هديIbn Fāris gives two roots: going ahead of someone in order to guide them, and sending … (root hdy)

Al-hadiyya (الهدية) is what you present as an act of kindness to someone you love; its plural is hadāyā (هدايا), and in the dialect of the people of Medina, hadāwī (هداوي) with a wāw. Al-ihdā' (الإهداء) is presenting to a person praise or satirical poetry [as a dedication]. Al-hady and al-hadī (الهدي والهدي) — pronounced heavy or light — is what you present to Mecca; and everything you present of wealth or goods is a hady. It is said: — '[If women are ones kept veiled] ... then every chaste woman is entitled to her bridal procession (hidā').' — Al-hady and al-hadī, heavy and light: what is presented [as an offering] to Mecca; and whatever you present of wealth or goods is a hady. It is said: — 'I swore by the Lord of Mecca and the place of prayer, / and the necks of the offering-animals (al-hady) hung with garlands.' — Al-hadā' (الهداء) is the dull, feeble man. At-tahādī (التهادي) is walking with a sway to right and left, like the gait of women, or of heavily-laden camels. Al-hady (الهدي) is stillness. Al-Akhṭal said: — 'Until they held back from him, rising fierce and steep, / and he did not walk with the gait of a defeated man, nor did he flinch.'

Al-hudā (الهدى) is right guidance and indication/direction; it is treated as either feminine or masculine. One says: hadāhu Allāhu lid-dīni hudan (هداه الله للدين هدى), 'God guided him to the religion.' Regarding His saying, Exalted is He: 'a-wa-lam yahdi lahum' (أولم يهد لهم) — Abū 'Amr ibn al-'Alā' said: [it means] 'has it not been made clear to them?' And 'hadaytuhu aṭ-ṭarīqa wa-l-bayta hidāyatan' (هديته الطريق والبيت هداية) means 'I made it known to him' — this is the dialect of the people of the Ḥijāz; others say 'hadaytuhu ilā aṭ-ṭarīq wa ilā ad-dār' (هديته إلى الطريق وإلى الدار), as al-Akhfash reported. Hadā and ihtadā (هدى واهتدى) have the same sense. Regarding His saying: 'fa-inna Allāha lā yahdī man yuḍill' (فإن الله لا يهدي من يضل) — al-Farrā' said: it means 'does not become guided' (lā yahtadī). Al-hidā' (الهداء) is the verbal noun of 'hudiyat al-mar'a ilā zawjihā hidā'an' (هديت المرأة إلى زوجها هداء); one also says 'hudiyat ilayhi' (هديت إليه). Zuhayr said: — 'If women are ones kept veiled, / then every chaste woman is entitled to her bridal procession (hidā').' — And she is muhdāh (مهداة) and also hadī (هدي), on the pattern fa'īl. Al-hady (الهدي) is what is offered to the Sanctuary as livestock. One says: 'mālī hadyun in kāna kadhā wa kadhā' (مالي هدي إن كان كذا وكذا) — 'let my property be an offering if such-and-such is so!' — this is a form of oath. Al-hadī (الهدي) is also said on the pattern fa'īl, like it; and it was recited both 'ḥattā yablugha al-hadya maḥillahu' and '...al-hadī...' (حتى يبلغ الهدي/الهدي محله), light and heavy. The singular is hadyah and hadiyyah (هدية وهدية). As for Zuhayr's verse: — 'I have not seen a people who took captive an offering (hady), / nor have I seen a neighbor's tent-dweller enslaved.' — al-Aṣma'ī said: he is the man who has sanctity like the sanctity of the offering-animal of the House. Abū 'Ubayd said: the captive too is called hadī (هدي). And he cited, from al-Mutalammis, speaking of Ṭarafa and 'Amr ibn Hind's killing of him: — 'Like Ṭarīfa ibn al-'Abd — he was their offering (hady): / they struck the very core of his skull with an Indian blade.' — Abū Zayd said: one says 'khudh fī hidyatika bis-sakr' (خذ في هديتك بالسكر), meaning 'continue in what you were engaged with, of talk or work, and do not turn away from it.' It is also said: 'so-and-so looked at the hidyah of his affair,' and 'how fine is his hidyah!' — also hadyah (هدية) with fatḥa — meaning his conduct. The plural is hidan (هدى), like tamrah/tamr. It is also said: 'hadā hadya fulān' (هدى هدي فلان), meaning 'he followed his way.' And in the Hadith: 'wahdū hadya 'Ammār' (واهدوا هدى عمار), 'follow the way of 'Ammār.' 'Hadāhu' (هداه) also means 'he went ahead of him.' Ṭarafa said: — 'The young man has reason by which he lives, / wherever his shank leads his foot.' — Hādī as-sahm (هادي السهم) is the arrowhead. Al-hādī (الهادي) is ar-rākis (الراكس), the ox in the middle of the threshing floor around which the other oxen turn while threshing. Al-hādī is also the neck. 'The hawādī (هوادي) of the horses came forward,' when their necks appeared; it is also said to mean the foremost troop of them. Imru' al-Qays said: — 'As if the blood of the foremost ones (al-hādiyāt) on his breast / were the extract of henna on combed white hair' — meaning by it the foremost of the wild game. Al-hadiyya (الهدية) is the singular of hadāyā (هدايا); one says 'ahdaytu lahu' and 'ahdaytu ilayhi' (أهديت له وإليه). Al-mihdā (المهدى), with kasra on the mīm, is that in which a gift is presented, like a tray and the like. Ibn al-A'rābī said: and not... [entry continues]

Hā', Dāl, and the weak letter: two roots. The first is going ahead in order to guide, and the second is sending a gift of kindness. As for the first: their saying hadaytuhu aṭ-ṭarīq (هديته الطريق), hidāya (هداية), i.e., 'I went ahead of him to guide him,' and everyone who goes ahead for that purpose is a hādī (هاد). It is said: — 'If the young man's guide (hādī) in the land / is the tip of the spear-shaft, he obeys the commander.' — This branches out, so it is said: al-hudā (الهدى) is the opposite of misguidance; you say hadaytuhu hudan (هديته هدى). And it is said: 'the hawādī (هوادي) of the horses came forward,' meaning their necks; and its hādī (هادي) is the foremost troop of them, because it is the one that goes ahead. And al-hādiya (الهادية) is the staff, because it goes ahead of the one holding it, as if guiding him. From this chapter also is their saying: 'so-and-so looked at the hudā (هدى) of his affair,' i.e., its direction; and 'how fine is his hidya (هدية)!' meaning his hady (هدي, manner). They also say: 'so-and-so came yuhādī (يهادي) between two people,' when he walks between them leaning on them both; and 'I shot an arrow, then shot another hadyāhu (هدياه),' i.e., aimed at its mark. The principle in this whole analogy is one and the same. The other root is al-hadiyya (الهدية): what you present of kindness to someone you love. One says ahdaytu, uhdī, ihdā' (أهديت أهدى إهداء). Al-mihdā (المهدي) is the tray on which a gift is presented. From this chapter also: al-hadā (الهدى) is the bride, and one says hudiyat ilā ba'lihā hidā'an (هديت إلى بعلها هداء) — 'she was conducted to her husband.' It is said: — 'If women are ones kept veiled, / then every chaste woman is entitled to her bridal procession (hidā').' — Al-hady and al-hadī (الهدى والهدى) are what is sent as livestock to the Sanctuary as an offering drawing one near to God, Exalted is He; one says hady and hadā (هدي وهدى). It is said: — 'And Ṭarīfa ibn al-'Abd — he was their offering (hady): / they struck the very core of his skull with an Indian blade.' — And it is said: al-hadī (الهدى) is the captive. As for the hamzated form (هدأ), it belongs to a different root, and most of it denotes stillness. Hada'a hudūwan (هدأ هدوا) means 'it became still.' 'Hada'tu ar-rajul' (هدأت الرجل) is said of when people have gone to sleep [i.e., coming to someone at that hour]. 'The woman ahda'at (أهدأت) her child with her hand,' so that he would sleep, i.e., she calmed him. 'A hud' (هدء) of the night passed': after the first sleep, when people first fall still. Al-had'a (الهدأة) is a kind of easy running. Among what deviates from this chapter: al-hada' (الهدأ), which is the shoulder curving inward toward the chest, like al-jana' (الجنأ).

Al-hidāya (الهداية) is guidance/indication by gentle means. From it: al-hadiyya (الهدية) [the gift], and hawādī al-waḥsh (هوادي الوحش), i.e., the foremost among them, which guide (al-hādiya) the rest. What is [mere] indication is designated by 'hadaytu' (هديت), and what is giving [a present] by 'ahdaytu' (أهديت) — as in 'ahdaytu al-hadiyyata' (أهديت الهدية) and 'hadaytu ilā al-bayt' (هديت إلى البيت). If it be asked: how can you make al-hidāya an indication by gentle means, when God, Exalted is He, said: 'fahdūhum ilā ṣirāṭ al-jaḥīm' (فاهدوهم إلى صراط الجحيم) — 'lead them to the path of Hellfire' — and 'yahdīhi ilā 'adhāb as-sa'īr' (ويهديه إلى عذاب السعير) — 'and leads him to the punishment of the Blaze'? It is answered: the expression is used there in an ironic sense (tahakkum), for emphasis of meaning, like His saying: 'fabashshirhum bi-'adhābin alīm' (فبشرهم بعذاب أليم) — 'so give them tidings of a painful punishment.' And the poet's saying: [entry continues]

Among the names of God, Glorified and Exalted is He: al-Hādī (الهادي). Ibn al-Athīr said: He is the One who gave His servants insight and made them know the way to His recognition, until they acknowledged His Lordship, and He guided every creature to what it needs for its subsistence and continued existence. Ibn Sīdah said: al-hudā (الهدى) is the opposite of misguidance; it is right guidance, and grammatically it is feminine, though the masculine has also been reported for it. Ibn Barrī cited, from Yazīd ibn Khidhāq: — 'The road has indeed shone bright for you, and the paths / of noble deeds lie clear, and guidance (al-hudā) advances.' — Ibn Jinnī said: al-Liḥyānī said al-hudā is masculine; and al-Kisā'ī said some of Banū Asad make it feminine, saying 'hādhihi hudan mustaqīma' (هذه هدى مستقيمة), 'this is a straight guidance.' Abū Isḥāq said, on His saying, Mighty and Exalted is He: 'qul inna hudā Allāhi huwa al-hudā' (قل إن هدى الله هو الهدى) — 'Say: indeed the guidance of God, that is [true] guidance' — meaning: the path to which He calls is the path of truth. And on His saying: 'inna 'alaynā lal-hudā' (إن علينا للهدى) — 'Indeed upon Us is the guidance' — meaning: it is upon Us to make clear the path of guidance from the path of misguidance. One says: hadāhu hudan, hadyan, hidāyatan, hidyatan (هداه هدى وهديا وهداية وهدية); and 'hadāhu lid-dīni hudan' (هداه للدين هدى); and 'hadāhu yahdīhi fī ad-dīn hudan' (هداه يهديه في الدين هدى). Qatāda said, on His saying, Mighty and Exalted is He: 'wa-ammā Thamūd fahadaynāhum' (وأما ثمود فهديناهم) — 'As for Thamūd, We guided them' — meaning: We made clear to them the path of guidance and the path of misguidance, and they preferred (istaḥabbū), i.e., chose, misguidance over guidance. Al-Layth said: in the dialect of the people of al-Ghawr, 'hadaytu laka' (هديت لك) carries the meaning of 'bayyantu laka' (بينت لك), 'I made it clear to you.' On His saying: 'a-wa-lam yahdi lahum' (أولم يهد لهم) — Abū 'Amr ibn al-'Alā' said: [it means] 'has it not been made clear to them?' And in the Hadith: he said to 'Alī: 'Ask God for guidance (al-hudā),' and in another version: 'Say: O God, guide me and set me straight' — and by 'al-hudā' recall your being guided on a road, and by 'as-sadād' recall your straightening of an arrow. The meaning is: when you ask God for guidance, bring to mind the guidance one gets on a road, and ask God for uprightness on it just as you seek that out in traveling a road — for one crossing open country keeps to the beaten track and does not leave it, for fear of straying; and likewise the archer, when he shoots at something, aims the arrow straight at it so as to hit it. So bring that to mind, so that what you intend by this supplication matches what you practice in archery. And His saying, Mighty and Exalted is He: 'alladhī a'ṭā kulla shay'in khalqahu thumma hadā' (الذي أعطى كل شيء خلقه ثم هدى) — 'He who gave everything its created form, then guided it' — means: He created everything in the form by which it benefits and which best suits its creation, then guided it to its means of livelihood. And it is said: then He guided it to the place from which offspring comes — though the first explanation is clearer and more evident. One says: 'hudiya fahtadā' (هدي فاهتدى), 'he was guided, and so found the way.' Al-Zajjāj said, on His saying, Exalted is He: 'qul Allāhu yahdī lil-ḥaqq' (قل الله يهدي للحق) — 'Say: God guides to the truth' — one says 'hadaytu lil-ḥaqq' and 'hadaytu ilā al-ḥaqq' (هديت للحق وهديت إلى الحق) with the same meaning, because 'hadaytu' takes its object directly with respect to those being guided, while with 'al-ḥaqq' it takes a preposition; the meaning is: Say, God guides whom He wills to the truth. And in the Hadith: 'sunnat al-khulafā' ar-rāshidīn al-mahdiyyīn' (سنة الخلفاء الراشدين المهديين), 'the way of the rightly-guided caliphs' — al-mahdī (المهدي) is the one God has guided to the truth, and the term has come to be used as a [proper] name until it became like [other] names. [entry continues]