Qur’anic Root A L T
Diminishing, withholding, and depriving someone of a due share: from faithfully conveying a message to leaving deeds undiminished
Qur’anic and lexical forms
أَلَتْنَاهُمْ
(alatnāhum)
Active perfect with “We” as subject and “them” as object; the root’s sole occurrence in Ḥafṣ
أَلَتَ يَأْلِتُ
(alata yaʾlitu)
Basic lexical Form I verb: to diminish or withhold
أَلِتَ
(alita)
Lexical variant with kasrah on the lām; underlying Ibn Kathīr’s reading
أَلْت
(alt)
Lexical verbal noun: in the message witness, with an oath sense in another branch
آلَتَ
(ālata)
Reported augmented A L T form; not Qur’anic in Ḥafṣ
آلِت
(ālit)
Morphological active participle; this form is absent from the Qur’an
مَأْلُوت
(maʾlūt)
Morphological passive participle; this form is absent from the Qur’an
لَاتَ يَلِيتُ
(lāta yalītu)
Lexical L Y T verb, closely related to A L T in meaning
أَلَاتَ
(alāta)
Augmented form associated with L Y T; not automatically an A L T derivative
يَلِتْكُمْ
(yalitkum)
Jussive imperfect in a conditional response, from L Y T; Al-Ḥujurāt 49:14 in Ḥafṣ
يَأْلِتْكُمْ / يَالِتْكُمْ
(yaʾlitkum / yālitkum)
A L T reading and its hamzah-replacement form; distinct from the Ḥafṣ count
أَلِتْنَاهُمْ
(alitnāhum)
Ibn Kathīr’s reading with kasrah on the lām; distinct from the Ḥafṣ form
The Arabic root A L T concerns diminishing, withholding, and depriving someone of part of a right or something belonging to them. أَلَتَهُ حَقَّهُ means to diminish someone’s due, while أَلَتَهُ مِنْ عَمَلِهِ concerns reducing the outcome or return they receive for their deeds.
The Qur’an uses this root in Al-Ṭūr 52:21: وَمَا أَلَتْنَاهُمْ مِنْ عَمَلِهِمْ مِنْ شَيْءٍ, “and We diminished nothing of their deeds.” The statement appears within a description of blessings in the Garden and the joining of believing generations.
Alt is not limited to reducing a quantity. When a right or a deed is involved, the reduction can deprive someone of something they are entitled to receive. The word therefore relates to shortchanging and disregarding a right, but does not necessarily mean theft, deliberate injustice, or destroying the entire outcome of a deed.
Early Arabic also uses related forms such as لَاتَ يَلِيتُ for diminishing and holding back. In the widely used reading transmitted by Ḥafṣ, لَا يَلِتْكُمْ in Al-Ḥujurāt 49:14 belongs to this closely related semantic family, but is classified morphologically under L Y T. In certain other canonical readings, the same verb has a hamzah: لَا يَأْلِتْكُمْ.
This variation shows why the form recorded in a particular reading, its morphological root, and the semantic relationship between related forms must be distinguished.
1. Qur’anic forms and the root’s semantic core
In the Qur’anic morphological index based on the Ḥafṣ reading, A L T occurs only once:
أَلَتْنَاهُمْ — Al-Ṭūr 52:21
This form is built from the basic triliteral perfect verb أَلَتَ, alata.
Within the verb, نَا is the subject pronoun “We,” while هُمْ is the object pronoun referring to those in relation to whom the act of diminishing is denied.
Arabic records أَلَتَ يَأْلِتُ, alata yaʾlitu, meaning to diminish something or reduce someone’s due. Its verbal noun is أَلْت, alt.
The same lexical entry also records أَلِتَ, alita, with a kasrah on the lām, meaning to diminish. آلَتَ, ālata, is also transmitted as an augmented form of this root. However, the accompanying أَلَاتَ, alāta, can be an augmented form of لَاتَ from the L Y T family. These forms should therefore not all be counted as A L T derivatives without distinction.
The active participle آلِت, ālit, and passive participle مَأْلُوت, maʾlūt, are morphologically recognized for the verb of diminishing. Identifying these forms does not independently establish that each was used before the Qur’an’s revelation.
Apart from أَلَتْنَاهُمْ, these forms do not occur as independent A L T derivatives in the widely used Ḥafṣ text.
Arabic also records the closely related لَاتَهُ يَلِيتُهُ and أَلَاتَهُ for reducing someone’s due or turning them away from their purpose. They occupy a similar semantic field, but their differing root letters and morphological structures must be respected.
The semantic core of Qur’anic A L T is:
Diminishing a quantity, right, or outcome; especially withholding part of what belongs to someone or should be delivered to them.
“Diminishing” is the direct meaning; a “right” or the “outcome of deeds” identifies what is diminished.
The root is therefore not confined to reward in the hereafter. Diminishing someone’s due, property, or something to be delivered to another person also falls within its field.
Conversely, not every natural decrease or reduction in quantity is necessarily expressed with this verb. In its attested uses, أَلَتَ often describes a relationship in which someone’s share, due, or expected outcome is diminished.
2. Early Arabic: withholding part of a right or message
أَلَتَهُ حَقَّهُ: diminishing someone else’s due
One established early Arabic expression is أَلَتَهُ حَقَّهُ: he diminished someone’s due or failed to deliver it in full.
This usage shows that alt can concern a relationship between two people.
One person has a right or is entitled to something, but another does not deliver the full amount.
The reduction is more than a numerical change in this situation; it concerns the person’s right.
For example, if someone owes another person money and retains part of it, one can speak of diminishing that person’s due.
This example does not mean that A L T inherently concerns financial transactions alone. The Qur’anic use concerns the outcome of deeds, while the early poetic witness concerns falling short in conveying a message.
The root’s meaning thus extends beyond property to things whose full delivery or preservation matters.
A poetic witness: لَا أَلْتًا وَلَا كَذِبًا
Lexical transmissions quote the following witness and attribute it to Al-Ḥuṭayʾah, a poet who lived across the pre-Islamic and early Islamic periods. His collected poetry also transmits the first hemistich as أَبْلِغْ سَرَاةَ بَنِي سَعْدٍ مُغَلْغَلَةً, “Convey a message to the leading men of Banū Saʿd”:
أَبْلِغْ بَنِي ثُعَلٍ عَنِّي مُغَلْغَلَةً
جَهْدَ الرِّسَالَةِ لَا أَلْتًا وَلَا كَذِبَا
abligh banī thuʿalin ʿannī mughalghalatan / jahda al-risālati lā altan wa-lā kadhibā
“Convey a message from me to Banū Thuʿal with the utmost effort: without diminishing it and without falsehood.”
The poet speaks here about conveying a message.
Mughalghalah denotes a message to be conveyed, while jahda al-risālah emphasizes the utmost effort and full delivery of the message.
Two things then appear side by side: alt and kadhib.
Alt concerns withholding or diminishing part of the message, while kadhib concerns falsehood within it.
The two concepts are related, but are not identical.
Someone might omit part of a message without adding an explicitly false statement. Equally, they might add something untrue without omitting its essential content.
The poet accordingly asks for the message to be conveyed without shortcoming or falsehood.
The witness matters because it shows that alt was not confined to reducing an amount of property or reward. Diminishing the content of speech or failing to convey a message fully could also be expressed with this noun.
The basic meaning remains diminution. What changes is its object: speech and a message replace property or a material entitlement.
Al-Ḥuṭayʾah lived before and during early Islam, but the exact date of this line is uncertain, and its wording varies in transmission. It can be treated as an early Arabic witness without treating either its composition before the Qur’an’s revelation or the attribution of every detail of its wording to one poet as certain.
Does alt mean lying?
Some lexical sources also record “slander” as a meaning of alt.
Conceptually, withholding part of the truth and attributing a false statement can be related.
That relationship alone does not establish that alt means lying in every use.
In the line attributed to Al-Ḥuṭayʾah, alt and kadhib appear separately. Their juxtaposition itself calls for examining the distinction between withholding and falsehood.
Conversely, recording “slander” in a lexical account does not establish the historical origin of that branch.
Al-Ṭūr 52:21 says nothing about inventing lies or making slanderous accusations. وَمَا أَلَتْنَاهُمْ therefore cannot be translated as “We did not lie to them.”
Its clear meaning in that verse is leaving deeds and their outcome undiminished.
أَلَتَهُ عَنْ وَجْهِهِ: turning someone away from their purpose
Another recorded Arabic expression, أَلَتَهُ عَنْ وَجْهِهِ, means to hold someone back or turn them away from their direction or purpose.
Here, a quantity is not being reduced; someone is prevented from acting or reaching a destination.
A conceptual connection with diminishing can be envisaged: holding someone back can limit their ability or opportunity to achieve their purpose.
This explanation must not be presented as a proven historical origin of the meaning.
Nor should a sense of preventing movement be imposed on every occurrence of أَلَتَ.
In Al-Ṭūr 52:21, the verb is qualified by مِنْ عَمَلِهِمْ مِنْ شَيْءٍ. Diminishing deeds or their outcome therefore has direct support; preventing movement or physical obstruction does not.
أَلَتَهُ يَمِينًا: requiring or exacting an oath
Some Arabic uses record أَلَتَهُ يَمِينًا for requesting an oath from someone or making them swear.
Alt in this setting can also denote an oath.
The expression أَلَتُّكَ بِاللَّهِ, alattuka bi-llāhi, is transmitted for appealing to or adjuring someone in the name of The God. Alattu here is a first-person verb, “I adjured”; the form is not أَلَتْكَ, alatka.
The issue here is not reducing property or reward, but binding someone to answer or testify.
A conceptual connection between restricting someone’s freedom and requiring an oath might be imagined, but this does not establish the word’s historical development.
Lexicographers have also offered different explanations for some early expressions transmitted with أَلَتَ: some relate them to diminishing someone’s standing, others to adjuring them.
These differences show why every recorded form should not automatically be reduced to a single meaning.
For the Qur’anic use, the branch “diminishing and withholding” is clearer and better supported.
3. وَمَا أَلَتْنَاهُمْ: leaving deeds undiminished in Al-Ṭūr
The only A L T occurrence in the widely used Qur’anic text appears in Al-Ṭūr:
وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَاتَّبَعَتْهُمْ ذُرِّيَّتُهُمْ بِإِيمَانٍ أَلْحَقْنَا بِهِمْ ذُرِّيَّتَهُمْ وَمَا أَلَتْنَاهُمْ مِنْ عَمَلِهِمْ مِنْ شَيْءٍ كُلُّ امْرِئٍ بِمَا كَسَبَ رَهِينٌ
wa-alladhīna āmanū wa-ittabaʿathum dhurriyyatuhum bi-īmānin alḥaqnā bihim dhurriyyatahum wa-mā alatnāhum min ʿamalihim min shayʾin kullu imriʾin bi-mā kasaba rahīn
“As for those who believed and whose descendants followed them in faith, We joined their descendants with them, and We diminished nothing of their deeds. Every person is held in pledge for what they have earned.”
Al-Ṭūr 52:21
The verse continues a description of blessings for the reverent in the Garden.
Al-Ṭūr 52:17 describes the reverent as being in gardens and bliss.
Al-Ṭūr 52:19 and Al-Ṭūr 52:20 describe their enjoyment of food and ease.
Al-Ṭūr 52:21 then introduces the joining of believing generations.
In this setting, وَمَا أَلَتْنَاهُمْ مِنْ عَمَلِهِمْ مِنْ شَيْءٍ guarantees that this joining involves no diminution of deeds or their outcome.
The direct meaning of أَلَتْنَاهُمْ
Alatnāhum is a perfect verb.
The God is the subject, while مَا negates the occurrence of diminishing.
The verse therefore does not say that The God diminished any of their deeds; it states precisely the opposite.
مِنْ عَمَلِهِمْ identifies the domain in which diminishing is denied.
مِنْ شَيْءٍ further emphasizes the comprehensiveness of that negation.
The meaning is not merely that much of their deeds has been preserved or that only a slight reduction occurred. The sentence says that nothing has been diminished.
“We have not diminished their deeds in the slightest” can convey this emphasis. A direct rendering, “We diminished nothing,” stays particularly close to the sentence’s structure.
Deeds and their outcome: is reward part of the root itself?
The verse says مِنْ عَمَلِهِمْ, “of their deeds.”
ʿAmal concerns work and conduct; it is not the direct word for reward here.
The context nevertheless concerns the outcome of deeds and the blessings enjoyed by the people of the Garden. Leaving deeds undiminished here therefore relates to leaving their outcome and reward undiminished.
An explanation such as “We did not diminish any of the reward for their deeds” is consequently defensible in context.
The direct meaning of the expression should nevertheless be distinguished from its explanation.
A L T itself does not mean to reward. Nor has عَمَلِهِمْ, “their deeds,” become أَجْرِهِمْ, “their reward,” in the Arabic construction.
It is therefore preferable to retain “deeds” in the basic translation and explain that their effect and reward are intended in this setting of the hereafter.
This care preserves the root’s meaning without imposing an interpretive term on every Arabic use.
To whom does هُمْ refer?
The plural object pronoun in أَلَتْنَاهُمْ refers to those whose deeds The God has not diminished.
The stronger contextual reading takes the pronoun as referring to the believers whose descendants are joined with them.
On this reading, their children’s joining does not diminish anything of the outcome of their own deeds.
This fits the verse’s opening: believers are introduced first, followed by the joining of their descendants.
Some earlier explanations also consider referring the pronoun to the descendants and children. On that reading, The God likewise diminishes nothing of the outcome of their deeds.
The difference between these readings is limited as far as the root’s basic meaning is concerned. In both, أَلَتَ concerns diminishing, which the verse denies.
The pronoun’s referent matters for interpreting the full verse, however, because it identifies the group directly covered by the guarantee.
A root study should not alter the verb’s meaning to resolve that difference.
4. Joining believing generations while preserving individual responsibility
Al-Ṭūr 52:21 places two principles side by side.
First comes the joining of believing descendants with those who believed.
Second comes leaving the outcome of deeds undiminished and holding every person in pledge for what they have earned.
This combination matters for understanding the use of alt.
وَاتَّبَعَتْهُمْ ذُرِّيَّتُهُمْ بِإِيمَانٍ
The verse is not speaking only of family descent.
ذُرِّيَّتُهُمْ denotes descendants and children, while بِإِيمَانٍ connects their following with faith.
One should therefore not conclude, without further examination, that merely being related to a believer guarantees the same outcome for all children, whatever their circumstances or beliefs.
The interpretive tradition contains different views about the scope of this promise and whether it includes adult or young children.
Lexically, dhurriyyah is not confined to a young child. Equally, بِإِيمَانٍ has a real place in the verse and should not be omitted from its explanation.
Determining all the questions concerning young children, their individual responsibility, and their blessings in the hereafter requires a separate inquiry. A L T alone does not settle them.
Does joining children with their parents diminish the parents’ reward?
In ordinary human experience, dividing something among several people can reduce each person’s share.
When property is divided, each person generally receives a particular portion of the assets.
Yet when the verse describes the joining of generations, it explicitly states that nothing of their deeds is diminished.
Blessings and reward in the hereafter should therefore not be imagined here as a limited fund in which one person’s benefit necessarily requires taking from another person’s share.
This directly concerns the meaning of alt: diminishing a share or the outcome of deeds is denied.
The sentence nevertheless does not authorize inventing details about the precise ranks of the Garden or how reward is transferred or increased when the verse itself does not supply them.
What is clear is the denial of diminution.
كُلُّ امْرِئٍ بِمَا كَسَبَ رَهِينٌ
The verse concludes:
كُلُّ امْرِئٍ بِمَا كَسَبَ رَهِينٌ, “Every person is held in pledge for what they have earned.”
The sentence connects personal responsibility with what each person has earned.
The same verse that speaks of joining believing generations therefore preserves each person’s relationship with their own conduct.
The two principles should not be placed in such opposition that accepting one requires eliminating the other.
Joining and receiving blessings can belong within divine mercy while personal responsibility for deeds remains in place.
Nor should the concluding sentence be taken to exclude every possibility of forgiveness, mercy, or benefit beyond a simple calculation of deeds. The verse itself appears in a setting of blessing that includes the joining of generations.
Conversely, mercy and the joining of generations do not justify completely denying individual responsibility.
For A L T, the direct conclusion is that this joining involves no diminution of the outcome of people’s deeds.
5. لَا يَلِتْكُمْ in Al-Ḥujurāt: shared meaning, different morphological root
Al-Ḥujurāt states:
قَالَتِ الْأَعْرَابُ آمَنَّا قُلْ لَمْ تُؤْمِنُوا وَلَٰكِنْ قُولُوا أَسْلَمْنَا وَلَمَّا يَدْخُلِ الْإِيمَانُ فِي قُلُوبِكُمْ وَإِنْ تُطِيعُوا اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ لَا يَلِتْكُمْ مِنْ أَعْمَالِكُمْ شَيْئًا إِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ
qālati al-aʿrābu āmannā qul lam tuʾminū wa-lākin qūlū aslamnā wa-lammā yadkhuli al-īmānu fī qulūbikum wa-in tuṭīʿū allāha wa-rasūlahu lā yalitkum min aʿmālikum shayʾan inna allāha ghafūrun raḥīm
“The desert Arabs said, ‘We believe.’ Say, ‘You have not believed; rather, say, “We have submitted,” for faith has not yet entered your hearts. If you obey The God and His Messenger, He will not diminish anything of your deeds for you. Indeed, The God is forgiving and merciful.’”
Al-Ḥujurāt 49:14
In this verse, the widely used form transmitted by Ḥafṣ is يَلِتْكُمْ, yalitkum.
The Qur’anic morphological index places this verb under L Y T, rather than A L T.
Its meaning is nevertheless very close to أَلَتْنَاهُمْ in Al-Ṭūr 52:21.
Both verses deny any diminution of human deeds.
Are L Y T and A L T one root?
Their morphological structures are distinct in the widely used Ḥafṣ reading.
Alatnāhum belongs to A L T.
Yalitkum relates to لَاتَ يَلِيتُ, lāta yalītu, and appears under L Y T in the Qur’anic index.
Arabic lexical sources nevertheless record أَلَتَ, لَاتَ, أَلَاتَ, and several related forms together with meanings of diminishing or holding someone back from a purpose.
These witnesses establish a semantic relationship and, within part of the lexical tradition, equivalence of usage between the two families.
Synonymy alone, however, does not prove that two verbs historically constituted exactly one root.
Differences between the readings
In the readings of Abū ʿAmr and Yaʿqūb, the verb in Al-Ḥujurāt 49:14 has a hamzah: يَأْلِتْكُمْ, yaʾlitkum.
In Al-Sūsī’s transmission from Abū ʿAmr, the vowelless hamzah is replaced with an alif, giving the pronounced form يَالِتْكُمْ, yālitkum. “With a hamzah” here therefore describes the underlying verb structure; it does not imply that a hamzah is pronounced in every transmission route from Abū ʿAmr.
In Ḥafṣ and most other readings, the form is يَلِتْكُمْ, yalitkum, without a hamzah.
In Al-Ṭūr 52:21, the widely used form is أَلَتْنَاهُمْ, alatnāhum, with a fatḥah on the lām. Ibn Kathīr reads it with a kasrah: أَلِتْنَاهُمْ, alitnāhum.
These differences do not change the basic meaning of diminishing.
For counting roots in the Ḥafṣ text, A L T and L Y T must therefore be recorded separately, while their relationship should also be explained in lexical study.
This example shows that morphological indexing and historical language study serve different purposes. An index classifies a word’s form within a particular text; lexical inquiry can examine relationships between forms, meanings, and dialects.
لَا يَلِتْكُمْ in the context of Al-Ḥujurāt
The desert Arabs say that they believe, but the Qur’an distinguishes their submission from faith having entered their hearts.
It then states that if they obey The God and His Messenger, nothing of their deeds will be diminished.
This conditional structure matters.
The verse does not say that verbally claiming faith alone suffices to receive every reward. Equally, it does not close the path of action and obedience to its addressees.
The promise of leaving deeds undiminished is linked to the condition of obedience.
This accords with Al-Ṭūr 52:21 in preserving the outcome of deeds, but the two verses address different situations.
Al-Ḥujurāt concerns the relationship between a claim to faith, action, and obedience.
Al-Ṭūr concerns believers’ blessings in the hereafter and the joining of their descendants.
A shared lexical concept can thus appear in two different contexts without making every aspect of those verses identical.
7. Not diminishing, adding, and preserving a right: three different concepts
Al-Ṭūr 52:21 describes the joining of believing generations and then explicitly states that nothing of their deeds has been diminished.
Their conjunction brings out the distinction between three concepts.
First is preserving the outcome of deeds: what belongs to a person in relation to their deeds is not reduced.
Second is someone else joining or receiving blessings, as stated concerning the believing descendants in this verse.
Third is increasing blessing and granting gifts, which other Qur’anic verses also describe.
These three concepts can accompany each other, but none independently replaces another.
أَلَتَ in this verse concerns diminishing alone; negating it states the absence of reduction.
وَمَا أَلَتْنَاهُمْ should therefore not be translated “We multiplied their reward.” Increased blessing might be understood from the wider context, but this verb does not directly express increase.
Conversely, absence of diminution should not be confined to preserving a numerical quantity of deeds while disregarding their relationship to entitlement and reward.
In the setting of reckoning and recompense, diminishing the outcome of deeds can raise the question of justice.
Yet the full nature of reward in the hereafter, the extent of its ranks, and the manner in which generations are joined cannot be extracted from this verb alone.
Does مِنْ شَيْءٍ include even the slightest reduction?
In Al-Ṭūr 52:21, مِنْ شَيْءٍ follows a negation.
This Arabic construction is recognized as emphasizing the comprehensive scope of negation.
The verse therefore denies more than a major reduction: it speaks of the absence of any diminution.
In Al-Ḥujurāt 49:14, شَيْئًا likewise appears within a negative clause and conveys the same comprehensive sense.
“Anything at all” or “in the slightest” can bring out this emphasis in English.
“In the slightest” is an explanatory rendering of emphasis on even the smallest amount; it does not introduce a particular unit of measurement into the verse.
Alongside the verb itself, the negative construction and accompanying words therefore contribute to the sentence’s precision.
8. Translation proposals for Forqan
The basic, natural English equivalent for أَلَتَ is “to diminish.”
When someone’s right or share is involved, “to withhold part of someone’s due” can also fit.
Where something is not delivered in full, “to reduce someone’s share” or “to deprive someone of part of their due” can clarify the contextual meaning.
“To deprive” on its own can suggest complete deprivation, whereas the verb can also express withholding only part of a right.
“To diminish” is therefore a more precise basic equivalent.
Al-Ṭūr 52:21
For وَمَا أَلَتْنَاهُمْ مِنْ عَمَلِهِمْ مِنْ شَيْءٍ, the proposed translation is:
“And We diminished nothing of their deeds.”
This retains the perfect verb and the direct meaning of denying diminution.
If the reader needs the relationship between deeds and reward clarified, an explanation can add:
“That is, We did not diminish anything of the outcome and reward of their deeds.”
The basic translation should nevertheless avoid replacing عَمَلِهِمْ, “their deeds,” with أَجْرِهِمْ, “their reward,” without explanation.
“And We violated none of their rights” conveys a broader sense of justice, but makes the specific roles of “deeds” and “not diminishing” less apparent.
Al-Ḥujurāt 49:14
For لَا يَلِتْكُمْ مِنْ أَعْمَالِكُمْ شَيْئًا in the Ḥafṣ reading, the proposed translation is:
“He will not diminish anything of your deeds for you.”
“He diminishes nothing of the outcome of your deeds” also makes the sense clear.
Although the verb belongs to L Y T in Ḥafṣ, its semantic translation does not differ substantially from أَلَتْنَاهُمْ.
The hamzated reading يَأْلِتْكُمْ likewise retains the meaning of diminishing.
Uses outside the Qur’an
For أَلَتَهُ حَقَّهُ, suitable equivalents are “he diminished his due” or “he did not give him his full due.”
For أَلَتَهُ عَنْ قَصْدِهِ, “he held him back from his purpose” is appropriate.
In the oath usage, أَلَتَهُ يَمِينًا can be translated “he required an oath from him” or “he made him swear.”
These meanings should not all be combined within a single Qur’anic translation.
Nor should أَلَتَ, “to diminish,” be confused with آلَة, ālah, “an instrument,” or its Persian borrowing ālat. Similar-looking spellings do not establish a shared root.
9. Conclusion
In its principal branch, A L T concerns diminishing, withholding, and depriving someone of part of a right or the outcome of something.
Early Arabic records this meaning in relation to rights, property, messages, and deeds.
The witness attributed to Al-Ḥuṭayʾah shows that alt can also concern failing to convey a message fully. Withholding part of the message appears alongside lying, so the root’s meaning should not be restricted to falsehood alone.
Other Arabic uses record holding someone back from a purpose and requiring an oath under the same entry. The historical relationship between all these branches is not equally clear; a hypothetical common origin should not be invented.
In the widely used Ḥafṣ reading, Qur’anic A L T occurs only once, in Al-Ṭūr 52:21.
وَمَا أَلَتْنَاهُمْ مِنْ عَمَلِهِمْ مِنْ شَيْءٍ means leaving deeds and their outcome undiminished. Within the joining of believing generations, it clarifies that these blessings entail no reduction in the outcome of deeds.
The same verse preserves personal responsibility through كُلُّ امْرِئٍ بِمَا كَسَبَ رَهِينٌ. Mercy and blessings in the hereafter should therefore not be interpreted as rendering human action and responsibility unimportant.
Al-Ḥujurāt 49:14 has the related expression لَا يَلِتْكُمْ مِنْ أَعْمَالِكُمْ شَيْئًا. In Ḥafṣ, this verb belongs to L Y T, while the canonical readings of Abū ʿAmr and Yaʿqūb have an underlying hamzah and thus a direct morphological relationship with A L T.
This difference shows the importance of keeping root, reading, and semantic field distinct.
A L T also relates semantically to roots such as N Q Ṣ, B KH S, H Ḍ M, and W T R in the concept of diminishing, while differing in structure and range of usage.
Forqan’s final definition of A L T:
“Diminishing or withholding part of a quantity, right, or outcome; especially failing to deliver in full what belongs to someone or should be preserved for them. In the Qur’an, أَلَتْنَاهُمْ within a negative construction means that nothing of their deeds or their outcome has been diminished. Some Arabic uses also connect the root with holding back and deprivation, but it does not by itself express complete destruction or label every reduction as deliberate injustice. The character and significance of the diminution are determined by its object and context.”