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Fine distinctions of Qur'anic vocabulary

الفروق اللفظية في القرآن

Omar Abdelkafy gives examples of how the Qur'an added to Arabic and distinguished words people take as synonyms: matar and ghayth (rain), 'ilm and ma'rifa (knowledge), jasad and jism (body), and ajdath (graves), and holds this to be part of its inimitability.

Depth

At a glance

Region
Global / Diaspora
Review

Scripture and its sciences

Summary

The Sheikh says the Qur'an does not wear out however often it is read, and that its companion discovers a new meaning in each reading; he likens companionship with the Qur'an to that of a friend who shares his secrets only after long acquaintance. 1 2 3 He holds that the Qur'an added to Arabic what the Arabs had never dreamt of. 4

Matar and ghayth

He holds that the Qur'an distinguished matar from ghayth, though people take them as the same: matar appears in it only for evil, ghayth only for good. 5 6

Ajdath

He says the Arabs knew 'jadath' as the first strike of a horse's hoof on the ground at the start of a race, and that the Qur'an called graves ajdath, as if people come out of them racing like horses to the place of gathering; he links this to the Arabs' denial of resurrection and the Qurayshi who brought a decayed bone, crumbled it and asked who would revive it (needs_source: the Arabs' sense of 'jadath' as the Sheikh tells it). 7 8 9 10 11

'Ilm and ma'rifa

He holds that the Qur'an distinguished 'ilm from ma'rifa: 'ilm covers universals and particulars and is an attribute of God, while ma'rifa covers particulars, is preceded by experience and effort and is marked by deficiency; so one does not say God 'knows' in the sense of ma'rifa but in the sense of 'ilm. He digresses that ministries of education were once called 'ministries of knowledge (ma'arif)'. 12 13 14 15 16 17

Jasad and jism

He holds that jasad in the Qur'an is a frame without a soul, like al-Samiri's calf, 'a body that lowed', while jism is a body with life, soul and movement, as in the description of the hypocrites whose bodies please the onlooker. 18 19 20 21

Mutawaffa, not mutawaffi

He points out a common error: people call the deceased 'mutawaffi' (the one who takes the soul), but the one who takes souls is God, and the deceased is 'mutawaffa'; he calls for tasting the language and making it loved by the young. 22 23

His view on the neglect of Arabic

He criticises parents who boast that their children master English, French and German while they cannot form a correct Arabic sentence, and holds that the cause is that they have not read the Qur'an; this is his view. 24 5 See also: the Qur'an's challenge.

Connections

Explore the connections

Subject of
Wa Nafsin wa ma Sawwaha (programme)

People and things also explored

Bid'a (religious innovation)· Reflection on the Qur'an (tadabbur)· Haman· Malik ibn Anas· Umm Salama (Hind bint Abi Umayya)· The Muslim home (al-bayt al-muslim)· Evil scheming (al-makr al-sayyi')· The gift within the trial (al-minha fi al-mihna)

Sources

  1. Assabile archive of Omar Abdelkafy's lectures (audio and video) , Wa Nafsun Ma Sawaha, episode 26, at 00:01:30 · Open the lesson at the archive
  2. Assabile archive of Omar Abdelkafy's lectures (audio and video) , Wa Nafsun Ma Sawaha, episode 26, at 00:02:00 · Open the lesson at the archive
  3. Assabile archive of Omar Abdelkafy's lectures (audio and video) , Wa Nafsun Ma Sawaha, episode 26, at 00:02:30 · Open the lesson at the archive
  4. Assabile archive of Omar Abdelkafy's lectures (audio and video) , Wa Nafsun Ma Sawaha, episode 27, at 00:01:30 · Open the lesson at the archive
  5. Assabile archive of Omar Abdelkafy's lectures (audio and video) , Wa Nafsun Ma Sawaha, episode 26, at 00:04:00 · Open the lesson at the archive
  6. Assabile archive of Omar Abdelkafy's lectures (audio and video) , Wa Nafsun Ma Sawaha, episode 26, at 00:04:30 · Open the lesson at the archive
  7. Assabile archive of Omar Abdelkafy's lectures (audio and video) , Wa Nafsun Ma Sawaha, episode 26, at 00:07:00 · Open the lesson at the archive
  8. Assabile archive of Omar Abdelkafy's lectures (audio and video) , Wa Nafsun Ma Sawaha, episode 26, at 00:07:30 · Open the lesson at the archive
  9. Assabile archive of Omar Abdelkafy's lectures (audio and video) , Wa Nafsun Ma Sawaha, episode 26, at 00:08:00 · Open the lesson at the archive
  10. Assabile archive of Omar Abdelkafy's lectures (audio and video) , Wa Nafsun Ma Sawaha, episode 26, at 00:08:30 · Open the lesson at the archive
  11. Assabile archive of Omar Abdelkafy's lectures (audio and video) , Wa Nafsun Ma Sawaha, episode 26, at 00:09:00 · Open the lesson at the archive
  12. Assabile archive of Omar Abdelkafy's lectures (audio and video) , Wa Nafsun Ma Sawaha, episode 27, at 00:05:00 · Open the lesson at the archive
  13. Assabile archive of Omar Abdelkafy's lectures (audio and video) , Wa Nafsun Ma Sawaha, episode 27, at 00:05:30 · Open the lesson at the archive
  14. Assabile archive of Omar Abdelkafy's lectures (audio and video) , Wa Nafsun Ma Sawaha, episode 27, at 00:06:00 · Open the lesson at the archive
  15. Assabile archive of Omar Abdelkafy's lectures (audio and video) , Wa Nafsun Ma Sawaha, episode 27, at 00:06:30 · Open the lesson at the archive
  16. Assabile archive of Omar Abdelkafy's lectures (audio and video) , Wa Nafsun Ma Sawaha, episode 27, at 00:07:00 · Open the lesson at the archive
  17. Assabile archive of Omar Abdelkafy's lectures (audio and video) , Wa Nafsun Ma Sawaha, episode 27, at 00:07:30 · Open the lesson at the archive
  18. Assabile archive of Omar Abdelkafy's lectures (audio and video) , Wa Nafsun Ma Sawaha, episode 28, at 00:07:30 · Open the lesson at the archive
  19. Assabile archive of Omar Abdelkafy's lectures (audio and video) , Wa Nafsun Ma Sawaha, episode 28, at 00:08:00 · Open the lesson at the archive
  20. Assabile archive of Omar Abdelkafy's lectures (audio and video) , Wa Nafsun Ma Sawaha, episode 28, at 00:08:30 · Open the lesson at the archive
  21. Assabile archive of Omar Abdelkafy's lectures (audio and video) , Wa Nafsun Ma Sawaha, episode 28, at 00:09:00 · Open the lesson at the archive
  22. Assabile archive of Omar Abdelkafy's lectures (audio and video) , Wa Nafsun Ma Sawaha, episode 26, at 00:09:30 · Open the lesson at the archive
  23. Assabile archive of Omar Abdelkafy's lectures (audio and video) , Wa Nafsun Ma Sawaha, episode 26, at 00:10:00 · Open the lesson at the archive
  24. Assabile archive of Omar Abdelkafy's lectures (audio and video) , Wa Nafsun Ma Sawaha, episode 26, at 00:03:30 · Open the lesson at the archive
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Fine distinctions of Qur'anic vocabulary”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/concept/al-furuq-al-lafziyya-fil-quran/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-11-01.

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Wing

Ideas

Beliefs, concepts, sciences and schools, explained in plain words. Related

Bid'a (religious innovation)

Introducing into religion what the Lawgiver's command did not bring; Ibn Rajab makes Aisha's hadith 'whoever introduces into this matter of ours what is not of it has it rejected' the scale of deeds in their outward form, as the hadith of intentions is their scale inwardly: every act not upon the command of God and His Messenger is thrown back at its doer, and whoever introduces into religion what God and His Messenger did not permit is no part of the religion; he pairs it with al-Irbad ibn Sariya's hadith 'beware of newly introduced matters, for every innovation is an error', deferring the detailed discussion of innovations to his commentary on it (hadith 28); in that commentary he reads 'beware of novelties, for every innovation is error' as a warning to the community against following invented matters, emphasised by the universal 'every innovation is error', and defines the intended innovation as what is introduced with no foundation in the Law to indicate it — whatever does have a legal basis is no innovation in the legal sense though it may be one linguistically; he couples it with Jabir's sermon report in Sahih Muslim 'the worst of matters are their novelties and every innovation is error', with his account of the Rightly Guided as those who know the truth and follow it — unlike the ghawi who knows and does not follow and the dall who does not know at all — and with his reading of 'you will see much disagreement' as foretelling the community's divergence in roots and branches (Jami' al-Ulum wal-Hikam pp. 581–601).