The Qur’anic Root Ḍ R R

Ḍarr, ḍurr, ḍarar, and ḍarrāʾ: related forms with different tendencies

A notable feature of the root is the Qur’an’s use of several closely related nouns with different vowels and structures:

ضَرّ, ḍarr, on the faʿl pattern;

ضُرّ, ḍurr, on the fuʿl pattern;

And:

ضَرَر, ḍarar, on the faʿal pattern.

In this geminate root, the two rāʾ consonants merge in the first two forms, while all three root consonants remain separately articulated in ḍarar.

In Qur’anic usage, this formal difference accompanies a difference in semantic tendency, although it should not be turned into a rule without exceptions.

Ḍarr: harm opposite benefit

Ḍarr, with an a vowel on ḍād, appears prominently in direct opposition to nafʿ, benefit:

قُلْ أَتَعْبُدُونَ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ مَا لَا يَمْلِكُ لَكُمْ ضَرًّا وَلَا نَفْعًا

Qul a-taʿbudūna min dūni llāhi mā lā yamliku lakum ḍarran wa-lā nafʿā.

“Say: ‘Do you worship, apart from The God, something that possesses no power of harm or benefit for you?’”

Al-Māʾidah 5:76

And:

قُلْ لَا أَمْلِكُ لِنَفْسِي نَفْعًا وَلَا ضَرًّا إِلَّا مَا شَاءَ اللَّهُ

Qul lā amliku li-nafsī nafʿan wa-lā ḍarran illā mā shāʾa llāh.

“Say: ‘I possess no power of benefit or harm for myself, except what The God wills.’”

Al-Aʿrāf 7:188

In these constructions, ḍarr is no particular illness or event: it is harm as the opposite of benefit.

The same question repeatedly concerns constructed gods: does what is worshipped have any capacity to produce benefit or harm at all?

This branch therefore primarily describes the kind of effect and outcome.

Ḍurr: affliction and an adverse condition experienced by a person

Ḍurr, with a u vowel on ḍād, tends more toward a condition a person experiences:

وَإِنْ يَمْسَسْكَ اللَّهُ بِضُرٍّ فَلَا كَاشِفَ لَهُ إِلَّا هُوَ

Wa-in yamsaska llāhu bi-ḍurrin fa-lā kāshifa lahu illā hū.

“If The God afflicts you with hardship, none can remove it but He.”

Al-Anʿām 6:17

In Ayyūb’s story, it is also said:

أَنِّي مَسَّنِيَ الضُّرُّ وَأَنْتَ أَرْحَمُ الرَّاحِمِينَ

Annī massaniya ḍ-ḍurru wa-anta arḥamu r-rāḥimīn.

“Affliction has touched me, and You are the most merciful of those who show mercy.”

Al-Anbiyāʾ 21:83

Then:

فَكَشَفْنَا مَا بِهِ مِنْ ضُرٍّ

Fa-kashafnā mā bihi min ḍurr.

“We removed the affliction that was upon him.”

Al-Anbiyāʾ 21:84

The repeated association of ḍurr with verbs such as مَسَّ, massa, “touch,” and كَشَفَ, kashafa, “remove,” matters: affliction reaches a person and can be lifted from them.

Ḍurr is not, however, confined to bodily illness. Of Yūsuf’s family, the Qur’an states:

مَسَّنَا وَأَهْلَنَا الضُّرُّ

Massanā wa-ahlanā ḍ-ḍurr.

“Hardship has touched us and our family.”

Yūsuf 12:88

Its field can therefore include poverty, hardship, illness, or some other affliction.

In some ayahs, ḍurr also approaches general harm. Thus “ḍarr = harm” and “ḍurr = affliction” describe a Qur’anic and linguistic tendency, not a boundary that never admits overlap.

Ḍarar: an injury or impairment in a person’s condition

The form ضَرَر, ḍarar, occurs only in this Qur’anic construction:

لَا يَسْتَوِي الْقَاعِدُونَ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ غَيْرُ أُولِي الضَّرَرِ وَالْمُجَاهِدُونَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ

Lā yastawī l-qāʿidūna mina l-muʾminīna ghayru ulī ḍ-ḍarari wa-l-mujāhidūna fī sabīli llāh.

“Those believers who remain behind—except those with an impairment—and those who strive in The God’s way are not equal.”

Al-Nisāʾ 4:95

أُولِي الضَّرَرِ, ulī al-ḍarar, concerns people who have an impairment or a disabling impediment, which distinguishes them from others who remain behind.

The word does not name a particular medical diagnosis. Bodily injury or disability is a clear instance in this context, but neither any arbitrary obstacle nor a modern medical classification should be inserted into the translation without justification.

“Those with an impairment or a disabling impediment” better preserves the expression’s core in this context.

Ḍarrāʾ: adversity opposite ease

ضَرَّاء, ḍarrāʾ, primarily describes difficult, adverse circumstances.

The Qur’an places it directly opposite سَرَّاء, sarrāʾ, ease or prosperity:

الَّذِينَ يُنْفِقُونَ فِي السَّرَّاءِ وَالضَّرَّاءِ

Alladhīna yunfiqūna fī s-sarrāʾi wa-ḍ-ḍarrāʾ.

“Those who spend in ease and adversity.”

Āl ʿImrān 3:134

And:

قَدْ مَسَّ آبَاءَنَا الضَّرَّاءُ وَالسَّرَّاءُ

Qad massa ābāʾanā ḍ-ḍarrāʾu wa-s-sarrāʾ.

“Our forebears, too, experienced adversity and ease.”

Al-Aʿrāf 7:95

It also appears alongside بَأْسَاء, baʾsāʾ:

وَالصَّابِرِينَ فِي الْبَأْسَاءِ وَالضَّرَّاءِ وَحِينَ الْبَأْسِ

Wa-ṣ-ṣābirīna fī l-baʾsāʾi wa-ḍ-ḍarrāʾi wa-ḥīna l-baʾs.

“Those who are patient in baʾsāʾ and ḍarrāʾ, and at the time of battle.”

Al-Baqarah 2:177

The pairing of baʾsāʾ and ḍarrāʾ shows that they are not simply the same word; their coordination alone does not establish an absolute boundary between types of hardship. For this root, the clear point is that ḍarrāʾ describes a harmful, difficult condition opposite sarrāʾ and ease.

Ḍirār and muḍārrah: harm within human relationships

Ḍirār and this root’s form III, traditionally called mufāʿalah, occur especially in human relationships.

In the provisions concerning divorce, it is said:

وَلَا تُمْسِكُوهُنَّ ضِرَارًا لِتَعْتَدُوا

Wa-lā tumsikūhunna ḍirāran li-taʿtadū.

“Do not retain them to cause harm and transgress.”

Al-Baqarah 2:231

The intention to harm is not derived from the fiʿāl pattern alone. The sentence itself makes it clear:

ضِرَارًا لِتَعْتَدُوا

Ḍirāran li-taʿtadū.

Maintaining a relationship must not become a means of inflicting harm and transgression.

Al-Ṭalāq similarly states:

وَلَا تُضَارُّوهُنَّ لِتُضَيِّقُوا عَلَيْهِنَّ

Wa-lā tuḍārrūhunna li-tuḍayyiqū ʿalayhinn.

“Do not harm them in order to constrain them.”

Al-Ṭalāq 65:6

Here too, the continuation makes the action’s direction clear: harm intended to create constriction.

Regarding a bequest, it is said:

مِنْ بَعْدِ وَصِيَّةٍ يُوصَىٰ بِهَا أَوْ دَيْنٍ غَيْرَ مُضَارٍّ

Min baʿdi waṣiyyatin yūṣā bihā aw daynin ghayra muḍārr.

“After a bequest that has been made, or a debt, without causing harm.”

Al-Nisāʾ 4:12

A bequest or debt must not become a means of injuring other people’s rights.

Even a building with an outwardly religious character can be described through ḍirār:

وَالَّذِينَ اتَّخَذُوا مَسْجِدًا ضِرَارًا وَكُفْرًا وَتَفْرِيقًا بَيْنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ

Wa-lladhīna ttakhadhū masjidan ḍirāran wa-kufran wa-tafrīqan bayna l-muʾminīn.

“Those who established a mosque for harm, kufr, and division among the believers …”

Al-Tawbah 9:107

The harm here is not bodily: establishing an institution can serve injury and social division.

Lā tuḍārra wālidatun: an ambiguity concealed by the merging of two rāʾ consonants

Al-Baqarah states:

لَا تُضَارَّ وَالِدَةٌ بِوَلَدِهَا وَلَا مَوْلُودٌ لَهُ بِوَلَدِهِ

Lā tuḍārra wālidatun bi-waladihā wa-lā mawlūdun lahu bi-waladih.

“No mother should suffer harm because of her child, nor any father because of his child.”

Al-Baqarah 2:233

تُضَارّ, tuḍārr, belongs to form III of the geminate root Ḍ R R. In its underlying morphology, two rāʾ consonants stand next to one another and then merge. This merging conceals some morphological information in the word’s surface form.

Older grammatical analyses and discussions of readings consider both directions:

The mother and father can be the agents causing harm: neither should use the child to harm the other.

Or they can be the people upon whom harm is inflicted: neither mother nor father should suffer harm because of the child.

The two directions are not incompatible in their social consequence. The construction as a whole prevents the child and the associated rights from becoming instruments of harm between the parents.

A translation should therefore clearly choose one analysis and preserve the other in an explanation or square brackets. To display the two readings, one might write:

“No mother should suffer harm [in the active reading: cause harm] because of her child, nor any father because of his child.”

Alternatively, a more fluent rendering can preserve the sentence’s overall sense while explaining the morphological distinction separately.

This also shows why form III cannot support a rule that the action must always be reciprocal. The pattern can express a relationship between two parties, but the precise direction of agent and object must be established from grammar, reading, and context.

The ayah concerning debt also states:

وَلَا يُضَارَّ كَاتِبٌ وَلَا شَهِيدٌ

Wa-lā yuḍārra kātibun wa-lā shahīd.

“No scribe or witness should be harmed [or cause harm].”

Al-Baqarah 2:282

Again, the merged form leaves both directions available to linguistic analysis, and the context concerns preventing harm in the process of recording and witnessing.

Iḍṭirār: when circumstances restrict ordinary choices

One of the root’s most important branches is اضْطَرَّ, iḍṭarra, and مُضْطَرّ, muḍṭarr.

Iḍṭirār is more than “needing something very much.” A person is in circumstances where harm, danger, or constraint limits ordinary choices and drives them toward an action.

The provisions concerning food make this clear:

فَمَنِ اضْطُرَّ غَيْرَ بَاغٍ وَلَا عَادٍ فَلَا إِثْمَ عَلَيْهِ

Fa-mani ḍṭurra ghayra bāghin wa-lā ʿādin fa-lā ithma ʿalayh.

“Whoever is compelled by necessity, neither seeking transgression nor exceeding the limit, incurs no sin.”

Al-Baqarah 2:173

Al-Māʾidah clarifies the circumstances:

فَمَنِ اضْطُرَّ فِي مَخْمَصَةٍ غَيْرَ مُتَجَانِفٍ لِإِثْمٍ

Fa-mani ḍṭurra fī makhmaṣatin ghayra mutajānifin li-ithm.

“Whoever is compelled by severe hunger, without inclining toward sin …”

Al-Māʾidah 5:3

Iḍṭirār is therefore neither personal preference nor merely an easier choice: it is a condition that restricts the possibility of ordinary choice.

The verb also occurs in another construction:

وَمَنْ كَفَرَ فَأُمَتِّعُهُ قَلِيلًا ثُمَّ أَضْطَرُّهُ إِلَىٰ عَذَابِ النَّارِ

Wa-man kafara fa-umattiʿuhu qalīlan thumma aḍṭarruhu ilā ʿadhābi n-nār.

“Whoever rejects, I will grant him a little enjoyment, then compel him toward the punishment of the Fire.”

Al-Baqarah 2:126

And:

نُمَتِّعُهُمْ قَلِيلًا ثُمَّ نَضْطَرُّهُمْ إِلَىٰ عَذَابٍ غَلِيظٍ

Numattiʿuhum qalīlan thumma naḍṭarruhum ilā ʿadhābin ghalīẓ.

“We grant them a little enjoyment, then compel them toward a severe punishment.”

Luqmān 31:24

The person here is not muḍṭarr through a need for food. The verb indicates being driven toward an outcome from which there is no ordinary means of escape.

The same field appears in مُضْطَرّ, muḍṭarr, which here is the passive participle of form VIII: someone driven into a state of necessity.

أَمَّنْ يُجِيبُ الْمُضْطَرَّ إِذَا دَعَاهُ وَيَكْشِفُ السُّوءَ

Amman yujību l-muḍṭarra idhā daʿāhu wa-yakshifu s-sūʾ.

“Or who responds to the distressed person when he calls upon Him, and removes the adversity?”

Al-Naml 27:62

المضطر, al-muḍṭarr, is no specific class such as the poor, the sick, or the oppressed. Any of these may become muḍṭarr under certain circumstances. The word describes a person whom the pressure of circumstances has driven into necessity.

“Distressed” or “in desperate straits” can therefore be natural translations. “Compelled” conveys the force and restriction of choice, but on its own may be less clear than “distressed” in a sentence such as Al-Naml 27:62.

Ḍ R R (ḍarar), N F AYN (nafʿ), and A DH Y (adhā): harm, benefit, and hurt

The clearest Qur’anic opposite of ḍarr is nafʿ, benefit.

The two words repeatedly appear together:

نَفْعًا وَلَا ضَرًّا

Nafʿan wa-lā ḍarrā.

This opposition clarifies the general field:

Nafʿ is an effect that produces a beneficial or desirable outcome for someone;

Ḍarr is an effect that introduces harm, loss, or an undesirable outcome.

These are not necessarily fixed moral qualities of things. Something may benefit in one situation and harm in another. The word describes the kind of effect.

The relationship between ḍarr and أذى, adhā, is also important.

Āl ʿImrān states:

لَنْ يَضُرُّوكُمْ إِلَّا أَذًى

Lan yaḍurrūkum illā adhā.

“They will not harm you except for some hurt.”

Āl ʿImrān 3:111

The construction allows adhā here to denote a limited kind of hurt in relation to the harm that is denied. Grammarians have discussed both a connected exception, where the exception belongs to the category being excluded, and a disconnected exception, understood as a contrast. This construction alone therefore cannot prove a fixed relationship between the two words’ semantic ranges.

Adhā tends to emphasize what hurts, distresses, or injures a person; ḍarr has the broader field of a harmful outcome or loss.

This one construction should not establish that adhā is always minor while ḍarar is always major. Context determines the intensity of each.

As general tendencies:

Nafʿ is a beneficial outcome;

Ḍarr is a harmful outcome or loss;

And:

Adhā is hurt that a person experiences, and can be one form of harm.

Translation proposals for Forqan

Translation of this family should consider both the form and its context.

ضَرَّ / يَضُرُّ, ḍarra / yaḍurru, is usually naturally rendered “to harm”: لَا يَضُرُّكُمْ, lā yaḍurrukum — “it does not harm you.”

ضَرّ, ḍarr, especially opposite nafʿ, is best rendered “harm”: نَفْعًا وَلَا ضَرًّا, nafʿan wa-lā ḍarran — “any benefit or harm,” within the negative construction.

ضُرّ, ḍurr, can be “affliction,” “hardship,” “harm,” or “an adverse condition,” depending on context. In أَنِّي مَسَّنِيَ الضُّرُّ, annī massaniya al-ḍurru, “affliction has touched me” avoids restricting the word to one particular illness.

ضَرَّاء, ḍarrāʾ, opposite sarrāʾ, is naturally “adversity” or “hardship”: فِي السَّرَّاءِ وَالضَّرَّاءِ, fī al-sarrāʾi wa-l-ḍarrāʾi — “in ease and adversity.”

ضَرَر, ḍarar, in Al-Nisāʾ 4:95 can be “impairment” or “a disabling impediment”: أُولِي الضَّرَرِ, ulī al-ḍarar — “those with an impairment or a disabling impediment.”

ضِرَار, ḍirār, and the form III derivatives can be translated as “causing harm” or “inflicting injury,” depending on the construction. In وَلَا تُمْسِكُوهُنَّ ضِرَارًا, wa-lā tumsikūhunna ḍirāran, “do not retain them to cause harm” is natural.

For لَا تُضَارَّ وَالِدَةٌ بِوَلَدِهَا, lā tuḍārra wālidatun bi-waladihā, a translation should choose one direction and explain the other possibility—suffering or causing harm—in a separate grammatical note. Combining the two analyses should not be presented as one certain word-for-word translation.

For اضْطُرَّ, uḍṭurra, “to be compelled by necessity” is a suitable basic equivalent; مُضْطَرّ, muḍṭarr, may be “compelled,” “distressed,” or “in desperate straits,” according to the sentence.

A single equivalent such as “injury” therefore does not suit the whole family. The root is one, but each construction highlights a particular aspect of harm, hardship, or compulsion.

Conclusion

Ḍ R R centers on harm, loss, or an adverse condition that disrupts benefit, health, ease, or ordinary possibilities. Ḍarr, ḍurr, and ḍarar are not merely three spellings of one word: their morphological structures differ, and their Qur’anic uses show different semantic tendencies. Ḍarr appears more often opposite benefit; ḍurr in affliction and adverse circumstances; and ḍarar in Al-Nisāʾ 4:95 approaches an impairment or impediment in a person’s condition. These differences are real, but should not become boundaries without overlap.

In human relationships, the family extends to ḍirār and muḍārrah. The morphological pattern alone establishes neither intention nor reciprocity. Sometimes the sentence explicitly states the purpose of causing harm, while merged forms such as لَا تُضَارَّ وَالِدَةٌ, lā tuḍārra wālidatun, can even leave active and passive directions open. The shared core is preventing relationships and rights from becoming instruments of harm.

The iḍṭirār branch likewise shows that harm and constraint can advance to the point where ordinary choice is restricted. Muḍṭarr describes someone whom circumstances have driven into necessity, not merely someone with a strong desire or need.

A concise definition of the root can be stated as follows:

Ḍ R R: receiving or inflicting harm, loss, or an adverse condition that disrupts benefit, health, ease, or ordinary possibilities. Within this field, ḍarr stands opposite benefit; ḍurr concerns affliction and adverse circumstances; ḍarar concerns impairment and impediment; ḍirār concerns harming another; and iḍṭirār concerns being compelled by the pressure of circumstances. The form and the ayah’s context determine the precise contribution of each meaning.