Tarawih Top 🔟 

Juz 19 (Surah Al Furqan and Surah An Naml)

Here are some beneficial fruits 🍐 from the Quran:

1.) The root (ر - ب - ب) indicates the meaning of nurturing something and raising it from childhood 🧒to adulthood 🧑. From this root, we obtain the verb رَبَّى - يُرَبِّي and its resulting gerund/infinitive (مصدر) of تَرْبِيَةٌ, which means “upbringing,” specifically raising a child upon proper Islamic etiquette.  This is how this word appears in the following verse: قَالَ أَلَمْ نُرَبِّكَ فِينَا وَلِيدًۭا وَلَبِثْتَ فِينَا مِنْ عُمُرِكَ سِنِينَ [“Pharaoh protested, “Did we not raise you among us as a child, and you stayed several years of your life in our care?” (26:18)], in which Fir’awn defiantly questions Musa عليه السلام.  This root is also where the word رَبٌّ comes from. This word is commonly translated as “Lord,” but its meaning is much deeper. A رَبٌّ is one who cares for someone and raises them properly. Therefore, رَبٌّ is more accurately translated as “Nourisher, Sustainer.”

2.) The word وَلِيدٌ means “child.” Its root (و - ل - د) refers to procreation. The word وَلِيدٌ therefore literally means “one who is born” (مَولُودٌ).  This word appears in the following verse: قَالَ أَلَمْ نُرَبِّكَ فِينَا وَلِيدًۭا وَلَبِثْتَ فِينَا مِنْ عُمُرِكَ سِنِينَ [“Pharaoh protested, “Did we not raise you among us as a child, and you stayed several years of your life in our care?” (26:18)], in which Firawn claims that he raised Musa عليه السلام as a child amongst his presence. This word is similar to the word وَلَد, which also means “boy 🧒.” Another derived word is وَالِدٌ (“father”) and وَالِدَةٌ (“mother”), which literally translate to “the one who gave birth to”. 

3.) The root (ف - ر - ر) gives the meaning of fleeing or escaping from. From this root, we obtain the verb فَرَّ - يَفِرُّ, and its gerund مصدر of الفِرَار (“fleeing/escaping”).  This verb appears in the following verse: فَفَرَرْتُ مِنكُمْ لَمَّا خِفْتُكُمْ فَوَهَبَ لِى رَبِّى حُكْمًۭا وَجَعَلَنِى مِنَ ٱلْمُرْسَلِينَ [“So I fled from you when I feared you. Then my Lord granted me wisdom and made me one of the messengers” (26:21)], as Musa عليه السلام explains to Firawn that he had to flee from him when he accidentally killed a man out of fear of punishment. 

4.) The root (و - ه - ب) refers to gifting or granting something to someone. From this, we obtain the verb وَهَبَ - يَهِبُ, which means “to grant or gift something to someone.” 🎁 . God is also described as الوَهَّابُ, meaning “The Utmostly Granting.” In the following verse: فَفَرَرْتُ مِنكُمْ لَمَّا خِفْتُكُمْ فَوَهَبَ لِى رَبِّى حُكْمًۭا وَجَعَلَنِى مِنَ ٱلْمُرْسَلِينَ [“So I fled from you when I feared you. Then my Lord granted me wisdom and made me one of the messengers” (26:21)], Musa عليه السلام uses this verb to state that God has granted him wisdom and made him one of the messengers. Another related word is مَوْهِبَةٌ, which means “naturally endowed talent,” as this is something that God gives to people as He wills.

5.) The root (م - ن - ن) has two seemingly antagonistic meanings: 1.) to grant/give, and 2.) to prevent or cut off. Context determines which meaning is intended.  The former meaning is used in the Quran with the verb مَنَّ - يَمُنُّ, meaning “to gift, grant 🎁”, and is also used to describe God as المَنَّانُ (“The Granter, Bestower of Blessings”). This verb is seen in the following verse: يَمُنُّونَ عَلَيْكَ أَنْ أَسْلَمُوا۟ ۖ قُل لَّا تَمُنُّوا۟ عَلَىَّ إِسْلَـٰمَكُم ۖ بَلِ ٱللَّهُ يَمُنُّ عَلَيْكُمْ أَنْ هَدَىٰكُمْ لِلْإِيمَـٰنِ إِن كُنتُمْ صَـٰدِقِينَ [“They regard their acceptance of Islam as a favour to you. Tell ˹them, O  Prophet ﷺ˺, “Do not regard your Islam as a favour to me. Rather, it is Allah Who has done you a favour by guiding you to the faith, if ˹indeed˺ you are faithful” (49:17)].  As for the latter meaning, derived words include المَنِينُ, meaning a weak or cut-off rope.

6.) The root (ف - ر - ع) means raising oneself. This is apt for the name فِرْعَونُ (“Firawn or Pharaoh”), as he was stubborn and arrogant and tried to elevate himself, even claiming that he was god. We see Pharaoh come up frequently in the Quran, such as in the following verse: وَأَدْخِلْ يَدَكَ فِى جَيْبِكَ تَخْرُجْ بَيْضَآءَ مِنْ غَيْرِ سُوٓءٍۢ ۖ فِى تِسْعِ ءَايَـٰتٍ إِلَىٰ فِرْعَوْنَ وَقَوْمِهِۦٓ ۚ إِنَّهُمْ كَانُوا۟ قَوْمًۭا فَـٰسِقِينَ [“Now put your hand through ˹the opening of˺ your collar, it will come out ˹shining˺ white, unblemished. ˹These are two˺ of nine signs for Pharaoh and his people. They have truly been a rebellious people” (27:12)].  Another unrelated meaning of this root is plentitude. An example of this is the word أَفْرَعُ, which is used to describe the Prophet ﷺ, as he had a head full of hair.

7.) The root (س - م - ع) means “to hear.” From this root, we obtain the verb سَمِعَ, which is directly aligned with its root meaning: “to hear.” Interestingly, the word السَّمْعُ can mean “hearing,” but it can also refer to someone’s reputation or fame. The word سَمَاع is commonly used in the language to refer to a word that has no reason for its morphological pattern, and that the Arabs simply used it in that way. An example of this is the phrase ما شاء الله, which is used to declare the Greatness of God whenever we see something good happening. However, the way to express astonishment or amazement uses a different form (either مَا أَفْعَلَهُ or أَفْعِلْ بِهِ). Here, therefore, the expression ما شاء اللهُ, conveys this astonishment, but without adherence to the typical way of expressing it, which we know was the way of the Arabs, hence it is referred to as السماع. Also from this root, we obtain the verb اِسْتمَعَ, which means “to listen to intently”, as occurs in the following verse: قَالَ لِمَنْ حَوْلَهُۥٓ أَلَا تَسْتَمِعُونَ [“Pharaoh said to those around him, “Did you hear ˹what he said˺?” (26:25)].

8.) The root (س - ج - ن) gives the meaning of confinement or restraining. From this, we obtain the word سِجْنٌ (“prison”), so named because a prison is where prisoners are confined. The receiving pattern (اِسْمُ المَفْعُول) is used in its plural form (مَسْجُونِينَ) in the following verse: قَالَ لَئِنِ ٱتَّخَذْتَ إِلَـٰهًا غَيْرِى لَأَجْعَلَنَّكَ مِنَ ٱلْمَسْجُونِينَ [“Pharaoh threatened, ‘If you take any other god besides me, I will certainly have you imprisoned’” (26:29)], in which Firawn threatens to imprison those who do not believe in his false claim of godhood.

9.) The word ثُعْبَانٌ means “(male) snake,” 🐍 (a female snake is حَيَّةٌ, also in the Quran) and it comes from the root (ث - ع - ب), which indicates a meaning of the lengthening and straightening of something. This is an apt description of a snake, which is an animal that is straightened out and lengthened in both its form and in its movement. This word ثُعْبَانٌ is used in the following verse: فَأَلْقَىٰ عَصَاهُ فَإِذَا هِىَ ثُعْبَانٌۭ مُّبِينٌۭ [“So he threw down his staff and behold! It became a clear snake” (26:32)], in which Musa عليه السلام threw down his staff (عَصَا), and it became a snake, one of his miracles used against Firawn.

10.) The root (ل - ق - ف) refers to the devouring of something that is thrown towards it.  The verbal version is لَقِفَ - يَلْقَفُ, which means to snatch up quickly or to swallow whole. The latter meaning of swallowing is evident in the following verse: فَأَلْقَىٰ مُوسَىٰ عَصَاهُ فَإِذَا هِىَ تَلْقَفُ مَا يَأْفِكُونَ [“Then Moses threw down his staff, and behold! It devoured the objects of their illusion” (26:45), in which the snake (originally the staff of Moses, then turned into a snake by the Miracle of God) devoured and swallowed the other serpents of the magicians of Firawn.