Qur’anic Root A F Q

1. Qur’anic forms and semantic core

A F Q occurs three times in three ayahs, only in nominal forms.

Al-ufuqi in Al-Najm 53:7 and Al-Takwīr 81:23 is a definite singular noun. Both follow the preposition bi and are genitive; al-āfāqi in Fuṣṣilat 41:53 is also genitive after fī.

Al-āfāqi in Fuṣṣilat 41:53 is the plural of ufuq.

Arabic records two singular forms, أُفُق (ufuq) and أُفْق (ufq), both denoting a horizon or distant region.

The Qur’anic form al-ufuqi has ḍammah on both hamzah and fāʾ.

Āfāq is its broken plural and can concern regions of the sky or different earthly reaches and lands.

Other Arabic family members include أَفَقَ (afaqa), going into different regions; أُفُقِيّ (ufuqī), someone or something belonging to a horizon or region; and آفِق (āfiq), in some uses, someone reaching a high degree in knowledge, generosity, or another quality.

These verbal and adjectival derivatives do not occur in the Qur’an as members of this root.

The principal branch’s semantic core may be expressed as:

A horizon or region within an expanse, especially the farthest reach of sight in the relation between sky and earth; in the plural, different regions and reaches of the world.

Region and expanse are the two prominent elements.

Distance should not be made a fixed measurable quantity. A horizon depends on the observer’s position: what appears to be the farthest visible reach from one place may not be so from another.

Nor is everything distant necessarily a horizon. The word concerns a region or reach within an expanse, rather than every distant object.

2. أُفُق (ufuq) in early Arabic: the reach of sight and regions of sky and earth

Where sky and earth appear to meet

In familiar Arabic usage, ufuq denotes the distant reach an observer sees, where sky appears to meet earth.

Someone standing on a flat desert sees the land extending into the distance. At the limit of sight, land and sky seem to intersect.

That visible reach is the horizon.

Sky and earth have not actually joined there. The expression concerns what appears within human sight.

Early Arabic also uses ufuq for regions of sky and the earth’s surroundings. These recorded uses are therefore not confined to a narrow line.

In descriptions of sunrise and sunset, the horizon is where the sun appears or disappears from view.

An early lexical transmission quotes:

حَتَّىٰ إِذَا مَنْظَرُ الْغَرْبِيِّ حَارَ دَمًا
مِنْ حُمْرَةِ الشَّمْسِ لَمَّا اغْتَالَهَا الْأُفُقُ

ḥattā idhā manẓaru al-gharbiyyi ḥāra daman / min ḥumrati al-shamsi lammā ightālahā al-ufuqu

“Until the western prospect turned blood-red with the sun’s redness, when the horizon stole it from sight.”

Ufuq here connects with sunset.

The poet describes the sun’s disappearance figuratively: as though the horizon swallowed it or stole it from sight.

The image illustrates Arabic ufuq as a reach where the appearance and disappearance of heavenly bodies can be observed.

The poetic concealment of the sun is not the root’s lexical meaning. Ufuq does not mean swallowing or destroying: the line depicts sunset through imagery.

The lexical transmission does not clearly identify the poet or composition date, so the line cannot be presented as conclusive pre-Islamic evidence. Descriptions of rising and setting at the horizon are nevertheless familiar within older Arabic witnesses.

آفَاقُ السَّمَاءِ (āfāqu al-samāʾi) and آفَاقُ الْأَرْضِ (āfāqu al-arḍi)

Arabic uses āfāq for both sky and earth, with its referent determined by the expanse whose regions are described.

Āfāqu al-samāʾi denotes the sky’s regions and reaches, particularly parts of the visible expanse extending in different directions.

Āfāqu al-arḍi concerns earthly surroundings, regions, and different lands.

The second use does not necessarily mean the line where sky and earth seem to meet.

Travelling through āfāqu al-arḍ means travelling through different regions and lands, not necessarily reaching the visible meeting point of sky and earth.

This distinction matters in Fuṣṣilat 41:53, where al-āfāq has a broader semantic capacity than a single visible line.

Horizons in different directions

Early Arabic did not restrict ufuq to one geographical direction.

It spoke of different horizons or reaches associated with familiar winds and their quarters, such as north, south, east, and west.

Ufuq therefore does not inherently mean east, even when a particular context concerns an eastern horizon.

Nor does it inherently mean west, even when sunset brings the western horizon into view.

Description, the observer’s situation, and other contextual clues establish direction.

A house’s reaches and a road’s course

Arabic also records أُفُقُ الْبَيْتِ (ufuqu al-bayti) for the regions of a house or tent.

Here it concerns the reaches and surrounding parts of a limited space.

أَفَقُ الطَّرِيقِ (afaqu al-ṭarīqi) is also recorded for a road’s direction and course.

These uses show that the concept is not confined to the sky. The regions and reaches of a familiar space can also belong to its field.

That extension does not make every edge, wall, or boundary indiscriminately an ufuq.

Its familiar, prominent meaning remains connected with broad regions and distant reaches.

3. Travelling through the āfāq and other branches

أَفَقَ فُلَانٌ (afaqa fulānun): going into different regions

Arabic records afaqa fulānun for someone setting out and travelling through different earthly regions.

The verb’s connection with āfāq is clear in this use.

A traveller leaves one region and reaches others.

Some Arabic uses also employ ufuqī and أَفَقِيّ (afaqī) for someone coming from another region or belonging to a distant quarter.

These identify a person’s geographical relation, not moral or religious rank.

The branch shows that a horizon is not solely something seen from afar: the broad regions through which someone moves and travels are also called āfāq.

آفِق (āfiq): reaching an outstanding degree

Another use describes someone as āfiq when reaching an outstanding degree in knowledge, generosity, or another good quality.

أَفِقَ (afiqa) is also recorded for excelling or surpassing others.

Al-Aʿshā, an early Arabic poet, uses يَأْفِقُ (yaʾfiqu) when describing Al-Nuʿmān’s conduct and generosity. Explanations include excelling in giving and taking or gathering from different regions.

وَلَا الْمَلِكُ النُّعْمَانُ يَوْمَ لَقِيتُهُ
بِغِبْطَتِهِ يُعْطِي الْقُطُوطَ وَيَأْفِقُ

wa-lā al-maliku al-nuʿmānu yawma laqītuhu / bi-ghibṭatihi yuʿṭī al-quṭūṭa wa-yaʾfiqu

“Nor did King Al-Nuʿmān [escape death], when I saw him in his prosperity, granting written awards and surpassing others in giving.”

In this lexical transmission, quṭūṭ means written awards, and one explanation of yaʾfiqu is surpassing others in giving; taking from different regions or sealing the awards are also recorded explanations. The line recalls kingship’s impermanence; the bracketed clause comes from its context. Other wordings are transmitted, and its exact composition date is unknown.

The disagreement means the poetic use should not be treated unreservedly as conclusive evidence for just one explanation.

A connection between excellence and reaching an expanse’s utmost extent is intelligible. It does not establish that every āfiq use historically developed from the visible horizon.

This meaning does not occur in the Qur’an and should not enter the definition of al-ufuqi al-aʿlā.

Al-aʿlā describes the horizon itself; the phrase is not āfiq meaning an outstandingly learned or generous person.

أَفِيق (afīq): hides at different stages of tanning

Arabic sources record afīq for a hide at a stage of preparation or tanning. Some transmissions describe unfinished tanning; others a fully tanned hide not yet sewn.

Explanations differ about the precise preparation stage. The name should therefore not be restricted to incompletely tanned hides in every transmission.

The use is grouped under A F Q, but its historical connection with the sky’s horizon and earthly regions has not been clearly established.

Sharing a dictionary entry does not justify an imagined necessary relationship between tanned leather, expanding horizons, and reaching the earth’s limits.

No Qur’anic occurrence of the root concerns hides or tanning.

The regions-and-reaches branch therefore has more direct support for a Qur’anic definition.

4. بِالْأُفُقِ الْمُبِينِ: the clear horizon in Al-Takwīr

Al-Takwīr says:

وَلَقَدْ رَآهُ بِالْأُفُقِ الْمُبِينِ

wa-la-qad raʾāhu bi-l-ufuqi al-mubīni

“And he has indeed seen him on the clear horizon.”

Al-Takwīr 81:23

The ayah concerns seeing someone on the horizon.

رَآهُ (raʾāhu), from R A Y, expresses seeing.

بِالْأُفُقِ (bi-l-ufuqi) locates the sighting.

الْمُبِينِ (al-mubīni), from B Y N, describes the horizon.

A F Q itself therefore does not mean seeing. The horizon is the region where the sighting occurs.

Who was seen?

Identifying the attached hu in raʾāhu requires attention to the preceding ayahs.

Al-Takwīr 81:19 mentions رَسُولٍ كَرِيمٍ (rasūlin karīmin), “a noble Messenger.”

Al-Takwīr 81:20 describes him as possessing strength and an established station with the Lord of the Throne.

Al-Takwīr 81:21 describes him as obeyed and trustworthy.

Al-Takwīr 81:22 then affirms that “your companion” is not mad.

Within this sequence, a familiar reading is that Muḥammad saw the noble Messenger just described, commonly identified in this passage as Jibrīl.

Context supports that reading, but ufuq’s lexical meaning does not depend on the identity of the one seen.

The word locates the sighting. Pronoun reference and the identity of the one seen are separate syntactic and contextual questions.

What does الْمُبِينِ (al-mubīni) mean?

Mubīn concerns being clear or making clear.

It can describe a clear, manifest horizon where the sighting occurs.

Mubīn does not itself mean eastern.

Some earlier readings connect this horizon with the direction of sunrise. Such localization may belong to a historical interpretation, but it does not necessarily follow from mubīn itself.

“The clear horizon” and “the eastern horizon” are different descriptions.

The first has direct support in the wording; the second requires a separate clue or report.

Al-mubīn should likewise not be made the name of a particular unseen realm or a station with an unknown structure.

The ayah describes a clear horizon; further details require other evidence.

A horizon marks a field of view, not creation’s limit

A sighting at the horizon should not turn that horizon into the actual outer boundary of the entire universe.

Lexically, it relates to the field of view and the region appearing from an observer’s position.

The farthest visible reach is not the actual end of the sky or creation.

Bi-l-ufuqi al-mubīni does not itself state the universe’s size or restrict the sky to a specified surface.

For the root here, the relevant point is the clear region of the sighting.

5. بِالْأُفُقِ الْأَعْلَىٰ: the high horizon in Al-Najm

Al-Najm says:

وَهُوَ بِالْأُفُقِ الْأَعْلَىٰ

wa-huwa bi-l-ufuqi al-aʿlā

“And he was on the higher horizon.”

Al-Najm 53:7

Ufuq is again singular, but its description differs from Al-Takwīr.

Al-mubīni in Al-Takwīr emphasizes the horizon’s clarity.

Al-aʿlā in Al-Najm concerns height and a higher position.

The two ayahs therefore use the same noun with different adjectives.

The ayah’s context: teaching and seeing

Al-Najm 53:5 speaks of revelation being taught by شَدِيدُ الْقُوَىٰ (shadīdu al-quwā), one mighty in powers.

Al-Najm 53:6 gives the description ذُو مِرَّةٍ (dhū mirratin), followed by فَاسْتَوَىٰ (fa-stawā).

The seventh ayah continues with وَهُوَ بِالْأُفُقِ الْأَعْلَىٰ (wa-huwa bi-l-ufuqi al-aʿlā).

In a familiar reading, huwa refers to that powerful being who teaches revelation.

Other readings differ over the pronoun’s referent and its relationship to fa-stawā. Some analyses connect it with Muḥammad or his position in the scene of receiving revelation.

This disagreement matters for understanding the passage as a whole. It should not be considered settled merely by the meaning of ufuq.

The word itself expresses a position on a horizon described as al-aʿlā.

What does الْأَعْلَىٰ (al-aʿlā) add?

Aʿlā comes from ʿ L W and indicates height or superiority relative to something else.

In al-ufuqi al-aʿlā, spatial height is prominent.

A high horizon must nevertheless be distinguished from a specified layer of sky.

The phrase itself names no particular heavenly layer. Nor does it supply spatial coordinates or a numerical distance.

Conversely, the word’s spatial meaning should not be removed without reason and replaced entirely by spiritual rank or station.

Arabic ufuq denotes a region or reach of the sky-and-earth expanse; aʿlā describes its height.

A broader interpretation may connect the expression with an exalted position or a distinctive experience of receiving revelation. A F Q alone does not establish such an interpretation.

Is الْأُفُقِ الْأَعْلَىٰ the same as الْأُفُقِ الْمُبِينِ?

The two ayahs are close in subject and linguistic construction.

Both mention al-ufuqi, and both belong to contexts of revelation and seeing.

They may therefore refer to one scene or to two related descriptions of it.

The shared word ufuq alone cannot prove that the event or precise position is identical.

Mubīn and aʿlā are not synonyms either.

One horizon might be described as both clear and high. That possible overlap does not make the adjectives identical.

For this root study, their clear distinction should be retained: one emphasizes clarity, the other height.

An independent investigation of every pronoun, the sequence of events, and the nature of the sighting in Al-Najm and Al-Takwīr requires a fuller study of those passages.

6. فِي الْآفَاقِ وَفِي أَنْفُسِهِمْ: signs in the world’s expanses and in people themselves

Fuṣṣilat says:

سَنُرِيهِمْ آيَاتِنَا فِي الْآفَاقِ وَفِي أَنْفُسِهِمْ حَتَّىٰ يَتَبَيَّنَ لَهُمْ أَنَّهُ الْحَقُّ أَوَلَمْ يَكْفِ بِرَبِّكَ أَنَّهُ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ شَهِيدٌ

sanurīhim āyātinā fī al-āfāqi wa-fī anfusihim ḥattā yatabayyana lahum annahu al-ḥaqqu a-wa-lam yakfi bi-rabbika annahu ʿalā kulli shayʾin shahīdun

“We shall show them Our signs in the regions and reaches of the world and in themselves, until it becomes clear to them that it is the truth. Is it not sufficient that your Lord is witness over everything?”

Fuṣṣilat 41:53

This is the Qur’an’s only occurrence of the plural āfāq.

Here al-āfāqi stands in contrast with anfusihim, “themselves.”

That contrast matters for understanding the word.

Āfāq denotes regions and expanses outside the people themselves, whereas anfusihim turns attention back to them.

The ayah thus presents two fields of observation and knowledge: what becomes manifest in the external expanse and what can be known in people themselves.

Does āfāq mean only the sky and stars?

Lexically, āfāq can include regions of the sky.

Stars, the sun, the moon, and other heavenly phenomena belong within such an expanse.

Arabic also uses āfāq for earthly regions.

Fī al-āfāqi therefore cannot be translated solely as “in the stars and galaxies.”

That would substitute one possible instance for the word’s wider meaning.

Nor should āfāq be restricted to distant lands and historical conquests: the word can concern regions of both sky and earth.

The ayah uses the general expression al-āfāq without an exhaustive list specifying every kind of sign that will appear there.

Can historical and social events also be intended?

Arabic āfāq can denote different regions and lands.

Events occurring there may therefore become objects of observation and knowledge where context supports this.

Earlier readings sometimes connect the ayah with the spread of Muḥammad’s call and changes in lands around Makkah.

That reading can be examined in relation to the historical context.

Fuṣṣilat 41:52 concerns people who may have denied something coming from The God. The following ayah speaks of signs that will be shown to make the truth clear to them.

Future events challenging their claim may therefore fall within this promise.

The lexical meaning of āfāq, however, is not victory, the conquest of cities, or a government’s expansion.

These are possible interpretive instances to be assessed against context and historical evidence.

The importance of سَنُرِيهِمْ (sanurīhim)

The ayah says sanurīhim, “We shall show them.”

The verb announces a future showing.

The ayah therefore does more than state that signs exist in the world. It promises that signs will be shown to the group concerned so that the truth becomes clear to them.

This distinction matters.

If āfāq means only phenomena that the audience has always already seen, an explanation is still needed of the fresh disclosure or knowledge promised for the future.

The promise may concern new events, the meaning of earlier signs becoming clear, or an encounter with evidence that had not previously been clear to that audience in the same way.

The future verb does not establish that the ayah necessarily concerns a particular scientific discovery centuries later.

Time, audience, and the nature of the sign require independent contextual clues.

فِي الْآفَاقِ: the external expanse, beyond sight lines alone

The ayah has plural āfāq rather than singular ufuq.

Lexically, this plural can denote a range of different regions.

“Along the horizon lines” would therefore be too narrow a translation.

What matters here is the breadth of the external field: regions where signs become observable and knowable.

“In the world’s regions,” “in the world’s reaches,” or “in the external expanses” can convey this.

“The external world” is itself a contextual explanation arising from the contrast with anfusihim. Āfāq alone does not philosophically divide the entire world into inner and outer parts.

وَفِي أَنْفُسِهِمْ: signs in people themselves

Alongside āfāq, the Qur’an mentions anfusihim, “themselves.”

This turns attention from the surrounding expanses back to people themselves.

Human existence, life, experience, abilities, changes, and the events someone encounters may all enter the field of recognizing signs.

Without a contextual clue, anfusihim should not be limited to bodily structure or organs alone.

Nor should it be reduced to mystical experience or inward knowledge in a later philosophical sense.

Nafs has a broad range of Qur’anic uses; its precise meaning must be examined in each context.

In Fuṣṣilat 41:53, the contrast between āfāq and anfusihim shows that signs are not confined to surroundings distant from people. People themselves also enter the field where truth becomes manifest.

A related witness in Al-Dhāriyāt

Al-Dhāriyāt 51:20 says:

وَفِي الْأَرْضِ آيَاتٌ لِلْمُوقِنِينَ

wa-fī al-arḍi āyātun li-l-mūqinīna

“And on earth are signs for those with certainty.”

Al-Dhāriyāt 51:20

The next ayah says:

وَفِي أَنْفُسِكُمْ أَفَلَا تُبْصِرُونَ

wa-fī anfusikum a-fa-lā tubṣirūna

“And in yourselves too; do you not see?”

Al-Dhāriyāt 51:21

These two ayahs are close in semantic structure to Fuṣṣilat 41:53.

Al-Dhāriyāt mentions signs on earth and in people themselves.

Fuṣṣilat presents signs in the āfāq and in people themselves.

This pairing shows that the Qur’an directs human attention both toward the surrounding environment and toward people themselves.

Al-arḍ and al-āfāq are not exact synonyms, however.

Arḍ denotes the earth, whereas āfāq denotes regions and reaches that may encompass the expanses of both sky and earth.

This distinction should be preserved in translation.

حَتَّىٰ يَتَبَيَّنَ لَهُمْ أَنَّهُ الْحَقُّ

The end of the ayah’s first part states the purpose of showing the signs: making the truth clear to the audience.

In the context of Fuṣṣilat 41:52, the discussion concerns something that may come from The God and that opponents have denied. On a clear reading, the pronoun in annahu is therefore connected with the truth of the message and revelation.

Identifying that pronoun’s precise referent is nevertheless a separate question from the meaning of A F Q.

Āfāq itself does not mean proving the Qur’an, coming to faith, or certainty.

Those ideas are understood from the showing of signs, the purpose expressed by yatabayyana, and the surah’s context.

The promise of showing signs should not become a claim that every scientific observation or historical event necessarily proves a particular reading of the Qur’an without argument.

The ayah speaks of truth becoming manifest through signs. Determining the relationship between each sign and the conclusion drawn from it requires care and evidence.

7. Distinguishing A F Q from related roots

A F Q (أُفُق, ufuq) and S M W (سَمَاء, samāʾ)

Study of S M W

In its familiar use, samāʾ concerns the sky, the upward direction, and what lies above people.

Ufuq concerns a region or reach within the visible expanse.

The two can occur in one scene. A sky horizon is part of the sky’s visible expanse.

Samāʾ does not necessarily mean horizon: what is directly overhead also belongs within its field.

Conversely, āfāqu al-arḍi denotes earthly regions and is not limited to the sky.

Ufuq should therefore not always be translated as “sky.”

A F Q (أُفُق, ufuq) and ʿ L W (عُلُوّ, ʿuluww)

Study of ʿ L W (Not yet published)

ʿUluww concerns height and being above.

Al-Najm 53:7 brings both concepts together in al-ufuqi al-aʿlā.

Ufuq expresses the region or reach; aʿlā describes its height.

Height is therefore not a necessary element in every horizon’s meaning.

One may speak of a lower horizon, a high horizon, or a horizon in a specified direction. Description and context supply these features.

A F Q (أُفُق, ufuq) and Ṭ R F (طَرَف, ṭaraf)

Study of Ṭ R F

Ṭaraf concerns something’s edge or end.

Ufuq also relates to reaches, but in familiar usage denotes a region within the sky-and-earth expanse.

A horizon can be regarded as an edge in one respect, but not every edge or extremity is a horizon.

Ṭā Hā 20:130 mentions أَطْرَافَ النَّهَارِ (aṭrāfa al-nahāri), the day’s temporal parts or extremities.

This shows that ṭaraf can also concern time.

The three Qur’anic ufuq occurrences concern a spatial region or expanse, rather than names for parts of the day.

A F Q (أُفُق, ufuq) and W J H (جِهَة, jihah)

Study of W J H

Jihah belongs to the W J H family and denotes something’s direction or side in Arabic; its final tāʾ is not the root’s third radical.

A horizon may lie in a particular direction, but it does not merely name a direction.

East, for example, is a direction; the eastern horizon is a reach of the field of view in that direction.

This distinction matters when translating al-ufuqi al-mubīni. A horizon’s presence alone does not establish that it lies east or west.

A F Q (أُفُق, ufuq) and A F L (أَفَلَ, afala)

Study of A F L

The two roots are close in letters but independent.

The Qur’an uses afala for a heavenly body’s disappearance or setting.

In Al-Anʿām 6:76, Ibrāhīm speaks of the setting of what he observes.

Ufuq belongs to A F Q and concerns a reach or region.

The sun or a star may disappear from sight at the horizon. This relationship does not make afala and ufuq identical.

Afala is a verb of disappearance; ufuq names a region where such a phenomenon may be observed.

A F Q (أُفُق, ufuq) and A F K (إِفْك, ifk)

Study of A F K

A F K concerns turning or diverting, and in ethical uses, falsehood and the distortion of truth.

It is distinct from A F Q.

Āfāq names regions and reaches; ifk concerns false speech or the distortion of truth.

Similar letters must not transfer lying or deception into the meaning of ufuq.

The later use of أَفَّاق (affāq) for certain wanderers or deceivers likewise does not give Qur’anic al-āfāq a negative moral meaning.

Distinguishing أُفُق (ufuq) from أَفَاقَ (afāqa), regaining consciousness

Study of F W Q

Arabic afāqa can mean regaining consciousness, emerging from unconsciousness, or recovering awareness.

Al-Aʿrāf 7:143 uses this verb of Mūsā.

In this sense, afāqa/yufīqu belongs to F W Q rather than A F Q.

A roughly similar written form should not make āfāq mean mental awakening or regaining consciousness.

“Opening a horizon of awareness” may be an intelligible metaphor in modern writing. It does not provide lexical evidence that ufuq and afāqa share a root.

8. The Qur’anic horizon: the visible expanse and the field where signs appear

The root’s three Qur’anic occurrences can be examined on two levels.

Al-Najm 53:7 and Al-Takwīr 81:23 have singular al-ufuqi, each with a particular description.

One describes the horizon as al-aʿlā, the other as al-mubīn.

Both ayahs concern receiving revelation and seeing. The horizon’s spatial and visual sense is therefore prominent.

Fuṣṣilat 41:53 instead has plural al-āfāq.

This concerns signs being shown across different regions, rather than someone being seen at a particular horizon.

The plural can thus broaden the semantic field from one particular reach to a range of external regions.

This difference should not become a rigid philosophical system in which singular “horizon” always means sensory observation and plural “horizons” always means intellectual knowledge.

In all three ayahs, the word remains connected with region and expanse. The accompanying verb and the ayah’s subject make the difference.

Al-Takwīr uses the verb of seeing.

Al-Najm describes being at the horizon.

Fuṣṣilat presents signs being shown in the āfāq.

These uses cannot all be reduced to an “epistemic horizon” or a “spiritual rank.”

Conversely, the Qur’an’s horizon imagery should not be restricted to a geographical description that overlooks its role in the discourse.

In the first two ayahs, the horizon is a site of observation in the context of revelation. In the third, the āfāq are a field where signs appear and become connected with recognizing truth.

The lexical meaning of ufuq is therefore a region or reach; in Qur’anic context it can serve as a site of observation and recognition of signs.

The word’s meaning and its role in the sentence should remain distinct.

9. Translation proposals for Forqan

For ufuq, the principal English equivalent is “horizon.”

This familiar word conveys the visible reach where sky and earth appear to meet.

Where explanation is needed, “the reach of sight” or “the sky-and-earth horizon” can make its meaning clearer.

For plural āfāq, context may favor “horizons,” “regions,” “different lands,” or “the world’s expanses.”

Al-Takwīr 81:23

For bi-l-ufuqi al-mubīni, the proposed translation is:

“On the clear horizon.”

In the complete sentence:

“And he has indeed seen him on the clear horizon.”

“On the bright horizon” is also defensible, but “clear” better preserves mubīn without restricting it to physical illumination.

Without independent evidence, mubīn should not become “eastern” or “the east” in translation.

Al-Najm 53:7

For bi-l-ufuqi al-aʿlā, the proposed translation is:

“On the higher horizon.”

In the complete sentence:

“And he was on the higher horizon.”

“On the high horizon” is also natural. “Higher horizon” makes the elative construction in al-aʿlā more explicit.

The translation should not substitute a specified heavenly layer or particular mystical station for the word itself.

Fuṣṣilat 41:53

For fī al-āfāqi, the most suitable equivalent in this context is:

“In the regions and reaches of the world.”

In the complete sentence:

“We shall show them Our signs in the regions and reaches of the world and in themselves, until it becomes clear to them that it is the truth.”

This preserves the plural and allows regions of both sky and earth to remain within the word’s scope.

“In the world outside themselves” is also a natural explanation based on the contrast with wa-fī anfusihim. It is not a direct equivalent of every component of al-āfāq.

“In the galaxies” is too narrow, removing earthly lands and regions from the word’s scope.

“In the conquests” may convey a particular historical reading, but is not al-āfāq’s direct lexical meaning.

“Throughout the universe” may convey breadth, but risks a broader generalization than the wording itself necessarily states.

For Forqan’s base text, “the regions and reaches of the world” is therefore preferable.

Non-Qur’anic forms

Arabic ufuqī may be translated as “belonging to a horizon or particular region.”

In travel usage, afaqa means “he went into different regions.”

In excellence usage, āfiq may mean “outstanding” or “having reached a high degree.”

In hide-related usage, lexical transmissions use afīq for a stage of preparation or tanning, or for a tanned hide before sewing.

These Arabic branches are recorded, but should not be presented as derivatives occurring in the Qur’an or transferred into its three occurrences.

10. Conclusion

In its principal branch, A F Q concerns an expanse’s reaches and regions. Familiar Arabic ufuq denotes the distant region within sight, the reach where sky and earth appear to meet from an observer’s perspective.

Āfāq is its plural and can denote regions of sky, earthly reaches, and different lands.

Earlier Arabic also uses this family for travelling through different regions and excelling in generosity or knowledge. These uses should not all be derived from one supposedly certain historical image without evidence.

The root occurs three times in the Qur’an.

In Al-Takwīr 81:23, al-ufuqi al-mubīni presents a clear horizon within a scene of seeing.

In Al-Najm 53:7, al-ufuqi al-aʿlā identifies a horizon described as high.

In Fuṣṣilat 41:53, al-āfāqi denotes broad regions and reaches where divine signs will be shown to the audience.

These occurrences show that the Qur’anic horizon is neither merely a geometrical line nor a fixed term for a spiritual or cosmic rank.

The first two emphasize its spatial and visual meaning. In the third, the plural places the external expanse alongside people themselves.

Horizon should not be equated with seeing, clarity, height, or recognizing truth. The ayahs express those ideas through other verbs and descriptions.

Forqan’s final definition of A F Q:

“A reach or region within an expanse, especially the farthest visible part where sky and earth appear to meet from an observer’s perspective. Its plural, āfāq, denotes different regions and reaches of sky and earth. The Qur’an uses ufuq in contexts of seeing and receiving revelation, and āfāq for expanses where divine signs appear. Height, clarity, and these regions’ role in recognizing truth come from the ayahs’ descriptions and contexts, rather than from the root alone.”