Qur’anic Root A S W

1. Qur’anic forms and the root’s semantic field

The Qur’anic morphological index places seven occurrences in seven ayahs under A S W.

The three occurrences of the noun أُسْوَةٌ (uswatun) are:

• Al-Aḥzāb 33:21
• Al-Mumtaḥanah 60:4
• Al-Mumtaḥanah 60:6

The four verbal occurrences concerning grief are:

• Al-Māʾidah 5:26: تَأْسَ (taʾsa)
• Al-Māʾidah 5:68: تَأْسَ (taʾsa)
• Al-Aʿrāf 7:93: آسَىٰ (āsā)
• Al-Ḥadīd 57:23: تَأْسَوْا (taʾsaw)

This count follows an index that groups all these forms under A S W. Their derivational analysis nevertheless requires distinctions.

أُسْوَة (uswah), with initial u, and its alternative إِسْوَة (iswah), with initial i, are known in Arabic for an example or model to follow. The verb ائْتَسَى بِهِ (iʾtasā bihi) means to take someone as an example. تَأَسَّى بِهِ (taʾassā bihi) can mean following someone or finding consolation on observing a similar situation in that person’s life.

آسَى يُؤَاسِي (āsā / yuʾāsī) is also used in Arabic for sympathy and sharing one’s wealth or situation with another.

By contrast, أَسِيَ عَلَى الشَّيْءِ (asiya ʿalā al-shayʾi) means to grieve over something. One older classification assigns this verb to A S Y. Identical written forms or inclusion in one index do not therefore establish that grief, healing, and following an example all developed from one proven historical meaning.

For example, the wāw at the end of تَأْسَوْا (taʾsaw) marks the plural addressee. Its presence alone does not establish that the historical third root consonant was also wāw.

With this caution, the word family under discussion can be understood through three principal branches:

Healing and reconciliation: treating a wound or remedying a damaged condition.

Example and sympathetic sharing: taking another as a model for conduct, or placing that person alongside oneself as a participant in a situation.

Grief and sorrow: being affected by loss, an unfulfilled hope, or people’s conduct; a branch whose derivational relationship to A S W is not classified uniformly in lexical sources.

These branches have points of semantic contact. Careful study nevertheless requires that they not be reduced to one definition without evidence.

2. Early Arabic usage: healing, sympathy, and following an example

أَسَا الْجُرْحَ (asā al-jurḥa): treating a wound

In early Arabic usage, أَسَا الْجُرْحَ يَأْسُوهُ أَسْوًا (asā al-jurḥa / yaʾsūhu / aswan) means to treat a wound.

آسِي (āsī) names a healer; أُسَاة (usāh), healers. أَسُوّ (asuww) is also recorded for medicine used in treating a wound.

This is a practical, bodily meaning: someone has been wounded, and another person acts to treat and help that person recover.

A line by Al-Ḥuṭayʾah reads:

هُمُ الْآسُونَ أُمَّ الرَّأْسِ لَمَّا
تَوَاكَلَهَا الْأَطِبَّةُ وَالْإِسَاءُ

humu al-āsūna umma al-raʾsi lammā / tawākalahā al-aṭibbatu wa-l-isāʾu

“They are the healers of the head wound, when physicians and medicines have left its treatment to one another and abandoned it.”

Here, الْآسُونَ (al-āsūna) means healers. Al-Mubarrad and ʿAlī ibn Ḥamzah explain الْإِسَاءُ (al-isāʾu) as medicine; it is also reported as a plural of آسِي (āsī), meaning healers. تَوَاكَلَهَا (tawākalahā) conveys leaving the task to another, rather than simply becoming unable to treat it.

The poet uses the image of treating a difficult wound to praise an ability to set matters right and find a remedy. The witness therefore does more than refer to medical treatment: it also shows healing language used for remedying a difficult situation.

Al-Ḥuṭayʾah was a mukhaḍram poet, one whose life spanned the pre-Islamic and Islamic periods. The date of this line has not been independently established, so it should not be called a certain pre-Qur’anic witness.

Reconciling people

Arabic also records أَسَا بَيْنَ الْقَوْمِ (asā bayna al-qawmi) for reconciling people.

Here the concern is not a bodily wound, but a relationship damaged or disturbed.

There is a clear semantic resemblance between treating a wound and repairing a relationship: both seek to remedy damage that has occurred.

This resemblance should not become a certain claim that early Arabic speakers derived every use of A S W from the image of a wound and its treatment.

Reconciliation, healing, and sympathy may be neighboring branches of one family without their historical order of development being fully known.

أُسْوَة (uswah) and إِسْوَة (iswah): an example to follow

أُسْوَة (uswah) and إِسْوَة (iswah) are two established forms of the same Arabic word.

لِي فِي فُلَانٍ أُسْوَةٌ (lī fī fulānin uswatun) means that a particular person offers me an example whose situation or conduct I can follow.

This meaning is explicit in ائْتَسَى بِهِ (iʾtasā bihi): someone takes another as a model and seeks to act similarly in some matter.

In this use, an uswah is more than a famous or respected person whom others praise. The central relationship is following an example and bringing one’s conduct into correspondence with it.

A person may love someone without following that person’s conduct. Equally, one may learn from how someone performs a task without taking that person as a model in every matter.

Uswah thus goes beyond praise or popularity to concern something that can be followed or taken as an example.

Finding consolation in someone’s similar situation

Older explanations also use uswah for someone whose suffering or similar situation provides consolation.

A person who has suffered a loss may feel less alone on learning that another has experienced a similar hardship and endured it.

In this setting, تَأَسَّى بِهِ (taʾassā bihi) can also mean finding consolation in another’s example.

A line attributed to Ḥurayth ibn Zayd al-Khayl reads:

وَلَوْلَا الْأُسَىٰ مَا عِشْتُ فِي النَّاسِ سَاعَةً
وَلَكِنْ إِذَا مَا شِئْتُ جَاوَبَنِي مِثْلِي

wa-lawlā al-usā mā ʿishtu fī al-nāsi sāʿatan / wa-lākin idhā mā shiʾtu jāwabanī mithlī

“Without those who share my lot and offer a like example, I could not bear an hour among people; but whenever I wish, someone like me answers.”

The line concerns suffering and consolation through the companionship of others in a similar situation.

Its wording varies in transmission; another version of the second half has أَسْعَدَنِي مِثْلِي (asʿadanī mithlī), “someone like me offered me sympathy.” In both versions, companionship with someone familiar with similar suffering is central.

Ḥurayth was a poet whose life spanned the pre-Islamic and Islamic periods. The commentary on the Ḥamāsah connects this poem with an event during ʿUmar’s time. The surviving transmission should therefore be treated as a witness to early Islamic Arabic, rather than a certain pre-Qur’anic witness.

This use helps explain uswah because being an example does not always mean commanding others or holding social leadership. Someone in a similar situation may instead provide another with an example of endurance or a source of consolation.

مُوَاسَاة (muwāsāh): allowing another to share what one has

Muwāsāh is a familiar use of this word family.

آسَاهُ بِمَالِهِ (āsāhu bi-mālihi) means that someone lets another share in his wealth rather than leaving that person without a share.

Some older explanations distinguish giving from surplus wealth from sharing something that the giver also needs.

On this account, muwāsāh is more than giving something extra: one makes another a participant in one’s resources and situation.

This distinction should not be made an absolute rule for all Arabic usage. In different settings, muwāsāh can refer to financial sharing, sympathy, or helping another.

Uswah and muwāsāh have a visible connection in sharing and correspondence: in one, a person takes another as a model for conduct; in the other, a person shares resources or circumstances with another.

This resemblance does not mean that every uswah necessarily involves complete equality between two people.

One person can provide another with an example in a particular action even when their responsibilities, abilities, or social positions differ.

3. أُسْوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌ (uswatun ḥasanatun): Muḥammad as a good example

Al-Aḥzāb 33:21 states:

لَقَدْ كَانَ لَكُمْ فِي رَسُولِ اللَّهِ أُسْوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌ لِمَنْ كَانَ يَرْجُو اللَّهَ وَالْيَوْمَ الْآخِرَ وَذَكَرَ اللَّهَ كَثِيرًا

la-qad kāna lakum fī rasūli allāhi uswatun ḥasanatun li-man kāna yarjū allāha wa-l-yawma al-ākhira wa-dhakara allāha kathīrā

“There is certainly in the Messenger of The God a good example for you to follow—for whoever hopes in The God and the Last Day and remembers The God much.”

Al-Aḥzāb 33:21

Here, أُسْوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌ (uswatun ḥasanatun) concerns Muḥammad.

أُسْوَة (uswah) is an example to follow; حَسَنَة (ḥasanah) expresses the example’s goodness and worthiness.

The combination shows that uswah alone does not determine the example’s entire moral value. The adjective ḥasanah emphasizes its goodness.

In Arabic, people can follow another’s right or wrong conduct. Following an example does not, by itself, establish that example’s validity.

In this ayah, however, the Qur’an presents the Messenger of The God as a good example.

Context: steadfastness in difficult circumstances

Al-Aḥzāb 33:21 appears among ayahs describing the believers’ difficult confrontation with attacking groups.

Al-Aḥzāb 33:10 describes the enemies’ arrival and intense anxiety. In Al-Aḥzāb 33:11, the believers undergo a severe trial.

The following ayahs describe different responses. Some people waver and lose resolve, while others remain faithful to their pledge amid the difficulties.

Within this setting, Muḥammad is presented as an uswatun ḥasanatun, a good example.

His exemplary role here is therefore connected with practical conduct under trial, fidelity, steadfastness, and responsibility.

He is more than someone who commands others to remain steadfast: he himself bears responsibility in the same setting.

This clarifies part of how uswah functions in the passage. Being an example here concerns conduct that can be observed, understood, and followed in practice.

Does uswah mean following every detail of a person’s life?

The ayah presents Muḥammad as a good example. The word أُسْوَة (uswah) itself, however, cannot yield an unlimited list of rulings.

The word concerns following an example. Which conduct can be followed, under which circumstances, depends on the conduct’s nature, its audience, and the context.

For example, the Prophet’s steadfastness under pressure and fidelity to his responsibility can offer a clear moral example. Merely having used particular food, clothing, or equipment in a given time and environment does not lexically establish that every feature of that life is obligatory for everyone at every time.

Determining which command or action of the Prophet is binding on whom is a question broader than the meaning of A S W.

The phrase فِي رَسُولِ اللَّهِ (fī rasūli allāhi) matters here. The Qur’an says that the Messenger of The God offers the audience a good example. In its context, this expression concerns his conduct and role as Messenger; the lexical meaning of uswah alone does not turn every detail of his life into one uniform kind of ruling.

لِمَنْ كَانَ يَرْجُو اللَّهَ وَالْيَوْمَ الْآخِرَ (li-man kāna yarjū allāha wa-l-yawma al-ākhira)

After identifying the good example, the ayah names those who hope in The God and the Last Day and remember The God much.

This qualification shows that the praised following is inseparable from hope in The God, attention to the outcome of actions, and remembrance of The God.

Taking the Messenger as an example therefore involves more than outward imitation. The conduct’s direction and purpose also matter.

Nevertheless, أُسْوَة (uswah) should not be translated as “faith,” “God-consciousness,” or “hope in the Hereafter.” These concepts occur alongside it in the ayah, explaining the relationship between good following and the audience’s orientation in faith.

4. Abraham and his companions: a good example with an explicit exception

Al-Mumtaḥanah 60:4 states:

قَدْ كَانَتْ لَكُمْ أُسْوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌ فِي إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَالَّذِينَ مَعَهُ إِذْ قَالُوا لِقَوْمِهِمْ إِنَّا بُرَآءُ مِنْكُمْ وَمِمَّا تَعْبُدُونَ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ كَفَرْنَا بِكُمْ وَبَدَا بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَكُمُ الْعَدَاوَةُ وَالْبَغْضَاءُ أَبَدًا حَتَّىٰ تُؤْمِنُوا بِاللَّهِ وَحْدَهُ إِلَّا قَوْلَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ لِأَبِيهِ لَأَسْتَغْفِرَنَّ لَكَ وَمَا أَمْلِكُ لَكَ مِنَ اللَّهِ مِنْ شَيْءٍ رَبَّنَا عَلَيْكَ تَوَكَّلْنَا وَإِلَيْكَ أَنَبْنَا وَإِلَيْكَ الْمَصِيرُ

qad kānat lakum uswatun ḥasanatun fī ibrāhīma wa-lladhīna maʿahu idh qālū li-qawmihim innā buraʾāʾu minkum wa-mimmā taʿbudūna min dūni allāhi kafarnā bikum wa-badā baynanā wa-baynakumu al-ʿadāwatu wa-l-baghḍāʾu abadan ḥattā tuʾminū bi-allāhi waḥdahu illā qawla ibrāhīma li-abīhi la-astaghfiranna laka wa-mā amliku laka mina allāhi min shayʾin rabbanā ʿalayka tawakkalnā wa-ilayka anabnā wa-ilayka al-maṣīr

“You had a good example to follow in Abraham and those with him, when they said to their people: We disavow you and what you worship apart from The God. We have rejected you, and enmity and aversion have become apparent between us and you, continually until you believe in The God alone. Except for Abraham’s saying to his father: I will certainly ask forgiveness for you, though I have no power to secure anything for you against The God. Our Lord, in You we have placed our trust, to You we have turned, and to You is the final return.”

Al-Mumtaḥanah 60:4

Here, أُسْوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌ (uswatun ḥasanatun) does not concern Abraham alone. The Qur’an names إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَالَّذِينَ مَعَهُ (ibrāhīma wa-lladhīna maʿahu), “Abraham and those with him,” together.

In this context, the good example therefore comprises both a Prophet and those who shared his stance in faith and the conduct under discussion.

This shows that being an uswah is not inherently limited to prophethood. Other people, too, can provide an example of right conduct.

An example in what respect?

The ayah states the subject of the example: Abraham and his companions’ stance toward worshipping other deities and their separation from a path incompatible with exclusive devotion to The God.

The subject cannot therefore be detached from this context and extended to every personal, family, or social disagreement.

The passage concerns a particular matter of faith and worship. Abraham and his companions disavow worship of anything apart from The God and refuse to accept that path.

The statement about enmity and aversion is nevertheless part of the text and must not be omitted from translation. Its scope should be assessed through the circumstances of that relationship and other Qur’anic ayahs.

Al-Mumtaḥanah 60:8 does not prohibit kindness and justice toward those who have neither fought the believers over religion nor expelled them from their homes. Al-Mumtaḥanah 60:9 connects the restriction with those involved in fighting, expulsion, or assistance in that expulsion.

Abraham’s particular stance in Al-Mumtaḥanah 60:4 cannot therefore yield a general command to mistreat every person of a different belief.

إِلَّا قَوْلَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ لِأَبِيهِ (illā qawla ibrāhīma li-abīhi): an exception clarifying the limits of following

The explicit exception is the passage’s most significant feature for understanding how uswah is used here.

The Qur’an first presents Abraham and his companions as a good example, then says إِلَّا قَوْلَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ لِأَبِيهِ (illā qawla ibrāhīma li-abīhi), “except for Abraham’s saying to his father.”

The exception concerns Abraham’s promise to seek forgiveness for his father.

Al-Tawbah 9:114 further explains this promise: Abraham’s seeking forgiveness for his father was connected with a promise he had made to him. When it became clear to Abraham that his father stood as an enemy of The God, he disavowed him.

In the very ayah concerning the example, the Qur’an thus shows that presenting someone as a good example does not mean unqualified approval of all that person’s conduct in every situation.

This point does not come from an external theory of exemplary conduct: the ayah itself places being an example alongside its exception.

The particular exception concerning Abraham’s promise should not, however, become a broader ruling that prohibits every supplication, request for guidance, or expression of goodwill for other people without examining the relevant ayahs.

The scope of each ruling is understood through its own wording and its connections within the Qur’an.

5. The repeated أُسْوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌ (uswatun ḥasanatun) in Al-Mumtaḥanah 60:6

The expression uswatun ḥasanatun occurs again in the same surah:

لَقَدْ كَانَ لَكُمْ فِيهِمْ أُسْوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌ لِمَنْ كَانَ يَرْجُو اللَّهَ وَالْيَوْمَ الْآخِرَ وَمَنْ يَتَوَلَّ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ هُوَ الْغَنِيُّ الْحَمِيدُ

la-qad kāna lakum fīhim uswatun ḥasanatun li-man kāna yarjū allāha wa-l-yawma al-ākhira wa-man yatawalla fa-inna allāha huwa al-ghaniyyu al-ḥamīd

“There is certainly in them a good example for you to follow—for whoever hopes in The God and the Last Day. Whoever turns away, The God is indeed Self-Sufficient, Praised.”

Al-Mumtaḥanah 60:6

The pronoun in فِيهِمْ (fīhim), “in them,” refers to Abraham and his companions in the preceding ayahs.

Al-Mumtaḥanah 60:4 had named the people and described the conduct in question. Here the pronoun recalls that same good example, directing attention toward the audience’s benefiting from it.

The repetition does not introduce a new example; it emphasizes the earlier one as the surah’s argument continues.

The phrase لِمَنْ كَانَ يَرْجُو اللَّهَ وَالْيَوْمَ الْآخِرَ (li-man kāna yarjū allāha wa-l-yawma al-ākhira) also clearly connects this ayah with Al-Aḥzāb 33:21. Both associate the good example with hope in The God and the Last Day.

This association indicates that the Qur’an’s praised emulation involves more than outward resemblance: the person’s conduct should accord with the purpose the Qur’an presents.

أُسْوَة (uswah) nevertheless retains its meaning of an example to follow. Hope in The God and the Hereafter clarifies the qualification and orientation associated with following; it does not change the word’s lexical meaning.

The ayah ends by affirming The God’s self-sufficiency. A person’s turning away diminishes none of that self-sufficiency and creates no deficiency in Him.

Following the example therefore matters for the human being’s own benefit and responsibility, rather than meeting any need of The God for people to follow an example.

6. Grieving: four verbal occurrences and the question of A S Y

Alongside the three occurrences of أُسْوَة (uswah), the Qur’anic morphological index also places four verbs concerning grief under A S W.

These verbs do not mean the same as uswah. Moreover, some older dictionaries place the verb meaning to grieve under A S Y.

For example, أَسِيَ عَلَى الشَّيْءِ (asiya ʿalā al-shayʾi) means to grieve over something, whereas أَسَا الْجُرْحَ (asā al-jurḥa) means to treat a wound.

Morphological classification should therefore be distinguished from proof of a shared historical root.

Despite this difference, all four occurrences need examination: omitting them would conceal from the reader the distinction between these neighboring families.

Al-Māʾidah 5:26: Moses is told not to grieve over the disobedient people

قَالَ فَإِنَّهَا مُحَرَّمَةٌ عَلَيْهِمْ أَرْبَعِينَ سَنَةً يَتِيهُونَ فِي الْأَرْضِ فَلَا تَأْسَ عَلَى الْقَوْمِ الْفَاسِقِينَ

qāla fa-innahā muḥarramatun ʿalayhim arbaʿīna sanatan yatīhūna fī al-arḍi fa-lā taʾsa ʿalā al-qawmi al-fāsiqīn

“He said: That land is forbidden to them for forty years; they will wander in the land. So do not grieve over the disobedient people.”

Al-Māʾidah 5:26

Here تَأْسَ (taʾsa) is an imperfect verb addressed to one male person and means to grieve. After prohibitive lā, it is jussive, with its final weak radical omitted.

Moses has faced a people who refused the command to enter the land they had been directed to enter. Their wandering is then described, and Moses is told not to grieve over those disobedient people.

فَلَا تَأْسَ (fa-lā taʾsa) here does not mean “do not follow them.” Nor does it mean “do not treat them” or “do not share your wealth with them.”

Together with عَلَى (ʿalā) and its stated object, the verb expresses grief over the group’s condition and outcome.

This example shows how treating all forms resembling A S W as identical can lead to serious translation errors.

Al-Māʾidah 5:68: the Prophet’s grief concerning a group of deniers

قُلْ يَا أَهْلَ الْكِتَابِ لَسْتُمْ عَلَىٰ شَيْءٍ حَتَّىٰ تُقِيمُوا التَّوْرَاةَ وَالْإِنْجِيلَ وَمَا أُنْزِلَ إِلَيْكُمْ مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ وَلَيَزِيدَنَّ كَثِيرًا مِنْهُمْ مَا أُنْزِلَ إِلَيْكَ مِنْ رَبِّكَ طُغْيَانًا وَكُفْرًا فَلَا تَأْسَ عَلَى الْقَوْمِ الْكَافِرِينَ

qul yā ahla al-kitābi lastum ʿalā shayʾin ḥattā tuqīmū al-tawrāta wa-l-injīla wa-mā unzila ilaykum min rabbikum wa-la-yazīdanna kathīran minhum mā unzila ilayka min rabbika ṭughyānan wa-kufran fa-lā taʾsa ʿalā al-qawmi al-kāfirīn

“Say: People of the Book, you stand on no firm ground until you uphold the Torah, the Gospel, and what has been sent down to you from your Lord. What has been sent down to you from your Lord will certainly increase many of them in transgression and denial. So do not grieve over the denying people.”

Al-Māʾidah 5:68

فَلَا تَأْسَ (fa-lā taʾsa) again concerns not grieving, but here Muḥammad is addressed.

Its verbal meaning is close to that in Al-Māʾidah 5:26. In both passages, a Prophet encounters the conduct of a group that has turned away from guidance and is told not to grieve over them.

The subject is nevertheless different. One concerns Moses’ people; the other concerns upholding revealed books and the response of a group among the People of the Book.

The qualification كَثِيرًا مِنْهُمْ (kathīran minhum), “many of them,” also matters. This part of the Qur’an speaks of many, rather than attributing the same response to every member of the People of the Book.

فَلَا تَأْسَ (fa-lā taʾsa) in this setting prohibits grieving over the denying group. It should not be turned into a command to disregard the rights, circumstances, or suffering of everyone who holds another belief.

Al-Aʿrāf 7:93: Shuʿayb speaks after delivering the message

فَتَوَلَّىٰ عَنْهُمْ وَقَالَ يَا قَوْمِ لَقَدْ أَبْلَغْتُكُمْ رِسَالَاتِ رَبِّي وَنَصَحْتُ لَكُمْ فَكَيْفَ آسَىٰ عَلَىٰ قَوْمٍ كَافِرِينَ

fa-tawallā ʿanhum wa-qāla yā qawmi la-qad ablaghtukum risālāti rabbī wa-naṣaḥtu lakum fa-kayfa āsā ʿalā qawmin kāfirīn

“He turned away from them and said: My people, I have certainly conveyed my Lord’s messages to you and given you sincere counsel. How, then, should I grieve over a people who denied?”

Al-Aʿrāf 7:93

آسَىٰ (āsā) here is a first-person singular imperfect: Shuʿayb speaks of his own grieving. It should not be confused with the Form III perfect آسَى (āsā), meaning to offer sympathy or share with another.

The form outwardly resembles some verbs concerning treatment or sympathy, but its meaning in this context is clear.

Shuʿayb recalls conveying the messages and offering sincere counsel, then speaks of grieving over a people who rejected his message.

فَكَيْفَ آسَىٰ (fa-kayfa āsā) is interrogative in structure, but is not an ordinary request for information. In the context following Shuʿayb’s turning away, it emphasizes that he has fulfilled the responsibility of conveying and counseling, while his people were responsible for their conduct.

This does not mean that Shuʿayb had never felt grief or concern for them at any earlier stage. The sentence itself states that he had offered sincere counsel.

The grief should therefore be understood in relation to the time and circumstances of this statement, rather than being used to construct a permanent psychological trait for Shuʿayb.

Al-Ḥadīd 57:23: grieving over what has been lost

لِكَيْلَا تَأْسَوْا عَلَىٰ مَا فَاتَكُمْ وَلَا تَفْرَحُوا بِمَا آتَاكُمْ وَاللَّهُ لَا يُحِبُّ كُلَّ مُخْتَالٍ فَخُورٍ

li-kaylā taʾsaw ʿalā mā fātakum wa-lā tafraḥū bi-mā ātākum wa-allāhu lā yuḥibbu kulla mukhtālin fakhūr

“So that you do not grieve over what you have lost, nor become pridefully elated over what He has given you; The God does not love anyone arrogant and boastful.”

Al-Ḥadīd 57:23

تَأْسَوْا (taʾsaw) here means to grieve.

The verb is a second-person plural imperfect, made subjunctive in the construction لِكَيْلَا (li-kaylā), with its final nūn omitted; wāw marks the plural addressee. عَلَىٰ مَا فَاتَكُمْ (ʿalā mā fātakum) identifies what the grief concerns.

The object is something a person has lost or that has passed beyond reach.

The passage continues with وَلَا تَفْرَحُوا بِمَا آتَاكُمْ (wa-lā tafraḥū bi-mā ātākum), then condemns arrogance and boasting.

The context concerns cultivating a person’s response to losing and gaining.

تَأْسَوْا (taʾsaw) should not be translated as following an example, nor should the ayah be taken to mean that the Qur’an prohibits grief in every circumstance.

Yūsuf 12:84 recounts Jacob’s deep grief. Elsewhere the Qur’an also recognizes commendable joy. The purpose of the ayah in Al-Ḥadīd should therefore not be taken as an absolute rejection of all natural human emotions.

What stands out in this context is avoiding consuming grief and proud elation that unbalance a person’s relationship with possessions and losses.

Do grief and uswah have one identical meaning?

Some lexical explanations connect uswah with finding consolation. On seeing someone who has suffered similarly and endured it, a person can bear grief more easily.

There may thus be a semantic connection between following an example and finding consolation.

This does not mean that تَأْسَوْا (taʾsaw) in Al-Ḥadīd 57:23 means “take as an example,” or that أُسْوَة (uswah) in Al-Aḥzāb 33:21 directly means grief.

The distinction between A S W and A S Y in some older classifications provides further reason for caution in asserting a common historical origin.

Their possible connections can be recognized while each form is defined through its own usage and context.

7. Distinctions from neighboring roots and concepts

A S W: أُسْوَة (uswah), and Q D W: اقْتِدَاء (iqtidāʾ)

Study of Q D W (Not yet published)

Q D W is directly connected with following and taking an example.

In Al-Anʿām 6:90, Muḥammad is commanded to follow the guidance of the earlier prophets. اقْتَدِهْ (iqtadih) belongs to this root.

أُسْوَة (uswah) and اقْتِدَاء (iqtidāʾ) are close in the field of emulation, but approach it from different angles.

Uswah names an example that can be followed; iqtidāʾ expresses the act of following an example.

The distinction is clear, but should not become an absolute boundary: Arabic can also use uswah for the state or act of following itself.

More significantly, following an example, whether expressed through iqtidāʾ or uswah, does not inherently establish that following it is right.

In Al-Zukhruf 43:23, people call themselves مُقْتَدُونَ (muqtadūna), followers of their ancestors’ way—a following criticized in that very context.

With both iqtidāʾ and taking an uswah, the rightness of the path therefore needs to be established separately.

A S W: أُسْوَة (uswah), and A M M: إِمَام (imām)

Study of A M M

In its human application, إِمَام (imām) concerns someone who stands in front and is followed by others.

An uswah can likewise be someone whose conduct others take as a model.

The two designations are nevertheless distinct.

An imām may hold a position of leading and guiding a group, whereas being an uswah concerns a situation or conduct that can be followed.

The Qur’an presents Abraham both as an imām and as a good example. These designations belong to different roots, each expressing an aspect of his position.

Nor is being an uswah limited to prophets or leaders. In Al-Mumtaḥanah 60:4, those with Abraham are also included in the good example.

Rulings concerning leadership should therefore not all be transferred to uswah, nor should uswah be treated merely as another name for the office of a leader.

A S W: مُوَاسَاة (muwāsāh), and N Ṣ R: نَصْر (naṣr)

Study of N Ṣ R

نَصْر (naṣr) concerns giving help and can apply in various circumstances, especially when facing an obstacle or enemy.

Muwāsāh also involves help and companionship, but its familiar use emphasizes allowing another to share one’s circumstances or resources.

Someone may help another without sharing in suffering or sharing wealth with that person. Equally, someone may offer sympathy and share suffering or resources without there being any question of overcoming an enemy.

This, too, is a tendency rather than an absolute separation between the concepts.

A S W: مُوَاسَاة (muwāsāh), and AYN Z R (ʿ Z R): تَعْزِير (taʿzīr)

Study of AYN Z R (ʿ Z R) (Not yet published)

Some Qur’anic uses of AYN Z R concern help and support accompanied by honoring.

In Arabic, muwāsāh concerns companionship and sharing with another.

The two may coincide in one practical action: someone can support another while also sharing resources with that person.

Their lexical meanings are nevertheless distinct.

The technical meaning of taʿzīr in later legal systems should not be imported into the Qur’anic use of AYN Z R or the meaning of muwāsāh.

A S W: أُسْوَة (uswah), and A S Y: أَسًى (asan)

This comparison has particular etymological significance.

Uswah concerns an example and following it, whereas أَسًى (asan), in its clear use, expresses grief and sorrow.

Some sources examine forms concerning healing, consolation, following an example, and grief within a broad family. Others place the grief branch under the separate root A S Y.

Resembling letters or morphological forms alone cannot therefore establish that the two have precisely the same historical root.

The translation distinction is clearer: أُسْوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌ (uswatun ḥasanatun) in Al-Aḥzāb and Al-Mumtaḥanah means “a good example to follow”; تَأْسَوْا (taʾsaw) in Al-Ḥadīd 57:23 means “you grieve.”

Identifying a root thus needs to be accompanied by examination of morphology and context.

8. Translation choices for Forqan

The principal suggested English equivalent for أُسْوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌ (uswatun ḥasanatun) is:

“A good example to follow.”

“A good model” is also accurate, concise, and natural. Where the relationship between the person and the act of following needs to be clearer, the first rendering offers more explanation without introducing a meaning outside the word.

Al-Aḥzāb 33:21 may be rendered:

“There is certainly in the Messenger of The God a good example for you to follow.”

The same equivalent should be retained in Al-Mumtaḥanah 60:4:

“You had a good example to follow in Abraham and those with him.”

Likewise in Al-Mumtaḥanah 60:6:

“There is certainly in them a good example for you to follow.”

There is no need to change the equivalent across these three ayahs: their lexical form and principal meaning are the same. What differs is the people and conduct involved in the example.

In the grief branch, تَأْسَ (taʾsa) and آسَىٰ (āsā) are translated through grieving or sorrowing.

In Al-Māʾidah 5:26 and Al-Māʾidah 5:68, فَلَا تَأْسَ (fa-lā taʾsa) can be rendered “do not grieve.”

In Al-Aʿrāf 7:93, فَكَيْفَ آسَىٰ (fa-kayfa āsā) is naturally rendered “How, then, should I grieve?”

In Al-Ḥadīd 57:23, تَأْسَوْا عَلَىٰ مَا فَاتَكُمْ (taʾsaw ʿalā mā fātakum) means “you grieve over what you have lost.” Within the ayah’s negative construction, this yields “so that you do not grieve over what you have lost.”

For ائْتِسَاء (iʾtisāʾ) and تَأَسِّي (taʾassī), in uses concerning an example, “taking as a model,” “following an example,” and “emulating another” are suitable.

For مُوَاسَاة (muwāsāh), the context may warrant “sympathy,” “mutual help,” or “sharing one’s resources with another.”

In the healing use, أَسَا الْجُرْحَ (asā al-jurḥa) means “he treated the wound,” and آسِي (āsī) means a healer.

These meanings should not be interchanged. Uswah in Al-Aḥzāb does not mean a healer, and taʾsaw in Al-Ḥadīd does not mean following a model.

9. Conclusion

In Arabic, A S W is connected with healing, reconciliation, following an example, and sympathetic sharing. The healing use concerns treating a wound and remedying damage. With uswah, a person or situation offers another a model for conduct. With muwāsāh, sympathy and sharing circumstances or resources are involved.

There are intelligible semantic connections between these branches. They should nevertheless not be traced to one original material image or a certain common historical origin without evidence.

The Qur’an uses أُسْوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌ (uswatun ḥasanatun) three times. Muḥammad in Al-Aḥzāb 33:21, and Abraham and his companions in Al-Mumtaḥanah 60:4 and Al-Mumtaḥanah 60:6, are presented as good examples to follow.

These uses show that being an example is not restricted to holding an official position or the title of Prophet: Abraham’s companions also provide an example in particular conduct.

Following a model has no inherently positive moral value by itself. The Qur’an specifies the example’s goodness by adding حَسَنَة (ḥasanah), and Al-Mumtaḥanah 60:4 makes an explicit exception to following Abraham.

Presenting someone as a good example therefore does not mean that every action, circumstance, or characteristic of that person has one uniform ruling for everyone at every time, irrespective of context.

Some Qur’anic indexes also place four verbs concerning grief under A S W. Lexically, however, some older dictionaries associate them with A S Y.

In these occurrences, تَأْسَ (taʾsa), آسَىٰ (āsā), and تَأْسَوْا (taʾsaw) denote grieving over people or lost things. This meaning should remain distinct from following an example, treating a wound, or sympathetic sharing.

Forqan’s final definition of A S W:

“In the principal branch, treating and remedying damage; and in human uses, taking another as a model for conduct or sharing one’s circumstances and resources with that person. In the Qur’an, uswah denotes an example to follow, while ḥasanah specifies the example’s goodness. Some indexes also include verbs concerning grief under this entry, while part of the lexical tradition assigns them to A S Y. The meaning of grief should therefore be examined separately from that of an example and sympathetic sharing.”