The Qur’anic Root A J R
From wages and payment for work to the reward of action
In the Qur’an, the root A J R concerns something received in return for work, service, or action. This may be payment for a task, a financial entitlement arising from a relationship, or a reward that The God grants for human faith and action.
The Qur’an uses the noun أَجْر (ajr) and its plural أُجُور (ujūr), the verb تَأْجُرَنِي (taʾjuranī), and the forms اسْتَأْجِرْهُ (istaʾjirhu) and اسْتَأْجَرْتَ (istaʾjarta). The story of Moses provides the clearest examples of the family’s meaning in employment and contractual work. Yet ajr is not confined to that sphere: many Qur’anic occurrences concern divine reward.
The family’s semantic core may be expressed as follows:
A J R: compensation, an entitlement, or a reward received in return for work, service, or action. The root itself does not specify the kind of return; context determines whether it is wages, a financial entitlement, or reward.
Qur’anic forms and derivatives
The semantic core and usage before the Qur’an
In Arabic, أَجْر (ajr) is compensation given for work. An أجير (ajīr) works for another person in return for payment, while أُجْرة (ujrah) and إجارة (ijārah) belong to the same field of payment and employment. Not all these forms occur in the Qur’an, but they help establish the root’s wider linguistic range.
Pre-Islamic Safaitic inscriptions from the Syro-Arabian desert provide independent evidence for this economic field. In Ahmad Al-Jallad’s reading of inscription KRS 1563, ʾgr refers to a hired guard and ʾgrt to compensation for his work. The writer describes guarding for a group and asks the deity Roḍaw to grant him livestock in recompense. These are consonantal forms in an inscription; the fully vocalized forms of Qur’anic Arabic should not simply be imposed on them.
This attestation shows that work in return for compensation was known in this linguistic setting before the Qur’an, and that a request to receive it could be expressed in prayer. Asking a deity for compensation for work, however, is not by itself identical to the concept of reward in the Hereafter for faith and righteous action. This evidence does not establish that the Qur’an’s entire religious sense of ajr already existed with the same scope, or, conversely, that the Qur’an created it from an exclusively material meaning.
In his Muʿjam al-shuʿarāʾ, al-Marzubānī quotes the following verse under al-Muthallam ibn Riyāḥ al-Murrī, whom he identifies as a pre-Islamic poet:
إِنِّي مُقَسِّمٌ مَا مَلَكْتُ فَجَاعِلٌ
أَجْرًا لِآخِرَةٍ وَدُنْيًا تَنْفَعُ
Innī muqassimun mā malaktu fa-jāʿilun / ajran li-ākhiratin wa-dunyan tanfaʿu.
“I divide what I possess, setting aside a portion as reward for an afterlife and a portion for a beneficial worldly life.”
In this reading, ajran is the object of jāʿil and is linked by li-ākhirah to reward for an afterlife. Other transmissions, however, have جُزْءًا لِآخِرَتِي (juzʾan li-ākhiratī, “a portion for my afterlife”). Since the variant changes the very word being examined, and the pre-Islamic attribution reaches us through later sources, the verse alone is not conclusive evidence for a pre-Qur’anic use of ajr as reward in the Hereafter.
The firmer inscriptional evidence for wages and compensation, together with the continued prevalence of this meaning in Arabic, adequately establishes that work and its return were linked before the Qur’an. Greater caution is needed concerning the precise scope of the religious use of ajr before the Qur’an.
Lexicons also record another branch under the same entry: the knitting of a broken bone. Al-Ṣiḥāḥ and Lisān al-ʿArab sometimes describe this more specifically as healing with crookedness or unevenness. It should therefore not be interpreted without qualification as complete, flawless restoration.
In Maqāyīs al-lughah, Ibn Fāris treats payment for work and the knitting of bone as two bases that can be connected in meaning: just as a fracture is repaired, ajr makes up for the effort of work.
This explanation is conceptually intelligible, but it does not establish the history of derivation. The mending of bone is best treated as an attested lexical branch, and “making up for a worker’s effort” as a possible explanation of the relationship between the branches, rather than a proven historical definition of the root.
For Qur’anic usage, the clearer meaning remains compensation or a return for action.
Work, employment, and wages in the Qur’an
The story of Moses in Al-Qaṣaṣ provides the clearest cluster of Qur’anic examples concerning employment.
After Moses waters the animals for two women, one of them comes to him and says:
إِنَّ أَبِي يَدْعُوكَ لِيَجْزِيَكَ أَجْرَ مَا سَقَيْتَ لَنَا
Inna abī yadʿūka li-yajziyaka ajra mā saqayta lanā.
“My father invites you so that he may pay you for watering for us.”
Al-Qaṣaṣ, 28:25
The work is specific: Moses has watered for them. أَجْرَ مَا سَقَيْتَ لَنَا denotes compensation for that task.
In the next verse, one of the women says:
يَا أَبَتِ اسْتَأْجِرْهُ ۖ إِنَّ خَيْرَ مَنِ اسْتَأْجَرْتَ الْقَوِيُّ الْأَمِينُ
Yā abati istaʾjirhu, inna khayra mani istaʾjarta al-qawiyyu al-amīn.
“Father, hire him. The best person you can hire is one who is strong and trustworthy.”
Al-Qaṣaṣ, 28:26
اسْتَأْجِرْهُ means to employ him to perform work in return for compensation. The father then tells Moses:
إِنِّي أُرِيدُ أَنْ أُنْكِحَكَ إِحْدَى ابْنَتَيَّ هَاتَيْنِ عَلَىٰ أَنْ تَأْجُرَنِي ثَمَانِيَ حِجَجٍ
Innī urīdu an unkiḥaka iḥdā ibnatayya hātayni ʿalā an taʾjuranī thamāniya ḥijaj.
“I wish to marry one of these two daughters of mine to you, on condition that you work for me for eight years.”
Al-Qaṣaṣ, 28:27
تَأْجُرَنِي here concerns entering a relationship of work for another person. In three consecutive verses, ajr, hiring, and taʾjuranī thus belong to a concrete field of work and economic exchange.
The same meaning appears in the account of Moses and the other servant. After the wall is set upright, Moses says:
قَالَ لَوْ شِئْتَ لَاتَّخَذْتَ عَلَيْهِ أَجْرًا
Qāla law shiʾta la-ttakhadhta ʿalayhi ajrā.
“He said: Had you wished, you could have taken payment for it.”
Al-Kahf, 18:77
The wall has been set upright and work has been performed. Moses says that ajr could have been received for it.
Another particularly clear use concerns breastfeeding:
فَإِنْ أَرْضَعْنَ لَكُمْ فَآتُوهُنَّ أُجُورَهُنَّ
Fa-in arḍaʿna lakum fa-ātūhunna ujūrahunna.
“If they breastfeed for you, give them their payment.”
Al-Ṭalāq, 65:6
The relationship is direct: breastfeeding is performed, and ujūr are paid in return.
These verses show that ajr is not an exclusively religious term for reward in the Hereafter. It fully retains its ordinary meaning of wages or payment for work.
Ujūrahunna in marriage: one word in a different relationship
The same form أُجُورَهُنَّ (ujūrahunna) that denotes payment for breastfeeding in 65:6 also occurs in several verses concerning marriage.
Al-Nisāʾ states:
فَمَا اسْتَمْتَعْتُمْ بِهِ مِنْهُنَّ فَآتُوهُنَّ أُجُورَهُنَّ فَرِيضَةً
Fa-mā istamtaʿtum bihi minhunna fa-ātūhunna ujūrahunna farīḍah.
“For the enjoyment you have had from them [within this union], give them their financial due as an obligation.”
Al-Nisāʾ, 4:24
The next verse also says:
فَانْكِحُوهُنَّ بِإِذْنِ أَهْلِهِنَّ وَآتُوهُنَّ أُجُورَهُنَّ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ
Fa-nkiḥūhunna bi-idhni ahlihinna wa-ātūhunna ujūrahunna bi-l-maʿrūf.
“Marry them with their families’ permission, and give them their financial due in a proper manner.”
Al-Nisāʾ, 4:25
The same usage appears in the context of marriage in Al-Māʾidah 5:5, Al-Aḥzāb 33:50, and Al-Mumtaḥanah 60:10.
These verses make an important point about translation. Ajr does not specifically mean “bridal payment,” just as it does not specifically mean “payment for breastfeeding.” Its core is compensation or an entitlement received in return; the relationship involved determines what that payment actually is.
In 65:6, the relationship is breastfeeding and ujūrahunna is payment for a service. In the marriage verses, the relationship is marriage and ujūrahunna denotes the woman’s financial entitlement within it, conventionally called mahr or ṣadāq. These designations should not be treated as entirely late developments: the Qur’an itself uses صَدُقَاتِهِنَّ (ṣaduqātihinna) for women’s financial due in 4:4.
Mechanically translating ujūrahunna as “their wages” in the marriage verses can therefore mislead. It may suggest that the Qur’an reduces marriage to buying a service or paying wages for sexual relations, whereas the surrounding language concerns marriage, chastity, permission, and obligation: nikāḥ, iḥṣān, idhn, and farīḍah.
“Their financial due” better preserves the word’s range here. If “bridal payment” or mahr is used, it should be understood as the specific entitlement in this context, rather than the invariable lexical meaning of ajr.
Divine reward: action and its return in a different setting
A large proportion of Qur’anic occurrences concern reward from The God. Faith, doing good, patience, setting things right, and righteous action are associated with ajr.
Al-Baqarah states:
مَنْ آمَنَ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ وَعَمِلَ صَالِحًا فَلَهُمْ أَجْرُهُمْ عِنْدَ رَبِّهِمْ
Man āmana bi-llāhi wa-l-yawmi al-ākhiri wa-ʿamila ṣāliḥan fa-lahum ajruhum ʿinda rabbihim.
“Whoever believes in The God and the Last Day and acts righteously—their reward is with their Lord.”
Al-Baqarah, 2:62
And Al-Kahf states:
إِنَّا لَا نُضِيعُ أَجْرَ مَنْ أَحْسَنَ عَمَلًا
Innā lā nuḍīʿu ajra man aḥsana ʿamalā.
“We do not let the reward of anyone who does good work go to waste.”
Al-Kahf, 18:30
The basic relationship remains: action and what is received in response to it.
Yet the divine use of ajr should not be reduced to the wages of a human contract. People agree on a specified payment for a particular task. The Qur’an, by contrast, also associates divine reward with bounty, increase, greatness, honor, and payment beyond ordinary reckoning.
For example:
لِيُوَفِّيَهُمْ أُجُورَهُمْ وَيَزِيدَهُمْ مِنْ فَضْلِهِ
Li-yuwaffiyahum ujūrahum wa-yazīdahum min faḍlihi.
“So that He may pay them their rewards in full and give them more from His bounty.”
Fāṭir, 35:30
Two things appear together here: paying the reward in full, followed by an increase from bounty. The reward can thus be fully paid, while bounty can extend beyond it.
Concerning the patient, Al-Zumar says:
إِنَّمَا يُوَفَّى الصَّابِرُونَ أَجْرَهُمْ بِغَيْرِ حِسَابٍ
Innamā yuwaffā al-ṣābirūna ajrahum bi-ghayri ḥisāb.
“Those who are patient will receive their reward in full, without reckoning.”
Al-Zumar, 39:10
Payment for work is therefore a useful image for understanding the word’s core, but divine reward should not be turned into a fixed-rate transaction between two equal parties.
Reward in this world and the Hereafter
The word ajr is not intrinsically confined to the Hereafter.
Concerning Abraham, the Qur’an says:
وَآتَيْنَاهُ أَجْرَهُ فِي الدُّنْيَا ۖ وَإِنَّهُ فِي الْآخِرَةِ لَمِنَ الصَّالِحِينَ
Wa-ātaynāhu ajrahu fī al-dunyā, wa-innahu fī al-ākhirati la-mina al-ṣāliḥīn.
“We gave him his reward in this world, and in the Hereafter he will indeed be among the righteous.”
Al-ʿAnkabūt, 29:27
By contrast, Surah Yūsuf states:
وَلَأَجْرُ الْآخِرَةِ خَيْرٌ لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَكَانُوا يَتَّقُونَ
Wa-la-ajru al-ākhirati khayrun li-lladhīna āmanū wa-kānū yattaqūn.
“The reward of the Hereafter is better for those who believe and remain mindful.”
Yūsuf, 12:57
Al-Naḥl also states:
وَلَأَجْرُ الْآخِرَةِ أَكْبَرُ لَوْ كَانُوا يَعْلَمُونَ
Wa-la-ajru al-ākhirati akbaru law kānū yaʿlamūn.
“The reward of the Hereafter is greater, if only they knew.”
Al-Naḥl, 16:41
These qualifications show that ajr itself means reward or compensation, rather than specifically “reward in the Hereafter.” “This world” and “the Hereafter” locate that reward in its respective setting and time.
The prophets’ reward does not come from their audiences
Another recurring construction denies that the speaker seeks payment from those being addressed.
Noah says:
فَمَا سَأَلْتُكُمْ مِنْ أَجْرٍ ۖ إِنْ أَجْرِيَ إِلَّا عَلَى اللَّهِ
Fa-mā saʾaltukum min ajrin, in ajriya illā ʿalā Allāh.
“I have asked you for no reward. My reward rests only with The God.”
Yūnus, 10:72
Hūd says:
يَا قَوْمِ لَا أَسْأَلُكُمْ عَلَيْهِ أَجْرًا ۖ إِنْ أَجْرِيَ إِلَّا عَلَى الَّذِي فَطَرَنِي
Yā qawmi lā asʾalukum ʿalayhi ajran, in ajriya illā ʿalā alladhī faṭaranī.
“My people, I ask you for no reward for it. My reward rests only with the One who brought me into being.”
Hūd, 11:51
The same construction recurs in relation to several prophets in Al-Shuʿarāʾ.
These verses matter for understanding the root because they retain the ordinary meaning within religious usage. The prophet performs the work of conveying the message, but his audience is not the source of his payment. He does not turn the mission into a financial transaction with the people.
In Yā Sīn, this also becomes a criterion for whom to follow:
اتَّبِعُوا مَنْ لَا يَسْأَلُكُمْ أَجْرًا وَهُمْ مُهْتَدُونَ
Ittabiʿū man lā yasʾalukum ajran wa-hum muhtadūn.
“Follow those who ask you for no reward and who are guided.”
Yā Sīn, 36:21
When the Qur’an places the prophets’ reward with The God, ajr remains connected to its basic field of compensation and return. What changes is the source from which that return is expected.
Ajr does not itself determine an action’s moral worth
Pharaoh’s magicians also speak of ajr:
إِنَّ لَنَا لَأَجْرًا إِنْ كُنَّا نَحْنُ الْغَالِبِينَ
Inna lanā la-ajran in kunnā naḥnu al-ghālibīn.
“If we are the victors, will there certainly be a reward for us?”
Al-Aʿrāf, 7:113
The question recurs in Al-Shuʿarāʾ 26:41.
Ajr itself therefore does not say that the action for which it is given is morally right. The magicians, too, expect a reward for what they intend to do for Pharaoh.
In Qur’anic usage, however, ajr is something desirable to its recipient: wages, a financial due, or reward. The Qur’an does not use ajr for punishment or a harmful return imposed on someone.
The distinction becomes clearer through comparison with related words.
Translation proposals for Forqan
Ajr has no single equivalent in every verse, because context determines the kind of return involved.
In Al-Qaṣaṣ 28:25, أَجْرَ مَا سَقَيْتَ لَنَا naturally means “payment for watering for us.” In Al-Kahf 18:77, لَاتَّخَذْتَ عَلَيْهِ أَجْرًا can likewise be rendered “you could have taken payment for it.”
In Al-Ṭalāq 65:6, فَآتُوهُنَّ أُجُورَهُنَّ is appropriately translated “give them their payment,” since the subject is breastfeeding in return for payment.
In the marriage verses, however, “their financial due” is more precise than “their wages.” “Their bridal payment” also conveys the recognized entitlement, provided it is understood that this is not the root’s invariable meaning.
For اسْتَأْجِرْهُ, “hire him” is natural English and makes the employment relationship clear; “take him into your service” can also work if the context preserves the element of payment. تَأْجُرَنِي ثَمَانِيَ حِجَجٍ naturally means “you work for me for eight years.”
In uses concerning The God, “reward” conveys the sentence’s meaning naturally. Retaining ajr as an explained Arabic term can also be useful in Forqan’s linguistic discussions, especially where the relationship among different verses using the same family is important.
Conclusion
The root A J R concerns a return received for work, service, or action.
This meaning was known before the Qur’an. Pre-Islamic Safaitic inscriptions speak of a hired person and compensation for work, showing that work and its return were part of the region’s economic life. Some readings of a verse attributed to a pre-Islamic poet also connect ajr with an afterlife, although the textual variation prevents treating it as conclusive evidence. It would therefore be unwarranted to insist that the Qur’an newly created the religious meaning of ajr from an exclusively material one.
The Qur’an itself makes the word’s range clear. Moses can receive ajr for work he has performed, a person can be hired, and breastfeeding is associated with payment of ujūr. In marriage verses, the same family denotes a woman’s financial entitlement within marriage. The kind of entitlement is established by the marital context, rather than by a fixed, independent meaning of the root.
The basic relationship between action and its return remains in divine usage, but reward from The God is not reduced to human contractual wages. The Qur’an speaks of reward paid in full, additional bounty, and reward without reckoning.
Ajr is not intrinsically otherworldly: the Qur’an speaks both of أَجْرَهُ فِي الدُّنْيَا—his reward in this world—and of أَجْرُ الْآخِرَةِ—the reward of the Hereafter. Nor does the root itself determine the moral worth of an action: Pharaoh’s magicians also expected payment. What remains consistent in Qur’anic usage is that ajr is a desirable return for the recipient, rather than punishment or imposed harm.
This distinguishes ajr from jazāʾ and the thawāb family. Jazāʾ can concern good or evil, and the thawāb family can express a pleasant or unpleasant return from action; ajr in the Qur’an belongs to the field of payment, entitlement, and desirable reward.
A J R: compensation, an entitlement, or a reward received in return for work, service, or action. Context determines its nature: payment for work, a financial due arising from a relationship, or divine reward. In Qur’anic usage, ajr is desirable to the recipient, but the root itself neither determines the moral worth of the action nor confines its reward to this world, the Hereafter, money, or any particular form of return.