلى الله بشئ) means he sought thereby closeness (al-qurba) with Him. Qarrabtuhu taqrīban (قربته تقريبا) means I brought it near. Al-qurb (القرب) is the opposite of al-buʿd (البعد). Al-qurb and al-qurub (القرب والقرب) refer to the region from the flank (shākila) to the soft parts of the belly (marāqq al-baṭn), like ʿusr and ʿusur; plural al-aqrāb (الأقراب). Al-taqrīb (التقريب) is a kind of running gait. One says qarraba al-farasu (قرب الفرس) when it raises its forelegs together and sets them down together while running — a gait less than full gallop (ḥuḍr). It has two kinds of taqrīb: a higher and a lower. "Iqtaraba al-waʿdu (اقترب الوعد)" means it drew near. Qārabtuhu fī al-bayʿi muqāraba (قاربته في البيع مقاربة) [I dealt moderately with him in trade]. 'Shayʾ muqārib (شئ مقارب)', with kasra on the rāʾ, means middling, between good and bad — do not say muqārab — and likewise when it is cheap. Al-taqārub (التقارب) is the opposite of al-tabāʿud (التباعد). Aqrabat al-marʾatu (أقربت المرأة) means her delivery drew near, and likewise a...

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    قرب الشئ بالضم يقرب قربا، أي دنا. وقوله تعالى: (إن رحمة الله قريب من المحسنين) ولم يقل قريبة، لأنه أراد بالرحمة الإحسان، ولأن ما لا يكون تأنيثه حقيقيا جاز تذكيره. وقال الفراء: إذا كان القريب في معنى المسافة يذكر ويؤنث، وإذا كان في معنى النسب يؤنث، بلا اختلاف بينهم. تقول: هذه المرأة قريبتى، أي ذات قرابتي. وقربته بالكسر أقربه قربانا، أي دنوت منه. وقربت أقرب قرابة، مثل كتبت كتابة، إذا سرت إلى الماء وبينك وبينه ليلة. والاسم القرب (1) . قال الاصمعي: قلت لاعرابي: ما القرب؟ فقال: سير الليل لورد الغد. وقلت له: ما الطلق؟ فقال: سير الليل لورد الغب. يقال: قرب بصباص، وذلك أن القوم يسيمون الإبل وهم في ذلك يسيرون نحو الماء، فإذا بقيت بينهم وبين الماء عشية عجلوا نحوه، فتلك الليلة ليلة القرب. وقد أقرب القوم، إذا كانت إبلهم قوارب، فهم قاربون، ولا يقال مقربون. قال أبو عبيد: وهذا الحرف شاذ. والقارب: سفينة صغيرة تكون مع أصحاب السفن البحرية تستخف لحوائجهم. قال الخليل: القارب: طالب الماء ليلا، ولا يقال ذلك لطالب الماء نهارا. وقربت السيف أيضا، إذا جعلته في القراب. والقربان، بالضم: ما تقربت به إلى الله عز وجل. تقول منه: قربت لله قربانا. والقربان أيضا: واحد قرابين الملك، وهم جلساؤه وخاصته. تقول: فلان من قربان الأمير، ومن بعدانه. وتقرب إلى الله بشئ، أي طلب به القربة عنده. وقربته تقريبا، أي أدنيته. والقرب: ضد البعد. والقرب والقرب: من الشاكلة إلى مراق البطن، مثل عسر وعسر، والجمع الاقراب. والتقريب: ضرب من العدو. يقال: قرب الفرس، إذا رفع يديه معا ووضعهما معا في العدو، وهو دون الحضر. وله تقريبان: أعلى، وأدنى. و (اقترب الوعد) ، أي تقارب. وقاربته في البيع مقاربة. وشئ مقارب بكسر الراء، أي وسط بين الجيد والردئ - ولا تقل مقارب - وكذلك إذا كان رخيصا. والتقارب: ضد التباعد. وأقربت المرأة، إذا قرب ولادها، وكذلك الفرس والشاة، فهي مقرب، ولا يقال للناقة. قالت أم تأبط شرا تؤبنه بعد موته: " وا ابناه وا ابن الليل، ليس بزميل شروب للقيل، يضرب بالذيل كمقرب الخيل ". لانها تضرح من دنا منها. ويروى " كمقرب " بفتح الراء، وهو المكرم. وقال العدبس: جمع المقرب مقاريب. وأقربت السيف: جعلت له قرابا. وأقربت القدح، من قولهم قدح قربان، إذا قارب أن يمتلئ، وجمجمة (1) قربى، وقد حان قربانان، والجمع قراب مثال عجلان وعجال. والمقرب من الخيل: الذي يدنى ويكرم، والأنثى مقربة ولا تترك أن ترود. قال ابن دريد: إنما يفعل ذلك بالإناث لئلا يقرعها فحل لئيم. والقربة: ما يستقى فيه الماء، والجمع في أدنى العدد قربات وقربات وقربات، وللكثير قرب. وكذلك جمع كل ما كان على فعلة مثل سدرة وفقرة، لك أن تفتح العين وتكسر وتسكن. والقرابة: القربى في الرحم، وهو في الأصل مصدر. تقول: بيني وبينه قرابة، وقرب، وقربى ومقربة ومقربة، وقربة، وقربة بضم الراء. وهو قريبي وذو قرابتي، وهم أقربائي وأقاربي. والعامة تقول: هو قرابتي وهم قراباتى. وقراب السيف: جفنه، وهو وعاء يكون فيه السيف بغمده وحمالته. وفي المثل " إن الفرار بقراب أكيس (1) ". والقراب أيضا: مقاربة الامر. وقال (2) يصف نوقا: هو ابن منضجات كن قدما * يردن على الغدير قراب شهر (3) وكذلك إذا قارب أن يمتلئ الدلو. وقال (4) : إلا تجئ ملاى يجئ قرابها (5) * وقولهم: ما هو بشبيهك ولا بقرابة من ذلك، مضمومة القاف، أي ولا بقريب من ذلك. والقرنبى مقصور: دويبة طويلة الرجلين مثل الخنفساء أعظم منه شيئا. وفى المثل " القرنبى في عين أمها حسنة ". وقال يصف جارية وبعلها: يدب إلى أحشائها كل ليلة * دبيب القرنبى بات يعلو نقا سه …

    al-Jawharī · 393 · OpenITIvowelled page on al-Maktaba al-Shāmila (print 1, p. 198) ↗
  • Ibn Fāris · 395Qāf, rāʾ, and bāʾ is a sound root indicating the opposite of distance (buʿd).

    Ibn Fāris (d. 395/1004), Maqāyīs al-Lugha. Seeks each root's original sense (aṣl).

    Qāf, rāʾ, and bāʾ is a sound root indicating the opposite of distance (buʿd). One says qariba yaqrubu qurban (قرب يقرب قربا) [he became near]. And "So-and-so is a relative of mine (dhū qarābatī / ذو قرابتي)" — meaning one who is near to you by kinship. "So-and-so is my qarīb (قريبي) and dhū qarābatī (ذو قرابتي)." Al-qirba (القربة) and al-qurbā (القربى) mean kinship (qarāba). Al-qirāb (القراب) means approaching a matter; you say "mā qaribtu hādhā al-amra wa-lā uqribuhu (ما قربت هذا الأمر ولا أقربه)" [I did not approach this matter nor do I approach it] when you have not been in contact with it or entangled in it. Also from this root is al-qarb (القرب), which is the night on which camels come to water; this is because the people let their camels graze while heading toward the water, and when only an evening's distance remains between them and the water, they hasten toward it — that night is called laylat al-qarb (ليلة القرب). Al-qārib (القارب) is one who seeks water by night. Al-Khalīl said: this term is not used for one who seeks it by day. They have derived a verb from al-qarb, saying qarabtu al-māʾa aqrubuhu qarban (قربت الماء أقربه قربا), following the pattern of ṭalabtu aṭlubu ṭalaban and ḥalabtu aḥlubu ḥalaban. They say al-qārib (القارب) is a small boat that accompanies seafaring ships, used for their light needs — as though named so because of its nearness to them. Al-qurbān (القربان) is what is brought near to God, Exalted, whether a sacrificial offering or otherwise. From this root also: qurbān al-malik (قربان الملك) and qarābīnuhu (قرابينه) — his ministers and companions. 'Faras muqriba (فرس مقربة)' is a mare that is kept close and made to approach [people/tents] and not left to roam freely — Ibn Duraid said this is done with mares so that no base stallion covers them. One says qarraba al-farasu taqrīban (قرب الفرس تقريبا) — a gait less than full gallop (ḥuḍr); and it is said to be called taqrīb because when the horse gallops (aḥḍara) its stride becomes farther-reaching. It is said to have two kinds of taqrīb: a lesser and a greater. One says aqrabat al-shātu (أقربت الشاة) — the ewe's delivery drew near. Ibn al-Sikkīt said: 'thawb muqārib (ثوب مقارب)' when it is not of good quality — meaning it is moderate in price, neither too dear nor too cheap. Others report 'thawb muqārib (ثوب مقارب)' meaning not good, and also meaning cheap. The reasoning in all these is one and the same. As for al-khāṣira (الخاصرة) [the flank], it is called al-qarab (القرب) because of its nearness to the side (janb). Some said it was named by likening it to the water-skin (qirba/ القربة) — they said this is another line of reasoning, namely from the idea of gathering and containing something. They said: from this comes al-qirāb (القراب), the sheath of the sword; plural qurub (قرب). The poet said: "O mistress of the house, arise, not disgraced, gather to yourself the travelers' mounts and the qurub (القربا)." And another poet said, regarding al-qurb (القرب) meaning the flank: "And I was, when the provisions drew near, fond of every reddish-brown one, firm-skinned, not chafed — inward-flanked (mudākhilat al-aqrāb / مداخلة الأقراب), not meager, reddish-brown as though she were a full waterskin."

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    القاف والراء والباء أصل صحيح يدل على خلاف البعد يقال قرب يقرب قربا وفلان ذو قرابتي وهو من يقرب منك رحما وفلان قريبي وذو قرابتي والقربة والقربى القرابة والقراب مقاربة الأمر وتقول ما قربت هذا الأمر ولا أقربه إذا لم تشامه ولم تلتبس به ومن الباب القرب وهي ليلة ورود الإبل الماء وذلك أن القوم يسيمون الإبل وهم في ذلك يسيرون نحو الماء فإذا بقى بينهم وبين الماء عشية عجلوا نحوه فتلك الليلة ليلة القرب والقارب الطالب الماء ليلا قال الخليل ولا يقال ذلك لطالبه نهارا وقد صرفوا الفعل من القرب فقالوا قربت الماء أقربه قربا وذلك على مثال طلبت أطلب طلبا وحلبت أحلب حلبا ويقولون إن القارب سفينة صغيرة تكون مع أصحاب السفن البحرية تستخف لحوائجهم وكأنها سميت بذلك لقربها منهم والقربان ما قرب إلى الله تعالى من نسيكة أو غيرها ومن الباب قربان الملك وقرابينه وزراؤه وجلساؤه وفرس مقربة وهي التي ترتاد وتقرب ولا تترك أن ترود قال ابن دريد إنما يفعل ذلك بالإناث لئلا يقرعها فحل لئيم ويقال قرب الفرس تقريبا وهو دون الحضر وقيل تقريب لأنه إذا أحضر كان أبعد لمداه وله فيما يقال تقريبان أدنى وأعلى ويقال أقربت الشاة دنا نتاجها قال ابن السكيت ثوب مقارب إذا لم يكن جيدا وهذا على معنى أنه مقارب في ثمنه غير بعيد ولا غال وحكى غيره ثوب مقارب غير جيد وثوب مقارب رخيص والقياس في كله واحد وأما الخاصرة فهي القرب سميت لقربها من الجنب وقال قوم سميت تشبيها لها بالقربة قالوا وهذا قياس آخر إنما هو من أن يضم الشيء ويحويه قالوا ومنه القراب قراب السيف والجمع قرب قال الشاعر — يا ربة البيت قومي غير صاغرة … ضمي إليك رحال القوم والقربا … وقال الشاعر في القرب وهي الخاصرة — وكنت إذا ما قرب الزاد مولعا … بكل كميت جلدة لم توسف … مداخلة الأقراب غير ضئيلة … كميت كأنها مزادة مخلف —

    Ibn Fāris · 395 · OpenITIvowelled page on al-Maktaba al-Shāmila (print 5, p. 80) ↗
  • al-Rāghib · 502Al-qurb (القرب) and al-buʿd (البعد) are opposites.

    al-Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī (d. c. 502/1108), al-Mufradāt. Quranic vocabulary, from core sense to Quranic usage.

    Al-qurb (القرب) and al-buʿd (البعد) are opposites. One says: qarubtu minhu aqrubu (قربت منه أقرب) [I drew near to him], and qarabtuhu aqrubuhu qurban wa-qurbānan (قربته أقربه قربا وقربانا). This is used with reference to place, time, kinship, favor/rank, care, and ability. Of the first [place]: "Do not approach this tree" (Q 2:35); "Do not approach the property of the orphan" (Q 6:152); "Do not approach fornication" (Q 17:32); "Let them not approach the Sacred Mosque after this year of theirs" (Q 9:28). And His saying "Do not approach them" (Q 2:222) is a euphemism for intercourse, as in "Let them not approach the Sacred Mosque" (Q 9:28). And His saying "He brought it near to them" (Q 51:27) [regarding the roasted calf]. Of time: "Their reckoning has drawn near for mankind" (Q 21:1); and His saying: "I do not know whether what you are promised is near or far" (Q 21:109). Of kinship: "When those of kinship (ulū l-qurbā / أولوا القربى) are present at the division" (Q 4:8); and He said: "the two parents and the near relatives (al-aqrabūn / الأقربون)" (Q 4:7); and He said: "even if he be a relative (dhā qurbā / ذا قربى)" (Q 35:18); "and for the near relative (li-dhī l-qurbā / لذي القربى)" (Q 8:41); "the neighbor who is a relative (al-jār dhī l-qurbā / الجار ذي القربى)" (Q 4:36); "an orphan possessing relationship (dhā maqraba / ذا مقربة)" (Q 90:15). Of favor/rank: "nor the angels who are brought near (al-muqarrabūn / المقربون)" (Q 4:172); and He said of Jesus: "eminent in this world and the next, and of those brought near (al-muqarrabīn / المقربين)" (Q 3:45); "a spring from which those brought near (al-muqarrabūn) drink" (Q 83:28); "then if he be of those brought near" (Q 56:88); "He said: Yes, and indeed you will be among those brought near" (Q 7:114); "and We brought him near in intimate communion" (Q 19:52). Al-qurba (القربة) is used for favor, as in His saying: "means of nearness (qurubāt / قربات) with God and the prayers of the Messenger; indeed it is a means of nearness (qurba / قربة) for them" (Q 9:99); "to bring you near to Us in rank" (Q 34:37). Of care [providence]: "Indeed the mercy of God is near (qarīb / قريب) to the doers of good" (Q 7:56); and His saying: "Indeed I am near (qarīb), I answer the call of the caller" (Q 2:186). Of ability: "and We are nearer to him than [his] jugular vein" (Q 50:16). His saying: "and We are nearer to him than you" (Q 56:85) may be understood in terms of ability/power. Al-qurbān (القربان) is that by which one seeks nearness to God; it became, in customary usage, a name for the sacrificial offering (nasīka), plural qarābīn (قرابين). He, Exalted, said: "When they both offered a qurbān (قربانا)" (Q 5:27); "until he brings us a qurbān" (Q 3:183); and His saying "[false] gods as a qurbān" (Q 46:28). From this comes the phrase 'qurbān al-malik (قربان الملك)' for one who seeks nearness to the king through service to him; this word is used for both singular and plural, and because it is plural in this context He said 'āliha (آلهة)' [gods, plural]. Al-taqarrub (التقرب) is striving toward what entails favor/rank. And 'qarraba Allāhu taʿālā mina l-ʿa...' [entry continues]

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    القرب والبعد يتقابلان. يقال: قربت منه أقرب «3» ، وقربته أقربه قربا وقربانا، ويستعمل ذلك في المكان، وفي الزمان، وفي النسبة، وفي الحظوة، والرعاية، والقدرة. فمن الأول نحو: ولا تقربا هذه الشجرة [البقرة/ 35] ، ولا تقربوا مال اليتيم [الأنعام/ 152] ، ولا تقربوا الزنى [الإسراء/ 32] ، فلا يقربوا المسجد الحرام بعد عامهم هذا [التوبة/ 28] . وقوله: ولا تقربوهن [البقرة/ 222] ، كناية عن الجماع كقوله: فلا يقربوا المسجد الحرام [التوبة/ 28] ، وقوله: فقربه إليهم [الذاريات/ 27] . وفي الزمان نحو: اقترب للناس حسابهم [الأنبياء/ 1] ، وقوله: وإن أدري أقريب أم بعيد ما توعدون [الأنبياء/ 109] . وفي النسبة نحو: وإذا حضر القسمة أولوا القربى [النساء/ 8] ، وقال: الوالدان والأقربون [النساء/ 7] ، وقال: ولو كان ذا قربى [فاطر/ 18] ، ولذي القربى [الأنفال/ 41] ، والجار ذي القربى [النساء/ 36] ، يتيما ذا مقربة [البلد/ 15] . وفي الحظوة: لا الملائكة المقربون [النساء/ 172] ، وقال في عيسى: وجيها في الدنيا والآخرة ومن المقربين [آل عمران/ 45] ، عينا يشرب بها المقربون [المطففين/ 28] ، فأما إن كان من المقربين [الواقعة/ 88] ، قال نعم وإنكم لمن المقربين [الأعراف/ 114] ، وقربناه نجيا [مريم/ 52] . ويقال للحظوة: القربة، كقوله: قربات عند الله وصلوات الرسول ألا إنها قربة لهم [التوبة/ 99] ، تقربكم عندنا زلفى [سبأ/ 37] . وفي الرعاية نحو: إن رحمت الله قريب من المحسنين [الأعراف/ 56] ، وقوله: فإني قريب أجيب دعوة الداع [البقرة/ 186] . وفي القدرة نحو: ونحن أقرب إليه من حبل الوريد [ق/ 16] . قوله ونحن أقرب إليه منكم [الواقعة/ 85] ، يحتمل أن يكون من حيث القدرة. والقربان: ما يتقرب به إلى الله، وصار في التعارف اسما للنسيكة التي هي الذبيحة، وجمعه: قرابين. قال تعالى: إذ قربا قربانا [المائدة/ 27] ، حتى يأتينا بقربان [آل عمران/ 183] ، وقوله: قربانا آلهة [الأحقاف/ 28] ، فمن قولهم: قربان الملك: لمن يتقرب بخدمته إلى الملك، ويستعمل ذلك للواحد والجمع، ولكونه في هذا الموضع جمعا قال: (آلهة) ، والتقرب: التحدي بما يقتضي حظوة، وقرب الله تعالى من العبد: هو بالإفضال عليه والفيض لا بالمكان، ولهذا روي «أن موسى عليه السلام قال: إلهي أقريب أنت فأناجيك؟ أم بعيد فأناديك؟ فقال: لو قدرت لك البعد لما انتهيت إليه، ولو قدرت لك القرب لما اقتدرت عليه» «1» . وقال: ونحن أقرب إليه من حبل الوريد [ق/ 16] ، وقرب العبد من الله في الحقيقة: التخصص بكثير من الصفات التي يصح أن يوصف الله تعالى بها وإن لم يكن وصف الإنسان بها على الحد الذي يوصف تعالى به نحو: الحكمة والعلم والحلم والرحمة والغنى، وذلك يكون بإزالة الأوساخ من الجهل والطيش والغضب، والحاجات البدنية بقدر طاقة البشر، وذلك قرب روحاني لا بدني، وعلى هذا القرب نبه عليه الصلاة والسلام فيما ذكر عن الله تعالى: «من تقرب إلي شبرا تقربت إليه ذراعا» «1» وقوله عنه: «ما تقرب إلي عبد بمثل أداء ما افترضت عليه وإنه ليتقرب إلي بعد ذلك بالنوافل حتى أحبه ... » «2» الخبر. وقوله: ولا تقربوا مال اليتيم [الأنعام/ 152] ، هو أبلغ من النهي عن تناوله، لأن النهي عن قربه أبلغ من النهي عن أخذه، وعلى هذا قوله: ولا تقربا هذه الشجرة [البقرة/ 35] ، وقوله: ولا تقربوهن حتى يطهرن [البقرة/ 222] ، كناية عن الجماع، وقال: ولا تقربوا الزنى [الإسراء/ 32] ، والقراب: المقاربة. قال الشاعر:

    al-Rāghib · 502 · OpenITIvowelled page on al-Maktaba al-Shāmila (print 1, p. 663) ↗
  • Lisān · 711Al-qurb (القرب) is the opposite of al-buʿd (البعد).

    Ibn Manẓūr (d. 711/1311), Lisān al-ʿArab. The great compendium of the earlier dictionaries (entry shortened).

    Al-qurb (القرب) is the opposite of al-buʿd (البعد). Qaruba al-shayʾu (قرب الشيء), with ḍamma, yaqrubu qurban wa-qurbanan wa-qurbanan (يقرب قربا وقربانا وقربانا), means it became near; so it is qarīb (قريب) — singular, dual, and plural being alike in this. And His saying, Exalted: "And if you could see when they are terrified, and there is no escape, and they are seized from a place qarīb (near)" — it is said in the exegesis: they are seized from beneath their feet. And His saying: "And you do not know — perhaps the Hour is qarīb (قريب)" — He used the masculine qarīb because the femininity of al-sāʿa (الساعة) is not real (ghayr ḥaqīqī); and it may also be permitted as masculine because al-sāʿa here means al-baʿth (الرسورة) [the Resurrection]. And His saying: "And listen for the Day when the caller calls from a place qarīb (near)" — i.e., he calls out the Gathering from a nearby place, which is the Rock in Jerusalem; and it is said it is in the middle of the earth. Sībawayh said: one says 'inna qurbaka Zaydan (إن قربك زيدا)' but does not say 'inna buʿdaka Zaydan (إن بعدك زيدا)', because al-qurb is more firmly established as an adverbial (ẓarf) than al-buʿd; likewise 'inna qarīban minka Zaydan (إن قريبا منك زيدا)', and the better usage is to say 'inna Zaydan qarībun minka (إن زيدا قريب منك)' because it combines a definite and an indefinite noun; and likewise al-buʿd in both constructions. They said: 'huwa qarābatuka (هو قرابتك)' meaning he is near you in place; and likewise 'huwa qarābatuka fī l-ʿilm (هو قرابتك في العلم)' [he is close to you in knowledge]. And their saying 'mā huwa bi-shabīhika wa-lā bi-qarābata min dhālika (ما هو بشبيهك ولا بقرابة من ذلك)', with ḍamma on the qāf, means 'nor near to that.' Abū Saʿīd: a man says to his companion, when urging him on, 'taqarrab (تقرب)', meaning 'hurry'; I heard it from their own speech; and he cited [in verse]: "O my two companions, depart and hurry on (taqarrabā / تقربا), for it is time for the traveler to feel eager." Al-Tahdhīb: one says 'mā qarabtu hādhā l-amra, wa-lā qaribtuhu (ما قربت هذا الأمر، ولا قربته)' [I did not approach this matter]. God, Exalted, said: "Do not approach this tree" (Q 2:35[sic, actually similar verse]); and He said: "Do not approach fornication" (Q 17:32) — all of this from qarabtu aqrubu. One says: 'fulānun yaqrubu amran (فلان يقرب أمرا)' meaning he pursues/aims at a matter, said when he does something or says something by which he approaches a matter he is aiming at; and one says 'laqad qarabtu amran mā adrī mā huwa (لقد قربت أمرا ما أدري ما هو)' [I have approached a matter I know not what it is]. Qarrabahu minhu (قربه منه), and taqarraba ilayhi taqarruban wa-taqrāban (تقرب إليه تقربا وتقرابا), and iqtaraba (اقترب), and qārabahu (قاربه) [all meaning to draw near to something/someone]. In the ḥadīth of Abū ʿĀrim: 'fa-lam yazal al-nāsu muqāribīna lahu (فلم يزل الناس مقاربين له)' meaning they kept drawing near to him, until he crossed the territory of Banū ʿĀmir, then the people began to grow distant from him. 'If-ʿal dhālika bi-qurāb (افعل ذلك بقراب)', with fatḥa, means 'nearly / approximately' — from Ibn al-Aʿrābī. And His saying, Exalted: "Indeed the mercy of God is qarīb (قريب) from the doers of good" — He did not say qarība [feminine], because He meant by 'mercy' beneficence (iḥsān), and because whatever does not have real (ḥaqīqī) feminine gender may be treated as masculine. Al-Zajjāj said: it is said qarīb because al-raḥma (mercy), al-ghufrān (forgiveness), and al-ʿafw (pardon) are of one meaning; and likewise every non-real feminine. He said: al-Akhfash said it is permissible that al-raḥma here means rain (al-maṭar). He said: some said this masculine form was used to distinguish between qarīb of nearness [in place] and qarīb of kinship. He said: this is an error — anything near, whether in place or in kinship, follows [the same rule]... [entry continues]

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    القرب نقيض البعد. قرب الشيء، بالضم، يقرب قربا وقربانا وقربانا أي دنا، فهو قريب، الواحد والاثنان والجميع في ذلك سواء. وقوله تعالى: ولو ترى إذ فزعوا فلا فوت وأخذوا من مكان قريب ؛ جاء في التفسير: أخذوا من تحت أقدامهم. وقوله تعالى: وما يدريك لعل الساعة قريب ؛ ذكر قريبا لأن تأنيث الساعة غير حقيقي؛ وقد يجوز أن يذكر لأن الساعة في معنى البعث. وقوله تعالى: واستمع يوم يناد المناد من مكان قريب ؛ أي ينادي بالحشر من مكان قريب، وهي الصخرة التي في بيت المقدس؛ ويقال: إنها في وسط الأرض؛ قال سيبويه: إن قربك زيدا، ولا تقول إن بعدك زيدا، لأن القرب أشد تمكنا في الظرف من البعد؛ وكذلك: إن قريبا منك زيدا، وأحسنه أن تقول: إن زيدا قريب منك، لأنه اجتمع معرفة ونكرة، وكذلك البعد في الوجهين؛ وقالوا: هو قرابتك أي قريب منك في المكان؛ وكذلك: هو قرابتك في العلم؛ وقولهم: ما هو بشبيهك ولا بقرابة من ذلك، مضمومة القاف، أي ولا بقريب من ذلك. أبو سعيد: يقول الرجل لصاحبه إذا استحثه: تقرب أي اعجل؛ سمعته من أفواههم؛ وأنشد: يا صاحبي ترحلا وتقربا، ... فلقد أنى لمسافر أن يطربا التهذيب: وما قربت هذا الأمر، ولا قربته؛ قال الله تعالى: ولا تقربا هذه الشجرة* ؛ وقال: ولا تقربوا الزنى ؛ كل ذلك من قربت أقرب. ويقال: فلان يقرب أمرا أي يغزوه، وذلك إذا فعل شيئا أو قال قولا يقرب به أمرا يغزوه؛ ويقال: لقد قربت أمرا ما أدري ما هو. وقربه منه، وتقرب إليه تقربا وتقرابا، واقترب وقاربه. وفي حديث أبي عارم: فلم يزل الناس مقاربين له أي يقربون حتى جاوز بلاد بني عامر، ثم جعل الناس يبعدون منه. وافعل ذلك بقراب، مفتوح، أي بقرب؛ عن ابن الأعرابي. وقوله تعالى: إن رحمت الله قريب من المحسنين ؛ ولم يقل قريبة، لأنه أراد بالرحمة الإحسان ولأن ما لا يكون تأنيثه حقيقيا، جاز تذكيره؛ وقال الزجاج: إنما قيل قريب، لأن الرحمة، والغفران، والعفو في معنى واحد؛ وكذلك كل تأنيث ليس بحقيقي؛ قال: وقال الأخفش جائز أن تكون الرحمة هاهنا بمعنى المطر؛ قال: وقال بعضهم هذا ذكر ليفصل بين القريب من القرب، والقريب من القرابة؛ قال: وهذا غلط، كل ما قرب من مكان أو نسب، فهو جار على ما يصيبه من التذكير والتأنيث؛ قال الفراء: إذا كان القريب في معنى المسافة، يذكر ويؤنث، وإذا كان في معنى النسب، يؤنث بلا اختلاف بينهم. تقول: هذه المرأة قريبتي أي ذات قرابتي؛ قال ابن بري: ذكر الفراء أن العرب تفرق بين القريب من النسب، والقريب من المكان، فيقولون: هذه قريبتي من النسب، وهذه قريبي من المكان؛ ويشهد بصحة قوله قول إمرئ القيس: له الويل إن أمسى، ولا أم هاشم ... قريب، ولا البسباسة ابنة يشكرا فذكر قريبا، وهو خبر عن أم هاشم، فعلى هذا يجوز: قريب مني، يريد قرب المكان، وقريبة مني، يريد قرب النسب. ويقال: إن فعيلا قد يحمل على فعول، لأنه بمعناه، مثل رحيم ورحوم، وفعول لا تدخله الهاء نحو امرأة صبور؛ فلذلك قالوا: ريح خريق، وكنيبة خصيف، وفلانة مني قريب. وقد قيل: إن قريبا أصله في هذا أن يكون صفة لمكان؛ كقولك: هي مني قريبا أي مكانا قريبا، ثم اتسع في الظرف فرفع وجعل خبرا. التهذيب: والقريب نقيض البعيد يكون تحويلا، فيستوي في الذكر والأنثى والفرد والجميع، كقولك: هو قريب، وهي قريب، وهم قريب، وهن قريب. ابن السكيت: تقول العرب هو قريب مني، وهما قريب مني، وهم قريب مني؛ وكذلك المؤنث: هي قريب مني، وهي بعيد مني، وهما بعيد، وهن بعيد مني، وقريب؛ فتوحد قريبا وتذكره لأنه إن كان مرفوعا، فإنه في تأويل هو في مكان قريب مني. وقال الله تعالى: إن رحمت الله قريب من المحسنين . وقد يجوز قريبة وبعيدة، بالهاء، تنبيها على قربت، وبعدت، فمن أنثها في المؤنث، ثنى وجمع؛ وأنشد: ليالي لا عفراء، منك، بعيدة ... فتسلى، ولا عفراء منك قريب واقترب الوعد أي تقارب. وقاربته في البيع مقاربة. والتقارب: ضد التباعد. وفي الحديث: إذا تقارب الزمان ، وفي رواية: إذا اقترب الزمان، لم تكد رؤيا المؤمن تكذب ؛ قال ابن الأثير: أراد اقتراب الساعة، وقيل اعتدال الليل والنهار؛ وتكون الرؤيا فيه صحيحة لاعتدال الزمان. واقترب: افتعل، من القرب. وتقارب: تفاعل، منه، ويقال للشيء إذا ولى وأدبر: تقارب. وفي حديث المهدي: يتقارب الزمان حتى تكون السنة كالشهر ؛ أراد: يطيب الزمان حتى لا يستطال؛ وأيام السرور والعافية قصيرة؛ وقيل: هو كناية عن قصر الأعمار وقلة البركة. ويقال: قد حيا وقرب إذا قال: حياك الله، وقرب دارك. وفي الحديث: من تقرب إلي شبرا تقربت إليه ذراعا ؛ المراد بقرب العبد من الله، عز وجل، القرب بالذكر والعمل الصالح، لا قرب الذات والمكان، لأن ذلك من صفات الأجسام، والله يتعالى عن ذلك ويتقدس. والمراد بقرب الله تعالى من العبد، قرب نعمه وألطافه منه، وبره وإحسانه إليه، وترادف مننه عنده، وفيض مواهبه عليه. وقراب الشيء وقرابه وقرابته: ما قارب قدره. وفي …

    Lisān · 711 · OpenITIvowelled page on al-Maktaba al-Shāmila (print 1, p. 662) ↗
  • Lane · 1876English, synthesising the classical dictionaries.

    E. W. Lane (d. 1876), An Arabic-English Lexicon. English, synthesising the classical dictionaries.

    قَرُبَ

    1. قَرُبَ, aor. قَرُبَ , inf. n. قُرْبٌ (S, Mgh, O, Msb *) and قُرْبَةٌ and قَرَابَةٌ and قُرْبَى (Mgh, Msb) and مَقْرَبَةٌ, (Mgh,) [to which may be added some other syns. mentioned below with قُرْبٌ and قَرَابَةٌ,] It, and he, was, or became, near; (S, Mgh, O;) syn. دَنَا; (S, O;) contr. of بَعُدَ: (Mgh:) or قُرْبٌ is in place, and قُرْبَةٌ is in station, or grade, or rank, and قَرَابَةٌ and قُرْبَى are in الرَّحِم [meaning relationship, or relationship by the female side]; (Mgh, Msb, TA;) or, accord. to the T, قَرَابَةٌ is in النَّسَب [app. relationship in a general sense], and قُرْبَى is in الرَّحِم [app. as meaning relationship by the female side]: (TA:) You say, قَرُبَ مِنْهُ, (A, MA, Msb, K,) and إِلَيْهِ; (A;) and قَرِبَهُ, (S, MA, O, K,) aor. قَرَبَ ; (S, K;) inf. n. (of the former verb, Msb) قُرْبٌ, (Msb, K,) or قُرْبٌ and قُرْبَةٌ &c. as above, (Msb,) or قُرْبٌ and مَقْرَبَةٌ and مَقْرُبَةٌ; (MA;) and (of the latter verb, S, MA, O) قِرْبَانٌ (S, MA, O, K) and قُرْبَانٌ; (K;) he (a man, S, O) was, or became, near to it; (S, A, MA, O, K;) syn. دَنَا: (S, A, O, K:) or the former verb means thus; but when one says لَا تَقْرَبْ كَذَا with fet-h to the ر, the meaning is, occupy not thyself with doing such a thing: (MF, TA, &c.:) or قَرِبْتُ الأَمْرَ, aor. قَرَبَ , and قَرَبْتُهُ, aor. قَرُبَ , i. e., like تَعِبَ and like قَتَلَ, inf. n. قِرْبَانٌ, signifies I did the thing, or affair; or I was, or became, near, or I approached, to it, or to doing it [or to doing something with it or to it]: an ex. of the former meaning is the saying [in the Kur xvii. 34], لَا تَقْرَبُوا ٱلزِّنَا [Commit not ye fornication, or adultery; or, accord. to some, this is an ex. of the latter meaning]; and hence one says, قَرِبْتُ المَرْأَةَ, inf. n. قِرْبَانٌ, a metonymical phrase, meaning I compressed the woman: and an ex. of the latter meaning is the saying, لَا تَقْرَبُوا الحِمَى i. e. لَا تَدْنُوا مِنْهُ [meaning Approach not ye to doing, or to entering upon, the thing, or place, that is prohibited, or interdicted]. (Msb.) And the Arabs say, of a man, when a thing has disquieted, or disturbed, and grieved, him, أَخَذَهُ مَا قَرُبَ وَمَا بَعُدَ, as though meaning (assumed tropical:) He became, or has become, disquieted by reason of near and remote circumstances of his case: (O:) or recent and old griefs took hold upon him. (Mgh in art. قدم. [See art. بعد.]) دَنَا مِنِّى وَقَرُبَ is expl. by Zj as meaning He drew near to me and drew nearer. (T in art. دلو: see 5 in that art.) [And several other verbs belonging to this art. are syn., or nearly so, with قَرُبَ or with قَرِبَ in senses expl. above. Thus اقرب is syn. with قَرُبَ in the first of the senses expl. above, like as أَدْنَى is with دَنَا, for its inf. n.] الإِقْرَابُ signifies الدُّبُوُّ. (TA.) اقترب, also, is syn. with قَرُبَ in the first of the senses expl. above; (MA;) [i. e.] it is syn. with دَنَا: (Msb:) or it is syn. with تقارب, (S, O, K, TA,) signifying he, or it, drew near; (TA;) thus وَٱقْتَرَبَ الوَعْدُ [in the Kur xxi. 97] signifies تقارب [meaning And the fulfilment of the promise shall draw near]: (S, O, TA:) and you say, اقترب مِنِّى [meaning He drew near to me]: (A:) it is also said that is has a more particular signification than قَرُبَ; for it denotes intensiveness in القُرْب; thus says Ibn-'Arafeh; probably meaning that it denotes labour and difficulty in the accomplishment of the act. (MF, TA.) تقرّب [likewise] is syn. with [قَرُبَ, i. e.] دَنَا, in the phrase تقرّب مِنْهُ: (O: [see قَرُبَ مِنْهُ:]) or it signifies he drew near, or approached, by little and little, (تَدَنَّى,) to a thing. (TA.) And الشَّىْءَ قارب, (ISd, TA,) or الأَمْرَ, (Msb,) [like قَرِبَهُ in many instances,] signifies He was, or became, near, or he approached, to the thing, or affair, or to doing it. (ISd, Msb, TA.) قَرُبَ, aor. قَرُبَ , inf. n. قُرْبٌ signifies also (assumed tropical:) He formed an opinion that was near to certainty. (MF.) In the phrase قَرَبَتِ الشَّمْسُ لِلْمَغِيبِ [meaning The sun was, or became, near to setting], like كَرَبَت, the ق is asserted by Yaakoob to be a substitute for ك. (TA.) قَرَبَ, aor. قَرُبَ ; inf. in. قِرَابَةٌ, He (a man) journeyed to water, there being between him and it a night's journey. (S, O.) [See also أَقْرَبَ القَوْمُ. Or,] accord. to Lth, you say, قَرَبُوا, aor. قَرُبَ , inf. n. قَرَبٌ [q. v.], meaning They, after pasturing their camels in the tract between them and the wateringplace, and journeying on during a part of the time until there remained between them and the water a night, or an evening, hastened in their course. (TA.) And قَرَبَ الإِبِل [in some copies of the K الإِبِلَ and in others الإِبِلُ], aor. قَرُبَ , inf. n. قِرَابَةٌ; thus in the K; but accord. to Th, قَرَبَتِ الإِبِلُ, aor. قَرُبَ , inf. n. قَرَبٌ; (TA;) i. e. The camels journeyed by night in order to arrive at the water on the morrow: (K, * TA:) and [a man says, of himself,] قَرَبْتُ, aor. قَرُبَ , inf. n. قِرَابَةٌ. (TA.) And قَرَبْتُ المَآءَ, aor. قَرُبَ , inf. n. قَرَبٌ, so in the Fs [of Th, meaning I journeyed to the water by night in order to reach it on the following morning]. (TA.) [Or] you say, قَرَبُوا المَآءَ, meaning They sought, or sought to attain, the water. (A.) And [hence] one says, فُلَانٌ يَقْرُبُ حَاجَتُهُ, meaning (assumed tropical:) Such a one seeks, or seeks to attain, the object of his want; from the seeking, or seeking to attain, the water: and hence the saying, in a trad., وَإِنْ نَقْرُبُ بِذٰلِكَ إِلَّا أَنْ نَحْمَدَ ٱللّٰهَ (assumed tropical:) We not seeking thereby [aught] save our praising God: thus expl. by El-Khattábee. (Az, TA.) [Hence, also,] one says قَدْ قَرَبَ أَمْرًا لَا أَدْرِى مَا هُوَ (tropical:) [He has sought to accomplish an affair, I know not what it is]: (A, O: *) and فُلَانٌ يَقْرُبُ أَمْرًا لَا يَسْهُلُ لَهُ (tropical:) [Such a one seeks to accomplish an affair that will not be easy to him]. (A.) فُلَانٌ يَقْرُبُ أَمْرًا means (assumed tropical:) Such a one seeks, desires, or aims at, [the accomplishment of] an affair, when he does a deed, or says a saying, with that object. (T, O, TA.) قَرَبَ السَّيْفَ, (S, O,) inf. n. قَرْبٌ; (K;) and اقربهُ, (O,) inf. n. إِقْرَابٌ; (K;) He put the sword into the قِرَاب [q. v.]: (S, O, K:) or the former, (accord. to the K,) or ↓the latter, (accord. to the S and TA,) he made for the sword a قِرَاب: (S, K, TA:) or ↓the latter has both of these significations: (O:) or the former verb is said of a sword or of a knife in the former sense; and in like manner ↓the latter verb in the latter sense: or the former phrase signifies he made for the sword a قِرَاب; and ↓the latter phrase, he put the sword into its قِرَاب: and one says, قِرَابًا قرّب and اقربهُ, meaning he made a قِرَاب. (TA.) قَرْبٌ [as an inf. n. of which the verb is قَرَبَ] also signifies The feeding a guest with the أَقْرَاب (O, K, TA) meaning flanks [of an animal or of animals, pl. of قُرْبٌ or قُرُبٌ]. (TA.) And قَرِبَ, (O, K,) with kesr to the ر, (O,) like فَرِح, (K,) [aor. قَرَبَ , inf. n. app. قَرَبٌ,] He (a man, TA) had a complaint (O, K) of his قُرْب or قُرُب, (K,) [i. e.] of his flank; (O;) as also قرّب, (O, * K, [in the former this verb is only indicated by the mention of its inf. n.,]) inf. n. تَقْرِيبٌ. (O, K.)

    قرّبهُ

    2. قرّبهُ, inf. n. تَقْرِيبٌ, He made, or caused, to be, or become, near, caused to approach, or brought, or drew, near, him, or it. (S, O, Msb. *) [Hence the phrase قَرَّبَ ٱللّٰهُ دَارَكَ, which see in what follows.] [And hence, He made him to be a near associate; he made him an object of, or took him into, favour: and (agreeably with an explanation of the pass. in the Ham p. 184) he made him, or rendered him, an object of honour.] One says, قَرَّبَهُ مِنْهُ meaning He (a king, or a governor, or prince, [or any other person who was either a superioror an equal,]) made him to be to him a قُرْبَان, i. e. [a near associate, or] a consessor, or a particular, or special, associate or companion [&c.: see قُرْبَانٌ]. (TA.) قَرَّبَهُ إِلَيْهِمْ, in the Kur li. 27, means He presented it, or offered it, to them: (Jel:) or he placed it, or put it, before them. (Bd.) And one says also, قرّب خَصْمَهُ إِلَى السُّلْطَانِ [He brought, or placed, his adversary before the Sultán]. (Mgh in art. رفع.) And قرّب لِلّٰهِ قَرْبَانًا [He offered, or presented, to God, an offering, or oblation]. (S, O: in the Msb, إِلَى ٱللّٰهِ.) حَيَّا وَقَرَّبَ, (A, O,) inf. n. تَقْرِيبٌ, (K,) signifies (tropical:) He said, حَيَّاكَ ٱللّٰهُ وَقَرَّبَ دَارَكَ [May God preserve thee alive, or prolong thy life, and make thine abode to be near]: (A, O, K:) one says thus of a host to a visitor. (TA.) And التَّقْرِيبُ signifies also The denoting nearness. (Mughnee and K * voce أَوْ, and Kull pp. 82 and 83 and 124.) Thus what is termed تَصْغِيرُ التَّقْرِيبِ [The diminutive denoting nearness] is such as occurs in the saying, دَارِى قُبَيْلَ المَسْجِدِ [“ My house is a little before the mosque ”]. (Kull p. 124.) And The advancing an argument in such a manner as renders the desired conclusion a necessary consequence. (MF.) And A certain sort of عَدْو [or running] (S, O, K) of a horse: (S, O:) one says, of a horse, قرّب, inf. n. تَقْرِيبٌ, (S, A, O,) meaning he raised his fore legs together and put them down together (S, O, K *) in running: (S, O:) or he ran [as though] pelting the ground [with his hoofs]: (AZ, TA:) and it is also said of other animals than the horse: but not of the camel: (MF:) [one sort of] التقريب is [a rate] less than الحُضْرُ; (S, A, O;) and more than الخَبَبُ: (El-Ámidee, MF:) there are two sorts of تقريب, called أَعْلَى [which is a gallop] and أَدْنَى [which is a canter]: (S, O:) the former is termed الثَّعْلَبِيَّةُ; and the latter, الإِرْخَآءُ. (TA.) See also 1, near the end, in two places.

    قَارَبْتُهُ

    3. قَارَبْتُهُ, inf. n. مُقَارَبَةٌ [and قِرَابٌ], I was, or became, near to him, or it; contr. of بَاعَدْتُهُ. (Msb.) See 1, near the middle of the paragraph. One says of a vessel, (S, O, K,) قارب أَنْ يَمْتَلِئَ (S, O) or قارب الاِمْتِلَآءَ (K) [It was, or became, near to being full]: قارب [thus used] is the verb from قَرْبَانُ [q. v.], and قَرُبَ is not used in its stead. (Sb, TA.) And one says also, قارب مِلْأَهُ [It was, or became, nearly equal, or it nearly amounted, to what would fill it]. (Msb.), And قارب قَدْرَهُ [It was, or became, nearly equal, or equivalent, to its quantity, or amount; or it was, or became, nearly equivalent to it]. (K, TA.) [And hence the term أَفْعَالُ المُقَارَبَةِ The verbs of appropinquation; as كَادَ &c.] قارب الخَطْوَ He made the stepping to be contracted; syn. دَانَاهُ; (AZ, K, TA;) [i. e. he made short steps: made his steps to be near together;] said of a horse. (TA.) And قارب كَلَامَهُ [He made the several portions of his speech, i. e. he made his words, to be near together; so that it means he uttered his speech rapidly]. (K in art. وط; &c.) And قارب بين الكَلِمَةِ وَالكَلِمَةِ فِى التَّسْبِيحِ [He made the words to follow one another nearly, or to be near together, in the act of praise, or the like.] (M in art. دنو.) And قَارَبْتُ بَيْنَ الأَمْرَيْنِ i. q. دَانَيْتُ [I made the two affairs, or events, to be nearly uninterrupted]. (T, S, Msb, all in art. دنو.) قاربهُ also signifies He thought him, or it, to be near. (Ham p. 634.) And قارب الأَمْرَ He thought the thing. (MF.) And He interchanged with him good, or pleasing, speech. (O, K, TA.) And قارب فِى الأَمْرِ He pursued the right, or just, or middle, course, neither exceeding it nor falling short of it, in the affair. (O, * K, * TA.) And قَارَبْتُهُ فِى البَيْعِ [app. meaning, in like manner, I pursued a middle course with him in selling, or buying, with respect to the price demanded or offered, neither exceeding what was just nor falling short of it], (S, O,) inf. n. مُقَارَبَةٌ. (S.) مُقَارَبَةٌ and قِرَابٌ signify also The raising the leg [or legs, of a woman,] for the purpose of جِمَاع. (K.)

    أَقْرَبَ

    4: see 1, second quarter. [Hence,] أَقْرَبَت, (S, A, O, K,) said of the pregnant, (A, TA,) or of a woman, and of a mare, and of a ewe or goat, (S, O, TA,) and also of an ass, (Lth, TA,) but [app.] not [properly] of a camel, (Lth, S, * O, * TA,) [though it is sometimes said of a camel, as in the S and O voce غَمُوس, and in the O and K in art. ك,] She was, or became, near to bringing forth. (Lth, S, A, O, K.) And اقرب said of a colt, and of a young camel, (K, TA,) &c., (TA,) He was, or became, near to the age of shedding his central incisors; (K, TA;) and likewise, to that of shedding other teeth. (TA.) And He nearly filled a vessel. (S, O, K.) لَأُقْرِبَنَّكُمْ صَلَاةَ رَسُولِ ٱللّٰهِ occurs in a trad. of Aboo-Hureyreh, meaning I will indeed perform to you the like of, or what will be nearly the same as, the praying of the Apostle of God. (TA.) اقرب الإِبِلَ He made the camels to journey by night in order to arrive at the water on the morrow: (O, * K, TA:) or اقربوا إِبِلَهُمْ They, after pasturing them in the tract between them and the watering-place, and journeying on during a part of the time until there remained between them and the water a night, or an evening, hastened their camels. (Lth, TA.) And اقرب القَوْمُ The people, or party, became persons whose camels were performing a journey such as is termed قَرَبٌ: the part. n. is [said to be] قارب, not مُقْربٌ: (As, S, O:) the former of these is said by A'Obeyd to be anomalous: (S, O:) [but see قَرَبَ, which is expl. as having almost exactly the same meaning as that which is in this instance assigned to اقرب. And it is also mentioned in the TA, app. on the authority of AA, that the same phrase and the same anomalous part. n. are used when the people's camels are مُتَقَارِبَة (which means few, or near together): but I think that this word is a mistake of a copyist, for قَوَارِبُ: see قَارِبٌ.] See also 1, last quarter, in six places.

    تَقَرَّبَ

    5: see 1, near the middle of the paragraph. [Hence] one says to his companion, urging him, تَقَرَّبْ, meaning (tropical:) Advance thou, or come forward: (A, TA:) or تَقَرَّبْ يا رَجُلُ, meaning hasten, O man. (As, O, L, K, TA.) Only the imperative mood in this sense is said to be used. (MF, TA.) And [hence, also,] تقرّب signifies He rendered himself near, or allied himself, [drew near, or ingratiated himself,] by affection and friendship. (TA, voce تَنَسَّبَ. [In this sense it is trans. by means of مِنْ.]) And He applied himself with gentleness, or courtesy, to obtain access, or nearness, to a man, by means of some act performed for that purpose, or by right. (TA. [In this sense it is trans. by means of إِلَى.]) And one says, تقرّب مِنَ ٱللّٰهِ [He drew near unto God] by prayer or the like, and righteous actions: and تقرّب ٱللّٰهُ مِنْهُ [God drew near unto him] by beneficence towards him. (TA.) And تقرِّب بِهِ إِلَى ٱللّٰهِ, (S, A, O, Msb, K, *) inf. n. تَقَرُّبٌ and تِقِرَّابٌ, (O, K,) the latter [of a rare form] like تِحِمَّالٌ and تِكِلَّامٌ and تِمِلَّاقٌ, (O,) He sought thereby nearness, to bring himself near, to draw near, or to approach, unto God; or to advance himself in the favour of God: (S, K, * TA:) and فَعَلَهُ تَقَرُّبًا إِلَيْهِ [He did it by way of seeking nearness, &c., to Him]. (A.) تقرّب also signifies He (a man, O) put his hand upon his قُرْب (O, K, TA) i. e. his flank, (O, TA,) in walking; or, as some say, hastening, or going quickly. (TA.)

    تقاربوا

    6. تقاربوا They were, or became, or drew, near, one to another: (S, * A, * Msb:) you say تقاربوا and اقتربوا [both app. signifying the same, like تخاصموا and اختصموا, and تخالطوا and اختلطوا, and تشاركوا and اشتركوا, &c.]. (A.) See also 1, second quarter. تقاربت إِبِلُهُ means (tropical:) His camels became few, [because drawing near together,] (A, O, K, TA,) and (as is also said of other things, TA) declined, or became reduced to a bad state. (O, * K, * TA.) And [for the like reason, because of its becoming dense,] تقارب is said of seed-produce, or standing corn or the like, meaning (assumed tropical:) It became nearly ripe. (O, K, TA.) And hence [accord. to some], تَقَارَبَ الزَّمَانُ (assumed tropical:) [When the time becomes contracted], occurring in a trad., expl. in art. زمن, q. v. (TA.)

    إِقْتَرَبَ

    8: see 1, second quarter, in two places: and see also 6.

    استقربهُ

    10. استقربهُ [contr. of استبعدهُ]. One says, هُوَ يَسْتَقْرِبُ البَعِيدَ [He reckons near that which is remote]. (A, Msb.)

    قُرْبٌ

    قُرْبٌ [mentioned in the first sentence of this art. as an inf. n.] is the contr. of بُعْدٌ: (S, O:) [used as a simple subst., it signifies Nearness, and] it is said to be [properly, or primarily,] in respect of place; [i. e. vicinity;] as distinguished from قُرْبَةٌ &c. (Msb, TA.) You say, إِنَّ قُرْبَكَ زَيْدًا [Verily Zeyd is in thy vicinity; i. e., near thee in respect of place]; but not إِنَّ بُعْدَكَ زَيْدًا; because قُرْب is more capable of being used as an adv. n. of place than بُعْد: in like manner they said also هُوَ قُرَابَتَكَ, meaning [He is in thy vicinity; i. e.,] near thee in respect of place. (Sb, TA. [See also قَرِيبٌ.]) [And بِالقُرْبِ مِنْهُ is a phrase of frequent occurrence, meaning In the vicinity of, or near in respect of place to, him, or it.] And one says, تَنَاوَلَهُ مِنْ قُرْبٍ and مِنْ قَرِيبٍ [He took it, or took it with his hand, from a near place or spot]. (A, Msb.) And رَأَيْتُهُ مِنْ قُرْبٍ [and مِنْ قَرِيبٍ I saw him, or it, from a near place or spot, or from within a short distance]. (S in art. ام; &c.) It is also syn. with قَرَابٌ [signifying Nearness in respect of time] as used in the saying اِفْعَلْ ذٰلِكَ بِقَرَابٍ [i. e. Do thou that soon; like as one says, عَنْ قَرِيبٍ]: (K, TA:) accord. to the K, the word قراب in this case is like سَحَاب: but it is said in a prov., أَكْيَسُ الفِرَارُ بِقِرَابٍ, thus in the S, or, as some relate it, بِقُرَابٍ; and IB says, J has cited this prov. [next] after the قِرَاب of the sword, but should have said that القِرَابُ is also syn. with القُرْبُ, and should then have adduced the prov. as an ex. meaning The fleeing soon in eagerness of desire for safety [is more, or most, shrewd]: (TA:) [this rendering, however, requires consideration; for, accord. to Meyd, who gives only the reading بِقِرَابٍ, the meaning of the prov. is, that he who flees with the قِرَاب (by which is meant the scabbard) when the sword has passed away from his possession is more shrewd than he who causes, or suffers, the قِرَاب also to pass away from him: in Freytag's Arab Prov. ii. 210, both of these explanations are given; but قريب is there erroneously put for قُرْب.] See also قَرَابَةٌ. It is also a pl. of قَرِيبٌ [q. v.]. (TA in art. زلف.) قُرْبٌ also, and قُرُبٌ, (S, O, K,) the former of which is the original, (TA,) signify The خَاصِرَة [or flank]: (O, K:) or [the part] from the شَاكِلَة [which is syn., or nearly so, with خَاصِرَة,] to the مَرَاقّ [or soft parts] of the belly: (S, O, K:) and likewise from the رَفْغ [generally meaning groin] to the armpit, on each side: (TA:) [properly used in relation to a horse:] sometimes metaphorically used in relation to a she-camel, and to an ass [meaning a wild ass, and also to a man: see 5, last sentence]: (TA:) pl. أَقْرَابٌ; (T, S, O, K;) which is also used in the place of the dual. (T, TA.)

    قَرَبٌ

    قَرَبٌ [mentioned in the latter half of the first paragraph of this art. as an inf. n.] is [said to be] a subst., signifying A journey to water when it is a night's journey distant: or, as As said, on the authority of an Arab of the desert, (S, O,) a journey by night in order to arrive at the water on the morrow; (S, O, K;) and so قِرَابَةٌ [which is also mentioned as an inf. n. in the latter half of the first paragraph of this art.]; (K;) a journey by night in order to arrive at the water on the second following day being called طَلَقٌ: (S, O:) and the seeking water by night: or, when it is not more than a night's journey distant: or the first day in which one journeys to water when it is two days distant; the second day being called طَلَقٌ: (K: [but the converse seems to be the truth, being asserted by several of the highest authorities, and agreeable with the derivation of each of the two words: see طَلَقٌ:]) or the night after which, in the morning, one arrives at the water: (TA:) and لَيْلَةُ القَرَبِ is the night in which people with their camels hasten to the water in a journey such as is termed قَرَبٌ بَصْبَاصٌ; this latter term being applied to signify a people's letting their camels pasture while they are journeying towards water; and when there remains an evening between them and the water, hastening towards it: (S, O:) or, as is said on the authority of As, لَيْلَةُ القَرَبِ is the second night after the pastor has turned the faces of his camels towards the water, and so left them to pasture; this second night being the night of hard driving; and the first night being called لَيْلَةُ الطَّلَقِ: accord. to AA, [the journey called] القَرَبُ is [the journey to water] during three days, or more. (TA.) And [hence] القَرَبَ is used to signify What is a night's journey distant. (S in art. نوب, in explanation of a verse cited in that art. [Or, accord. to IAar, قَرَب there signifies near, so as to be visited repeatedly: or, as AA says, at such a distance as to be visited once in three days.]) [See also a saying mentioned voce حَوْزٌ.] Also A well of which the water is near [to the mouth]. (O, K.)

    قُرُبٌ

    قُرُبٌ: see قُرْبٌ, last sentence.

    قُرْبَةٌ

    قُرْبَةٌ an inf. n. of قَرُبَ [q. v.: and used as a simple subst. signifying Nearness]; like قُرْبٌ: or the former is in station, or grade, or rank. (Mgh, Msb.) You say, طَلَبْتُ مِنْهُ القُرْبَةَ [I sought of him nearness of station, &c.; or admission into favour]. (A.) See also قَرَابَةٌ. Also, (A, O, Msb,) and قُرُبَةٌ, (Msb,) A thing [such as prayer, or any righteous deed or work,] whereby one seeks nearness, to bring himself near, to draw near, or to approach, unto God; or to advance himself in the favour of God; (A, * O, Msb;) as also قُرْبَانٌ: (S, O, Msb, K:) pl. of the first and second قُرَبٌ and قُرْبَاتٌ and قُرُبَاتٌ and قُرَبَاتٌ. (Msb.)

    Lane, Arabic-English Lexiconread Lane's entry online ↗
Technical definitions4 · Ibn ʿArabī’s Iṣṭilāḥ, al-Jurjānī’s Taʿrīfāt

  • القرب

    القيام بالطاعة وقد يطلق القرب على حقيقة قاب قوسين.

    Al-qurb (القرب): performance of obedience [to God]; al-qurb is also sometimes applied to the reality of 'the distance of two bow-lengths' (qāba qawsayn).

    Ibn ʿArabī, Iṣṭilāḥ al-Ṣūfiyya, line 119 ↗

  • التقريب

    هو سوق الدليل على وجه يستلزم المطلوب، فإذا كان المطلوب غير لازم، واللازم غير مطلوب، لا يتم التقريب.

    Al-taqrīb (التقريب): the marshaling of a proof in a manner that necessarily yields the sought conclusion (al-maṭlūb); if the conclusion sought is not [logically] necessitated, and what is [logically] necessitated is not the conclusion sought, the taqrīb is not complete.

    al-Jurjānī, al-Taʿrīfāt, line 1305 ↗

  • التقريب

    سوق المقدمات على وجه يفيد المطلوب، وقيل: سوق الدليل على الوجه الذي يلزم المدعي، وقيل: جعل الدليل مطابقا للمدعي.

    Al-taqrīb (التقريب): the marshaling of premises in a manner that yields the sought conclusion; and it is [also] said: the marshaling of a proof in the manner that necessitates [establishing] the claim (al-muddaʿā); and it is [also] said: making the proof correspond exactly to the claim.

    al-Jurjānī, al-Taʿrīfāt, line 1307 ↗

  • القرب

    القيام بالطاعات، والقرب المصطلح: هو قرب العبد من الله تعالى بكل ما تعطيه السعادة، لا قرب الحق من العبد، فإنه من حيث دلالة: {وهو معكم أين ما كنتم} قرب عام، سواء كان العبد سعيدا أو شقيا.

    Al-qurb (القرب): performance of the acts of obedience. The technical (muṣṭalaḥ) sense of al-qurb is the nearness of the servant to God, Exalted, in respect of everything that felicity (al-saʿāda) bestows — not the nearness of the Real (al-Ḥaqq) to the servant, for that, in terms of the indication of His saying 'And He is with you wherever you are,' is a general nearness (qurb ʿāmm), whether the servant be felicitous or wretched.

    al-Jurjānī, al-Taʿrīfāt, line 3461 ↗

Look this root up elsewhere:Doha Historical Dictionary ↗Quranic Arabic Corpus ↗Arabic Almanac ↗Hawramani Arabic Lexicon ↗

The same letters, turned

The same three letters in all six orders. Choose one.

ق ر ب

القاف والراء والباء أصل صحيح يدل على خلاف البعد

q-r-b: A sound root that indicates the opposite of distance.

Ibn Fāris ↗Lisān ↗Lane ↗al-Khalīl: used ↗Quran ×96

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:

Ibn Fāris, entries found (1,021 letter-sets)
  1. 1 of 6319
  2. 2 of 6218
  3. 3 of 6164
  4. 4 of 6155
  5. 5 of 6107
  6. 6 of 658
al-Khalīl, orders his headings call used (746 letter-sets)
  1. 1 of 6148
  2. 2 of 6108
  3. 3 of 6157
  4. 4 of 6179
  5. 5 of 6111
  6. 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.

Our computation from the OpenITI texts; heading detection can miss entries

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

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)

16 more

Reference

How it is madeSībawayh and Ibn Jinnī · phonetics

English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic

ق

ومن أقصى اللسان وما فوقه من الحنك الأعلى مخرج القاف

From the furthest part of the tongue and the upper palate above it is the place of the qāf. Sībawayh, line 26550 ↗

ومما فوق ذلك من أقصى اللسان، مخرج القاف

From above that, at the furthest part of the tongue, is the place of the qāf. Ibn Jinnī, line 972 ↗

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 ↗

ب

ومما بين الشفتين مخرج الباء، والميم، والواو

From between the two lips is the place of the bāʾ, the mīm and the wāw. Sībawayh, line 26563 ↗

ومما بين الشفتين مخرج الباء والميم والواو

From between the two lips is the place of the bāʾ, the mīm and the wāw. Ibn Jinnī, line 986 ↗

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

ق

Spheres 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 2582

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 64675

Spheres 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 2582

ب

Level of existence: الجن · the jinn

Divine Name: اللطيف · al-Laṭīf, the Subtle

Lunar mansion: الفرع المقدم · al-Farʿ al-Muqaddam

Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 62118

Spheres 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 2582
Meaning by vowelal-Dabbāgh · a visionary claim about a primordial “Syriac”, not historical Syriac

English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic

ق

With fatḥa ـَ

فهي إشارة إلى حيازة الخيرات أو إلى جميع الأنوار.

It is an indication of the acquisition of goods, or of all lights.

With ḍamma ـُ

فهي إشارة إلى النشأة الأصلية أو العلم القديم وما أشبه ذلك.

It is an indication of the original creation, or eternal knowledge, and the like.

With kasra ـِ

فهي إشارة إلى الذل.

It is an indication of abasement.

al-Dabbāgh (d. 1132/1719), al-Ibrīz, ch. 2 §15, compiled by al-Lamaṭī

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.

al-Dabbāgh (d. 1132/1719), al-Ibrīz, ch. 2 §15, compiled by al-Lamaṭī

ب

With fatḥa ـَ

فهي إشارة إلى الشيء الذي هو في غاية العز أو في غاية الذل.

It is an indication of the thing that is at the utmost of might or at the utmost of abasement.

With ḍamma ـُ

فهي إشارة معها قبض.

It is an indication accompanied by contraction (qabḍ).

With kasra ـِ

فهي إشارة إلى ما دخل أو هو داخل على الذات.

It is an indication of what has entered, or is entering, upon the self.

al-Dabbāgh (d. 1132/1719), al-Ibrīz, ch. 2 §15, compiled by al-Lamaṭī
Two-letter nucleus16 roots in Ibn Fāris’s chapterق ر

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 26255 ↗

  • قرسالقاف والراء والسين أصل صحيح يدل على بردL26257
  • قرشالقاف والراء والشين أصل صحيح يدل على الجمع والتجمع فالقرش الجمعL26262
  • قرصالقاف والراء والصاد اصل صحيح يدل على قبض شيء بأطراف الأصابع مع نبر يكونL26269
  • قرضالقاف والراء والضاد اصل صحيح وهو يدل على القطعQ 13 · L26278
  • قرطالقاف والراء والطاء ثلاث كلمات عن غير قياسL26287
  • قرعالقاف والراء والعين معظم الباب ضرب الشيءQ 5 · L26292
  • قرفالقاف والراء والفاء أصل صحيح يدل على مخالطة الشيء والالتباس به وادراعه واصل ذلك القرف وهو كل قشر ومنه قرف الخبز وسمى قرفا وقرفا لأنه لباس ما عليه ومن Q 5 · L26312
  • قرقالقاف والراء والقاف كلمة واحدة يقولون القرق القاع الأملسL26330
  • قرمالقاف والراء والميم أصل صحيح يدل على حز أو قطع في شيءL26333
  • قرنالقاف والراء والنون أصلان صحيحان أحدهما يدل على جمع شيء إلى شيء والآخر شيء ينتأ بقوة وشدةQ 36 · L26345
  • قرةالقاف والراء والهاء كلمة إن صحت يقولون القره في الجلد كالقلح في الأسنان وهو الوسخL26372
  • قرىالقاف والراء والحرف المعتل أصل صحيح يدل على جمع واجتماعQ 57 · L26375
  • قربالقاف والراء والباء أصل صحيح يدل على خلاف البعدQ 96 · L26405
  • قرتالقاف والراء والتاء أصيل يدل على قبح في سحنة يقولون قرت وجه الرجل تغير من حزن وأصل ذلك من قرت الدم إذا يبس بين الجلد واللحم وهو دم قارت وقرت الجلد إذاL26431
  • قرحالقاف والراء والحاء ثلاثة أصول صحيحة أحدها يدل على ألم بجراح أو ما أشبهها والآخر يدل على شيء من شوب والآخر على استنباط شيءQ 3 · L26435
  • قردالقاف والراء والدال أصل صحيح يدل على تجمع في شيء مع تقطعQ 3 · L26456
In the sister scriptsHebrew ק ר בSyriac ܩ ܪ ܒ
Arabicق ر ب
Hebrewק ר ב
Syriacܩ ܪ ܒ
Ancient South Arabian (musnad)𐩤 𐩧 𐩨
Phoenician𐤒 𐤓 𐤁

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

  • Classical lexiconAl-Khalīl's entry is narrowly pastoral: al-qurb names the herders' practice of driving livestock toward water so that by evening or night one final push (qirāb/qurb) brings them to the trough;well attested

    The lexicographers in chronological order, from al-Khalīl to Lane.

    Al-Khalīl's entry is narrowly pastoral: al-qurb names the herders' practice of driving livestock toward water so that by evening or night one final push (qirāb/qurb) brings them to the trough; a 'qārib' is the beast or man seeking water, by night specifically. Al-Jawharī generalizes to qaruba yaqrubu qurban = danā, 'to draw near,' noting the grammatical curiosity of 'inna raḥmata Allāhi qarīb' (masculine despite raḥma being feminine) and preserving al-Khalīl's night-journey-to-water sense as a specialized survival. Ibn Fāris states the unifying core as 'the opposite of distance,' from which branch qarāba/qurbā (kinship) and the retained pastoral qurb (night before watering); al-Rāghib then maps qurb across five domains — place, time, lineage, favor (ḥaẓwa), care (riʿāya), and capacity (qudra) — citing Quranic instances for each. Ibn Manẓūr and Lane confirm this differentiation, distinguishing qurb (place), qurba (rank), and qarāba/qurbā (kinship, al-raḥim) as the settled technical spread of the root by the later dictionaries.

    Draws on: al-ʿAyn · al-Ṣiḥāḥ · Maqāyīs · al-Mufradāt · Lisān al-ʿArab · Lane

  • Letters & soundIn the letter-symbolism tradition, qāf is said (al-Dabbāgh) to indicate the acquisition of goods, or of all lights;speculative

    What the theorists of sound symbolism would say of these letters. Speculative by nature.

    In the letter-symbolism tradition, qāf is said (al-Dabbāgh) to indicate the acquisition of goods, or of all lights; rāʾ is tied by Ibn ʿArabī to the fifth heaven and by al-Dabbāgh to goods both outward and inward; bāʾ is tied to the jinn and, in al-Dabbāgh, to the extremity of might or the extremity of abasement. Read speculatively, qurb would then trace a movement from the outward-and-inward good (rāʾ) toward its acquisition (qāf), terminating at an extremity — either the height of proximate power or its opposite, self-abasement before the Real (bāʾ), which resonates loosely with the Sufi vocabulary of qurb al-farāʾiḍ and qurb al-nawāfil. This is offered only as a resonance available within this specific symbolic system; mainstream historical linguistics gives no evidentiary weight to letter-meaning correspondences of this kind.

    Draws on: Ibn ʿArabī letters-in-the-Breath (akbari198) · al-Dabbāgh fatḥa meanings

  • Root structureWithin Ibn Fāris's qāf-rāʾ chapter, sibling roots show no single unifying image — qrs (cold), qrsh (gathering), qrḍ (cutting), qrʿ (striking), qrn (joining, or a thing projecting with force) — so qrb's 'nearness' sits among them only by shared initial letters, a juxtaposition and not a demonstrated semantic family.plausible

    The two-letter nucleus (Ibn Fāris's own chapters) and the permutations of the letters (Ibn Jinnī).

    Within Ibn Fāris's qāf-rāʾ chapter, sibling roots show no single unifying image — qrs (cold), qrsh (gathering), qrḍ (cutting), qrʿ (striking), qrn (joining, or a thing projecting with force) — so qrb's 'nearness' sits among them only by shared initial letters, a juxtaposition and not a demonstrated semantic family. Among the six letter-permutations of q-r-b, Ibn Fāris keeps qrb (nearness) and qbr (concealment, burial) firmly apart, though a reader might notice they sit at opposite poles of visibility — one drawing into presence, the other hiding from it. rqb ('watching,' from standing erect to observe) and brq ('flash,' lightning) share letters with qrb without an asserted derivational link; Ibn Jinnī's greater derivation (al-ishtiqāq al-akbar) could notionally connect qrb/qbr/rqb around the axis of presence-to-view, but this remains speculative juxtaposition, not a claim in the classical sources themselves.

    Draws on: Maqāyīs chapter qāf-rāʾ · permutation table

  • Semitic kin & loanwordsThe root is a well-attested common Semitic inheritance, not a loan: Hebrew קָרַב qārab 'to draw near' and קָרְבָּן qorbān 'offering, sacrifice';plausible

    Cognates in the sister languages, and whether the word was borrowed.

    The root is a well-attested common Semitic inheritance, not a loan: Hebrew קָרַב qārab 'to draw near' and קָרְבָּן qorbān 'offering, sacrifice'; Aramaic/Syriac qrb with the same verbal sense and qurbānā 'offering, oblation, eucharist'; Akkadian qerēbu 'to approach, be near' and qerbu 'midst, interior.' Arabic qurbān shares this exact liturgical shape with Syriac qurbānā, but since the verbal root itself is shared inherited Semitic vocabulary rather than a one-directional borrowing, the root as a whole is not classified as a loanword, though the specifically sacrificial sense of qurbān may reflect a shared regional religious register rather than independent Arabic development.

    Draws on: Hebrew qārab/qorbān · Aramaic-Syriac qrb/qurbānā · Akkadian qerēbu

  • Quranic exegesisAt Q2:186 ('If My servants ask you about Me, I am near'), al-Ṭabarī, al-Zamakhsharī, and al-Rāzī agree the nearness (qarīb) is one of knowledge, hearing, and mercy, not spatial proximity, forestalling any anthropomorphic reading.well attested

    How the classical exegetes read the word in the Quran.

    At Q2:186 ('If My servants ask you about Me, I am near'), al-Ṭabarī, al-Zamakhsharī, and al-Rāzī agree the nearness (qarīb) is one of knowledge, hearing, and mercy, not spatial proximity, forestalling any anthropomorphic reading. At Q2:35 ('do not approach this tree'), exegetes note lā taqrabā is deliberately stronger than a mere prohibition on eating, functioning as a fence around the forbidden act (sadd al-dharāʾiʿ) — the same rhetorical strategy al-Rāghib flags in 'lā taqrabū al-zinā' and 'lā taqrabū māl al-yatīm.' The term al-muqarrabūn (Q56:11, of the foremost believers) is read by al-Rāzī as naming a rank of proximity to the divine presence superior to that of the ordinary righteous (abrār), establishing qurb as a graded eschatological station rather than a single fixed state.

    Draws on: Q2:35 · Q2:186 · Q56:11 · al-Ṭabarī · al-Zamakhsharī · al-Rāzī · al-Rāghib

  • Akbarian readingIbn ʿArabī defines qurb technically as 'standing firm in obedience' (al-qiyām bi-l-ṭāʿa), but he also lets qurb name the reality of qāba qawsayn (Q53:9), the utmost nearness attained in the miʿrāj — the closest conceivable station between Real and creature while essential otherness (ghayriyya) still holds.well attested

    The word in Ibn ʿArabī's text and terminology.

    Ibn ʿArabī defines qurb technically as 'standing firm in obedience' (al-qiyām bi-l-ṭāʿa), but he also lets qurb name the reality of qāba qawsayn (Q53:9), the utmost nearness attained in the miʿrāj — the closest conceivable station between Real and creature while essential otherness (ghayriyya) still holds. In the Faṣṣ Ādam passage given, qurb appears within a discussion of existential relations (nisab ʿadamiyya): the connection of existent things to one another is 'more fitting to be conceived as near' because in every case they share a common bond, namely entified existence (al-wujūd al-ʿaynī) itself. Here qurb is not spatial but ontological — the intelligibility of relation grounded in shared being, the metaphysical counterpart to the qāba-qawsayn nearness attained experientially.

    Draws on: Ibn ʿArabī Iṣṭilāḥ · Faṣṣ Ādam · Q53:9 qāba qawsayn

Reference

Neighbouring rootsThe roots that share letters with this one, as a map you can open out