Qur’anic Root A Ṣ L

1. Qur’anic forms and semantic fields

A Ṣ L occurs ten times in ten ayahs, in two principal noun families.

The first is أَصْل (aṣl), with three occurrences:

• أَصْلُهَا (aṣluhā) in Ibrāhīm 14:24: the tree’s root or foundation.
• أَصْلِ (aṣli) in Al-Ṣāffāt 37:64: the lower part or depths of Hellfire.
• أُصُولِهَا (uṣūlihā) in Al-Ḥashr 59:5: the trees’ roots and bases.

The second family, أَصِيل (aṣīl), occurs seven times in two forms: الْآصَالِ (al-āṣāli) in Al-Aʿrāf 7:205, Al-Raʿd 13:15, and Al-Nūr 24:36; and أَصِيلًا (aṣīlan) in Al-Furqān 25:5, Al-Aḥzāb 33:42, Al-Fatḥ 48:9, and Al-Insān 76:25. Aṣluhā in Ibrāhīm 14:24 is nominative; aṣli follows fī in Al-Ṣāffāt 37:64, and uṣūlihā follows ʿalā in Al-Ḥashr 59:5, both genitive. Al-āṣāl is genitive in all three occurrences, coordinated with al-ghuduww; aṣīlan is an accusative adverb of time in its four occurrences.

أُصُول (uṣūl) is the plural of aṣl, whereas temporal آصَال (āṣāl) belongs to the aṣīl family. Their similar written forms should not cause their meanings to be confused.

Arabic records other verbs and derivatives from this material. أَصُلَ (aṣula) concerns becoming rooted or established. تَأَصَّلَ (taʾaṣṣala) describes something taking root or becoming established. أَصَّلَ (aṣṣala) means to give something a foundation, and اسْتَأْصَلَ (istaʾṣala), in one familiar use, means to uproot.

أَصَالَة (aṣālah) also denotes firmness of origin and rootedness, and, socially, recognized or noble descent.

These derivatives help explain the linguistic family, but do not occur in the Qur’an in the forms just named.

No single brief definition covers every branch unambiguously. At least two fields must remain distinct: a thing’s root or foundation, and late afternoon as a particular part of the day.

2. أَصْل (aṣl) in early Arabic: a root and the basis supporting other parts

أَصْلُ الشَّيْءِ (aṣlu al-shayʾi): a thing’s foundational part

Early Arabic uses aṣl for the lower or foundational part of something.

أَصْلُ الشَّجَرَةِ (aṣlu al-shajarati) is a tree’s root or base, where it gains support and from which its other parts grow.

أَصْلُ الْجَبَلِ (aṣlu al-jabali) refers to a mountain’s foot or lower slope; أَصْلُ الْحَائِطِ (aṣlu al-ḥāʾiṭi), to the lower part of a wall.

Aṣl here does not merely mean a beginning in time. It identifies a foundational part with which the other parts are connected.

The meaning also appears in expressions concerning a family’s origin, the basis of a statement, or the foundation of a matter. Aṣl identifies a source or basis through which other aspects can be understood.

This extension does not make aṣl mean “historical origin” in every use.

A tree with roots is not necessarily just coming into existence from them: its roots may be part of its existing structure and the means of its support and nourishment.

Likewise, a wall’s aṣl may be its lower foundation, rather than the first stone laid chronologically.

Does firmness belong to the root itself or its condition?

Arabic records أَصُلَ الشَّيْءُ (aṣula al-shayʾu) for something becoming rooted and established.

This branch includes أَصِيلُ الرَّأْيِ (aṣīlu al-raʾyi), describing someone with sound, considered judgment, and مَجْدٌ أَصِيلٌ (majdun aṣīlun), standing or distinction with a recognized foundation.

Firmness here connects with origin and rootedness.

That connection does not establish that everything possessing a foundation is necessarily firm or sound.

A tree can have weak roots, and a building can rest on an unsound base. Having a foundation does not itself guarantee its quality or durability.

The distinction matters in Ibrāhīm 14:24, where the Qur’an adds ثَابِتٌ (thābitun), “firm,” to aṣluhā.

Aṣl names the root; thābit describes its firmness.

Firmness should therefore not be inferred from aṣl alone: in this ayah, thābit explicitly states that quality.

تَأَصَّلَ (taʾaṣṣala) and اسْتَأْصَلَ (istaʾṣala): taking root and uprooting

Arabic taʾaṣṣala can mean that something takes root or becomes established.

The image is tangible with a tree: a plant spreads roots in the ground, increasing its capacity to stand and grow.

In its familiar transitive use, istaʾṣala al-shayʾa means to uproot or eliminate something completely.

The action targets more than cutting off a part: it removes the root or foundation.

This supports uses concerning eradicating a group or completely eliminating a phenomenon.

The verbal form does not occur in the Qur’an, however. It helps explain the family, but its meaning of eradication should not be transferred to every Qur’anic aṣl.

Some lexical uses also record istaʾṣala for a tree whose roots have become firm. The verb’s construction, whether transitive or intransitive, and context must be distinguished.

3. أَصِيل (aṣīl) in early Arabic: late afternoon before sunset

The root’s second branch concerns time.

Aṣīl names the part of the day after the afternoon period and before sunset. In its familiar use, this is late afternoon, when the sun descends toward the western horizon.

أَصِيلَة (aṣīlah) also names this part of the day.

Recorded plurals include أُصُل (uṣul), أُصْلَان (uṣlān), آصَال (āṣāl), and أَصَائِل (aṣāʾil).

The precise formation of āṣāl has been disputed: some analyze it as the plural of aṣīl, others as the plural of uṣul. Aṣāʾil has also been related to singular aṣīlah.

This disagreement matters morphologically without changing the temporal meaning.

Qur’anic āṣāl denotes late afternoons, while aṣīlan means “in the late afternoon.”

A pre-Islamic witness: أُصَيْلَانًا (uṣaylānan) in Al-Nābighah al-Dhubyānī

The pre-Islamic poet Al-Nābighah al-Dhubyānī says near the opening of a well-known ode:

وَقَفْتُ فِيهَا أُصَيْلَانًا أُسَائِلُهَا
عَيَّتْ جَوَابًا وَمَا بِالرَّبْعِ مِنْ أَحَدِ

waqaftu fīhā uṣaylānan usāʾiluhā / ʿayyat jawāban wa-mā bi-l-rabʿi min aḥadi

“I stood in that dwelling in the late afternoon, questioning it; it could give no answer, and there was no one in the encampment.”

Uṣaylānan here denotes late afternoon.

The poet stands at a place people once inhabited but which is now empty. Late afternoon is the time of his standing and questioning.

The witness shows that the temporal form was known in pre-Islamic poetry and used to identify a part of the day.

Some lexical transmissions give أُصَيْلَالًا (uṣaylālan) instead. This variant does not alter the line’s main meaning, but the selected wording should be clear when quoting it.

Another witness: أَصَائِل (aṣāʾil) in Abū Dhuʾayb

A poem by Abū Dhuʾayb al-Hudhalī includes:

لَعَمْرِي لَأَنْتَ الْبَيْتُ أُكْرِمُ أَهْلَهُ
وَأَقْعُدُ فِي أَفْيَائِهِ بِالْأَصَائِلِ

la-ʿamrī la-anta al-baytu ukrimu ahlahu / wa-aqʿudu fī afyāʾihi bi-l-aṣāʾili

“By my life, you are indeed the house whose people I honor, and in whose shades I sit in the late afternoons.”

Aṣāʾil is a plural belonging to the aṣīl/aṣīlah family.

The poet identifies the time of sitting in the shade through this word. It too connects aṣīl and its temporal derivatives with a daylight period approaching sunset.

Abū Dhuʾayb lived across the pre-Islamic and Islamic periods. This line should not be dated before the Qur’an without independent evidence. In the quoted wording, أُكْرِمُ (ukrimu) is a first-person verb meaning “I honor.”

Does أَصِيل (aṣīl) mean night?

Arabic aṣīl generally concerns the time after the afternoon period and before sunset.

“Late afternoon,” “toward sunset,” or “the time before sunset” are therefore suitable equivalents.

“Evening” can sometimes include this period in English, but may suggest the time after sunset and the beginning of night.

“Late afternoon” is therefore preferable in a precise rendering of aṣīl, preserving its distinction from night.

The word should not be used to set a fixed modern clock time. Early language named customary periods of the day rather than identical precise hours across all seasons.

Was temporal أَصِيل (aṣīl) derived from أَصْل (aṣl), “root”?

Aṣīl meaning rooted or sound and aṣīl meaning late afternoon have the same form.

Some later explanations propose connections, such as late afternoon’s proximity to the day’s end or resting point.

Such explanations do not by themselves establish the historical origin of the name.

Early lexicography did not always reduce the meanings to one image either. Some lexicographers treated foundations, late afternoon, and the name of a snake as three distinct branches of this material.

Forqan should therefore retain both principal meanings without explaining their historical connection through a conjectural story.

4. أَصْلُهَا ثَابِتٌ (aṣluhā thābitun): the tree’s root and a good word’s foundation

Sūrah Ibrāhīm says:

أَلَمْ تَرَ كَيْفَ ضَرَبَ اللَّهُ مَثَلًا كَلِمَةً طَيِّبَةً كَشَجَرَةٍ طَيِّبَةٍ أَصْلُهَا ثَابِتٌ وَفَرْعُهَا فِي السَّمَاءِ

a-lam tara kayfa ḍaraba allāhu mathalan kalimatan ṭayyibatan ka-shajaratin ṭayyibatin aṣluhā thābitun wa-farʿuhā fī al-samāʾi

“Have you not seen how The God sets forth a good word as a parable? It is like a good tree whose root is firm and whose branch is in the sky.”

Ibrāhīm 14:24

This is the clearest use of aṣl in the image of a tree.

Aṣluhā refers to the tree’s root or foundation. The attached hā, “its,” refers to the tree.

Thābit describes that root’s firmness.

فَرْعُهَا (farʿuhā), from F R ʿ, concerns the tree’s upper part and branches.

The ayah thus connects the tree’s foundational and upper parts: the root stands firm, while the branch extends upward.

The image is not solely an account of a natural tree. The ayah makes it a parable for كَلِمَةً طَيِّبَةً (kalimatan ṭayyibatan), “a good word.”

A firmly rooted tree can grow and bear fruit in its other parts. The next ayah, Ibrāhīm 14:25, speaks of this tree bearing fruit by its Lord’s permission.

The parable therefore connects a firm foundation with growth and fruitfulness.

Does أَصْل (aṣl) itself mean a fixed truth?

Here aṣl names the tree’s root, while thābit describes its firmness.

Translating aṣl directly as “a fixed truth” mixes two levels: the lexical meaning and an understanding drawn from the Qur’anic parable.

The ayah presents a tree. Root, branch, and fruit are real components of its image.

At the level of the parable, the image helps explain a good word: one with a sound foundation whose effects can be lasting and fruitful.

Each part of the tree should not, however, be turned into a particular institution, person, sect, or concept without evidence.

Aṣl itself does not establish that the root necessarily represents a particular lineage, historical religion, or religious institution.

What the ayah states directly is the firmness of a tree’s root in a parable about a good word.

The unstable tree in the following contrast

Ibrāhīm 14:26 likens a bad word to a bad tree uprooted from the ground with no stability.

The contrast helps explain aṣluhā thābitun.

In the first image, the root is firm; in the second, the tree has been uprooted and lacks settled footing.

The central issue is therefore the foundation’s quality and stability, rather than merely having roots.

The contrast suggests that a statement or idea can have an outward form, yet its durability and fruitfulness remain doubtful without a firm foundation.

Aṣl does not lexically mean “truthfulness,” however. The tree’s moral and semantic value comes from ṭayyibah, “good,” and the parable’s context.

5. فِي أَصْلِ الْجَحِيمِ (fī aṣli al-jaḥīmi): the lower depths of Hellfire

Al-Ṣāffāt says:

إِنَّهَا شَجَرَةٌ تَخْرُجُ فِي أَصْلِ الْجَحِيمِ

innahā shajaratun takhruju fī aṣli al-jaḥīmi

“It is a tree that grows in the lower depths of Hellfire.”

Al-Ṣāffāt 37:64

Here aṣli forms a genitive construction with al-jaḥīm.

The subject is a tree introduced in the preceding ayahs as Zaqqūm.

In this context, aṣli al-jaḥīm denotes Hellfire’s lower part, base, or depths, where that tree grows.

This differs importantly from aṣluhā in Ibrāhīm 14:24.

In Ibrāhīm, aṣl concerns the tree’s own root.

In Al-Ṣāffāt, aṣl is attributed to Hellfire: it denotes Hellfire’s lower part, rather than directly naming the Zaqqūm tree’s root.

The syntactic distinction must remain visible in translation.

Does أَصْل (aṣl) here mean Hell’s root?

Grammatically, aṣli is the first member of a genitive construction and al-jaḥīmi its genitive complement.

Context, however, makes the spatial meaning of a lower part or depths clearer.

“Hell’s root” could suggest that Hell possesses biological roots like a plant or tree. The ayah does not state this.

Nor should aṣl be used to derive a definitive map of Hellfire’s levels and spatial structure.

The ayah locates the tree’s growth in clear language, but does not give a scientific or geographical account of the hereafter’s construction.

This also shows that aṣl is not intrinsically positive.

The root used for a good tree’s root in Ibrāhīm 14:24 describes Hellfire’s lower part in Al-Ṣāffāt 37:64.

Aṣl itself thus signifies neither Paradise nor Hell. Its subject and value depend on the thing described and the context.

6. عَلَىٰ أُصُولِهَا (ʿalā uṣūlihā): the date palms’ roots

Al-Ḥashr says:

مَا قَطَعْتُمْ مِنْ لِينَةٍ أَوْ تَرَكْتُمُوهَا قَائِمَةً عَلَىٰ أُصُولِهَا فَبِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ وَلِيُخْزِيَ الْفَاسِقِينَ

mā qaṭaʿtum min līnatin aw taraktumūhā qāʾimatan ʿalā uṣūlihā fa-bi-idhni allāhi wa-li-yukhziya al-fāsiqīna

“Whatever date palm you cut down or left standing on its roots was by The God’s permission, and so that He might disgrace the defiantly disobedient.”

Al-Ḥashr 59:5

Uṣūlihā here is the plural of aṣl with the attached possessive hā.

لِينَة (līnah) concerns date palms in this context. Its precise coverage among varieties of palm has been explained differently, but the ayah’s subject is date palms.

قَائِمَةً عَلَىٰ أُصُولِهَا (qāʾimatan ʿalā uṣūlihā) describes a tree remaining upright upon its roots and base.

Uṣūl has a clear material meaning here.

Unlike Ibrāhīm 14:24, which uses a tree’s root in a parable about a good word, Al-Ḥashr 59:5 concerns actual trees being cut down or left standing.

أُصُول (uṣūl) and قَائِمَة (qāʾimah) distinguished

Uṣūlihā names the trees’ roots or bases.

Qāʾimatan describes their upright, standing condition.

The words do not have the same meaning.

A tree can have roots yet be cut down or fallen. Here the ayah states both the presence of roots and the tree’s remaining upright.

Translating uṣūlihā merely as “stability” would erase the name of a material part of the tree.

“Standing on its roots” preserves both the roots and the tree’s condition.

Does the ayah give a general ruling on all tree cutting?

The ayah belongs to a particular event. Earlier ayahs of Al-Ḥashr describe the expulsion of a group of the People of the Book and the circumstances of the confrontation.

The ruling concerning cutting or leaving the trees appears within that historical and Qur’anic setting.

Uṣūlihā does not establish that the Qur’an generally permits or commends cutting down any tree.

Nor can that word alone yield a general ruling on orchard management, the environment, or land ownership.

These matters require independent examination of the relevant ayahs, circumstances, and rights.

For lexical study, the direct point is clear: uṣūl here names the actual roots of trees in the plural.

7. الْآصَال (al-āṣāl): late afternoons in remembrance, glorification, and shadows

Alongside the three aṣl occurrences, the Qur’an uses the temporal branch seven times.

Three have the plural al-āṣāli.

Al-Aʿrāf 7:205: remembering in the morning and late afternoon

وَاذْكُرْ رَبَّكَ فِي نَفْسِكَ تَضَرُّعًا وَخِيفَةً وَدُونَ الْجَهْرِ مِنَ الْقَوْلِ بِالْغُدُوِّ وَالْآصَالِ وَلَا تَكُنْ مِنَ الْغَافِلِينَ

wa-dhkur rabbaka fī nafsika taḍarruʿan wa-khīfatan wa-dūna al-jahri mina al-qawli bi-l-ghuduwwi wa-l-āṣāli wa-lā takun mina al-ghāfilīna

“Remember your Lord within yourself, with humility and fear, and in speech below a loud voice, in the mornings and late afternoons; and do not be among the heedless.”

Al-Aʿrāf 7:205

Here al-āṣāli accompanies الْغُدُوِّ (al-ghuduwwi).

Ghuduww concerns the beginning of the day and morning; āṣāl, late afternoons.

The two identify different parts of the day.

Their combination does not establish that remembering The God is permitted or desirable only at these times.

The ayah also forbids heedlessness. Mentioning morning and late afternoon is therefore compatible with continuing attention to The God.

The same ayah specifies the manner of remembrance: humility, fear, and avoiding a raised voice.

These qualities come from other words in the ayah, rather than from āṣāl.

Āṣāl names a time, not a particular kind of worship or manner of remembrance.

Al-Raʿd 13:15: shadows in the morning and late afternoon

وَلِلَّهِ يَسْجُدُ مَنْ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ طَوْعًا وَكَرْهًا وَظِلَالُهُمْ بِالْغُدُوِّ وَالْآصَالِ

wa-li-llāhi yasjudu man fī al-samāwāti wa-l-arḍi ṭawʿan wa-karhan wa-ẓilāluhum bi-l-ghuduwwi wa-l-āṣāli

“To The God prostrates whoever is in the heavens and the earth, willingly or unwillingly, and their shadows in the mornings and late afternoons.”

Al-Raʿd 13:15

This ayah is particularly useful for understanding āṣāl because, unlike many other occurrences, it is not a direct command to people to remember or glorify.

It describes the prostration of beings and their shadows.

بِالْغُدُوِّ وَالْآصَالِ (bi-l-ghuduwwi wa-l-āṣāli) identifies two parts of the day in which the condition of shadows changes visibly.

In the morning, the sun is near the start of its daily course; in late afternoon, it approaches sunset. The direction and length of shadows change with the sun’s apparent motion.

This natural fact can clarify the image, but āṣāl itself means neither moving shadows nor prostration. It specifies the time.

Nor does the ayah establish that shadows decide to prostrate with human volition and moral understanding.

Prostration in this context connects with The God’s dominion over beings and the order of creation. A detailed account of prostration in nature belongs to an independent study of that root.

For A Ṣ L, the immediate point is that āṣāl denotes late afternoons: a real time of day also used to describe shadows.

Al-Nūr 24:36: glorification in houses where The God’s name is remembered

فِي بُيُوتٍ أَذِنَ اللَّهُ أَنْ تُرْفَعَ وَيُذْكَرَ فِيهَا اسْمُهُ يُسَبِّحُ لَهُ فِيهَا بِالْغُدُوِّ وَالْآصَالِ

fī buyūtin adhina allāhu an turfaʿa wa-yudhkara fīhā ismuhu yusabbiḥu lahu fīhā bi-l-ghuduwwi wa-l-āṣāli

“In houses that The God has permitted to be raised in honor and His name remembered within them, they glorify Him in the mornings and late afternoons.”

Al-Nūr 24:36

Here too āṣāl accompanies ghuduww.

The subject is houses in which The God’s name is remembered and He is glorified.

Al-Nūr 24:37 identifies people whom commerce and trade do not distract from remembering The God, establishing ṣalāh, and giving zakāh.

Āṣāl specifies the time of glorification within a description connecting remembrance of The God with practical human responsibilities.

The word itself does not establish that the ayah concerns only one prescribed prayer or that every form of glorification must be restricted to a particular ritual act.

Nor can āṣāl mean the houses’ authenticity or rootedness. It concerns the time of glorification.

The three ayahs give al-āṣāl a consistent temporal meaning in three different settings: remembrance, the prostration of shadows, and glorification in houses where The God’s name is remembered.

8. بُكْرَةً وَأَصِيلًا (bukratan wa-aṣīlan): from an accusation to remembrance and glorification

Singular aṣīlan occurs four times in the Qur’an.

Every occurrence accompanies بُكْرَةً (bukratan).

Bukrah denotes the beginning of the day and morning; aṣīl, late afternoon.

The combination can specify two important parts of the day and, where context supports it, emphasize the continuity or repetition of an action.

The expression itself does not always carry positive religious or moral value.

Al-Furqān 25:5: morning and late afternoon in the opponents’ speech

وَقَالُوا أَسَاطِيرُ الْأَوَّلِينَ اكْتَتَبَهَا فَهِيَ تُمْلَىٰ عَلَيْهِ بُكْرَةً وَأَصِيلًا

wa-qālū asāṭīru al-awwalīna iktatabahā fa-hiya tumlā ʿalayhi bukratan wa-aṣīlan

“They said: These are tales of the ancients that he has had copied, and they are dictated to him morning and late afternoon.”

Al-Furqān 25:5

Here aṣīlan appears in the Prophet’s opponents’ speech.

They claim that what Muḥammad brings consists of earlier people’s stories written or dictated for him.

The Qur’an reports their speech; reporting it does not endorse the claim.

Bukratan wa-aṣīlan refers to morning and late afternoon, highlighting repeated or continuing dictation within their accusation.

This shows that the temporal expression is not a technical term reserved for worship.

The combination used elsewhere for glorification and remembrance appears here in the opponents’ allegation about dictated material.

Aṣīl’s lexical meaning should therefore not be extracted from the subject of worship ayahs. It is first of all the name of a part of the day.

Al-Aḥzāb 33:42: glorification morning and late afternoon

وَسَبِّحُوهُ بُكْرَةً وَأَصِيلًا

wa-sabbiḥūhu bukratan wa-aṣīlan

“And glorify Him morning and late afternoon.”

Al-Aḥzāb 33:42

The command to glorify is accompanied by two times.

The preceding ayah, Al-Aḥzāb 33:41, commands believers to remember The God abundantly.

Glorification morning and late afternoon thus continues the command to remember The God abundantly.

The connection shows that naming two times does not limit remembrance to those times.

The times themselves must nevertheless remain in translation. An emphasis on abundant remembrance does not justify replacing bukratan wa-aṣīlan with “always” and deleting morning and late afternoon.

Abundance of remembrance comes from the preceding ayah; the two particular times come from this ayah’s words.

Al-Fatḥ 48:9: glorification alongside belief and responsibility toward the Messenger

لِتُؤْمِنُوا بِاللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ وَتُعَزِّرُوهُ وَتُوَقِّرُوهُ وَتُسَبِّحُوهُ بُكْرَةً وَأَصِيلًا

li-tuʾminū bi-llāhi wa-rasūlihi wa-tuʿazzirūhu wa-tuwaqqirūhu wa-tusabbiḥūhu bukratan wa-aṣīlan

“So that you may believe in The God and His Messenger, support and honor him, and glorify The God morning and late afternoon.”

Al-Fatḥ 48:9

Aṣīlan again specifies the time of glorification.

The sentence, however, has a broader setting: belief in The God and His Messenger, support and honor, and glorifying The God.

Different syntactic and interpretive accounts identify the attached pronouns’ referents differently. In one familiar reading, support and honor concern the Messenger, while glorification concerns The God.

This disagreement concerns pronoun reference and sentence structure without altering aṣīlan’s temporal meaning.

In either case, aṣīlan denotes late afternoon, not support, honor, or belief itself.

Al-Insān 76:25: remembering the Lord’s name

وَاذْكُرِ اسْمَ رَبِّكَ بُكْرَةً وَأَصِيلًا

wa-dhkuri isma rabbika bukratan wa-aṣīlan

“And remember your Lord’s name morning and late afternoon.”

Al-Insān 76:25

Aṣīlan accompanies the command to remember the Lord’s name.

The meaning is close to Al-Aʿrāf 7:205, though one has al-āṣāl and the other aṣīlan.

Al-Insān 76:26 gives another command concerning prostration and glorification at night.

Aṣīlan in ayah 25 therefore does not become night: night is named separately in the following ayah.

The distinction matters in translation. Rendering aṣīlan simply as “night” erases the difference between late afternoon and night across the two ayahs.

Taken together, the four bukratan wa-aṣīlan occurrences show a familiar temporal expression: three concern remembrance or glorification, one the opponents’ claim about dictation.

The action’s value comes from its verb and context, not the time’s name.

9. Other branches and extensions of أَصْل (aṣl) and أَصِيل (aṣīl)

Arabic records further uses under A Ṣ L beyond the Qur’an’s two main branches.

Aṣālah may concern rooted descent, sound judgment, or the quality of something with a recognized foundation.

Later usage also employs aṣl for a source, rule, or basis of reasoning. Technical expressions such as uṣūl al-fiqh, “principles of jurisprudence,” and uṣūl al-dīn, “foundations of religion,” depend on this conceptual extension.

These scholarly and theological terms are not aṣl’s direct meanings in Qur’anic ayahs.

When the Qur’an speaks of a tree’s root or Hellfire’s lower part, later disciplines’ technical concepts should not enter the translation.

In present-day Arabic, aṣīl can also mean authentic, well rooted, or of recognized descent.

That meaning is valid in the language, but Qur’anic aṣīlan and āṣāl express time.

Some early dictionaries also record أَصَلَة (aṣalah) as the name of a snake, with differing descriptions of its shape and size. أَصِلَ الْمَاءُ (aṣila al-māʾu) is also reported for water deteriorating.

These uses show that Arabic dictionaries group several branches under A Ṣ L; they cannot all be reduced to tree roots without evidence.

The snake name, deteriorating water, and temporal aṣīl should not be turned into a story about “returning to an origin,” “having roots,” or “being low down” merely to produce an apparently unified definition.

Recording several meanings under one lexical heading is not equivalent to proving their historical relationship and paths of development.

10. A Ṣ L and neighboring roots

A Ṣ L (أَصْل, aṣl) and F R ʿ (فَرْع, farʿ)

Study of F R ʿ (Not yet published)

Farʿ concerns an upper part and what extends from a foundation.

In Ibrāhīm 14:24, aṣl and farʿ belong to one image.

Aṣl denotes the tree’s foundational part; farʿ its branch and upper part.

They are distinct yet mutually connected within a tree’s structure.

The contrast can explain the relationship between a foundation and its outcome. It should not become a rule that, in every intellectual or social question, whatever is older is aṣl and whatever is newer is farʿ.

The ayah first gives a real botanical image, then uses it to explain a good word.

A Ṣ L (أَصْل, aṣl) and A S S (أَسَاس, asās)

Study of A S S

Asās, from A S S, concerns a thing’s base or foundation.

Aṣl can also denote a foundation, but its familiar uses highlight a root or lower part.

أَسَّسَ (assasa) concerns founding something, whereas aṣl in these ayahs is a noun naming a root or foundational part.

They are close in foundation and establishment without being complete synonyms.

Al-Tawbah 9:109 describes a building founded either on reverence or on the edge of a collapsing bank. Founding something does not itself guarantee soundness or firmness.

The same principle applies to A Ṣ L: having an origin does not intrinsically establish truth or rightness.

A Ṣ L (أَصْل, aṣl) and TH B T (ثَبَتَ, thabata)

Study of TH B T

Thabata concerns being firm and remaining established.

Aṣl identifies a root or foundation.

Ibrāhīm 14:24 brings them together: a root that is firm.

Firmness is therefore a quality of the root, rather than its necessary lexical meaning.

The contributions of aṣl and thābit should remain distinct in translation. Here the adjective explicitly states firmness, even though rootedness and stability can be semantically connected.

This distinction must remain in the final definition.

A Ṣ L (أَصْل, aṣl) and Q ʿ D (قَاعِدَة, qāʿidah)

Study of Q ʿ D

In building, qāʿidah denotes a base on which a structure rests.

In Al-Baqarah 2:127, Ibrāhīm and Ismāʿīl raise the House’s foundations.

Aṣl can also denote a foundation or lower part, but its range extends from a tree’s roots to the origin and basis of nonmaterial matters.

The words are close in some settings, while retaining separate morphological structures and uses.

A Ṣ L (أَصِيل, aṣīl) and B K R (بُكْرَة, bukrah)

Study of B K R

Bukrah concerns the day’s beginning and morning.

Aṣīl identifies the later daylight period approaching sunset.

They occur together four times in the Qur’an.

Their pairing highlights the contrast between the beginning and end of daylight.

It does not establish that bukrah and aṣīl lexically cover every part of day and night.

In some contexts, naming the two times may also emphasize repetition and continuity. That understanding needs support from the sentence and context; it should not erase their temporal meanings.

A Ṣ L (أَصِيل, aṣīl) and عَشِيّ (ʿashiyy)

Study of ʿ SH W (Not yet published)

ʿAshiyy also concerns the later part of the day.

Early Arabic sometimes explains aṣīl through ʿashiyy.

ʿAshiyy can have a broader temporal range in different uses, while aṣīl usually concerns the time after the afternoon period and before sunset.

This is a lexical tendency, not a clock-defined boundary governing every use.

“Late afternoon” is therefore preferable to “night” for aṣīl.

11. Translation proposals for Forqan

The two Qur’anic branches of A Ṣ L require separate equivalents.

For aṣl, “root,” “foundation,” “base,” or “lower part” can fit according to context.

In Ibrāhīm 14:24, the proposal for aṣluhā thābitun is:

“Its root is firm.”

This keeps aṣl and thābit distinct.

“Its foundation is firm” is also semantically sound, but “root” makes the image more tangible because the subject is a tree.

In Al-Ṣāffāt 37:64, the principal proposal for fī aṣli al-jaḥīmi is:

“In the lower depths of Hellfire.”

“At the base of Hellfire” is also concise and close to the Arabic construction, though it may be less immediately clear to readers.

“In Hell’s root” is unsuitable because it may suggest a biological root for Hell that the ayah does not describe.

In Al-Ḥashr 59:5, the proposal for ʿalā uṣūlihā is:

“On its roots.”

Within the sentence, a natural rendering is “you left it standing on its roots.”

For the temporal branch, aṣīlan can be “in the late afternoon” and al-āṣāl “the late afternoons.”

For bukratan wa-aṣīlan, the principal proposal is:

“Morning and late afternoon.”

For bi-l-ghuduwwi wa-l-āṣāli:

“In the mornings and late afternoons.”

These renderings preserve the singular/plural distinction as far as natural English permits, while keeping late afternoon distinct from night.

Outside the Qur’an, aṣīlu al-raʾyi can mean “sound in judgment” or “having considered judgment.” Aṣālah may be “rootedness,” “firmness of origin,” or “authenticity,” according to context.

These meanings should not enter the ayahs concerning bukratan wa-aṣīlan.

12. Conclusion

A Ṣ L has two prominent semantic branches in the Qur’an.

The first, aṣl, denotes a root, foundation, or lower part with which other parts are connected.

Ibrāhīm 14:24 uses it for a good tree’s root, whose firmness is expressed by thābit.

In Al-Ṣāffāt 37:64, aṣl concerns Hellfire’s lower part.

In Al-Ḥashr 59:5, uṣūl names actual date-palm roots.

These three uses show that aṣl does not intrinsically mean goodness, rightness, or firmness. Such qualities come from description and context.

The second branch, aṣīl and āṣāl, concerns late afternoon approaching sunset.

It occurs seven times: connected with remembering and glorifying The God in Al-Aʿrāf, Al-Nūr, Al-Aḥzāb, Al-Fatḥ, and Al-Insān; describing the time of shadows’ motion and prostration in Al-Raʿd; and appearing in the Prophet’s opponents’ speech in Al-Furqān.

These uses make aṣīl a time name in the Qur’an, neither the name of worship nor a moral quality.

Early Arabic also records aṣīl for rootedness and firmness, alongside family members such as aṣālah, taʾaṣṣala, and istaʾṣala. The precise historical connections between all branches remain unclear.

They should not all be derived from the image of a tree’s root or the approach of day’s end merely to unify the definition.

Forqan’s final definition of A Ṣ L:

“In its first branch, a thing’s root, base, or foundational part from which other parts arise or on which they rest, without the word alone establishing that foundation’s goodness or firmness. In its second branch, aṣīl denotes late afternoon, especially after the afternoon period and before sunset; āṣāl is its temporal plural. In the Qur’an, the first branch names roots and lower parts, while the second specifies time. A definite historical connection between these branches should not be inferred solely from their shared form and letters.”