Mashrabaمشربة

قلبtwo associated senses — the pure, choicest essence of a thing, and the turning of a thing … (root qlb)

القاف واللام والباء أصلان صحيحان أحدهما يدل على خالص شيء وشريفه والآخر على رد شيء من جهة إلى جهة

Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-lugha · English rendering

قلب
Patterns computed · our data

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

37 words5 verbs4 verbal nouns5 participles1 place or instrument5 intensives and elatives12 other nouns4 plurals1 relative or abstract

  • قَلْبthe heart
  • قُلُوبplural of the heart
  • اِنْقَلَبَturn around; be reversed
  • قَلَّبَturn upside down
  • قَالِبred unripe dates
The whole family8 groups, by pattern; tap a pattern to see what it does
Verbs5قَلَبَ · اِنْقَلَبَ · قَلَّبَ

The root as an action: the bare Form I, and the Forms made by adding letters before, inside or after the root.grammar →

Form I vowels: فَعَلَ يَفْعِلُ (a – i; the imperfect from Lane's “aor.”)

Verbal nouns4قَلْب · تَقَلُّب · تَقْلِيب

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

Participles5قَالِب · مُنقَلَب · مُتَقَلَّب

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

  • قَالِبred unripe datesLaneactive, Form Ilibrary ×12Lane
  • مُنقَلَبinfLanepassive, Form VIIQurʾān ×2library ×1Lane
  • مُتَقَلَّبpassive, Form VQurʾān ×1Lane
  • مَقْلُوبcouch-frame of which the legs are turned upwardsLanepassive, Form ILane
  • مُقَلِّبthe Turner of heartsLaneactive, Form IILane
Place, time and instrument1مِقْلَب

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

  • مِقْلَبthe iron implement with which the earth is turned over for sowingLanenoun of instrumentLane
Intensives, qualities and the elative5أَقْلَب · قَلُوب · قَلِيب

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

  • أَقْلَبelative or colour adjective (afʿal)LaneIbn Fāris
  • قَلُوبintensive (faʿūl)LaneIbn Fāris
  • قَلِيبearth turned overLanequality (faʿīl)LaneIbn Fāris
  • قُلَيْبquality (faʿīl)LaneIbn Fāris
  • قِلِّيبthe wolfLanequality (faʿīl)LaneIbn Fāris
Other nouns12قَلَاب · قَلَبَة · قُلَّب

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

  • قَلَابalter, O alterer, is a provLanenounLaneIbn Fāris
  • قَلَبَةnounLaneIbn Fāris
  • قُلَّبman who employs himself as he pleases in journeying, for traffic or …LanenounLaneIbn Fāris
  • قُلْبnounLaneIbn Fāris
Plurals4قُلُوب · مُنقَلِبُون · قَوالِب

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

  • قُلُوبplural of the heartfrom the singularbroken plural of قَلْبQurʾān ×112library ×36Ibn Fāris
  • مُنقَلِبُونsound plural of مُنقَلِبQurʾān ×3
  • قَوالِبbroken plural of قالِبlibrary ×4
  • قُلُبplural of earth turned overfrom the singularbroken plural of قَلِيبLaneIbn Fāris
Relative and abstract1قَلْبِيّ

-iyy relates a thing to its source; -iyya makes an abstract noun.grammar →

  • قَلْبِيّcardiac; heartyautorelative adjective (-iyy)library ×4
Why this shape?What each of the 19 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 ل بمَقْلَبَة

Not in our sources. A possible shape, not a word we can show: the Quran, the library and Lane do not have it for this root.

Place noun with -a. The place noun with the feminine -a. Sometimes it is only a variant of mafʿal; often it names the place where a thing is found in abundance (maʾsada, 'a place full of lions'). So maktab is the place of writing, and maktaba, where writings are gathered: a library, a bookshop. Our summary

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.

English: AI translation
  • al-Khalīl · 170Al-qalb (القلب) is a morsel of flesh from the fuʾād (heart), suspended by the niyāṭ (heart-string/aorta).

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

    Al-qalb (القلب) is a morsel of flesh from the fuʾād (heart), suspended by the niyāṭ (heart-string/aorta). It was said: "The heart (qalb) was named only for its constant turning (taqallub)... and opinion shifts, and man passes through stages." "I came to you with this matter qalban (قلبا)," meaning purely, unmixed with anything. In the ḥadīth: ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib (peace be upon him) used to recite "wa-iyyāka nastaʿīn" fully elongating the vowel of the nūn, and he was Qurashī qalban (قرشيا قلبا), i.e., of pure [unmixed] lineage. Qulūb al-shajar (قلوب الشجر) are the tender parts of a tree — what is soft among its roots that guide its growth, and among its inner cavities; singular is qalb. Qalb al-nakhlah (قلب النخلة) is its pith/fatty core. Qalb al-nakhlah [also refers to] a white frond that emerges in its middle, as if it were a soft silver qalb — named qalb for its whiteness. Al-qalb of bracelets is what forms a single band; you say "siwār qalb (سوار قلب)" and "on her hand is a qalb." Al-qalb is [also] the white snake, likened to the [bracelet] qalb. Everything has a qalb; the qalb (heart) of the Qur'an is Sūrat Yā Sīn. Al-qalb is your turning something away from its [normal] course — hence "kalām maqlūb (كلام مقلوب)" [inverted speech]; "qalabtuhu fa-inqalaba (قلبته فانقلب)" and "qalabtuhu fa-taqallaba (قلبته فتقلب)." "Qalabtu fulānan ʿan wajhihi (قلبت فلانا عن وجهه)" means I diverted him. Al-munqalab (المنقلب) is your ultimate return to the Hereafter. Al-qalīb is the well before it is lined; its plural is qulub (قلب), and it is also called "al-ʿādiyah" (the ancient one). Al-qalūb (القلوب) means "the wolf" — a Yemeni [dialectal usage]; likewise al-qalūb, and it is also said as qullāb (قلاب): "O my two eyes, weep for Umm Wāhib, slain by a wolf (qalūb) at one of the watering-channels." Al-aqlab (الأقلب) is one whose lips are everted; a lip is qalbāʾ (قلباء). "Mā bihi qalbah (ما به قلبة)" means: no disease and no hidden harm. It is said: "qallaba ʿaynahu wa-ḥimlāqahu (قلب عينه وحملاقه)" [he rolled his eye and its white] at moments of threat and anger — he said: "Rolling the whites of his eyes, he had nearly gone mad." Al-qālib (القالب) [mold] is a loanword, also pronounced qālib. Al-qalb al-ḥawl (القلب الحول) is one who manages/turns over affairs skillfully; al-ḥawl is one possessed of stratagems.

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    القلب مضغة من الفؤاد معلقة بالنياط، قال: ما سمي القلب إلا من تقلبه ... والرأي يصرف والإنسان أطوار «1» وجئتك بهذا الأمر قلبا أي محضا لا يشوبه شيء. وفي الحديث: كان علي بن أبي طالب- عليه السلام- يقرأ: وإياك نستعين «2» فيشبع رفع النون إشباعا وكان قرشيا قلبا، أي محضا. وقلوب الشجر: ما رخص فكان رخصا من عروقه التي تقوده، ومن أجوافه، الواحد قلب. وقلب النخلة: شحمتها، وقلب النخلة: شطبة بيضاء تخرج في وسطها كأنها قلب فضة رخص سمي قلبا لبياضه. والقلب من الأسورة: ما كان قلدا واحدا، وتقول: سوار قلب، وفي يدها قلب. والقلب: الحية البيضاء شبهت بالقلب. ولكل شيء قلب، وقلب القرآن يس. والقلب: تحويلك الشيء عن وجهه، وكلام مقلوب، وقلبته فانقلب، وقلبته فتقلب. وقلبت فلانا عن وجهه أي صرفته. والمنقلب: مصيرك إلى الآخرة. والقليب: البئر قبل أن تطوى، ويجمع على قلب، ويقال: هي العادية. والقلوب: الذئب، يمانية، وكذلك القلوب «3» ، ويقال: قلاب، قال: أيا جحمتا بكي على أم واهب ... قتيلة قلوب بإحدى المذانب «1» والأقلب: من في شفتيه انقلاب، وشفة قلباء «2» . وما به قلبة أي لا داء ولا غائلة. ويقال: قلب عينه وحملاقه عند الوعيد والغضب، قال: قالب حملاقيه قد كاد يجن «3» والقالب دخيل، ويقال: قالب. والقلب الحول: الذي يقلب الأمور، والحول: صاحب حيل.

  • al-Jawharī · 393Al-qalb (القلب) is the fuʾād (heart), and it may be used figuratively for al-ʿaql (the intellect).

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

    Al-qalb (القلب) is the fuʾād (heart), and it may be used figuratively for al-ʿaql (the intellect). Al-Farrāʾ said, regarding His saying, Most High: "Indeed in that is a reminder for whoever has a qalb (قلب)" [Q 50:37] — meaning intellect. "Qalabtu al-shayʾ fa-inqalaba (قلبت الشيء فانقلب)" means it tipped over. Al-munqalab (المنقلب) may function as a noun of place or as a verbal noun (maṣdar), like al-munṣaraf. "Qalabtuhu bi-yadī taqlīban (قلبته بيدي تقليبا)" [I kept turning it over with my hand]. "Taqallaba al-shayʾ ẓahran li-baṭn (تقلب الشيء ظهرا لبطن)" [it turned over, back for belly] — like a snake writhing on hot sand (ramḍāʾ). "Qalabtu al-qawm (قلبت القوم)" is as one says "ṣaraftu al-ṣibyān (صرفت الصبيان)" [I dismissed the boys] — from Thaʿlab. "Qalabtuhu (قلبته)" means I struck his heart. "Qalabtu al-nakhlah (قلبت النخلة)" means I extracted its pith. "Qalabat al-busrah (قلبت البسرة)" means the unripe date turned red. Al-qalab (القلب, with fatḥa) is the eversion of the lip; a man is aqlab, and a lip that clearly shows this is qalbāʾ. "Aqlabat al-khubzah (أقلبت الخبزة)" is when it is time for the loaf to be turned. Al-Aṣmaʿī said: al-qullāb (القلاب) is a disease that afflicts the camel, causing its heart to suffer, so that it dies that same day; one says "baʿīr maqlūb (بعير مقلوب)" [an afflicted camel], and it "qaliba qulāban (قلب قلابا)" [contracted the disease]; also "nāqah maqlūbah (ناقة مقلوبة)." "Aqlaba al-rajul (أقلب الرجل)" is when this disease befalls his camels. Their saying "mā bihi qalbah (ما به قلبة)" means there is no ailment in him. Al-Farrāʾ said it is derived from al-qullāb. Al-Namir ibn Tawlab said: "Youth has perished, and the love of the maternal-aunt's-daughter has faded... yet I have recovered, so there is no qulbah (قلبة) [ailment] in the heart" — meaning: I have recovered from the disease of love. Ibn al-Aʿrābī said its meaning is that there is no ailment in him for which he would be turned over and examined. Ḥumayd al-Arqaṭ said, describing a mare: "No farrier has turned over her hoof-ground, nor is there any rope-mark upon her" — meaning her legs were not turned over due to any ailment in them. Qalb al-ʿAqrab (قلب العقرب) is one of the lunar mansions — a bright star with two stars beside it. Their saying "huwa ʿarabī qalb (هو عربي قلب)" means pure/genuine; masculine, feminine, and plural are equal in this expression, though one may also say "imraʾah qalbah (امرأة قلبة)" and dualize or pluralize it if one wishes. Qalb al-nakhlah is its pith, with three dialectal forms — qalb, qulb, qilb — plural al-qalabah (القلبة). Al-qalb of the bracelet is what forms a single band. Al-qalb is also a snake, to which [the bracelet] is likened. Al-miqlab (المقلب) is the iron implement with which the ground is turned for cultivation. Their saying "huwa ḥawl qalb (هو حول قلب)" means resourceful, skilled at managing affairs. Al-qalīb, on the pattern of sikkīn, means "the wolf"; likewise al-qalūb, on the pattern of khinnawṣ. The poet said: "O slave-girl, weep for Umm Wāhib, prey eaten by a wolf (qalūb) at one of the watering-channels." Al-qālib, with fatḥa, is the mold/last of a shoe and the like. Al-qālib, with kasra, means red unripe dates. Al-qalīb is the well before it is lined, used in both masculine and feminine; Abū ʿUbayd said it is the ancient well.

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    القلب: الفؤاد، وقد يعبر به عن العقل قال الفراء في قوله تعالى: (إن في ذلك لذكرى لمن كان له قلب) : أي عقل. وقلبت الشئ فانقلب، أي انكب. والمنقلب يكون مكانا ويكون مصدرا، مثل المنصرف. وقلبته بيدى تقليبا. وتقلب الشئ ظهرا لبطن، كالحية تتقلب على الرمضاء. وقلبت القوم كما تقول صرفت الصبيان، عن ثعلب، وقلبته، أي أصبت قلبه. وقلبت النخلة: نزعت قلبها. وقلبت البسرة، إذا احمرت. والقلب بالتحريك: انقلاب الشفة، رجل أقلب، وشفة قلباء بينة القلب. وأقلبت الخبزة، إذا حان لها أن تقلب. قال الأصمعي: القلاب: داء يأخذ البعير فيشتكي منه قلبه فيموت من يومه، يقال بعير مقلوب، وقد قلب قلابا، وناقة مقلوبة. وأقلب الرجل، إذا أصاب إبله ذلك. وقولهم: ما به قلبة، أي ليست به علة. قال الفراء هو مأخوذ من القلاب. قال النمر بن تولب: أودى الشباب وحب الخالة الخلبه * وقد برئت فما بالقلب من قلبه أي برئت من داء الحب. وقال ابن الاعرابي: معناه ليست به علة يقلب لها فينظر إليه. قال حميد الارقط وذكر فرسا: ولم يقلب أرضها البيطار * ولا لحبليه بها حبار (1) أي لم يقلب قوائمها من علة بها. وقلب العقرب: منزل من منازل القمر، وهو كوكب نير وبجانبه كوكبان. وقولهم: هو عربي قلب، أي خالص، يستوى فيه المذكر والمؤنت والجمع، وإن شئت قلت امرأة قلبة وثنيت وجمعت. وقلب النخلة: لبها، وفيه ثلاث لغات قلب وقلب وقلب، والجمع القلبة. والقلب من السوار: ما كان قلبا واحدا (2) . والقلب أيضا: حية تشبه به. والمقلب: الحديدة التي تقلب بها الأرض للزراعة. وقولهم: هو حول قلب، أي محتال بصير بتقليب الامور. والقليب، مثال السكين: الذئب، وكذلك القلوب، مثل الخنوص. قال الشاعر: أيا أمة (3) بكى على أم واهب * أكيلة قلوب بإحدى (4) المذانب والقالب، بالفتح: قالب الخف وغيره. والقالب، بالكسر: البسر الأحمر. والقليب: البئر قبل أن تطوى (1) ، تذكر وتؤنث، وقال أبو عبيد: هي البئر العادية القديمة، وجمع القلة أقلبة. قال عنترة يصف جعلا: كأن مؤشر العضدين حجلا * هدوجا بين أقلبة ملاح والكثير قلب. قال الشاعر (2) : وما دام غيث من تهامة طيب * بها قلب عادية وكرار وقد شبه العجاج بها الجراحات فقال: عن قلب ضجم توري من سبر * وأبو قلابة: رجل من المحدثين.

  • Ibn Fāris · 395The letters qāf, lām, and bāʾ have two sound roots: one indicates the pure essence of a thing and its noble part, and the other indicates the returning of something from one direction to another.

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

    The letters qāf, lām, and bāʾ have two sound roots: one indicates the pure essence of a thing and its noble part, and the other indicates the returning of something from one direction to another. As for the first: al-qalb (القلب) is the heart of a human or other creature, so named because it is the purest and most elevated thing within it; and the pure/choice part of anything and its noblest part is called its qalb. They say "ʿarabī qalb (عربي قلب)" [a pure Arab]. He said: "So do not raise much clamor over her, for I have chosen her from among them, a pure Zubayrī woman." Al-qullāb (القلاب) is a disease that afflicts the camel, so its heart suffers from it. Al-qalb from bracelets is what forms a single band, not wound about by anything else — this is a comparison to the qalb (pith) of the palm-tree; then the snake was likened to this bracelet-qalb, and so it too was called qalb. Al-qalb is also a star; they say it is "the Heart of the Scorpion" (qalb al-ʿaqrab). "Qalabat al-nakhlah (قلبت النخلة)" means its pith (qalb) was extracted. The other root: "qalabtu al-thawb qalban (قلبت الثوب قلبا)" [I turned the garment over]. Al-qalab (القلب, with fatḥa) is the eversion of the lip; the lip is qalbāʾ (قلباء) and its owner is aqlab (أقلب). "Qalabtu al-shayʾ (قلبت الشيء)" means I turned it over/tipped it, and "qalabtuhu bi-yadī taqlīban (قلبته بيدي تقليبا)" means I kept turning it over with my hand. It is said "aqlabat al-khubzah (أقلبت الخبزة)" when it is time for the loaf to be turned. Their saying "mā bihi qalbah (ما به قلبة)" — they said its meaning is that there is no ailment in him for which he would be turned over and examined; and they cited: "No farrier has turned over her hooves, nor is there any rope-mark upon her," meaning: her legs were not turned over due to any ailment in them. Al-qalīb (القليب) is a well before it has been lined [with stones]; it was so named because it is like something turned from one state to another — it was [originally just] earth, and when dug its soil became like something turned over; once lined it becomes al-ṭawā (الطوى). The word qalīb is masculine. Al-ḥawl al-qalb (الحول القلب) is one who turns matters over and devises stratagems for them. The underlying analogy in everything mentioned is a single one. As for al-qalīb and al-qalūb (القلوب), it is said to mean "the wolf," and this too can be referred to the same analogy, being so named for its constant prowling in search of food. He said: "O my two eyes, weep for Umm ʿĀmir, prey eaten by a wolf (qalūb) at one of the watering-channels."

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    القاف واللام والباء أصلان صحيحان أحدهما يدل على خالص شيء وشريفه والآخر على رد شيء من جهة إلى جهة فالأول القلب قلب الإنسان وغيره سمى لأنه أخلص شيء فيه وأرفعه وخالص كل شيء وأشرفه قلبه ويقولون عربي قلب قال — فلا تكثروا فيها الضجاج فإنني … تخيرتها منهم زبيرية قلبا … والقلاب داء يصيب البعير فيشتكى قلبه والقلب من الأسورة ما كان قلبا واحدا لا يلوى عليه غيره وهو تشبيه بقلب النخلة ثم شبه الحية بالقلب من الحلى فسمى قلبا والقلب نجم يقولون إنه قلب العقرب و قلبت النخلة نزعت قلبها والأصل الآخر قلبت الثوب قلبا والقلب انقلاب الشفة وهي قلباء وصاحبها أقلب وقلبت الشيء كببته وقلبته بيدي تقليبا ويقال أقلبت الخبزة إذا حان لها أن تقلب وقولهم ما به قلبة قالوا معناه ليست به علة يقلب لها فينظر إليه وأنشدوا — ولم يقلب أرضها بيطار … ولا لحبليه بها حبار … أي لم يقلب قوائمها من علة بها والقليب البئر قبل أن تطوى وإنما سميت قليبا لأنها كالشيء يقلب من جهة إلى جهة وكانت أرضا فلما حفرت صار ترابها كأنه قلب فإذا طويت فهي الطوى ولفظ القليب مذكر والحول القلب الذي يقلب الأمور ويحتال لها والقياس في جميع ما ذكرناه واحد فأما القليب والقلوب فيقال إنه الذئب ويمكن أن يحمل على هذا القياس فيقال سمى بذلك لتقلبه في طلب مأكله قال — أيا جحمتا بكى على أم عامر … أكيلة قلوب بإحدى المذانب —

  • al-Rāghib · 502Qalb al-shayʾ (قلب الشيء) is the turning and diverting of something from one aspect to another, like the turning of a garment, or "turning a person," i.e., diverting him from his course.

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

    Qalb al-shayʾ (قلب الشيء) is the turning and diverting of something from one aspect to another, like the turning of a garment, or "turning a person," i.e., diverting him from his course. He, Most High, said: "and to Him you will be turned back" [Q 29:21]. Al-inqilāb (الانقلاب) is turning away/returning: He said, "you turned back on your heels" and "whoever turns back on his heels" [Q 3:144]; and He said, "Indeed to our Lord we are returning (munqalibūn)" [Q 7:125]; and He said, "to what turning-point (munqalab) they will turn" [Q 26:227]; and He said, "and when they returned to their people, they returned rejoicing" [Q 83:31]. As for qalb al-insān (the human heart), it is said to be so named for its frequent turning/fluctuation. The word qalb is used to express the meanings peculiar to it — spirit, knowledge, courage, and the like. His saying "and the hearts reached the throats" [Q 33:10] means: the souls. And He said, "Indeed in that is a reminder for whoever has a qalb" [Q 50:37], meaning: knowledge and understanding — likewise "and We placed coverings over their hearts, lest they understand it" [cf. Q 6:25], and His saying "and a seal has been set upon their hearts, so they do not understand" [Q 9:87]. His saying "that your hearts may be set at rest thereby" [Q 8:10] means: that your courage be made firm thereby and your fear removed — in contrast to "and He cast terror into their hearts" [Q 59:2]. His saying "that is purer for your hearts and their hearts" [Q 33:53] means: more conducive to chastity. His saying "He it is who sent down tranquility into the hearts of the believers" [Q 48:4]. His saying "and their hearts are diverse" [Q 59:14] means: disunited. His saying "but it is the hearts within the breasts that grow blind" [Q 22:46] — it is said [this refers to] the intellect, and it is said [to] the spirit; but as for the intellect, such blindness cannot properly apply to it — he said its figurative sense is like that of His saying "rivers flow beneath it" [Q 2:25], for rivers themselves do not flow; rather the waters within them flow. Taqlīb al-shayʾ (تقليب الشيء) is changing it from one state to another, as in "the Day their faces will be turned about in the Fire" [Q 33:66]. Taqlīb al-umūr (تقليب الأمور) is managing and examining matters; He said, "and they turned matters over for you" [Q 9:48]. God's "turning" of hearts and insights means diverting them from one view to another; He said, "and We turn about their hearts and their eyes" [Q 6:110]. The turning of the hand [in the following verse] is an expression of regret, describing the state of the regretful person: He said, "so he began turning his palms about" [Q 18:42], meaning: he wrung [his hands] in regret. The poet said: [entry continues]

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    قلب الشيء: تصريفه وصرفه عن وجه إلى وجه، كقلب الثوب، وقلب الإنسان، أي: صرفه عن طريقته. قال تعالى: وإليه تقلبون [العنكبوت/ 21] . والانقلاب: الانصراف، قال: انقلبتم على أعقابكم ومن ينقلب على عقبيه [آل عمران/ 144] ، وقال: إنا إلى ربنا منقلبون [الأعراف/ 125] ، وقال: أي منقلب ينقلبون [الشعراء/ 227] ، وقال: وإذا انقلبوا إلى أهلهم انقلبوا فكهين [المطففين/ 31] . وقلب الإنسان قيل: سمي به لكثرة تقلبه، ويعبر بالقلب عن المعاني التي تختص به من الروح والعلم والشجاعة وغير ذلك، وقوله: وبلغت القلوب الحناجر [الأحزاب/ 10] أي: الأرواح. وقال: إن في ذلك لذكرى لمن كان له قلب [ق/ 37] أي: علم وفهم، وكذلك: وجعلنا على قلوبهم أكنة أن يفقهوه [الأنعام/ 25] ، وقوله: وطبع على قلوبهم فهم لا يفقهون [التوبة/ 87] ، وقوله: ولتطمئن به قلوبكم [الأنفال/ 10] أي: تثبت به شجاعتكم ويزول خوفكم، وعلى عكسه: وقذف في قلوبهم الرعب [الحشر/ 2] ، وقوله: ذلكم أطهر لقلوبكم وقلوبهن [الأحزاب/ 53] أي: أجلب للعفة، وقوله: هو الذي أنزل السكينة في قلوب المؤمنين [الفتح/ 4] ، وقوله: وقلوبهم شتى [الحشر/ 14] أي: متفرقة، وقوله: ولكن تعمى القلوب التي في الصدور [الحج/ 46] قيل: العقل، وقيل: الروح. فأما العقل فلا يصح عليه ذلك، قال: ومجازه مجاز قوله: تجري من تحتها الأنهار [البقرة/ 25] . والأنهار لا تجري وإنما تجري المياه التي فيها. وتقليب الشيء: تغييره من حال إلى حال نحو: يوم تقلب وجوههم في النار [الأحزاب/ 66] وتقليب الأمور: تدبيرها والنظر فيها، قال: وقلبوا لك الأمور [التوبة/ 48] . وتقليب الله القلوب والبصائر: صرفها من رأي إلى رأي، قال: ونقلب أفئدتهم وأبصارهم [الأنعام/ 110] ، وتقليب اليد: عبارة عن الندم ذكرا لحال ما يوجد عليه النادم. قال: فأصبح يقلب كفيه [الكهف/ 42] أي: يصفق ندامة. قال الشاعر:

  • Lisān · 711Al-qalb (القلب) is the turning of something from its [normal] direction: "qalabahu yaqlibuhu qalban (قلبه يقلبه قلبا)";

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

    Al-qalb (القلب) is the turning of something from its [normal] direction: "qalabahu yaqlibuhu qalban (قلبه يقلبه قلبا)"; also "aqlabahu (أقلبه)" — the latter form is from al-Liḥyānī and is weak [rare]. It has "inqalaba (انقلب)" [it turned over]. "Qalaba al-shayʾ" and "qallabahu (قلب الشيء وقلبه)" mean he turned it back for belly [inside out]. "Taqallaba al-shayʾ ẓahran li-baṭn (تقلب الشيء ظهرا لبطن)" — like a snake writhing on hot sand (ramḍāʾ). "Qalabtu al-shayʾ fa-inqalaba (قلبت الشيء فانقلب)" means it tipped over; "qalabtuhu bi-yadī taqlīban (قلبته بيدي تقليبا)"; "kalām maqlūb (كلام مقلوب)" [inverted speech]; "qalabtuhu fa-inqalaba"; "qalabtuhu fa-taqallaba." Al-qalb also means your diverting a person, turning him away from the direction he intends. Qalb al-umūr (قلب الأمور) is examining matters and looking into their consequences. In the Mighty Revelation: "and they turned matters over for you" [Q 9:48] — all of this parallel to what preceded. "Taqallaba fī al-umūr wa-fī al-bilād (تقلب في الأمور والبلاد)" means he acted freely in them however he wished. In the Mighty Revelation: "so let not their movement about in the land deceive you" [Q 3:196] — meaning: let not their apparent safety in their movements deceive you, for the outcome of their affair is ruin. A man is described as "qulub (قلب)": one who turns about however he wishes. "Taqallaba ẓahran li-baṭn wa-janban li-janb (تقلب ظهرا لبطن وجنبا لجنب)" means he shifted position. Their saying "huwa ḥawl qalb (هو حول قلب)" means resourceful, skilled at managing affairs; al-qalb al-ḥawl is one who manages affairs and devises stratagems for them. It is related of Muʿāwiyah that as he lay dying, he kept turning on his bed during his final illness, and said: "You are turning over a man both resourceful and skilled (ḥawlan qalban), if only he had been spared the terror of the place of arrival [i.e., the Hereafter]." In al-Nihāyah: "had he been spared the blaze of the Fire" — meaning a man well-versed in affairs, who has ridden both the difficult and the easy and mastered them thoroughly, being resourceful in his affairs and skilled in managing them. His saying, Most High: "wherein hearts and eyes will be overturned" [Q 24:37] — al-Zajjāj said its meaning is that they tremble and flutter from anguish and fear. He said: its meaning is that whoever's heart believed in the resurrection and the Judgment increases in insight and sees what he was promised, while whoever's heart was otherwise comes to see what makes him certain of the matter of the resurrection and Judgment, so he knows it with his heart and witnesses it with his eyes — that is the 'turning of hearts and eyes.' It is said: "qallaba ʿaynahu wa-ḥimlāqahu (قلب عينه وحملاقه)" at moments of threat and anger; and he cited: "Rolling the whites of his eyes, he had nearly gone mad." "Qalaba al-khubz (قلب الخبز)" and the like means: when its exterior is cooked, one turns it so its interior cooks too; "aqlabahā (أقلبها)" is a [rare] form from al-Liḥyānī, and is weak. "Aqlabat al-khubzah (أقلبت الخبزة)" means it became time for the loaf to be turned. "Aqlaba al-ʿinab (أقلب العنب)" means the grapes' exterior dried, [making it time] to turn them. Al-qalab (القلب, with fatḥa) is an eversion and slackness in the upper lip; in al-Ṣiḥāḥ it is simply 'eversion of the lip,' without restricting it to the upper one. A lip clearly showing this is qalbāʾ (قلباء), and a man is aqlab (أقلب). In the proverb: "Iqlibī qullāb (اقلبي قلاب)" — said of a man who twists his tongue, placing it wherever he wishes. In the ḥadīth of ʿUmar, may God be pleased with him: while he was speaking with someone, Jarīr suddenly burst forth praising and extolling him at length, so he turned to him and said, "What are you saying, O Jar[īr]..." [entry continues]

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    القلب: تحويل الشيء عن وجهه. قلبه يقلبه قلبا، وأقلبه، الأخيرة عن اللحياني، وهي ضعيفة. وقد انقلب، وقلب الشيء، وقلبه: حوله ظهرا لبطن. وتقلب الشيء ظهرا لبطن، كالحية تتقلب على الرمضاء. وقلبت الشيء فانقلب أي انكب، وقلبته بيدي تقليبا، وكلام مقلوب، وقد قلبته فانقلب، وقلبته فتقلب. والقلب أيضا: صرفك إنسانا، تقلبه عن وجهه الذي يريده. وقلب الأمور: بحثها، ونظر في عواقبها. وفي التنزيل العزيز: وقلبوا لك الأمور ؛ وكله مثل بما تقدم. وتقلب في الأمور وفي البلاد: تصرف فيها كيف شاء. وفي التنزيل العزيز: فلا يغررك تقلبهم في البلاد . معناه: فلا يغررك سلامتهم في تصرفهم فيها، فإن عاقبة أمرهم الهلاك. ورجل قلب: يتقلب كيف شاء. وتقلب ظهرا لبطن، وجنبا لجنب: تحول. وقولهم: هو حول قلب أي محتال، بصير بتقليب الأمور. والقلب الحول: الذي يقلب الأمور، ويحتال لها. وروي عن معاوية، لما احتضر: أنه كان يقلب على فراشه في مرضه الذي مات فيه، فقال: إنكم لتقلبون حولا قلبا، لو وقي هول المطلع ؛ وفي النهاية: إن وقي كبة النار، أي رجلا عارفا بالأمور، قد ركب الصعب والذلول، وقلبهما ظهرا لبطن، وكان محتالا في أموره، حسن التقلب. وقوله تعالى: تتقلب فيه القلوب والأبصار ؛ قال الزجاج: معناه ترجف وتخف من الجزع والخوف. قال: ومعناه أن من كان قلبه مؤمنا بالبعث والقيامة، ازداد بصيرة، ورأى ما وعد به، ومن كان قلبه على غير ذلك، رأى ما يوقن معه أمر القيامة والبعث، فعلم ذلك بقلبه، وشاهده ببصره؛ فذلك تقلب القلوب والأبصار. ويقال: قلب عينه وحملاقه، عند الوعيد والغضب؛ وأنشد: قالب حملاقيه قد كاد يجن وقلب الخبز ونحوه يقلبه قلبا إذا نضج ظاهره، فحوله لينضج باطنه؛ وأقلبها: لغة عن اللحياني، وهي ضعيفة. وأقلبت الخبزة: حان لها أن تقلب. وأقلب العنب: يبس ظاهره، فحول. والقلب، بالتحريك: انقلاب في الشفة العليا، واسترخاء؛ وفي الصحاح: انقلاب الشفة، ولم يقيد بالعليا. وشفة قلباء: بينة القلب، ورجل أقلب. وفي المثل: اقلبي قلاب؛ يضرب للرجل يقلب لسانه، فيضعه حيث شاء. وفي حديث عمر، رضي الله عنه: بينا يكلم إنسانا إذ اندفع جرير يطريه ويطنب، فأقبل عليه، فقال: ما تقول يا جرير؟ وعرف الغضب في وجهه، فقال: ذكرت أبا بكر وفضله، فقال عمر: اقلب قلاب، وسكت ؛ قال ابن الأثير: هذا مثل يضرب لمن تكون منه السقطة، فيتداركها بأن يقلبها عن جهتها، ويصرفها إلى غير معناها؛ يريد: اقلب يا قلاب فأسقط حرف النداء، وهو غريب؛ لأنه إنما يحذف مع الأعلام. وقلبت القوم، كما تقول: صرفت الصبيان، عن ثعلب. وقلب المعلم الصبيان يقلبهم: أرسلهم، ورجعهم إلى منازلهم؛ وأقلبهم: لغة ضعيفة، عن اللحياني، على أنه قد قال: إن كلام العرب في كل ذلك إنما هو: قلبته، بغير ألف. وفي حديث أبي هريرة: أنه كان يقال لمعلم الصبيان: اقلبهم أي اصرفهم إلى منازلهم. والانقلاب إلى الله، عز وجل، المصير إليه، والتحول، وقد قلبه الله إليه؛ هذا كلام العرب. وحكى اللحياني: أقلبه؛ قال وقال أبو ثروان: أقلبكم الله مقلب أوليائه، ومقلب أوليائه، فقالها بالألف. والمنقلب يكون مكانا، ويكون مصدرا، مثل المنصرف. والمنقلب: مصير العباد إلى الآخرة. وفي حديث دعاء السفر: أعوذ بك من كآبة المنقلب أي الانقلاب من السفر، والعود إلى الوطن؛ يعني أنه يعود إلى بيته فيرى فيه ما يحزنه. والانقلاب: الرجوع مطلقا؛ ومنه حديث المنذر ابن أبي أسيد، حين ولد: فاقلبوه، فقالوا: أقلبناه يا رسول الله ؛ قال ابن الأثير: هكذا جاء في صحيح مسلم، وصوابه قلبناه أي رددناه. وقلبه عن وجهه: صرفه؛ وحكى اللحياني: أقلبه، قال: وهي مرغوب عنها. وقلب الثوب، والحديث، وكل شيء: حوله؛ وحكى اللحياني فيهما أقلبه. وقد تقدم أن المختار عنده في جميع ذلك قلبت. وما بالعليل قلبة أي ما به شيء، لا يستعمل إلا في النفي، قال الفراء: هو مأخوذ من القلاب: داء يأخذ الإبل في رؤوسها، فيقلبها إلى فوق؛ قال النمر: أودى الشباب وحب الخالة الخلبه، ... وقد برئت، فما بالقلب من قلبه أي برئت من داء الحب؛ وقال ابن الأعرابي: معناه ليست به علة، يقلب لها فينظر إليه. تقول: ما بالبعير قلبة أي ليس به داء يقلب له، فينظر إليه؛ وقال الطائي: معناه ما به شيء يقلقه، فيتقلب من أجله على فراشه. الليث: ما به قلبة أي لا داء ولا غائلة. وفي الحديث: فانطلق يمشي، ما به قلبة أي ألم وعلة؛ وقال الفراء: معناه ما به علة يخشى عليه منها، وهو مأخوذ من قولهم: قلب الرجل إذا أصابه وجع في قلبه، وليس يكاد يفلت منه؛ وقال ابن الأعرابي: أصل ذلك في الدواب أي ما به داء يقلب منه حافره؛ قال حميد الأرقط يصف فرسا: ولم يقلب أرضها البيطار، ... ولا لحبليه بها حبار أي لم يقلب قوائمها من علة بها. وما بالمريض قلبة أي علة يقلب منها. والقلب: مضغة من الفؤاد معلقة بالنياط. ابن سيده: القلب الفؤاد، مذكر، صرح بذلك اللحياني، والجمع: أقلب وقلوب، الأولى عن …

  • Lane · 1876English, synthesising the classical dictionaries.

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

    قَلَبَهُ

    1. قَلَبَهُ, (S, A, Mgh, O, Msb, K,) aor. قَلِبَ , (Msb, K.) inf. n. قَلْبٌ, (Msb,) He altered, or changed, its, or his, mode, or manner, of being; (A, Mgh, Msb, * K;) and قلّبهُ signifies the same, (K,) or is like قَلَبَهُ in the sense expl. above and in other senses but denotes intensiveness and muchness; (Msb;) and اقلبهُ also signifies the same as قَلَبَهُ in the sense expl. above, (K,) on the authority of Lh, but is of weak authority. (TA.) Hence, (Mgh,) He inverted it; turned it upside-down; turned it so as to make its upper most part its undermost; (S, * A, * Mgh, Msb;) namely, a thing; (S;) for instance, a [garment of the kind called] رِدَآء: (A, * Mgh:) and قلّبهُ has a similar meaning, but [properly] denotes intensiveness and muchness. (Msb. See two exs. of the latter verb voce قَلَبَةٌ.) And, (A, K,) like قلّبهُ, [except that the latter properly denotes intensiveness and muchness,] (K,) it signifies حَوَّلَهُ ظَهْرًا لِبَطْنٍ (A, K) [He turned it over, or upsidedown as meaning so that the upper side became the under side; lit. back for belly; accord. to the TA, meaning back upon belly (ظَهْرًا عَلَى بَطْنٍ); but this is hardly conceivable; whereas the former explanation is obviously right in another case: (see 5:) and another meaning of قَلَبَهُ and قُلبهُ, i. e. he turned it inside-out, is indicated in the TA by its being added, so that he knew what was in it]. See an ex. voce قَلَابِ. One says, قَلَبَ كَلَامًا [meaning He altered, or changed, the order of the words of a sentence or the like, by inversion, or by any transposition]. (TA.) [And in like manner, قَلَبَ كَلِمَةً He altered, or changed, the order of the letters of a word, by inversion, or by any transposition.] Es-Sakháwee says, in the Expos. of the Mufassal, that when they transpose [the letters of a word], they do not assign to the [transformed] derivative an inf. n., lest it should be confounded with the original, using only the inf. n. of the original that it may be an evidence of the originality [of the application of the latter to denote the signification common to both]: thus they say يَئِسَ, inf. n. يَأْسٌ; and أَيِسَ is مِنْهُ مَقْلُوبٌ [i. e. formed by transposition, or metathesis, from it], and has no inf. n.: when the two inf. ns. exist, the grammarians decide that each of the two verbs is [to be regarded as] an original, and that neither is مقلوب from the other, as in the case of جَذَبَ and جَبَذَ: but the lexicologists [in general] assert that all such are [of the class termed] مقلوب. (Mz, close of the 33rd نوع.) [And قَلَبَ likewise signifies He changed, or converted, a letter into another letter; the verb in this sense being doubly trans.: for ex., one says, قَلَبَ الوَاوَ يَآءً He changed, or converted, the و into ى.] And [hence] one says, قَلَبَهُ عَنْ وَجْهِهِ (assumed tropical:) He turned him [from his manner, way, or course, of acting, or proceeding, &c.]: and Lh has mentioned اقلبهُ [in the same sense], but as being disapproved. (TA.) And قَلَبَ الصِّبْيَانَ (tropical:) He (the teacher) turned away [or dismissed] the boys to their dwellings: (Th, A, TA:) or sent them [away], and returned them, to their abodes: and Lh has mentioned اقلبهم as a dial. var. of weak authority, saying that the former verb is that which is used by the Arabs in this and other [similar] cases. (TA.) And قَلَبْتُ القَوْمَ (assumed tropical:) I turned away [or dismissed] the people, or party; (Th, S, O;) like as you say صَرَفْتُ الصِّبْيَانَ. (Th, S.) And قَلَبَ ٱللّٰهُ فُلَانًا إِلَيْهِ (assumed tropical:) [God translated such a one unto Himself, by death: meaning God took his soul]; as also اقلبه; (K, TA;) whence the saying of Anooshirwán, ٱللّٰهُ مُقْلَبَ أَوْلِيَائِهِ أَقْلَبَكُمُ (assumed tropical:) [May God translate you with the translating of his favourites (مقلب being here an inf. n.), meaning, as He translates his favourites]. (TA.) And قَلَبَ عَيْنَهُ, and حِمْلَاقَهُ, (TA,) or حِمْلَاقَ عَيْنِهِ, (A,) [He turned about, or rolled, his eye, and therefore the parts of his eye that are occasionally covered by the eyelids,] on the occasion of anger, (A, TA,) and of threatening. (TA.) قَلَبَ, aor. قَلِبَ , inf. n. قَلْبٌ; and اقلب likewise, but this is of weak authority, mentioned by Lh; signify also He turned over bread, and the like, when the upper part thereof was thoroughly baked, in order that the under side might become so. (TA.) And you say, قَلَبْتُ الإِنَآءَ عَلَى رَأْسِهِ [I turned over the vessel upon its head]. (Msb, in explanation of كَبَبْتُ الإِنَآءَ.) And قَلَبْتُ الأَرْضَ لِلزِّرَاعَةِ [I turned over the earth for sowing]: and قَلَّبْتُهَا, also, I did so much.] (Msb.) And يُقْلَبُ التُّرَابُ بِالحَفْرِ [The earth is turned over in digging]: whence قَلَبْتُ قَلِيبًا means I dug a well. (A.) And [hence also] one says, قَلَبْتُ الشَّىْءَ لِلْاِبْتِيَاعِ I turned over the thing, or (assumed tropical:) I examined the several parts, or portions, of the thing, (تَصَفَّحْتُهُ,) [or I turned over the thing for the purpose of examining it,] with a view to purchasing, and saw its outer part or side, and its inner part or side: and قَلَّبْتُهُ, also, I did so much. (Msb.) And قَلَبَ السِّلْعَةَ (tropical:) He (a trafficker) examined the commodity, and scrutinized its condition: and قَلَّبَهَا, also, he did so [much]. (A.) And قَلَبَ الدَّابَّةَ and الغُلَامَ (tropical:) [He examined, &c., the beast, or horse, or the like, and the youth, or young man, or male slave]: (A:) and قَلَبَ المَمْلُوكَ, aor. قَلِبَ , inf. n. قَلْبٌ, (tropical:) he uncovered and examined the male slave, to look at [or to see] his defects, on the occasion of purchasing. (O, TA.) And قَلَبْتُ الأَمْرَ ظَهْرًا لِبَطْنٍ (assumed tropical:) I considered [or turned over in my mind] what might be the issues, or results, of the affair, or case: and قَلَّبْتُهُ, also, I did so much. (Msb.) قَلَبٌ signifies اِنْقِلابٌ, (S, A, O, K, TA,) meaning A turning outward, (TK,) and being flabby, (TA,) of the lip, (S, A, O, K,) or of the upper lip, (TA,) of a man: (S, A, O, K, TA:) it is the inf. n. of قَلِبَت said of the lip (الشَّفَةُ); (TA;) [and also, accord. to the TK, of قَلِبَ said of a man as meaning His lip had what is termed قَلَبٌ:] and hence أَقْلَبُ as an epithet applied to a man; and [its fem.] قَلْبَآء as an epithet applied to a lip. (S, A, O, K, TA.) قَلَبَهُ, (S, A, O, K,) aor. قَلُبَ (Lh, K) and قَلِبَ , (K,) He (a man, S, O) hit his heart. (S, A, O, K.) And It (a disease) affected, or attacked, his heart. (A.) And قُلِبَ He (a man) was affected, or attacked, by a pain in his heart, (Fr, A, * TA,) from which one hardly, or nowise, becomes free. (Fr, TA.) And قُلِبَ said of a camel, (As, S, O, K, TA,) inf. n. قُلَابٌ, (As, S, TA,) He was attacked by the disease called قُلَاب expl. below: (As, S, O, K, TA:) or he was attacked suddenly by the [pestilence termed] غُدَّة, and died in consequence. (As, TA.) [Hence,] قَلَبَ النَّخْلَةَ (tropical:) He plucked out the قَلْب, or قُلْب, meaning heart, of the palm-tree. (S, A, O, K.) And قَلَبَتِ البُسْرَةُ (assumed tropical:) The unripe date became red. (S, O, K.)

    قَلَّبَ

    2: see 1, first quarter, in four places. You say, قَلَّبْتُهُ بِيَدِى [I turned it over and over with my hand], inf. n. تَقْلِيبٌ. (S.) [And hence several other significations mentioned above.] See, again, 1, latter half, in four places. فَأَصْبَحَ يُقَلِّبُ كَفَّيْهِ, (A, O,) in the Kur [xviii. 40], (O,) means فاصبح يقلّب كفّيه ظَهْرًا لِبَطْنٍ [And he began to turn his hands upside-down, or to do so repeatedly,] in grief, or regret: (Bd:) or (tropical:) he became in the state, or condition, of repenting, or grieving: (Ksh, A, O:) for تَقْلِيبُ الكَفَّيْنِ is an action of him who is repenting, or grieving; (Ksh, O:) and therefore metonymically denotes repentance, or grief, like عَضُّ الكَفِّ and السُّقُوطُ فِى اليَدِ. (Ksh.) [تَقْلِيبُ المَالِ لِغَرَضِ الرِّبْحِ occurs in the A, in art. تجر, as an explanation of التِّجَارَةُ, meaning (assumed tropical:) The employing of property, or turning it to use, in various ways, for the purpose of gain.] And you say, قَلَّبْتُهُ فِى الأَمْرِ, meaning صَرَّفْتُهُ [i. e. (assumed tropical:) I employed him to act in whatever way he pleased, according to his own judgment or discretion or free will, or I made him a free agent, in the affair: or I made him, or employed him, to practise versatility, or to use art or artifice or cunning, in the affair: and simply, I employed him in the managing of the affair]. (K in art. صرف.) [And قَلَّبَ الفِكَرَ فِى أمّرٍ (assumed tropical:) He turned over and over, or revolved repeatedly, in his mind, thoughts, considerations, or ideas, with a view to the attainment of some object, in relation to an affair.] And قلّب الأُمُورَ, (TA,) inf. n. تَقْلِيبٌ, (S, K, TA,) (tropical:) He investigated, scrutinized, or examined, affairs, [or turned them over and over in his mind, meditating what he should do,] and considered what would be their results. (TA.) وَقَلَّبُوا لَكَ الأُمُورَ is a phrase occurring in the Kur-án [ix. 48,] (Msb,) and is tropical, (A,) meaning (tropical:) [And they turned over and over in their minds affairs, meditating what they should do to thee: or] they turned over [repeatedly in their minds] thoughts, or considerations, concerning the beguiling, or circumventing, thee, and the rendering thy religion ineffectual]: (Jel:) or they meditated, or devised, in relation to thee, wiles, artifices, plots, or stratagems; and [more agreeably with the primary import of the verb] they revolved ideas, or opinions, respecting the frustrating of thy affair. (Ksh, Bd.)

    أَقْلَبَ

    4: see 1, in six places. [اقلبهُ, said of God, also signifies (assumed tropical:) He made him to return from a journey: see an ex. in the first paragraph of art. صحب. (In the phrase أَقْبِلْنَا بِذِمَّةٍ, expl. in the TA in art. دم as meaning Restore us to our family in safety, أَقْبِلْنَا is a mistranscription for أَقْلِبْنَا.)] اقلب as intrans., said of bread [and the like], It became fit to be turned over [in order that the other side might become thoroughly baked]. (S, O, K.) And اقلب العِنَبُ The grapes became dry, or tough, externally, (K, TA,) and were therefore turned over, or shifted. (TA.) Also He had his camels attacked by the disease called قُلَاب. (S, O, K.)

    تقلّب الشَّىْءُ ظَهْرًا لبِطْنٍ

    5. تقلّب الشَّىْءُ ظَهْرًا لبِطْنٍ [The thing turned over and over, or upside-down as meaning so that the upper side became the under side, (lit. back for belly,) doing so much, or repeatedly], like as does the serpent upon the ground vehemently heated by the sun. (S, O, TA.) تقلّب said of a man's face [&c.] signifies تصرّف [i. e. It turned about, properly meaning much, or in various ways or directions; or it was, or became, turned about, &c.]. (Jel in ii. 139.) And تَتَقَلَّبُ فِيهِ ٱلْقُلُوبُ وَٱلْأَبْصَارُ, in the Kur [xxiv. 37], means In which the hearts and the eyes shall be in a state of commotion, or agitation, by reason of fear, (Zj, Jel, TA,) and impatience; (Zj, TA;) the hearts between safety and perdition, and the eyes between the right side and the left. (Jel.) And فِى تَقَلُّبِهِمْ, in the Kur xvi. 48, means (assumed tropical:) In their journeyings for traffic. (Jel. [See also the Kur iii. 196, and xl. 4.]) You say, تقلّب فِى البِلَادِ, (TA,) and فى الأُمُورِ, (K, TA,) meaning تَصَرَّفَ فِيهَا كَيْفَ شَآءَ [i. e. (assumed tropical:) He acted in whatsoever way he pleased, according to his own judgment or discretion or free will, or as a free agent, in journeying, for traffic or otherwise, in the country, and in the disposal, or management, of affairs: and simply, he employed himself in journeying, for traffic or otherwise, in the country, and in the disposal, or management, of affairs: or تقلّب فى الامور means he practised versatility, or used art or artifice or cunning, in the disposal, or management, of affairs]. (K, * TA.) And هُوَ يَتَقَلَّبُ فِى أَعْمَالِ السُّلْطَانِ (tropical:) He acts as he pleases, &c., or simply he employs himself, in the offices of administration, or in the provinces, of the Sultán]. (A.)

    انقلب

    7. انقلب, of which مُنْقَلَبٌ is an inf. n., (S, O, K, TA,) syn. with اِنقِلَابٌ, (TA,) and also a n. of place, (S, O, K, TA,) like مُنْصَرَفٌ, (S, O, TA,) is quasi-pass. of قَلَبْتُهُ: (S, O:) it signifies It, or he, was, or became, altered, or changed, from its, or his, mode, or manner, of being: (TA:) [and hence,] it (a thing) became inverted, or turned upside-down [&c.: see 1]. (S.) And [hence] الاِنْقِلَابُ إِلَى ٱللّٰهِ means (assumed tropical:) The transition, and the being translated, or removed, to God, by death: and [in like manner] المُنْقَلَبُ means the transition [&c.], of men, to the final abode. (TA. [See an ex. in p. 132, sec. col., from the Kur xxvi. last verse.]) And الاِنْقِلَابُ means also (assumed tropical:) The returning, in an absolute sense: and, as also المُنْقَلَبُ, particularly, from a journey, and to one's home: thus, in a trad., in the prayer relating to journeying, أُعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْ كَآبَةِ المُنْقَلَبِ (assumed tropical:) [I seek protection by Thee from the being in an evil state in respect of the returning from my journeying to my home]; i. e., from my returning to my dwelling and seeing what may grieve me. (TA.) The saying in the Kur xxii. 11 وَإِنْ أَصَابَتْهُ فِتْنَةٌ ٱنْقَلَبَ عَلَى وَجْهِهِ means (assumed tropical:) And if trial befall him, and [particularly such as] disease in himself and his cattle, he returns [to his former way, i. e., in this case,] to infidelity. (Jel. [See also other exs. in the Kur in ii. 138 and iii. 138.]) And one says, انقلب عَنِ العَهْدِ [meaning (assumed tropical:) He withdrew, or receded, from the covenant, compact, agreement, or engagement]. (S in art. حول.) [See also an ex. from the Kur-án (lxvii. 4) voce خَاسِئٌ.]

    قَلْبٌ

    قَلْبٌ The heart; syn. فُؤَادٌ: (Lh, T, S, M, O, Msb, K, &c.:) or [accord. to some] it has a more special signification than the latter word: (O, K:) [for] some say that فؤاد signifies the “ appendages of the مَرِىْء [or œsophagus], consisting of the liver and lungs and قَلْب [or heart]: ” (K in art. فأد:) [and, agreeably with this assertion,] it is said that the قلب is a lump of flesh, pertaining to the فؤاد, suspended to the نِيَاط [q. v.]: Az says, I have observed that some of the Arabs call the whole flesh of the قلب, its fat, and its حِجَاب [or septum?], قَلْب and فُؤَاد; and I have not observed them to distinguish between the two [words]; but I do not deny that the [word] قلب may be [applied by some to] the black clot of blood in its interior: MF mentions that فؤاد is said to signify the “ receptacle, ” or “ covering, ” of the heart, (وِعَآءُ القَلْبِ, or غِشَاؤُهُ, [i. e. the pericardium,]) or, accord. to some, its “ interior: ” the قَلْب is said to be so called from its تَقَلُّب: [see 5:] the word is of the masc. gender: and the pl. is قُلُوبٌ. (TA.) بَنَاتُ القَلْبِ means (assumed tropical:) The several parts, or portions, [or, perhaps, appertenances,] of the heart. (TA in art. بنى.) [And قَلْبٌ is also used as meaning The stomach, which is often thus termed in the present day: so, for ex., in an explanation of طَنِخ, q. v.] قَلْبُ العَقْرَبِ (also called simply, القَلْبُ, Kzw) is (assumed tropical:) A certain bright star, [the star a in Scorpio,] between two other stars, which is one of the Mansions of the Moon, (S, O,) namely, the Eighteenth Mansion; so called because it is in the heart of Scorpio: (MF:) [it rose aurorally, about the commencement of the era of the Flight, in Central Arabia, together with النَّسْرُ الوَقِعُ (a of Libra) on the 25th of November, O. S.: (see مَنَازِلُ القَمَرِ, in art. نزل:)] the commencement of the period when the cattle breed in the desert is at the time of its [auroral] rising and the [auroral] rising of النسر الواقع; these two stars rising together, in the cold season: the Arabs say, القَلبْ جَآءَ الشِّتَآءُ كَٱلْكَلْبْ [When the heart of the Scorpion rises, the winter comes like the dog]: and they regard its نَوْء [q. v.] as unlucky; and dislike journeying when the moon is in Scorpio: at its نَوْء [meaning auroral rising], the cold becomes vehement, cold winds blow, and the sap becomes stagnant in the trees: its رَقِيب is الدَّبَرَانُ [q. v.] (Kzw.) There are also three similar appellations of other stars: these are قَلْبُ الأَسَدِ (assumed tropical:) [Cor Leonis, or Regulus, the star a of Leo]: قَلْبُ الثَّوْرِ, an [improper] appellation of الدَّبَرَانُ: and قَلْبُ الحُوتِ, a name of الرِّشَآءُ [q. v.]. (TA.) And القَلْبُ is syn. with الضَّمِيرُ [signifying (assumed tropical:) The heart as meaning the mind or the secret thoughts]. (Msb in art. ضمر.) And (assumed tropical:) The soul. (TA.) And (assumed tropical:) The mind, meaning the intellect, or intelligence. (Fr, S, O, Msb, K.) So in the Kur l. 36: (Fr, S, O, TA:) or it means there endeavour to understand, and consideration. (TA.) Accord. to Fr, you may say, مَا لَكَ قَلْبٌ (assumed tropical:) Thou hast no intellect, or intelligence: (TA:) and مَا قَلْبُكَ مَعَكَ (assumed tropical:) Thine intellect is not present with thee: (O, TA:) and أَيْنَ ذَهَبَ قَلْبُكَ (assumed tropical:) Whither has thine intellect gone? (TA.) [And hence, أَفْعَالُ القُلُوبِ (assumed tropical:) The verbs significant of operations of the mind; as ظَنَّ, and the like.] See also قُلْبٌ. [قَلْبُ الجَيْشِ means (assumed tropical:) The main body of the army; as distinguished from the van and the rear and the two wings: mentioned in the S and K in art. خمس; &c.] And قَلْبٌ signifies also (assumed tropical:) The pure, or choice, or best, part of anything. (L, K, * TA.) It is said in a trad. إِنَّ لِكُلِّ شَىْءٍ قَلْبًا وَقَلْبُ القُرْآنِ يٰسL (tropical:) [as though meaning, Verily to everything there is a choice, or best, part; and the choice, or best, part of the Kur-án is Yá-Seen (the Thirty-sixth Chapter)]: (A, O, L, TA:) it is a saying of the Prophet; [and may (perhaps better) be rendered, verily to everything there is a pith; and the pith &c.; from قَلْبٌ, as meaning, like قُلْبٌ, the “ pith ” of the palm-tree; but,] accord. to Lth, it is from what here immediately follows. (O.) One says, جِئْتُكَ بِهٰذَا الأَمْرِ قَلْبًا, meaning (tropical:) I have come to thee with this affair unmixed with any other thing. (A, * O, L, TA.) Also (tropical:) A man genuine, or pure, in respect of origin, or lineage; (S, A, O, K;) holding a middle place among his people; (A;) and قُلْبٌ signifies the same: (O, K:) the former is used alike as masc. and fem. and sing. and dual and pl.; but it is allowable to form the fem. and dual and pl. from it: (S, O:) one says عَرَبِىٌّ قَلْبٌ (S, A, * O) and قُلْبٌ (O) (tropical:) a genuine Arabian man, (S, A, * O,) and اِمْرَأَةٌ قَلْبٌ (S, * A, O *) and قَلْبَةٌ (S, A, O) and قُلْبَةٌ (K) a woman genuine, or pure, in respect of origin, or lineage: (S, A, * O, K:) Sb says, they said هٰذَا عَرَبِىٌّ قَلْبٌ and قَلْبًا (assumed tropical:) [This is an Arabian genuine, or pure, &c., and being genuine, or pure, &c.]; using the same word as an epithet and as an inf. n.: and it is said in a trad., كَانَ عَلىٌّ قُرَشِيًّا قَلْبًا, meaning (assumed tropical:) 'Alee was a Kurashee genuine, or pure, in respect of race: or, as some say, the meaning is, an intelligent manager of affairs; from قَلْبٌ as used in the Kur l. 36. (L, TA.)

    قُلْبٌ

    قُلْبٌ (S, A, Mgh, O, Msb, K) and قَلْبٌ (S, O, Msb, K) and قِلْبٌ (S, O, K) (tropical:) The لُبّ, (S, O,) or شَحْمَة, (A, K,) or جُمَّار, (Mgh, Msb,) [i. e. heart, or pith,] of the palm-tree; (S, A, Mgh, O, Msb, K;) which is a soft, white substance, that is eaten; it is in the midst of its uppermost part, and of a pleasant, or sweet, taste: (TA: [see also جُمَّارٌ:]) or the best of the leaves of the palm-tree, (AHn, K [in which this explanation relates to all the three forms of the word, but app. accord. to AHn it relates only to the first of them], and TA,) and the whitest; which are the leaves next to the uppermost part thereof; and one of these is termed قُلْبَةٌ, with damm and sukoon: (AHn, TA:) or قُلْبٌ, with damm, signifies the branches of the palm-tree (سَعَف [in my copy of the Msb سعفة]) that grow forth from the قلب [meaning heart]: (T, TA: [see العَوَاهِنُ and الخَوَافِى, pls. of عَاهِنٌ, or عَاهِنَةٌ, and خَافِيَةٌ:]) the pl. is قِلَبَةٌ, (S, O, Msb, K,) which is of the second, (Msb,) [or of all,] and قُلُوبٌ, (Msb, K,) a pl. of the second, (Msb,) and أَقْلَابٌ, (Msb, K,) a pl. [of pauc.] of the first. (Msb.) And قُلْبٌ signifies also (tropical:) A bracelet (S, O, K, TA) that is worn by a woman, (K, TA,) such as is one قُلْب, (S, O, TA, but in the O, one قَلْب,) [as though meaning such as is single, not double,] or such as is one قِلْد, ('Eyn, T, MS, [and this is evidently the right reading, as will be shown by what follows,]) meaning such as is formed by twisting [or rather bending round] one طَاق [i. e. one wire (more or less thick), likened to a yarn, or strand], not of a double طَاق; (MS;) and they say سِوَارٌ قُلْبٌ; (TA;) and قُلْبُ فِضَّةٍ i. e. a [woman's] bracelet [of silver], (A, Mgh, Msb, TA,) such as is not twisted [like a cord, or rope, of two or more strands, as are many of the bracelets worn by Arab women]: (Mgh, Msb, TA:) so called as being likened to the قُلْب of the palm-tree because of its whiteness; (A, Mgh, Msb, TA;) or, as some say, the converse is the case. (Mgh.) And (tropical:) A serpent: (S, O:) or a white serpent: (A, K:) likened to the bracelet so called. (S, O.) قُلْبٌ as an epithet, and its fem. قُلْبَةٌ: see قَلْبٌ, last sentence, in three places.

    قِلْبٌ

    قِلْبٌ: see the next preceding paragraph.

    قُلْبَةٌ

    قُلْبَةٌ, as a subst.: see قُلْبٌ, former half. Also Redness. (IAar, O, K.)

    مَا بِهِ قَلَبَةٌ

    مَا بِهِ قَلَبَةٌ There is not in him any disease, (S, A, Mgh,) thus says IAar, adding, for which he should be turned over (يُقَلَّب) and examined, (S,) and in this sense it is said of a camel [and the like], (TA,) or on account of which he should turn over upon his bed: (A:) or there is not in him anything to disquiet him, so that he should turn over upon his bed: (Et-Tá-ee, TA:) or thers is not in him any disease, and any fatigue, (K, TA,) and any pain: (TA:) or there is not in him anything; said of one who is sick; and the word is not used otherwise than in negative phrases: accord. to IAar, originally used in relation to a horse or the like, meaning there is not in him any disease for which his hoof should be turned upsidedown (يُقَلَّب) [to be examined]: (TA:) or it is from القُلَابُ, (Fr, S, A, TA,) the disease, so termed, that attacks camels; (TA;) or from قُلِبَ [q. v.] as said of a man, and means there is not in him any disease on account of which one should fear for him. (Fr, TA.) [Youthfulness has perished, and the love of the proud and self-conceited, the very deceitful, woman, (thus the two epithets are expl. in art. خلب in the S,) and I have recovered so that there is not in the heart any disease, &c.]; meaning I have recovered from the disease of love. (S, TA.)

    قَلَابِ

    قَلَابِ [as used in the following instance is an attributive proper name like فَجَارِ &c.]. اِقْلِبْ قَلَابِ [Alter, O alterer,] is a prov. applied to him who turns his speech, or tongue, and applies it as he pleases: accord. to IAth, to him who has made a slip of the tongue, and repairs it by turning it to another meaning: يَا, he says, is suppressed before قلاب. (TA. [See also Freytag's Arab. Prov. ii. 247.])

    قُلَابٌ

    قُلَابٌ A certain disease of the heart. (Lh, K.) And (K) A disease that attacks the camel, (As, S, O, K,) occasioning complaint of the heart, (As, S, O,) and that kills him on the day of its befalling him: (As, S, O, K:) or a disease that attacks camels in the head, and turns it up. (Fr, TA.) [It is also mentioned as an inf. n. of قُلِبَ, q. v.] Accord. to Kr, it is the only known word, signifying a disease, derived from the name of the member affected, except كُبَادٌ and نُكَافٌ. (TA in art. كبد.)

    Lane, Arabic-English Lexiconread Lane's entry online ↗
Technical definitions2 · Ibn ʿArabī’s Iṣṭilāḥ, al-Jurjānī’s Taʿrīfāt
  • القلب

    لطيفة ربانية لها بهذا القلب الجسماني الصنوبري الشكل المودع في الجانب الأيسر من الصدر تعلق، وتلك اللطيفة هي حقيقة الإنسان، ويسميها الحكيم: النفس الناطقة، والروح باطنه، والنفس الحيوانية مركبة، وهي المدرك، والعالم من الإنسان، والمخاطب، والمطالب، والمعاتب.

    al-Jurjānī, al-Taʿrīfāt, line 3550 ↗

  • القلب

    هو جعل المعلول علة، والعلة معلولا، وفي الشريعة: عبارة عن عدم الحكم لعدم الدليل، ويراد به ثبوت الحكم بدون العلة.

    al-Jurjānī, al-Taʿrīfāt, line 3554 ↗

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

ق ل ب

القاف واللام والباء أصلان صحيحان أحدهما يدل على خالص شيء وشريفه والآخر على رد شيء من جهة إلى جهة

q-l-b: Two sound roots: one indicates the pure and noble part of something, and the other, the turning of something from one direction to another.

Ibn Fāris ↗Lisān ↗Lane ↗al-Khalīl: used ↗Quran ×168

Do these six share one core meaning?

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.

How each letter is made, in brief, from Sībawayh's and Ibn Jinnī's own sentences (linked); their words are under 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 ↗

ل

ومن حافة اللسان من أدناها إلى منتهى طرف اللسان، من بينها وبين ما يليها من الحنك الأعلى، مما فويق الضاحك والناب والرباعية والثنية، مخرج اللام

From the edge of the tongue, from its nearest part to the end of its tip, between it and the upper palate next to it, just above the premolar, the canine, the lateral and the central incisor, is the place of the lām. Ibn Jinnī, lines 977–978 ↗

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 ↗

المرتبة العشرية فحروفها حارة يابسة

The tenfold rank: its letters are hot and dry.

Ibn ʿArabī, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, line 2582

ل

Level of existence: السماء الثالثة · the third heaven

Divine Name: القاهر · the Subduer (al-Qāhir)

Lunar mansion: العوا · al-ʿAwwā

Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 64654

Spheres of its simples (ch. 2): 7 line 2576 ↗

منها دون الألف فطبعها الحرارة واليبوسة

[Zāy and lām] of it, excluding alif: their nature is heat and dryness.

Ibn ʿArabī, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, line 2577

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 ↗

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

فهي إشارة إلى حيازة الخيرات أو إلى جميع الأنوار.

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

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.

فهي إشارة إلى الذل.

It is an indication of abasement.

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

ل

فهي حصول المتكلم على شيء عظيم، وتكون إشارة إلى شيء عظيم.

It is the speaker's attaining of something great, and it serves as an indication of something great.

فهي إشارة إلى الشيء الذي لا نهاية له.

It is an indication of the thing that has no end.

فهي إشارة من المتكلم إلى وجود ذاته أو إلى ذاته.

It is an indication by the speaker of the existence of his self, or of his self.

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

ب

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.

فهي إشارة معها قبض.

It is an indication accompanied by contraction (qabḍ).

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 nucleus14 roots in Ibn Fāris’s chapterق ل

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 25400 ↗

  • قلهالقاف واللام والهاء لا أحفظ فيه شيئا غير أن غدير قلهى موضعL25412
  • قلوالقاف واللام والحرف المعتل أصل صحيح يدل على خفة وسرعةL25414
  • قلبالقاف واللام والباء أصلان صحيحان أحدهما يدل على خالص شيء وشريفه والآخر على رد شيء من جهة إلى جهةQ 168 · L25426
  • قلتالقاف واللام والتاء أصلان صحيحان أحدهما يدل على هزمة في شيء والآخر على ذهاب شيء وهلا كهL25447
  • قلحالقاف واللام والحاء كلمة واحدة وهي القلح صفرة في الأسنان رجل أقلحL25458
  • قلخالقاف واللام والخاء كلمة واحدة يقولون إن القلخ هدير الجملL25463
  • قلدالقاف واللام والدال أصلان صحيحان يدل أحدهما على تعليق شيء على شيء وليه به والآخر على حظ ونصيبQ 4 · L25465
  • قلزالقاف واللام والزاء يقولون إن التقلز النشاطL25483
  • قلسالقاف واللام والسين كلمتان أحدهما رمى السحابة الندى من غير مطر ومنة قلس الإنسان إذا قاء فهوL25485
  • قلصالقاف واللام والصاد أصل صحيح يدل على انضمام شيء بعضه إلى بعضL25490
  • قلطالقاف واللام والطاء ليس فيه شيء يصح غير أن ابن دريدL25499
  • قلعالقاف واللام والعين أصل صحيح يدل على انتزاع شيء من شيء تم يفرع منه ما يقاربه تقول قلعت الشيء قلعا فأناQ 1 · L25502
  • قلفالقاف واللام والفاء أصل صحيح يدل على كشط شيء عن شيءL25521
  • قلقالقاف واللام والقاف كلمة تدل على الانزعاجL25525
In the sister scriptsHebrew ק ל בSyriac ܩ ܠ ܒ
Arabicق ل ب
Hebrewק ל ב
Syriacܩ ܠ ܒ
Ancient South Arabian (musnad)𐩤 𐩡 𐩨
Phoenician𐤒 𐤋 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.

  • Classical lexiconAl-Khalīl anchors qalb in the concrete: the organ suspended by the niyāṭ, said to be named for its taqallub (ceaseless turning), and also the pure unmixed core of anything — pure Arab stock, the soft white pith of a palm-tree, the single unlaced ring of a bracelet.well attested

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

    Al-Khalīl anchors qalb in the concrete: the organ suspended by the niyāṭ, said to be named for its taqallub (ceaseless turning), and also the pure unmixed core of anything — pure Arab stock, the soft white pith of a palm-tree, the single unlaced ring of a bracelet. Al-Jawharī keeps both threads, glossing qalb as fuʾād and, per al-Farrāʾ on 'li-man kāna lahu qalbun', as ʿaql, while treating qalaba/inqalaba as physical inversion (turning something over, a snake writhing on hot sand). Ibn Fāris then formalizes the two aṣl explicitly: khāliṣ al-shayʾ wa-sharīfuhu (pure/noblest essence) versus radd al-shayʾ min jihatin ilā jiha (turning a thing from one direction to another), deriving both the organ-name and inversion-verbs from these roots. Al-Rāghib generalizes further: qalb al-shayʾ is taṣrīfuhu wa-ṣarfuhu min wajhin ilā wajh, and the human qalb, named for the frequency of its turning, comes to stand metonymically for rūḥ, ʿilm, shajāʿa and other inner faculties. Ibn Manẓūr and Lane consolidate this abstraction, extending qalaba to deliberative 'turning over' of affairs (qallabū laka al-umūr) and to change of mode of being generally.

    Draws on: al-Khalīl · al-Jawharī · Ibn Fāris · al-Rāghib · Ibn Manẓūr · Lane

    • Lisān al-ʿArab, q-l-b
    • Lane, s.v. قلب
  • Letters & soundAl-Dabbāgh's fatḥa-values read qāf as indicating the acquisition of goods or of all lights, lām as the speaker's attainment of something great, and bāʾ as the extremity of might or of abasement — a sequence that, read impressionistically, tracks the movement from acquisition through elevation to an extreme, echoing qalb's own semantic arc from pure essence to violent overturning.speculative

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

    Al-Dabbāgh's fatḥa-values read qāf as indicating the acquisition of goods or of all lights, lām as the speaker's attainment of something great, and bāʾ as the extremity of might or of abasement — a sequence that, read impressionistically, tracks the movement from acquisition through elevation to an extreme, echoing qalb's own semantic arc from pure essence to violent overturning. The akbarī correspondence table assigns lām to the third heaven and bāʾ to the jinn, with no entry recorded for qāf. None of this is linguistically demonstrable; mainstream historical linguistics treats letter-symbolism as at most suggestive, not evidentiary, for a root's meaning.

    Draws on: al-Dabbāgh fatḥa values · akbari198 letter-heaven correspondences

  • Root structureAmong Ibn Fāris's q-l chapter, most siblings (qlh, qlkh) are thin or unrecorded, while qlw (lightness, speed) and qlt (breach, loss) sit near qlb without an obvious shared kernel;plausible

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

    Among Ibn Fāris's q-l chapter, most siblings (qlh, qlkh) are thin or unrecorded, while qlw (lightness, speed) and qlt (breach, loss) sit near qlb without an obvious shared kernel; qlb itself is unusual in carrying two distinct aṣl rather than one. Among the metathetic permutations, qbl (294 occurrences, facing/confronting) is by far the dominant partner, and lqb (nickname, a name that 'faces' or replaces the given name) sits suggestively close in sense to both. Ibn Jinnī's greater derivation would juxtapose qlb/qbl/lqb as variant lexicalizations of a shared field of facing, fronting, and reversal — a pattern worth noting, not a proven etymology.

    Draws on: Ibn Fāris nucleus · permutations · Ibn Jinnī khaṣāʾiṣ

  • Semitic kin & loanwordsAramaic and Syriac have a cognate verbal root qlb meaning 'to turn, overturn, invert', matching Arabic qalaba/inqalaba closely and pointing to a shared Semitic root for the turning-sense.plausible

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

    Aramaic and Syriac have a cognate verbal root qlb meaning 'to turn, overturn, invert', matching Arabic qalaba/inqalaba closely and pointing to a shared Semitic root for the turning-sense. Notably, however, the widespread Semitic word for the physical heart is not this root but *lb(b) — Hebrew lēḇ/lēḇāḇ, Akkadian libbu, Aramaic/Syriac lebbā, Geʿez lebb — which Arabic instead preserves as lubb, 'pith, kernel, inmost part, intellect'. Arabic's use of qalb specifically for the heart-organ therefore looks like an Arabic-internal semantic innovation built on the 'pure essence' sense, not an inherited Semitic heart-word. No evidence suggests qalb is a loanword; it is native derivation from the Semitic root.

    Draws on: Aramaic/Syriac qlb · comparative Semitic lexicon

    • CAL, qlb V (link not verified)
  • Quranic exegesisOn 2:7, 'khatama Allāhu ʿalā qulūbihim', al-Ṭabarī reads the sealing as God's marking of the disbelievers' hearts so that guidance no longer penetrates, while al-Rāzī engages the verse as a flashpoint in the kalām dispute over whether God directly causes the sealing (determinism) or merely describes a state the disbelievers brought upon themselves through persistent kufr.well attested

    How the classical exegetes read the word in the Quran.

    On 2:7, 'khatama Allāhu ʿalā qulūbihim', al-Ṭabarī reads the sealing as God's marking of the disbelievers' hearts so that guidance no longer penetrates, while al-Rāzī engages the verse as a flashpoint in the kalām dispute over whether God directly causes the sealing (determinism) or merely describes a state the disbelievers brought upon themselves through persistent kufr. On 2:10, 'fī qulūbihim maraḍun', the exegetes read maraḍ al-qalb as the sickness of nifāq (hypocrisy) or doubt lodged in the seat of belief. Al-Rāghib's lexical point — that qalb covers rūḥ, ʿilm, and shajāʿa — underlies exegetical readings of verses like 3:144's 'inqalabtum ʿalā aʿqābikum' (reverting on one's heels), taken as apostasy or loss of resolve upon a rumor of the Prophet's death, the qalb here being both the organ of steadfastness and the thing that turns.

    Draws on: al-Ṭabarī · al-Zamakhsharī · al-Rāzī · al-Rāghib

  • Philosophy & kalāmThough not a core falsafa term like wujūd or ʿayn, qalb becomes technical in al-Ghazālī's psychology, where it names the subtle governing faculty (al-laṭīfa al-rabbāniyya) distinct from the physical flesh-organ, the true locus of maʿrifa and moral agency, superior to and directing ʿaql, nafs, and rūḥ.plausible

    The word as a technical term in falsafa and theology.

    Though not a core falsafa term like wujūd or ʿayn, qalb becomes technical in al-Ghazālī's psychology, where it names the subtle governing faculty (al-laṭīfa al-rabbāniyya) distinct from the physical flesh-organ, the true locus of maʿrifa and moral agency, superior to and directing ʿaql, nafs, and rūḥ. This usage draws directly on the lexicographers' extension of qalb to rūḥ and ʿilm noted by al-Rāghib, but sharpens it into a distinct faculty-psychology used across later kalām and Sufi ethical literature.

    Draws on: al-Ghazālī, Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn

    • al-Ghazālī, Iḥyāʾ ʿulūm al-dīn, Kitāb sharḥ ʿajāʾib al-qalb
  • Akbarian readingThe Fuṣūṣ's own chapter-list names one wisdom explicitly 'ḥikma qalbiyya' and locates it in the word of Shuʿayb rather than Ādam, so the term is not developed as a technical keyword within Faṣṣ Ādam itself in the material given.plausible

    The word in Ibn ʿArabī's text and terminology.

    The Fuṣūṣ's own chapter-list names one wisdom explicitly 'ḥikma qalbiyya' and locates it in the word of Shuʿayb rather than Ādam, so the term is not developed as a technical keyword within Faṣṣ Ādam itself in the material given. Elsewhere in Ibn ʿArabī's broader teaching, however, qalb is read etymologically through taqallub: the heart is named for its perpetual turning because it is the locus that receives a new divine self-disclosure (tajallī) at every instant, never fixed upon one form — the human heart mirrors the cosmos's continuous renewal of creation (khalq jadīd). This reading depends on the same lexical fact (qalb from taqallub) already established by al-Khalīl and al-Rāghib, redeployed as an ontological principle.

    Draws on: Faṣṣ Ādam table of contents · general Akbarian doctrine of tajallī

    • Faṣṣ Ādam, chapter-heading excerpt (given)
Neighbouring rootsThe roots that share letters with this one, as a map you can open out