The Qur’anic Root B A R (ب أ ر)

1. Linguistic forms and earlier Arabic usage

The Qur’an contains only the form biʾr (بِئْر). It is a feminine singular noun and occurs in Al-Ḥajj 22:45 as indefinite, genitive biʾrin (بِئْرٍ).

Arabic records the plurals ābār (آبَار), abʾār (أَبْآر), abʾur (أَبْؤُر), and biʾār (بِئَار). These differences concern plural formation and sound changes; all refer to wells.

The verb baʾara yabʾaru (بَأَرَ يَبْأَرُ) is also attested for digging a well or hollow. Baʾara biʾran (بَأَرَ بِئْرًا) means “he dug a well.” Ibtaʾara (ابْتَأَرَ) is also used in this sense.

In earlier usage, buʾrah (بُؤْرَة) denoted a hollow in the ground, including a pit prepared for a cooking fire. Lexicons also record baʾara and ibtaʾara meaning to hide or store something.

These uses show that B A R is not confined to the noun for a water well: it also includes digging into the ground and, in some uses, placing something out of sight.

A well as a physical place

In Arabic, biʾr denotes a hollow dug into the earth to reach underground water. It differs from water flowing on the surface: accessing its water normally requires lowering something such as a bucket into the well and drawing the water up.

Lexicons explain biʾr with qalīb (قَلِيب). Both can denote a well.

In earlier Arab life, a well could be a place for drawing water, watering livestock, and meeting daily needs. Terms for buckets, ropes, pulleys, water drawers, and watering troughs therefore occur alongside it.

None of these tools, however, is an invariant part of the meaning of biʾr. Wells may use different methods for raising water. The name identifies the excavated place and its function, rather than a particular drawing mechanism.

A witness from pre-Islamic poetry

The collected poetry of Aws ibn Ḥajar, a pre-Islamic poet, includes:

وَأَنْحَتْ كَمَا أَنْحَى الْمَحَالَةَ مَاتِحٌ
عَلَى الْبِئْرِ أَضْحَى حَوْضُهُ وَهُوَ نَاشِفُ

wa-anḥat kamā anḥā al-maḥālata mātiḥun / ʿalā al-biʾri aḍḥā ḥawḍuhu wa-huwa nāshifu

The line means: “And [the she-camel] leaned to one side as a water drawer tilts the well’s pulley beside the well; his trough has become dry.” It occurs in a description of a she-camel. The poet compares her movement to the work of the water drawer and pulley, rather than describing the well itself as bending.

Mātiḥ (مَاتِح) is someone who draws water from a well, and maḥālah (مَحَالَة) here denotes a pulley or device used in drawing water.

The line illustrates several features of everyday life: the well provided water, drawing it could involve equipment and physical effort, and the water was poured into a basin or watering trough.

Nāshif (ناشف), “dry,” describes the trough, rather than necessarily the well itself. A dry trough does not by itself establish that the well has no water.

This distinction helps explain the Qur’anic use: the well, its water, the means of drawing water, and the state of its use must be distinguished.

Digging, hiding, and storing

Lexical sources also record baʾara al-shayʾa (بَأَرَ الشَّيْءَ) and ibtaʾarahu (ابْتَأَرَهُ) for hiding or storing something.

In this use, something is set aside from immediate sight and access, or kept for the future. The Arabic linguistic tradition also records an expression from this family concerning laying up good in advance.

A tangible connection between digging a hollow and hiding something is possible: someone may put an object in a pit and conceal it. This explains a possible semantic connection, however, rather than establishing the historical origin of every use of the root.

In particular, the Qur’anic meaning of biʾr is not derived from the uses concerning storage. In Al-Ḥajj 22:45 it denotes a real well, rather than a hidden reserve or an action set aside for the future.

2. Wa-biʾrin muʿaṭṭalah: the root in the Qur’an

Al-Ḥajj states:

فَكَأَيِّن مِّن قَرْيَةٍ أَهْلَكْنَاهَا وَهِيَ ظَالِمَةٌ فَهِيَ خَاوِيَةٌ عَلَىٰ عُرُوشِهَا وَبِئْرٍ مُّعَطَّلَةٍ وَقَصْرٍ مَّشِيدٍ

fa-ka-ayyin min qaryatin ahlaknāhā wa-hiya ẓālimatun fa-hiya khāwiyatun ʿalā ʿurūshihā wa-biʾrin muʿaṭṭalatin wa-qaṣrin mashīdin

“How many a town We destroyed while it was doing wrong, and it lies fallen upon its roofs; and how many an abandoned well and lofty palace!” (Al-Ḥajj 22:45)

The verse concerns settlements destroyed as a result of their inhabitants’ wrongdoing and conduct. It then places three images alongside each other: a ruined settlement, an abandoned well, and a lofty palace.

Biʾrin is indefinite here. This suits a statement about instances of wells, without identifying one particular well by name or location.

Muʿaṭṭalatin (مُعَطَّلَةٍ) is its feminine genitive adjective. The well is thus presented with this description, both grammatically and semantically.

Although biʾrin begins with a kasrah, it does not contain the preposition bi-. Its bāʾ is the noun’s first root letter. In the Qur’anic wa-biʾrin (وَبِئْرٍ), wāw is a conjunction and biʾrin is the entire noun.

The usual syntactic analysis coordinates biʾr and qaṣr with qaryah: how many settlements, wells, and palaces fell out of use after their people perished. Al-Ṭabarī also transmits another analysis from some Kufan grammarians, linking the two nouns in case to ʿurūshihā, with the intended sense that the settlement had an abandoned well and a lofty palace. This second analysis is disputed and must not be taken to mean that the settlement collapsed onto the well and palace.

Neither reading changes the meaning of biʾr itself. The difference concerns how the images of the well and palace connect to the preceding sentence.

Muʿaṭṭalah: abandoned and unused

Muʿaṭṭalah (مُعَطَّلَة) is the feminine passive participle of form II from ʿ Ṭ L. It describes something left inactive or abandoned, whose functioning or use has ceased.

Study of ʿ Ṭ L (Not yet published)

In the verse, an abandoned well is one to which people no longer come to draw water.

This condition may follow the destruction or departure of a settlement’s inhabitants. A well once used by people and livestock may stand unused after the place becomes empty.

Muʿaṭṭalah does not itself mean that the well’s water has dried up.

Water may remain in the well with nobody coming to draw it. The drawing equipment may have disappeared, or damage may have made the well unusable. The well may also eventually have dried up.

These are possible situations, but the verse does not specify the technical cause of each well’s disuse.

Without further evidence, “a dried-up well” therefore narrows the meaning of muʿaṭṭalah. “An abandoned well,” “a disused well,” or “a well from which water is no longer drawn” is more precise.

Why place a well beside a settlement and a palace?

A well may be among a settlement’s most important water supplies. People come to it for drinking water, watering animals, and other needs.

If a settlement is destroyed or emptied, a well once busy with people drawing water may stand abandoned. The disused well is thus a tangible sign of human life that no longer continues there.

A lofty palace, by comparison, evokes a large building made with human resources and effort.

Their appearance in the same verse is meaningful. One concerns a basic need of life, water; the other may signify prosperity, wealth, or architectural power.

This relationship must not become the lexical definition of either word. Biʾr does not lexically mean the public’s basic needs, nor does qaṣr itself denote all political power or social corruption.

By bringing these images together, the verse speaks of the fate of communities that did wrong. The well and palace are tangible elements of that picture.

Qaṣrin mashīd: a lofty building beside an abandoned well

The verse ends with qaṣrin mashīd (قَصْرٍ مَشِيدٍ).

Qaṣr names a large building or palace; mashīd describes its construction or height.

In Arabic, mashīd concerns raising a building high and making it strong. Some uses also relate it to whitewashing or coating a building with plaster.

Study of SH Y D (Not yet published)

This describes the building’s qualities, while muʿaṭṭalah describes the state of the well’s use.

The distinction between the adjectives matters. The Qur’an describes the well in terms of abandonment and the palace in terms of height or strength.

Mashīd alone does not establish that the palace remained entirely intact after its inhabitants perished, just as muʿaṭṭalah does not establish that the well collapsed.

The verse depicts traces of settlements and resources that could not prevent the wrongdoers’ fate.

3. The well in the context of Al-Ḥajj

Al-Ḥajj 22:42, Al-Ḥajj 22:43, and Al-Ḥajj 22:44 mention communities including the people of Noah, ʿĀd, Thamūd, the people of Abraham, the people of Lot, and the people of Midian.

The verses speak of rejecting the Messengers, being given respite, and finally being seized.

Al-Ḥajj 22:45 then depicts destroyed settlements. Al-Ḥajj 22:46 asks whether people have travelled through the land so that they may have hearts with which to reason and ears with which to hear.

This sequence makes the abandoned well part of an invitation to observe and reflect on the histories of earlier societies.

A well, a palace, and a ruined settlement are visible things in the material world. Seeing them alone is insufficient: the next verse also speaks of reasoning and hearing.

Here the abandoned well is more than a discarded object: in context, it signals a society’s changed circumstances. This conclusion follows from the relationship between the verses and must not be added to the lexical meaning of biʾr itself.

Does the verse concern one particular historical well?

Some exegetical reports identify the abandoned well with one in Yemen or Ḥaḍramawt and a particular community’s story. Some name individuals and Prophets whom the verse itself does not mention.

The Qur’anic text, however, supplies no name, location, or coordinates identifying this well.

Fa-ka-ayyin min qaryatin (فَكَأَيِّن مِّن قَرْيَةٍ) expresses numerous instances, and the continuation also presents the well and palace as indefinite nouns.

Understanding the verse therefore does not require accepting a specific historical account about one particular well. Identifying an archaeological site or assessing the reliability of historical reports requires separate study.

Does the abandoned well mean an unused source of knowledge?

Some allegorical readings compare the well to a source of knowledge or a knowledgeable person from whom people fail to benefit.

Such a comparison is conceivable in literary or ethical discourse, just as water sometimes represents knowledge or spiritual life in different languages.

In Al-Ḥajj 22:45, however, biʾr directly means a real well. Its placement beside a ruined settlement and a lofty palace also supports a material and historical reading.

Preferring an allegorical reading of the verse itself requires independent evidence. The possibility of comparing a well to knowledge does not by itself establish that the Qur’an primarily means an ignored scholar or neglected knowledge here.

The real image of the well should therefore be preserved, with any ethical or allegorical application considered as a secondary reflection.

4. Distinctions from nearby words and roots

B A R (biʾr) compared with J B B (jubb)

Study of J B B (Not yet published)

Jubb (جُبّ) occurs in the Qur’anic account of Joseph.

In Yūsuf 12:10, one brother proposes casting Joseph into the hidden depths of the jubb. Yūsuf 12:15 also describes placing him there.

In Arabic, jubb can denote a well. Some lexical explanations describe a well whose walls have not been lined with stone. Others emphasize the hollow’s depth, breadth, or shape.

Biʾr and jubb therefore overlap in meaning, though jubb can highlight a particular kind or condition of well.

The word jubb alone, however, cannot establish with certainty that Joseph’s well was unlined or had a specific technical feature. Variation in lexical usage prevents such certainty.

Nor should biʾr always be defined as a stone-lined well and jubb always as an unlined one. This distinction is recorded in some earlier explanations, but is not a universal boundary without exceptions.

B A R (biʾr) compared with ʿ Y N (ʿayn)

Study of ʿ Y N

In one semantic branch, ʿayn (عَيْن) denotes a spring or a place where water emerges.

A spring may be a place where water appears from the ground and flows. A biʾr, by contrast, is usually a well dug into the earth to reach water.

The principal distinction here is access to water: spring water appears at its outlet, while reaching well water usually requires access below ground.

In the Qur’an, ʿayn occurs in numerous verses concerning water, gardens, and the blessings of Paradise, including Al-Ḥijr 15:45 and Al-Dukhān 44:52.

Not every use of ʿayn, however, means a spring. The word has a wider semantic family and also denotes the human eye.

B A R (biʾr) compared with Q L B (qalīb)

Study of Q L B

Qalīb (قَلِيب) is a familiar earlier Arabic term for a well; lexicons explain biʾr with this word.

This proximity shows that both can refer to an excavated place for reaching water.

Sharing a referent does not mean sharing a root. Qalīb belongs to Q L B and has a separate linguistic history and structure.

The Qur’anic text uses biʾr, rather than qalīb. Qalīb is therefore useful for understanding Arabic and making comparisons, but must not be presented as another derivative of B A R.

B A R (biʾr) compared with Ḥ F R (ḥafara)

Study of Ḥ F R (Not yet published)

Ḥafr concerns digging and hollowing out.

Baʾara biʾran also means digging a well in Arabic. The distinction is that biʾr names an excavated place with the familiar function of access to water, whereas digging can apply to many kinds of holes and excavations.

A well usually results from excavation, but not every hole is a water well.

This distinction prevents reducing the semantic core of biʾr to merely “a hole.” In its familiar use, access to water and drawing it are defining features.

B A R (biʾr) compared with B W R (bawār)

Study of B W R

Bawār (بَوَار) and its related forms belong to B W R and concern destruction, ruin, or loss of prosperity.

Biʾr, by contrast, belongs to B A R and names a well.

Their similar sound must not merge these two families.

If a well is abandoned and unused, that condition may be semantically related to falling out of use. It concerns the well’s condition, however, rather than making biʾr itself mean ruin or destruction.

Baʾs (بَأْس), from B A S, concerns hardship, severity, and, in some uses, punishment or military might. Despite sharing its first two letters with the root for a well, this is another distinct family.

Study of B A S

5. Translation proposals for Forqan

“Well” is an accurate, natural, and sufficient rendering of biʾr by itself. Adding “water” in a lexical explanation can clarify its function, but the verse translation need not always say “water well.”

In Al-Ḥajj 22:45, biʾrin muʿaṭṭalah is best rendered “an abandoned well” or “a disused well.”

“A well from which water is no longer drawn” explains its condition more fully, but is somewhat long for the base translation.

“A dried-up well” is unsuitable, since muʿaṭṭalah does not itself establish that the water has dried up.

“A ruined well” is appropriate only if context or other evidence establishes physical damage to the well itself. The verse supplies no such detail.

Forqan’s current translation reads “and how many an abandoned well and lofty palace!” This rendering is suitable for the lexical meanings of biʾr and muʿaṭṭalah and does not require alteration.

The study may explain that, in context, the well’s abandonment relates to the inhabitants’ destruction and the end of visits to it. That explanation must not be inserted into the translation as part of biʾr’s lexical meaning.

Conclusion

In Arabic, B A R concerns wells, digging into the earth, and, in some earlier uses, hiding or storing something.

Biʾr names a well dug to reach water. This meaning is established in earlier Arabic and appears in pre-Islamic poetry concerning drawing water, well equipment, and everyday needs.

In the Qur’an, the root occurs only in Al-Ḥajj 22:45. The verse describes a well left abandoned and no longer used.

Muʿaṭṭalah is a separate description belonging to ʿ Ṭ L. Dryness, damage, or the disappearance of water must therefore not be presented as the meaning of biʾr itself.

In context, the abandoned well stands beside a ruined settlement and a lofty palace. This depicts tangible traces of communities whose resources and buildings remained or fell out of use after the people’s destruction or the end of their flourishing life.

In its Qur’anic usage, the semantic core of B A R is a well: an excavated place for reaching water. Biʾrin muʿaṭṭalah is a well whose use has ceased, rather than necessarily one whose water has dried up or whose structure has collapsed.