EXPLANATORY DICTIONARY OF THE HOLY QURAN

By Dr. Mir Aneesuddin Msc. PhD.

The dictionary is arranged in the reading order, i.e. words that appear first while reading the Holy Quran appear first in serial order of reading the Holy Quran

Root (ا ل ه)

This word First Appeared in verse (1:1)

Abstracts of the Attributes of Allah taken from two statements of Prophet Muhammed (SAWS) are based on the meanings conveyed through the respective root words and their derivatives used in the Holy Quran the chapter and verse numbers of which are given in brackets.

Allah is the name given in the Holy Quran to the Divine Being Who exists necessarily by Himself comprising all the Attributes of perfection. Allah is an underived word it neither has a feminine nor a plural. It has never been used for any deity except the True God. As a proper noun and a name it cannot be translated into any language. The word God is the translation of the word Ilaha which is not a personal name but the name of a status meaning The Supreme Authority in the Universe just like president, chairman, king, etc. There is only one Ilaha and that is Allah.

In the Holy Quran nothing is mentioned about His constitution, size or shape. He is beyond human imagination. We are required to recognize and call Him only through His name and Attributes (7:180) which also serve as His Functions. He is separate and different from His creation (58:7). He does not beget and He is not begotten. He cannot be seen (6:130). He is not only the Creator of the material universe but also the laws governing its birth, existence and end (7:54). He is the Supreme Authority in the universe having absolute power over everything, everywhere and every moment (5:17) (33:38). He does what He Wills or intends to (3:40) (2:253) and no one can question Him for His actions (21:23). All the forces are at His Command (48:4). The whole creation submits to Him (13:15) (16:49) glorifying Him (57:1). Everything belongs to Him as part of His kingdom (2:255) (3:189).

Allah is always alive, conscious and attentive being present everywhere, He does not die, does not sleep, does not become inattentive with regard to His creation and does not get tired managing it (2:115) (2:255) (25:58). He is Eternally Existing (3:2), Self Subsisting, established over everything, everywhere. He maintains conducts and sets right His creation. He is unique, One, Single having no partners and nothing else is like Him. He is the Indivisible Whole possessing all the Attributes at one and the same time which function with perfect coordination. He is Holy, Pure having nothing in Him except Himself, free from all defects, evils, short comings etc. He is the Absolute (59:23). He is Real, True, Right, Correct, Just etc. (22:6). He is the Ultimate Reality and not the product of someone’s conjecture or desire. He is the Light of the skies and the earth and guides to His light whom He wills (24:35). Light makes everything visible but is itself invisible (6:103).

His Powers:
He is the Owner, Master and the King of the universe (1:3) (3:26) (3:189) (23:116) (54:55). He is Independent (3:97) (35:15) (39:7) and everything else is dependent on Him (112:2). He is the Mighty, the Great, Firm and Strong (13:9) (59:23) (2:255) (56:74) (51:58) (22:74) Who holds together His creation (35:41). He measures out programmes and destines everything in His creation fixing the time and place of every event (54:3) (73:20) (6:96-97) (36:33-39) (41:9-12) (13:8) (77:20-23) (80:19-20) (54:49) (65:3) (25:2) (5:120) (18:45). He is Glorious (11:73) Possessor of Majesty, Honour and Bounty (55:27) Dominating (12:21) Who can compel everything to obey His orders (59:23) being Omnipotent (40:16) Who can subdue, subjugate, overwhelm, over power, defeat, etc. anyone and anything.

His association with space:
He is the Evident, the Outer Most, Who is external to everything at the same time He is hidden, the Inner Most internal with respect to everything (57:3). He is Omnipresent, Ample Giving Whose Power, Knowledge, Mercy etc. extend over everything (2:255) (20:98) (7:156). He expands the universe (51:47) being present everywhere (2:115). He grants in abundance to whom He wills. He encompasses everything having total knowledge of and total power on everything (4:126) (17:60) (65:12). He is the Nearest and First to hear us and respond to our prayers (2:186) (50:16). He is High and Exalted over everything (2:255) (7:190).

His association with time:
He is the First there was no one and nothing existing before Him and He will be the Last when everything will perish except Him. He is the One Who remains (28:88) (55:26-27) (57:3) (20:73). He has fixed the time and place of happening of every affair (54:3) but He has the power of preponing, postponing or even canceling it (13:39).

Abu Hurayrah (RA) a companion of prophet Muhammed (SAWS) reports that the messenger of Allah (SAWS) once said: Allah says Adam’s son (i.e. man) annoys Me by abusing time although I am TIME and the affair of alternating the night and the day is in My hand (which makes us conscious of time). Collected by Bukhari and Muslim.

His association with His creation:
He is the only Ilaha i.e. God in the skies and the earth (2:163) (43:84) (47:19). If there were two or more gods then there would have been total disorder in the whole universe due to their mutual fighting for achieving the ownership and control of the throne of the universe and each god would have taken away things which he had created (23:91) (17:42). Contrary to this there is perfect order in the creation (67:3-4). God is He Who creates and destroys, controls everything, is capable of harming and benefiting others (7:191-195) (10:18) (16:73-74) (22:73) (46:4-6). Can anything other than God do the above things? Therefore nothing from His creation is to be elevated to His position as partner or equal and doing this is an unforgivable sin (4:48,116). He is the Omniscient, knowing everything whether seen or unseen (6:101) (17:25) (22:70) (35:38) (59:22) and He is Wise (2:209). He is the Originator of the material and the energy in His creation, Assigner of Laws for the perfect and peaceful existence of His creation, Proportioner of the raw materials, Purifier as an eliminator of unwanted things and the Fashioner of the final products (2:117) (6:79) (30:30) (35:1) (59:24), He it is Who begins and gets things reproduced (21:104) (10:34). He sustains life (51:58) (15:20) through water (45:5), food (50:9-11), etc. bestowing more on some and less on others (2:212, 245) (13:26). He fosters everything (6:164) in such a manner as to make it attain one condition after another until it reaches its goal of completion i.e. He cherishes, nourishes, develops and evolves.

He is the Lord of the worlds (1:1) (11:107) (9:129). His Rahmat which conveys the sense of benefit, reward, safety out of mercy, good, etc. extends over everything (7:156). He has raised the heavenly bodies without any pillars and He is the Custodian, Controller and Monitor over everything (2:255) (4:85) (11:57) (13:2). He has the power to bring together all human beings on the day of resurrection (3:9) (77:38) and also the whole universe, ending it in the Big Crunch (75:9) (21:104) (39:67). He grants in abundance to whom He pleases (13:26). He is capable of finding, that is, nothing can be hidden from Him (38:44) (93:6). He computes, calculates and preserves the record of everything (36:12) (72:28). He inherits everything, that is, everything will go back to Him (57:10). He is The Praised. Everything, everywhere always praises and thanks Him but we do not understand their praise and glorification (17:44).

His association with mankind:
Real guidance is only Allah’s guidance (2:120). He guides whom He wills to the right way (14:4). He creates everything, sets up equilibrium in it, programmes it and then guides it to follow the programme (87:1-3). He is the Author of peace (59:23), Perfect, Sound, Defectless, Safe, Source of rising high, Dictator of the Religion of Peace i.e. Al – Islam, before Whom everything submits as a Muslim (3:83). He is the Granter of security, peace, safety. He is Reliable and Trustworthy, in Whose existence we are required to believe. This belief or Iman is an internal condition and Islam is its expression. He is the Guardian Who prevails providing protection, exhibiting love and mercy (59:23). He is the Subtle, Who is informed of the internally hidden conditions of everything. His Grace, Kindness, Beneficence, Mercy, etc. continuously work behind the scene without our noticing them immediately, we notice the result only after some time (6:103) (42:19) (67:13-14). Water is continuously evaporating without our notice to form clouds, we notice only the final effect as rain and vegetation. He is Clement, full of leniency, kindness, tolerance, forbearance, giving time for amendment though He has the power to punish us immediately for the sins committed by us (2:225) (3:155). Allah is the God, Strong and perfectly informed, inspite of this His Authority is denied and others beside Him are worshipped, respected and obeyed. He has he power of retaliation still He exhibits unmatched patience and restraint.

He is The Loving. His love is associated with His mercy and forgiveness. Love should be reciprocal which requires response from human beings in the form of obeying His orders (11:90) (85:14). He responds to one who prays to Him (2:186) (11:61). His grant is not restricted to those who pray to Him, He even grants to those who are unfit to receive it (14:39). He sometimes grants as a reward. He grants to whom He wills (3:8) (42:49).

He is The Helper (2:107) and when He helps no one can stop His help (3:13, 160). He obliges human beings by guiding them towards right belief (49:17).

He is The Trustee Who is Reliable, Dependable and Incharge of everything (6:102). We are required to put our total trust in Him and He loves such people (3:159) (65:3).

He is our Patron and Friend towards Whom we are required to turn for help (2:107). He is Kind, Benign Who exhibits His fidelity and response (52:28).

He is full of pity for others (9:117) saving His servants from harmful things which hinder their growth. His help should be sought (1:4) (21:112) and only He can benefit.

He has the charge and maintains everything (16:91). He is sufficient as Guardian (4:45), Helper, Trustee, Guide (4:81) (25:31) as one Who knows (4:70) as One Informed (17:17), Seeing, Witnessing (4:79) and as One Who takes account (4:6).

He is constantly and intensely Gracious (19:47). He elevates righteous deeds (35:10). He can forbid, prevent, harm and disgrace anyone. He sees (17:1), hears (2:127), is informed (2:234), is a witness (22:17), and Vigilant (33:52) over everything. He will raise the dead (22:7) to take an account of everything (4:86). He manifests the truth, He is the best Judge executing justice (95:8) (34:26). He acknowledges (2:158) our striving in His cause. He accepts repentance (4:16-18) (9:104), He pardons and He can protect us from committing sins and also the punishment of sins already committed (6:165) (39:53). He inflicts retribution (3:4) and is Severe in requiting evil (2:196).

Allah exhibiting all His Attributes gives life, causes to die (40:68), shapes us and gives us complexions as He wills (3:6) (35:28) (30:22). He gives us physical senses (16:78), knowledge (2:255) (96:4-5), wisdom (2:269), language and speech (30:22) (55: 2-4) (90:8-9). It is He Who gives us happiness and sorrow (53:43) and restores us to health (26:80). He grants us mates (30:21), children (male or female), progeny (16:72) (42:49-50) (23:79) and relatives (25:54). He grants us sleep for rest (25:47) (78:9) and provides us with food (11:6) (15:20-21) (27:64), clothes (16:81), houses (16:80), roads (20:53), and means of transport (17:70) (36:41-42) (40:79). He sanctifies (4:49) (24:21) and grants higher or lower status to whom He wills (3:26) (12:76) (43:32). He has subjected everything in the universe to serve us (31:20) and made us collectively responsible to implement His laws (2:30-39) (6:165) for the peaceful existence of mankind. All this He has done to TEST us so as to mark out the dwellers of paradise and hell (11:7) (67:2) (76:2) and to help us in achieving success in this test He has been extremely fair in providing us with guidance in the form of Divine revelations communicated through His messengers (PBT) who were sent to all communities (16:36) (35:24) (40:78) the final form of which is the Holy Quran (5:48) and the last Messenger Muhammed (SAWS) (33:40).