Vocabulary(56)

Fa-atbaʿa: Tabiʿahu and ittabaʿahu mean “he went after him”, and atbaʿahu means “he caught up with him”. In the Qur’an the word itbāʿ is mostly used with a single object and means tabaʿa, that is, to go after – not to obey or to make someone a follower; for example, “So Pharaoh and his troops followed them”,(57) meaning tabiʿahum: Pharaoh and his soldiers set off after the Children of Israel. In the verses “So he followed a means”,(58) “Then he followed a means”(59) and “So Satan followed him”,(60) it means tabaʿa.(61)

ʿAyn: The word ʿayn is a homonym, and many meanings have been given for it, such as sea, sun, ready cash, dinar, inclination, spy and so on… .(62) Some consider the original meaning of the word to be “eye” and its other meanings to be metaphors drawn from it. A water spring is called ʿayn because it is likened to the water in an eye.(63)

Ḥamiʾah: Ḥamaʾah and ḥamaʾ mean foul-smelling black mud,(64) and ḥamy is the heat produced by hot and burning things such as fire and the sun, and the heat of the body.(65) “He found it setting in a muddy spring” means that he found the sun setting in murky, muddy water.