Qur'anic Root F J R
Splitting, opening a path, flow after an opening, dawn, and ethical departure from proper limits.
1. Short Introduction to the Root
The root ف ج ر moves in the semantic field of splitting, opening a path through a barrier, and something emerging or flowing from the place of opening.
The clearest material use of this root in the Qur'an concerns water: a stone, earth, or bed is opened, and water, a spring, or a river emerges from it. From the same field, فَجْر is used for dawn: the time when light appears and becomes distinct at the edge of the darkness of night.
This root also appears in the ethical field in the forms فُجُور, فَاجِر, فَجَرَة, and فُجَّار. In these uses, the word points to behavior or a person who goes beyond proper limits and opens the way to wrongdoing and disobedience.
Still, all forms of the root should not be reduced to one hard and identical interpretive image. The claim that in every use of ف ج ر something hidden behind a shell must have suddenly and irreversibly burst out produces more meaning than the Qur'anic evidence requires. The shared core is opening and splitting a path; the kind of opening, what comes out, the intensity of the event, and its ethical direction are known from the derivative and the context.
2. Important Forms and Derivatives of the Root
The root ف ج ر appears in the Qur'an twenty-four times and in nine morphological forms:
- two occurrences of the simple verb: تَفْجُرَ and لِيَفْجُرَ
- six occurrences of Form II
- one occurrence of Form V
- one occurrence of Form VII
- six occurrences of the noun فَجْر
- one occurrence of the verbal noun فُجُور
- one occurrence of the description فَاجِر
- four occurrences of the plurals فُجَّار and فَجَرَة
- two occurrences of the verbal noun تَفْجِير
This variety shows that the root is used in three major Qur'anic fields:
1. opening and causing water to flow;
2. dawn;
3. فجور and being فاجر in the field of conduct.
فَجَرَ / يَفْجُرُ
The simple verb has two different Qur'anic uses:
- causing a spring to flow or opening it from the earth;
- opening the way before oneself for continuing wrong conduct.
فَجَّرَ / يُفَجِّرُ
To cause water, a river, or a spring to flow by opening a path.
تَفَجَّرَ
Water or rivers opened from within a stone or bed and flowed.
اِنْفَجَرَ
It was opened, and water or springs came out from it.
فَجْر
Dawn; the time when the light of morning becomes visible at the edge of the darkness of night.
فُجُور
The way and state of wrongdoing, breaking proper limits, or opening the self toward wrong conduct.
فَاجِر
One who has taken the path of فجور and goes beyond proper limits.
فُجَّار / فَجَرَة
Plural of فاجر; wrongdoers or those whose conduct is marked by فجور.
تَفْجِير
Opening and causing water or a river to flow; in two verses it appears as an emphatic verbal noun.
3. Reference Cards for Qur'anic Derivatives
Opened a way or caused something to flow from a place of opening; ethically, opened the way to continue wrongdoing.
Opened a spring, river, earth, or sea and caused water to flow or surge.
Was opened from within a stone or bed and flowed.
Was split open, and springs came out from it.
Dawn; the time when morning light appears.
Going beyond proper limits and opening the way toward wrongdoing.
One who has gone beyond proper limits and taken up wrongdoing.
Wrongdoers and those known by fujur.
Opening and causing water or a river to flow.
4. The Semantic Core of the Root
The defensible semantic core of the root is:
Opening or splitting a path through a barrier, so that something becomes able to appear, emerge, flow, or spread.
This core is clearly visible in material uses:
- the stone is opened and springs come out from it;
- the earth is opened and springs flow in it;
- the path of a river is opened between gardens;
- the seas are opened or made to flow into one another.
In فجر, morning light appears on the horizon of night. In فجور, a person opens his way toward wrong conduct and does not observe the limits he should preserve.
Still, "flow" is not identical in every form. فَجْر points to a time of morning, not to an actual liquid flowing. فُجُور also is not necessarily limited to behavior displayed openly before people. The image of opening helps us understand the field of the root in these two branches, but it must not replace the established meaning of each derivative.
5. The Material Image of the Root
The main material image of this root is a stone or earth being opened and water coming out.
The Qur'an says in Al-Baqarah 2:60:
فَقُلْنَا اضْرِبْ بِعَصَاكَ الْحَجَرَ فَانْفَجَرَتْ مِنْهُ اثْنَتَا عَشْرَةَ عَيْنًا
So We said: Strike the stone with your staff; then twelve springs burst forth from it.
This verse makes the parts of the image clear:
- the stone is a closed and hard bed;
- the strike comes before the event;
- اِنْفَجَرَ focuses on the opening itself and the emergence of water;
- what comes out from the stone is twelve springs.
The second image is opening a path in the earth for a spring or river. In this use, the barrier does not always need to be named as a hard object; the verb may focus on creating a path of flow.
This material image should not be turned into a theory about underground pressure, geological explosion, or a specific scientific mechanism. The Qur'an states the event, not a physical model of it.
6. Use of the Root in Arabic
In Arabic, فَجَرَ الشيءَ can indicate splitting and opening it. When this root is used with water, spring, river, or earth, the meaning of causing water to flow through an opened path becomes prominent.
فَجْر is used for the beginning of morning light. This naming fits the appearance and spreading of light along the horizon of night.
In ethical use, فُجُور and فَاجِر point to going beyond proper limits, wrongdoing, and disobedience. Yet the claim that فاجر in Arabic only means someone who performs his sin openly requires caution. Boldness and opening the way to wrongdoing may be understood from the field of the word, but the Qur'an does not restrict فاجر only to an open sinner.
7. Challenges in Understanding and Translation
Restricting ف ج ر to material splitting
In some verses the root directly concerns splitting and the flow of water, but in فجر and فجور, a literal translation as "splitting" is not natural.
Fajr should be translated as "dawn", while the image of splitting darkness may come in explanation. Fُjūr should also be translated with words such as wrongdoing, disobedience, or going beyond proper limits, not "ethical splitting".
Importing openness into every use of فجور
Fujur may be associated with boldness and spread of wrong conduct, but the word itself does not necessarily say in every verse that the act is performed publicly before others.
In Ash-Shams 91:8, فجور is set opposite تقوى, but the verse does not speak about whether an act is hidden or public.
Turning the contrast of فجور and تقوى into the image of armor and crack
تقوى, from the root و ق ي, relates to guarding and protection. فجور in Ash-Shams 91:8 is placed opposite it. This contrast is important, but it should not without evidence be turned into the fixed image that "taqwa is armor and fujur is a crack in that armor."
This image may be useful as literary explanation, but it is not the direct meaning of the verse.
Attributing fixed intensity to Form II
Form II can indicate causation, transitivity, or emphasis. Its pairing with the verbal noun تَفْجِيرًا in Al-Isra 17:91 and Al-Insan 76:6 emphasizes the act of causing flow.
But the morphological form alone does not prove that the flow must be intense, explosive, abundant, or fully under the actor's control. These features must be known from the object, the verbal noun, the context, and other clues.
Claiming that the opening is irreversible
There is no rule in the root that makes every fajr-event irreversible. Dawn comes and night returns again; a fājir can also repent and reform. Therefore "without possibility of return" should not be placed inside the definition of the root.
8. Methodological Note
In studying each verse, one should ask:
- What is opened or split?
- What emerges from it or begins to flow?
- Is the actor causing the flow, or does the verse focus on the event itself?
- Is the use material, temporal, or ethical?
- Does intensity and abundance come from the verb itself, or from the verbal noun and context?
- Is the ethical meaning understood from the root itself or from surrounding descriptions and contrasts?
Three levels should also remain separate:
Direct meaning: splitting, opening, causing flow, dawn, or wrongdoing, depending on the derivative.
Root image: a path being opened and the possibility of appearance or flow.
Contextual reflection: the relation among water, light, ethics, taqwa, and becoming manifest.
Image and reflection must not replace direct translation.
9. Qur'anic Uses of the Root
The Stone Opening and Springs Coming Out
Al-Baqarah 2:60
فَقُلْنَا اضْرِبْ بِعَصَاكَ الْحَجَرَ فَانْفَجَرَتْ مِنْهُ اثْنَتَا عَشْرَةَ عَيْنًا
So We said: Strike the stone with your staff; then twelve springs burst forth from it.
The verb فَانْفَجَرَتْ is Form VII. The sentence focuses on an event that occurs for the springs or from within the stone: after the strike, twelve springs come out.
مِنْهُ specifies the source of emergence, and اثْنَتَا عَشْرَةَ عَيْنًا identifies what appeared.
Form VII by itself does not mean "explosion" in the modern scientific sense. Translations such as "burst forth", "opened", or "came out from it" are more natural.
Rivers Flowing from Stones
Al-Baqarah 2:74
وَإِنَّ مِنَ الْحِجَارَةِ لَمَا يَتَفَجَّرُ مِنْهُ الْأَنْهَارُ
And among stones are some from which rivers flow forth.
The verb يَتَفَجَّرُ is Form V. The verse speaks of stones from which rivers come out.
The difference between this verse and Al-Baqarah 2:60 should not be made overly absolute. Form V here focuses on the event of flow from stone; but from it one cannot create a law that Form V is always self-emerging and Form VII is always only the result of an external strike.
Requesting a Spring from the Earth
Al-Isra 17:90
وَقَالُوا لَنْ نُؤْمِنَ لَكَ حَتَّىٰ تَفْجُرَ لَنَا مِنَ الْأَرْضِ يَنْبُوعًا
And they said: We will never have faith in you until you cause a spring to flow for us from the earth.
The simple verb تَفْجُرَ appears in this verse. The object يَنْبُوعًا and the phrase مِنَ الْأَرْضِ show that what they demanded was opening a spring from the earth.
This use is important because it shows that the simple verb too can indicate causing water to flow. Therefore causing flow cannot be limited only to Form II.
Causing Rivers to Flow among a Garden
Al-Isra 17:91
أَوْ تَكُونَ لَكَ جَنَّةٌ مِنْ نَخِيلٍ وَعِنَبٍ فَتُفَجِّرَ الْأَنْهَارَ خِلَالَهَا تَفْجِيرًا
Or that you have a garden of date-palms and grapes, and you cause rivers to flow abundantly through it.
تُفَجِّرَ is Form II, and تَفْجِيرًا is its emphatic verbal noun. The object الْأَنْهَارَ and the adverbial phrase خِلَالَهَا show that the rivers are to flow through the garden.
The emphatic verbal noun highlights the act itself. Translating "cause to flow abundantly" may be defensible from the context, but "violent" or "explosive" is not required by the verb.
A River Made to Flow between Two Gardens
Al-Kahf 18:33
كِلْتَا الْجَنَّتَيْنِ آتَتْ أُكُلَهَا وَلَمْ تَظْلِمْ مِنْهُ شَيْئًا وَفَجَّرْنَا خِلَالَهُمَا نَهَرًا
Both gardens gave their fruit and did not withhold anything of it, and We made a river flow between them.
In this verse, the river flows between the two gardens. The Form II verb focuses on creating or opening the path of flow.
Causing Springs to Flow in the Earth
Ya-Sin 36:34
وَجَعَلْنَا فِيهَا جَنَّاتٍ مِنْ نَخِيلٍ وَأَعْنَابٍ وَفَجَّرْنَا فِيهَا مِنَ الْعُيُونِ
And We placed in it gardens of date-palms and grapes, and We caused springs to flow in it.
The phrase مِنَ الْعُيُونِ points to water-springs. The verb فَجَّرْنَا expresses opening a path and causing water to flow.
Opening the Earth as Springs
Al-Qamar 54:12
وَفَجَّرْنَا الْأَرْضَ عُيُونًا فَالْتَقَى الْمَاءُ عَلَىٰ أَمْرٍ قَدْ قُدِرَ
And We opened the earth as springs, so the water met according to a matter already measured.
The structure فَجَّرْنَا الْأَرْضَ عُيُونًا is very compressed. The verse makes the earth the object of opening, and عُيُونًا expresses the result or state in which the earth became sources of water.
Translation should not restrict this verse to a specific geological theory.
Causing a Heavenly Spring to Flow
Al-Insan 76:6
عَيْنًا يَشْرَبُ بِهَا عِبَادُ اللَّهِ يُفَجِّرُونَهَا تَفْجِيرًا
A spring from which the servants of The God drink; they cause it to flow freely.
The verbal noun تَفْجِيرًا emphasizes the verb. The verse speaks of causing the spring to flow, but the phrase "wherever they wish" is not in the verse itself. If such an explanation is raised, it should remain a separate interpretive possibility. The verb form and verbal noun are present in the verse, but the physical nature of the heavenly spring is not explained.
The Seas Being Opened
Al-Infitar 82:3
وَإِذَا الْبِحَارُ فُجِّرَتْ
And when the seas are opened and made to flow.
The verb is passive. The verse may point to the borders of the seas being split, the waters joining, or the seas being set in motion, but it does not make the exact nature of the otherworldly event certain.
The translation "explode" may suggest a modern scientific meaning that the text does not require. "Are opened", "are set flowing", or "are made to run into one another" are more cautious.
Fajr as Dawn
Al-Baqarah 2:187
وَكُلُوا وَاشْرَبُوا حَتَّىٰ يَتَبَيَّنَ لَكُمُ الْخَيْطُ الْأَبْيَضُ مِنَ الْخَيْطِ الْأَسْوَدِ مِنَ الْفَجْرِ
And eat and drink until the white thread of morning becomes distinct to you from the black thread of night.
In this verse, مِنَ الْفَجْرِ clarifies that the white and black threads relate to the appearance of morning. The verse gives an observable criterion for the beginning of fasting: the distinction of morning whiteness from the darkness of night.
Fajr here is the name of a temporal and natural event. The image of "splitting darkness" may help explain the naming, but the basic translation is dawn.
Al-Isra 17:78
وَقُرْآنَ الْفَجْرِ إِنَّ قُرْآنَ الْفَجْرِ كَانَ مَشْهُودًا
And the recitation of dawn; indeed the recitation of dawn is witnessed.
Fajr here specifies the time of recitation or salat.
An-Nur 24:58
مِنْ قَبْلِ صَلَاةِ الْفَجْرِ
Before the salat of dawn.
This use shows that فجر in the Qur'an is the name of a known time, not merely the name of a surah or a poetic image.
Al-Fajr 89:1
وَالْفَجْرِ
By the dawn.
Al-Qadr 97:5
سَلَامٌ هِيَ حَتَّىٰ مَطْلَعِ الْفَجْرِ
It is peace until the rising of dawn.
مَطْلَعِ الْفَجْرِ expresses the time of the rising and appearance of dawn.
فجور and Taqwa
Ash-Shams 91:7 to 8
وَنَفْسٍ وَمَا سَوَّاهَا
فَأَلْهَمَهَا فُجُورَهَا وَتَقْوَاهَا
And by the self and the One who proportioned it; then He made known to it its فجور and its taqwa.
Fujur and taqwa in this verse are two recognizable directions for the self. Their contrast shows that فجور stands opposite moral guarding and taqwa.
But the verse does not say that The God compelled the self to perform فجور. أَلْهَمَهَا in this context can point to making known, showing, or placing the capacity to distinguish the two paths. In early exegetical reports too, "explaining and making known good and evil" is one of the main explanations of this verse.
Fujur here is better translated as "the way of wrongdoing", "going beyond proper limits", or left as the term "fujur". Translating it only as "open sin" adds more than the text says.
Opening the Way before Oneself for Wrongdoing
Al-Qiyamah 75:5
بَلْ يُرِيدُ الْإِنْسَانُ لِيَفْجُرَ أَمَامَهُ
Rather, the human being wants to continue in فجور before him.
This verse is one of the most important uses of the root in the ethical field. أَمَامَهُ shows that the human being wants to keep the path ahead open for continuing wrongdoing; that is, to continue his future without the limits of responsibility and account.
Translations such as "so that he may do wrong in his future", "so that he may open his path ahead to fujur", or "so that he may keep going forward in wrongdoing" can preserve the structure of the verse.
This verse speaks of continuity and opening a future path for فجور, not necessarily public conduct.
Fājir and Kaffār
Nuh 71:27
إِنَّكَ إِنْ تَذَرْهُمْ يُضِلُّوا عِبَادَكَ وَلَا يَلِدُوا إِلَّا فَاجِرًا كَفَّارًا
If You leave them, they will mislead Your servants and will give birth only to a fājir, deeply covering truth.
فَاجِرًا and كَفَّارًا are two separate descriptions. Fājir points to wrongdoing and crossing proper limits, while kaffār indicates intense kufr.
Their pairing shows that فجور and كفر are not fully synonymous.
The Mindful and the Fujjār
Sad 38:28
أَمْ نَجْعَلُ الْمُتَّقِينَ كَالْفُجَّارِ
Shall We make the mindful like the fujjār?
Fujjār are placed opposite the muttaqīn. This contrast highlights the difference between their ethical path and outcome.
But one should not conclude from it that every use of taqwa and fujur is always two exactly equal points on one linguistic scale. In this verse, two groups are compared in judgment and outcome.
The Fujjār in Jahim
Al-Infitar 82:13 to 14
إِنَّ الْأَبْرَارَ لَفِي نَعِيمٍ
وَإِنَّ الْفُجَّارَ لَفِي جَحِيمٍ
Indeed the barr are in bliss, and the fujjār are in blazing fire.
Here the fujjār are placed opposite the abrār, not opposite the muttaqīn. This shows that the meaning of fujjār should be known from the whole set of uses and not limited to one contrast.
The Book of the Fujjār
Al-Mutaffifin 83:7
كَلَّا إِنَّ كِتَابَ الْفُجَّارِ لَفِي سِجِّينٍ
No indeed; the book of the fujjār is in sijjīn.
كِتَابَ الْفُجَّارِ points to the record or register of their deeds. Sijjīn should be studied independently and should not be extracted from the root ف ج ر.
Kafarah Fajarah
Abasa 80:42
أُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْكَفَرَةُ الْفَجَرَةُ
Those are the coverers of truth, the wrongdoers.
الْكَفَرَةُ and الْفَجَرَةُ are two plural descriptions. Their pairing again shows that kufr and fujur express two different angles of conduct.
10. Examination of Important Qur'anic Derivatives
The simple verb
The simple verb appears twice:
- in Al-Isra 17:90 for causing a spring to flow from the earth;
- in Al-Qiyamah 75:5 for opening the future way toward فجور.
These two uses show that the ethical meaning of the root may be understood as an extension from opening a way, but one should not claim that every detail of ethical use comes directly from the flow of water.
Form II
Form II appears six times and is mostly connected with water, river, spring, earth, or sea. Its dominant role is causation and opening a path of flow.
The verbal noun تَفْجِير appears in two verses and emphasizes the verb. This emphasis can indicate the clear and extensive realization of the act, but exact intensity is known from context.
Form V
تَفَجَّرَ appears once for rivers flowing from stone. The focus is on the event of emergence and water-flow.
Form VII
اِنْفَجَرَ appears once in the story of Musa. The focus is on being opened and twelve springs coming out after the command to strike.
فَجْر
It appears six times and always means dawn. This use has an independent and clear established meaning, although it remains connected with the image of light opening.
فُجُور
It appears once in Ash-Shams 91:8. This form expresses the direction of wrongdoing and departure from taqwa in the self.
فَاجِر، فُجَّار، and فَجَرَة
These forms concern persons and groups known by wrongdoing, crossing limits, and opposition to the right way.
From their pattern or plural alone, details such as publicity, violence, or being beyond reform should not be inferred.
11. Grammatical and Structural Notes
Direct object in Form II
In:
فَتُفَجِّرَ الْأَنْهَارَ
فَجَّرْنَا الْأَرْضَ
يُفَجِّرُونَهَا
the thing opened or made to flow is the object of the verb.
The type of object plays an important role in determining meaning:
- rivers are made to flow;
- the earth is opened into springs;
- a spring is set flowing.
The particle مِن
In:
مِنَ الْأَرْضِ يَنْبُوعًا
مِنْهُ الْأَنْهَارُ
مِنْهُ اثْنَتَا عَشْرَةَ عَيْنًا
مِنَ الْعُيُونِ
مِن marks the source or place of emergence. From it one should not build a mechanical law about depth, pressure, or direction of flow.
Emphatic verbal noun
In:
تَفْجِيرًا
the verbal noun follows a verb of the same root and emphasizes the act itself. Translation can convey this emphasis with "fully", "abundantly", or a natural structure, but should avoid unsupported exaggerations.
The structure لِيَفْجُرَ أَمَامَهُ
The lām in لِيَفْجُرَ links the act to the human being's desire or aim, and أَمَامَهُ expresses his space ahead and future.
This structure shows that the human being wants to accept no limit before his future and to keep the path of wrongdoing open.
The pattern فُعُول
From the pattern فُعُول in فُجُور, one should not by itself extract continuity, intensity, or a permanent state. The pattern provides a nominal and verbal-noun capacity; the ethical quality is known from its contrast with taqwa and the other uses of the root.
12. ف ج ر Compared with Near Roots
ف ج ر compared with ش ق ق
ش ق ق indicates splitting, separating, or creating a split.
ف ج ر in the Qur'an's material uses is more often connected with opening a path of flow, especially the flow of water.
But one should not say that every fajr must release something after a split and every shaqq can never involve something coming out. This difference is a usage tendency:
- شق emphasizes the split itself more;
- فجر in water-related uses emphasizes the opening of a path of flow more.
ف ج ر compared with ن ب ع
ن ب ع is connected with water emerging from a spring or source.
ف ج ر emphasizes opening the path and causing flow more.
The difference should not be turned into "nabaʿ is always calm and fajr is always sudden and intense" unless the context shows that.
ف ج ر compared with ف ت ق
ف ت ق concerns opening something that had been closed or joined together.
ف ج ر in material uses is closer to opening a path of flow. Both can carry an image of opening, but their objects and results differ.
ف ج ر as فُجُور compared with ف س ق
Fisq and fujur are both close in the field of departing from the right way.
Fisq emphasizes leaving the framework of obedience and righteousness more. Fujur can emphasize opening the path of wrongdoing and proceeding in it more.
Still, this boundary is not absolute and must be examined from the whole set of verses for both roots. The famous image of a date-stone leaving its skin should not be accepted as the certain origin of fisq without historical research.
ف ج ر as فُجُور compared with إ ث م
Ithm relates to an act that burdens a person with consequence and moral obstruction.
Fujur shows more of a behavioral direction and an opening of the path toward wrongdoing.
The two can gather in one behavior, but they are not synonymous.
ف ج ر as فُجُور compared with و ق ي, taqwa
Taqwa indicates guarding, care, and moral protection. Fujur in Ash-Shams 91:8 appears opposite it.
One may say:
- taqwa keeps a person from entering a wrong path;
- fujur opens the way to wrongdoing and does not observe the limits of this guarding.
But this comparison should remain semantic and tendency-based, not become a fixed image of armor, shell, or wall.
ف ج ر as فَاجِر compared with ك ف ر
Kufr indicates covering and refusing truth.
Fujur emphasizes wrongdoing and crossing proper limits.
In Abasa 80:42 and Nuh 71:27, the two descriptions appear together; therefore they are not identical.
13. The Link between Water, Dawn, and Ethics
The root ف ج ر has three clear Qur'anic fields:
- water and flow;
- fajr and the beginning of light;
- fujur and ethical conduct.
One can see a cautious imaginal link among these fields: in all three, a way is opened.
- For water, a way is opened in stone or earth.
- At dawn, light appears and spreads on the horizon of night.
- In fujur, the human being leaves his path open toward wrongdoing.
But this link should not become the absolute claim that in all three cases "a hidden content has accumulated behind a barrier and then suddenly bursts out."
Dawn can also be a natural and gradual process. Fujur can be inward, hidden, or gradual. The Qur'an does not limit all fājirs to public and sudden conduct.
So the shared image is better stated this way:
ف ج ر is connected with opening a path for appearance, flow, or continuation; but the kind of opening is not identical in water, time, and ethics.
14. Fujur as an Ethical Direction of the Self
Fujur appears beside taqwa in Ash-Shams 91:8 and is attributed to persons and groups in other verses.
Together, these uses show that fujur is not only the name of one isolated act. It can be a direction and manner of conduct in which a person pushes aside proper limits and continues a wrong path.
Al-Qiyamah 75:5 makes this aspect clearer:
بَلْ يُرِيدُ الْإِنْسَانُ لِيَفْجُرَ أَمَامَهُ
The human being wants to keep the future ahead of him open for fujur. This verse shows the desire to continue freely in conduct without accepting account.
On the other hand, the Qur'an never says that a fājir is by nature beyond reform. Fujur is a condemned behavioral direction, not an unchangeable identity of the human being.
15. Translation Suggestions for Forqan
فَجَرَ in Al-Isra 17:90
- caused to flow
- opened from the earth and brought out
Suggested translation:
until you cause a spring to flow for us from the earth.
فَجَّرَ / يُفَجِّرُ
- caused to flow
- opened the path of water
- made a spring or river run
اِنْفَجَرَ
- burst forth
- opened and came out
- springs came out from it
For Al-Baqarah 2:60:
then twelve springs burst forth from it.
تَفَجَّرَ
- flowed forth
- rivers came out from it
- opened from within it
فَجْر
- dawn
- morning dawn
"Splitting darkness" is better placed in explanation, not in the basic translation.
فُجُور
Depending on context:
- fujur
- wrongdoing
- going beyond proper limits
- the way of disobedience
- opening the way toward wrongdoing
In Ash-Shams 91:8, preserving the term is suitable:
then He made known to it its fujur and its taqwa.
Then in explanation:
Fujur is the direction of wrongdoing and going beyond proper limits.
فَاجِر
- wrongdoer
- rebellious wrongdoer
- one who has taken the path of fujur
فُجَّار / فَجَرَة
- wrongdoers
- fājirs
- those known by fujur
"Openly disobedient ones" is suitable only if the context confirms publicness.
Al-Qiyamah 75:5
Suggested translation:
Rather, the human being wants to continue in wrongdoing before him.
Or with the root image preserved:
Rather, the human being wants to keep the path ahead open for fujur.
16. Final Definitions of the Derivatives
فَجَرَ
Opened a path or caused something to flow from the opened place; in ethical use, opened the way to wrongdoing.
فَجَّرَ
Caused water, a spring, a river, earth, or sea to open and flow.
تَفَجَّرَ
Opened from within something and began to flow.
اِنْفَجَرَ
Was split open and what was in it or behind it came out.
فَجْر
Dawn; the time when the light of morning appears.
فُجُور
Going beyond proper limits and opening the path of wrong conduct.
فَاجِر
One who has taken up fujur and wrongdoing.
فُجَّار / فَجَرَة
Plural of fājir; wrongdoers.
تَفْجِير
Opening and causing water, a spring, or a river to flow.
17. Conclusion
The root ف ج ر in the Qur'an indicates opening a path, the splitting of a barrier, and the possibility of appearance or flow. Its clearest material use is the emergence of water from stone and earth and the flow of springs and rivers.
From the same family, fajr is the name of dawn: the time when morning light appears and becomes distinct from the darkness of night. In the ethical field, fujur is the direction and conduct of someone who does not observe proper limits and keeps the path of wrongdoing open.
This root appears twenty-four times in various verbal and nominal forms. Its uses show:
- the simple verb can be used both for causing a spring to flow and for continuing fujur;
- Form II is mostly associated with opening and causing rivers, springs, earth, and seas to flow;
- Form V and Form VII focus on the event of emergence and flow itself;
- fajr always means dawn;
- fujur stands opposite taqwa, and fujjār stand opposite the mindful or the abrār;
- fujur, kufr, fisq, ithm, and transgression are close but non-synonymous words.
The link among water, dawn, and fujur can be seen in the image of a path being opened, but all of them should not be reduced to one identical material model. Fujur is not necessarily public, sudden, or irreversible; fajr is also not only "splitting darkness", but the established name of dawn.
The final and cautious definition of the root is:
ف ج ر indicates opening or splitting a path through which something becomes able to appear, emerge, flow, or continue. This meaning appears in water as the flowing of springs and rivers, in time as dawn, and in ethics as opening the way toward fujur. The exact meaning of each form is known from the derivative, syntactic structure, and context of the verse.