The Qur’anic Root D W N

The semantic core: not reaching the reference point

One of the most useful ways to approach dūn is through the idea of not reaching a reference point, or being on the nearer side of it, apart from it, or below it, rather than through one fixed direction.

When something is said to be dūn something else, a reference point is established and the first thing is positioned in relation to it. It may be encountered before reaching that point, stand between a person and it, lie below it in rank, be excluded from the set it represents, or be something other than it.

This helps explain why Arabic uses dūn in ways that initially seem different in translation:

• Something may lie in front of a person, between that person and the destination.
• Something may be below something else in rank.
• An amount or degree may be less than a specified limit.
• Someone or something may be other than the reference in question.
• One group may be chosen instead of, or apart from, another.

Dūn therefore does not inherently mean “other,” any more than it means only “under.” Otherness, inferiority, and being encountered before reaching a point are branches arising from its relationship to a reference.

This explanation is a semantic model for understanding the usages, not a definitive claim about the word’s historical origin.

Usage in early Arabic: no fixed direction

In the early evidence transmitted to us, dūn is not restricted to a fixed geometric direction such as “under.” The expression الدرب دونه occurs in verse attributed to Imruʾ al-Qays: in the reading considered here, the road or pass lies ahead of the person, who has yet to reach it. In من دون عرضه, in the poetry of Zuhayr ibn Abī Sulmā, doing good stands before a person’s honor as a protection for it.

In Arabic, dūn can also appear in various spatial relationships: in front, behind, underneath, or between two parties. Such variation looks contradictory if dūn is treated simply as the name of a direction. If it is understood as a relational word, however, the issue becomes clearer. The situation determines the precise direction, while dūn expresses the relationship of something to a reference point.

The same characteristic appears in the Qur’an.

Spatial distance and separation

In the account of Moses, Al-Qaṣaṣ 28:23 states:

وَوَجَدَ مِنْ دُونِهِمُ امْرَأَتَيْنِ تَذُودَانِ

Wa-wajada min dūnihimu mraʾatayni tadhūdān.

“And apart from them he found two women holding back [their flocks].”

This does not mean that dūn inherently means “behind.” The verse places the two women apart from the group watering their animals. The context itself shows that they have not joined the crowd and are holding their animals back.

In the account of Mary, in Maryam 19:17, we also read:

فَاتَّخَذَتْ مِنْ دُونِهِمْ حِجَابًا

Fa-ttakhadhat min dūnihim ḥijāban.

“Then she placed a screen between herself and them.”

Here, dūnihim fits the idea of distance and an intervening barrier. The screen separates Mary from the others. A rigid rendering such as “she took a screen other than them” destroys the relationship expressed in the sentence.

Al-Kahf 18:90 says of a people:

لَمْ نَجْعَلْ لَهُمْ مِنْ دُونِهَا سِتْرًا

Lam najʿal lahum min dūnihā sitran.

That is, no covering had been provided for them against the sun. Here, too, dūn concerns something that could stand between people and the reference point.

In spatial usage, min dūn can thus approach “between oneself and,” “against,” “apart from,” or “on the nearer side of.” The appropriate translation must be chosen from the sentence’s construction.

Being below, being less than, and preceding arrival

One of the clearest scalar uses of dūn appears in this verse:

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 l-jahri mina l-qawli bi-l-ghuduwwi wa-l-āṣāli wa-lā takun mina l-ghāfilīn.

“And remember your Lord within yourself, with humility and fear, and in speech that does not reach loudness, in the mornings and evenings; and do not be among the heedless.”

Al-Aʿrāf 7:205

Dūna l-jahr is not simply something “other than” loudness: it determines the level of the voice relative to jahr, audible or raised speech. The speech does not reach that level. The idea of being below a threshold is therefore clearly present here.

The same relationship appears in another verse:

وَلَنُذِيقَنَّهُمْ مِنَ الْعَذَابِ الْأَدْنَىٰ دُونَ الْعَذَابِ الْأَكْبَرِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْجِعُونَ

Wa-la-nudhīqannahum mina l-ʿadhābi l-adnā dūna l-ʿadhābi l-akbari laʿallahum yarjiʿūn.

“We will certainly make them taste some of the nearer punishment, before the greater punishment, so that they may return.”

Al-Sajdah 32:21

In this context, “before the greater punishment” can express the sequence of the two punishments. However, the reading “other than the greater punishment” also has a precedent. The temporal meaning should therefore not be treated as the only possible meaning of dūn in this verse.

Conversely, a scalar meaning cannot always be imposed:

وَيَعْمَلُونَ عَمَلًا دُونَ ذَٰلِكَ

Wa-yaʿmalūna ʿamalan dūna dhālik.

“And they also performed tasks other than that.”

Al-Anbiyāʾ 21:82

The reference of dhālika in this verse is diving. It speaks of the devils who dived for Solomon and performed tasks dūna dhālika. The context does not require those tasks to have been less valuable or easier than diving. Here, “tasks other than that” is more natural.

Thus, even the fixed expression dūna dhālika does not have a fixed translation.

Dūna dhālika: less than that, other than that, or before it?

Several verses clarify the importance of this distinction.

Al-Nisāʾ states:

إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَغْفِرُ أَنْ يُشْرَكَ بِهِ وَيَغْفِرُ مَا دُونَ ذَٰلِكَ لِمَنْ يَشَاءُ

Inna llāha lā yaghfiru an yushraka bihi wa-yaghfiru mā dūna dhālika li-man yashāʾ.

“Indeed, The God does not forgive that partners be associated with Him, but forgives what is dūn that for whomever He wills.”

Al-Nisāʾ 4:48

In mā dūna dhālika, two aspects approach one another: “what is other than that” and “what falls below it.” The verse makes associating partners the reference and places other deeds in relation to it through dūn. Translating only “other than that” removes a possible scalar relationship, whereas the definite rendering “smaller sins” introduces more than the word itself states. It is therefore better to preserve this range in the explanation.

Elsewhere, we read:

وَأَنَّا مِنَّا الصَّالِحُونَ وَمِنَّا دُونَ ذَٰلِكَ كُنَّا طَرَائِقَ قِدَدًا

Wa-annā minnā ṣ-ṣāliḥūna wa-minnā dūna dhālika kunnā ṭarāʾiqa qidadan.

“Among us are the righteous, and among us are those dūn that; we have followed diverse paths.”

Al-Jinn 72:11

Here, dūna dhālika can indicate those who do not occupy the stated level of righteousness. “Other than that” may convey the sentence’s basic sense, but “below that” better preserves its aspect of rank.

In Al-Fatḥ, we also read:

فَعَلِمَ مَا لَمْ تَعْلَمُوا فَجَعَلَ مِنْ دُونِ ذَٰلِكَ فَتْحًا قَرِيبًا

Fa-ʿalima mā lam taʿlamū fa-jaʿala min dūni dhālika fatḥan qarīban.

“He knew what you did not know, and before that He granted a near opening.”

Al-Fatḥ 48:27

Here, dūna dhālika occurs within a sequence of events, and “before that” can express the relationship more naturally than “other than that.”

Dūna dhālika should therefore not be translated mechanically with one equivalent in every verse. Dhālika supplies the reference, and context determines whether the relationship is temporal, scalar, or one of distinction.

Min dūni llāh: not always “instead of The God”

The most frequent construction of this word in the Qur’an is مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ, together with forms such as مِنْ دُونِهِ. The common rendering “other than The God” can be used in many cases, but consistently changing it to “instead of The God” can alter the meaning of the verses.

For example:

وَالَّذِينَ اتَّخَذُوا مِنْ دُونِهِ أَوْلِيَاءَ مَا نَعْبُدُهُمْ إِلَّا لِيُقَرِّبُونَا إِلَى اللَّهِ زُلْفَىٰ

Wa-lladhīna ttakhadhū min dūnihi awliyāʾa mā naʿbuduhum illā li-yuqarribūnā ilā llāhi zulfā.

“Those who have taken protectors other than Him [say]: We worship them only so that they may bring us closer to The God.”

Al-Zumar 39:3

Those who have taken awliyāʾ min dūnihi in this verse have not abandoned The God in order to install another being entirely “instead of The God.” Their own argument is that these objects of worship are a means of approaching Him. The translation “instead of Him” may suggest to a reader that The God has been completely removed from their beliefs, whereas the verse speaks of their claim to approach Him through these objects of worship.

Another example clarifies the same issue:

وَيَعْبُدُونَ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ مَا لَا يَضُرُّهُمْ وَلَا يَنْفَعُهُمْ وَيَقُولُونَ هَٰؤُلَاءِ شُفَعَاؤُنَا عِنْدَ اللَّهِ

Wa-yaʿbudūna min dūni llāhi mā lā yaḍurruhum wa-lā yanfaʿuhum wa-yaqūlūna hāʾulāʾi shufaʿāʾunā ʿinda llāh.

“They worship, other than The God, things that neither harm nor benefit them, and say: These are our intercessors with The God.”

Yūnus 10:18

Again, those beings are conceived as intercessors “with The God.” Thus, min dūni llāh can include beings to whom people assign a role in worship, protection, intercession, or lordship alongside their relationship with The God.

This does not make dūn mean “equal in rank to The God,” either. The word does not express equality. The issue is that something other than The God is placed in a position that, in that context, should not be assigned to it.

Consequently, “instead of The God” is appropriate only in verses where the context actually indicates substitution. In many constructions with min dūni llāh, “other than The God” or “apart from The God” is a more cautious basic translation, while the rest of the verse explains the relationship.

This difference also appears in verses concerning relationships between human groups:

إِنَّكُمْ لَتَأْتُونَ الرِّجَالَ شَهْوَةً مِنْ دُونِ النِّسَاءِ

Innakum la-taʾtūna r-rijāla shahwatan min dūni n-nisāʾ.

“You approach men with desire, instead of women.”

Al-Aʿrāf 7:81

Here, two groups are directly contrasted, and “instead of women” is appropriate.

Likewise:

لَا يَتَّخِذِ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ الْكَافِرِينَ أَوْلِيَاءَ مِنْ دُونِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ

Lā yattakhidhi l-muʾminūna l-kāfirīna awliyāʾa min dūni l-muʾminīn.

“Let the believers not take the disbelievers as awliyāʾ instead of the believers.”

Āl ʿImrān 3:28

Here, too, one group is chosen min dūn another, and the contrast within the sentence reinforces the sense of substitution.

“Instead of” is therefore the result of certain constructions, not the fixed meaning of dūn itself.

Wa-min dūnihimā jannatān: the risk of an overly definite translation

In Sūrat Al-Raḥmān, after the description of two gardens, we read:

وَمِنْ دُونِهِمَا جَنَّتَانِ

Wa-min dūnihimā jannatān.

“And dūn those two are two further gardens.”

Al-Raḥmān 55:62

Dūnihimā alone does not say that these two gardens are physically underneath the first pair. Dūn can express a relationship of rank, location, or distinction. The following context also describes the characteristics of this second pair separately.

“Lower than those two” can be a reading about rank and need not indicate a physical position. “Other than those two” also conveys distinction, but makes the possible sense of rank less prominent. The spatial arrangement of the gardens cannot be determined from the word alone.

It is better to keep the basic translation as open as possible and explain that dūn may place this pair in a different rank or position relative to the preceding gardens. The word itself, however, cannot determine the gardens’ spatial architecture.

D W N and D N W: dūn, adnā, and dunyā

The resemblance between dūn and the family danā, adnā, and dunyā has sometimes prompted proposals of a historical connection. Semantic proximity is also visible: dunuww concerns approaching, and dūn sometimes places something on the nearer side or before arrival at a reference point.

This resemblance is not enough to identify the two roots as one.

The Qur’an itself uses the two families in different forms. Under د ن و we find the verb دَنَا, the forms أَدْنَىٰ and الدُّنْيَا, and others. By contrast, Qur’anic د و ن operates essentially through dūn itself.

For Qur’anic study, it is therefore better to keep them separate. A hypothesis about their historical relationship may be proposed, but the meaning of dūn should not be extracted from dunyā or adnā, or vice versa.

Nor is dūn identical to غَيْر. Ghayr directly expresses otherness, whereas dūn places the other in relation to a reference. This is why “other than” often translates the resulting sense of a sentence well but cannot explain the full range of dūn.

Translation challenges

The greatest difficulty in translating dūn is the search for a single fixed English equivalent. The word has no such equivalent.

In one verse, it can mean “other than”:

Min dūni llāh.

In a contrast, it can mean “instead of”:

Min dūni n-nisāʾ.

On a scale, it can mean “below” or “less than”:

Dūna l-jahr.

In a temporal reading, it can mean “before,” although “other than” remains a possible reading in this example:

Dūna l-ʿadhābi l-akbar.

In a spatial relationship, “apart from,” “in front of,” “between oneself and,” or another expression may be needed.

These differences do not indicate that the word is irregular. The reference is fixed within the expression, but the kind of relationship to it varies.

For the same reason, min dūni llāh should not automatically become “instead of The God.” “Other than The God” is a broader basic rendering, and context specifies whether the being in question is regarded as an object of worship, protector, intercessor, partner, refuge, or something else.

Translation proposals for Forqan

No single fixed equivalent is proposed for dūn. Its translation should be selected verse by verse.

For distinction, “other than” and “apart from” are suitable. In a direct contrast, “instead of” may be more precise. In scalar usage, “below,” “less than,” or a natural construction such as “not reaching that level” is appropriate. In a temporal or sequential usage, “before” sometimes conveys the sentence better; however, in a passage such as Al-Sajdah 32:21, the reading “other than” should not be excluded. In spatial relationships, direction should not be guessed from dūn alone but understood from context.

Especially in min dūni llāh, “other than The God” is a more cautious basic rendering than “instead of The God,” unless the particular verse’s construction indicates direct substitution.

Summary

Dūn is a relational word in the Qur’an. It places something in relation to a reference, but does not by itself determine the kind of relationship. That thing may lie before arrival at the reference, apart from it, below it, be less than it, or stand in contrast to it.

From this core, usages such as “other than,” “instead of,” “below,” “less than,” “before,” and certain spatial relationships can be understood without making any one of them the fixed meaning in every verse.

Dūn should not be equated with د ن و, despite their semantic resemblance and hypotheses about a historical relationship. Nor are dūn and ghayr completely synonymous: ghayr emphasizes otherness, while dūn places the other in relation to a reference.

This distinction also matters in the frequent expression min dūni llāh. The Qur’an sometimes speaks of people who regarded other beings as intercessors, protectors, or means of approaching The God. Thus, min dūni llāh does not necessarily mean “instead of The God, with The God excluded.” Its basic sense concerns placing or invoking something other than The God in a relationship whose precise nature is specified by the rest of the verse.

A concise definition of the root can therefore be formulated as follows:

Dūn: something standing in relation to a reference point, apart from that reference itself, before reaching it, or at a lower rank. Depending on context, this relationship gives rise to “other than,” “instead of,” “less than,” “below,” and “before.”