ملكa sound root denoting strength and soundness in a thing, as in firmly kneaded dough; … (root mlk)

Mulk (الملك) belongs to God — al-Mālik (المالك), al-Malīk (المليك). And al-malakūt (الملكوت): God's dominion [and malakūt Allāh (ملكوت الله) is His sovereignty]. And al-milk (الملك): what the hand possesses of property and dependents (khawal). Al-mamlaka (المملكة): the authority of the king over his subjects; one says 'his kingship lasted long' and 'his dominion grew great and large.' Al-mamlūk (المملوك): the slave who acknowledges al-malūka (الملوكة), just as al-ʿabd (العبد) acknowledges al-ʿubūda (العبودة); but it is more correct to say he acknowledges al-milka (الملكة) and al-milk (الملك). Milāk al-amr (ملاك الأمر): that upon which the matter depends; and the heart is the milāk (ملاك) of the body. Al-imlāk (الإملاك): marriage — one says amlakūhu (أملكوه) or malakūhu (ملكوه), meaning they married him [to her], the bridegroom being likened to a king, as in the saying: 'the bridegroom nearly became a king.' Al-malak (الملك) [angel, singular] of al-malāʾika (الملائكة) is simply a lightened form of al-malʾak (الملأك); its origin is maʾlak (مألك), but the lām was moved forward and the hamza back, giving malʾak (ملأك), a mafʿal-pattern noun from al-alūk (الألوك), meaning 'the message.' They agreed to drop its hamza, as with the hamza of yarā (يرى), though it is sometimes restored in poetry when needed, as in: "I am no mere mortal, but an angel (malʾak), whose sender — blessed be He — is above the heavens." [Its full explanation is completed in the weak-letter section under the letter kāf.]

Malaktu al-shayʾ (ملكت الشيء), amlikuhu, milkan (ملكا) — I owned the thing. Milk al-ṭarīq (ملك الطريق) also [means] the middle of the road, as in: "She kept to the middle (milk) of the road, its middle being hers, while the sides belong to the wearied mounts." Malaktu al-ʿajīn (ملكت العجين), amlikuhu, malkan (ملكا) with fatḥa — when you make its kneading firm, as Qays ibn al-Khaṭīm said: "I gripped it firmly with my palm and widened its opening, so that one standing beyond could see what lay behind it," meaning: I made it firm. 'This thing is milk yamīnī (ملك يميني)' or 'malk yamīnī (ملك يميني)' — the fatḥa form is more correct. Malaktu al-marʾa (ملكت المرأة): I married her. Al-mamlūk (المملوك): the slave. Mallaka al-shayʾ (ملّك الشيء), tamlīkan (تمليكا): he made it a possession for him; one says mallakahu al-māl wa-l-mulk (ملّكه المال والملك), so he is mumallak (مملك), as al-Farazdaq said regarding the maternal uncle of Hishām ibn ʿAbd al-Malik: "There is none like him among people except one enthroned (mumallak), whose mother's father is one still living, his father resembling him," meaning: none resembles him among the living except one who is mumallak, whose grandfather's father resembles him; mumallakan is accusative because it is a preceding exception. Malaka al-nabʿa (ملك النبعة): he hardened it, drying it in the sun with its bark still on, as Aws said: "Then it hardened with the bark beneath its rind, like an egg's inner membrane whose covering is the shell from above," — also transmitted as "faman laka", though the first reading is better. Compare al-Shammākh's description of a nabʿa-tree: "its bark's sap dried it for two months, while he examines which part of it is supple" — al-tamṣīʿ (التمصيع) being the leaving of its bark on until its outer layer dries, which makes it firmer. Amlaktu al-ʿajīn (أملكت العجين) is a dialectal variant of malaktuhu (ملكته), meaning you knead it well. Al-imlāk (الإملاك): marriage; we say amlaknā fulānan fulānatan (أملكنا فلانا فلانة) when we marry him to her; one says 'we came from his imlāk (إملاكه)' — not 'his milāk (ملاكه).' Al-malakūt (الملكوت) is from al-mulk (الملك), like al-rahabūt (الرهبوت) is from al-rahba (الرهبة); one says 'he has malakūt al-ʿIrāq (ملكوت العراق)' or 'malakwat al-ʿIrāq (ملكوة العراق),' on the pattern of tarquwa (الترقوة), meaning kingship and glory. He is malīk (مليك), and malik/malk (ملك), like fakhidh/fakhdh (فخذ), as though the light form is a contraction of the fuller form, and malik itself a contracted form of mālik (مالك) or malīk (مليك). The plural is mulūk (ملوك) and amlāk (أملاك); the [abstract] noun is al-mulk (الملك); the place is mamlaka (مملكة). Tamallakahu (تملكه): he seized possession of it by force. Malīk al-naḥl (مليك النحل): the queen bee, as the Hudhalī poet said: "Nor is it like a white [hive] whose ruler (malīk) takes refuge in an overhanging ledge, defying both climber and descender." ʿAbd mamlaka/mumallaka (عبد مملكة): one who was owned though his parents were not owned. In the hadith: al-Ashʿath ibn Qays disputed with the people of Najrān before ʿUmar concerning their persons, for he had enslaved them in the Jāhiliyya, but when they became Muslims they refused him, saying: 'O Commander of the Faithful, we were only slaves who were... [entry continues]'

Mīm, lām, and kāf is a sound root indicating strength in a thing and soundness. One says amlaka ʿajīnahu (أملك عجينه) — he strengthened his kneading and made it firm; and malaktu al-shayʾ (ملكت الشيء) — I strengthened the thing. As the poet said: "Then it grew firm with the outer bark above its rind, like an egg's inner membrane whose covering is the shell from above." This is the underlying [root meaning]; then it came to be said malaka al-insānu al-shayʾ (ملك الإنسان الشيء), yamlikuhu, mulkan/milkan (ملكا) — he owns/possesses the thing — and the noun is al-mulk (الملك), because his hand upon it is strong and sound. So al-milk (الملك) is what is possessed of property, and al-mamlūk (المملوك) is the slave. 'So-and-so is ḥasan al-milka (حسن الملكة)' means he is good in his treatment of his slaves (mamālīk). ʿAbd mamlaka (عبد مملكة) is a captive whose parents were not [themselves] owned [as slaves]. 'So-and-so has no mawlā milākihi (مولى ملاكه) besides God Almighty' means none but He owns him. 'We were at the imlāk (إملاك) of so-and-so' means we married him to his wife; and amlaknāhu (أملكناه) is like malaknāhu (ملكناه). And al-milk (الملك) is [also] the water a traveler carries with him, because when it is with him his affair is under his control (mulika amruhu).

Al-mulk (الملك): the one who exercises authority in command and prohibition over the multitude, this being specific to the governance of rational beings; hence one says 'king of people' but not 'king of things.' His saying 'Maliki/Māliki yawmi l-dīn (ملك يوم الدين)' [al-Fātiḥa 1:4] implies: 'the King in the Day of Judgment,' as in His words: 'To whom belongs the dominion this day? To God, the One, the Prevailing' [Ghāfir 40:16]. Al-mulk is of two kinds: mulk as actual possession and assumption of authority, and mulk as mere capacity for it, whether exercised or not. Of the first: 'Indeed, kings, when they enter a town, corrupt it' [al-Naml 27:34]. Of the second: 'when He made among you prophets and made you kings' [al-Māʾida 5:20], where prophethood is made specific but kingship general — meaning here the capacity that qualifies one for governance, not that all were actually put in charge, for that would be contrary to wisdom, as is said: 'there is no good in a multitude of chiefs.' Some said: al-malik is a name for whoever possesses governance — either over himself, by controlling the reins of his faculties and turning them from mere desire, or over others, whether he actually assumes charge or not, as noted above. His saying: 'We had certainly given the family of Abraham the Scripture and wisdom, and We gave them a great dominion (mulkan ʿaẓīman)' [al-Nisāʾ 4:54]. Al-mulk is the everlasting right belonging to God, hence: 'To Him belongs dominion and to Him belongs praise' [al-Taghābun 64:1], and: 'Say: O God, Owner of Sovereignty (Mālika l-mulk), You give sovereignty to whom You will and take sovereignty from whom You will' [Āl ʿImrān 3:26]. So al-mulk is the controlling of a thing one manages by [one's own] authority; and al-milk (possession) is like a genus relative to al-mulk (sovereignty) — every mulk is milk, but not every milk is mulk. [Compare]: 'Say: O God, Owner of Sovereignty, You give sovereignty to whom You will' [Āl ʿImrān 3:26]; 'and they possess not for themselves harm or benefit, nor do they possess [power over] death, life, or resurrection' [al-Furqān 25:3]; 'Or who controls hearing and sight?' [Yūnus 10:31]; 'Say: I possess not for myself benefit or harm' [al-Aʿrāf 7:188], and elsewhere. Al-malakūt (الملكوت) is specific to God's dominion, being a verbal noun of malaka with the tāʾ added, like raḥamūt (رحموت) and rahabūt (رهبوت): 'And thus did We show Abraham the dominion (malakūt) of the heavens and the earth' [al-Anʿām 6:75]; 'Have they not looked into the dominion (malakūt) of the heavens and the earth?' [al-Aʿrāf 7:185]. Al-mamlaka (المملكة): the king's authority and the territories he possesses. Al-mamlūk (المملوك) is, in customary usage, specific to the slave among possessions: 'a slave [who is] owned (mamlūkan)' [al-Naḥl 16:75]. One also says: 'so-and-so is generous with his mamlūk,' meaning with what he possesses. Al-milka (الملكة) is specific to ownership of slaves; one says 'so-and-so is ḥasan al-milka (حسن الملكة),' meaning good in his treatment of his slaves. The Qurʾān specifies ownership of slaves by [the term] 'the right hand'... [entry continues]

Al-Layth said: al-Malik (الملك) is God, exalted and sanctified is He — King of kings, to Him belongs dominion; He is Mālik yawm al-dīn (مالك يوم الدين) [Owner of the Day of Judgment] and Malīk al-khalq (مليك الخلق), meaning their Lord and Owner. In the Revelation: 'Māliki yawmi l-dīn (مالك يوم الدين)' [al-Fātiḥa 1:4]. Ibn Kathīr, Nāfiʿ, Abū ʿAmr, Ibn ʿĀmir, and Ḥamza read 'Maliki (ملك) yawmi l-dīn,' without alif; ʿĀṣim, al-Kisāʾī, and Yaʿqūb read 'Māliki (مالك),' with alif. ʿAbd al-Wārith transmitted from Abū ʿAmr 'Malki (مَلْك) yawmi l-dīn,' with the lām quiescent, this being from Abū ʿAmr's practice of rapid elision (ikhtilās). Al-Mundhir transmitted from Abū l-ʿAbbās that he preferred 'Māliki yawmi l-dīn,' saying: everyone who possesses (yamliku) is mālik, by [interpretive extension of] the verb — 'owner of dirhams,' 'owner of a garment,' and 'Owner of the Day of Judgment,' who possesses the power to establish it; hence also His saying 'Mālika l-mulk (مالك الملك)' [Āl ʿImrān 3:26]. He said: as for 'king of people,' 'lord of people,' 'master of people,' these mean simply the most excellent among them, not that he owns them; yet God said 'Mālika l-mulk,' making Himself Owner of everything, which shows this derives from the verb — mentioned following, and preferring, Abū ʿUbayd's statement. Al-mulk (الملك): well known, used as both masculine and feminine, like al-sulṭān (السلطان). Mulk Allāh (ملك الله) and malakūtuhu (ملكوته): His sovereignty and majesty. 'So-and-so has malakūt al-ʿIrāq (ملكوت العراق)' means his might, authority, and dominion — from al-Liḥyānī. Al-malakūt is from al-mulk like al-rahabūt from al-rahba; malakūt is also called malakwa (ملكوة), as in 'he has malakūt al-ʿIrāq' or 'malakwat al-ʿIrāq,' on the pattern of tarquwa (الترقوة), meaning kingship and glory. In the hadith of Abū Sufyān: 'This is the dominion (mulk) of this nation, now manifest' — transmitted both with ḍamma-sukūn (mulk) and with fatḥa-kasra (malik). In the hadith: 'Was there among his forefathers any king (malik)?' — transmitted with fatḥa on both consonants (malak) and with kasra on both (milk). Al-malik, al-milk, al-malīk, and al-mālik all mean: possessor of dominion. Malik and malk are like fakhidh and fakhdh — as though the light form is a contraction of the full form, and malik itself a contraction of mālik or malīk. The plural of malik (king) is mulūk; of milk/malk, amlāk; of malīk, mulakāʾ; of mālik, malak and mullāk; and al-amlūk (الأملوك) serves as a collective. One says 'a man is malik,' 'three amlāk' up to ten, and beyond that mulūk; the [abstract] noun is al-mulk, the place is mamlaka. Tamallakahu (تملكه): he took possession of it by force. 'The people made so-and-so malik over themselves,' amlakūhu (أملكوه): they made him king — from al-Liḥyānī. One says mallakahu al-māl wa-l-mulk, so he is mumallak, as al-Farazdaq said regarding the maternal uncle of Hishām ibn ʿAbd al-Malik: "There is none like him among people except one enthroned, whose mother's father is one still living, his father resembling him," meaning none resembles him while living except one mumallak, whose grandfather's father resembles him; mumallakan is accusative as a preceding exception; and Hishām's maternal uncle is Ibrāhīm ibn... [entry continues]