The Qur’anic Root J L L
Majesty, greatness, and grandeur: from magnitude and standing to covering and encompassing in early Arabic
Qur’anic and lexical forms
الْجَلَالِ
(al-jalāli)
Two Qur’anic occurrences; greatness and majesty
جَلَّ
(jalla)
Being great; a non-Qur’anic verb
جَلِيل
(jalīl)
Great and exalted; not Qur’anic
إِجْلَال
(ijlāl)
Honoring; not Qur’anic
أَجَلَّهُ
(ajallahu)
He honored him; not Qur’anic
جُلّ
(jull)
The greater part; not Qur’anic
جِلّ
(jill)
Large, in contrast with diqq; not Qur’anic
جَلَل
(jalal)
Great or slight according to context; not Qur’anic
جُلَّى
(jullā)
A great undertaking; not Qur’anic
جِلَّة
(jillah)
Large and mature camels; not Qur’anic
جُلّ / جِلال
(jull / jilāl)
Animal covering and plural; not Qur’anic
جَلَّلَ
(jallala)
Covering; not Qur’anic
مُجَلِّل
(mujallil)
Describing encompassing rain; not Qur’anic
جَلّ / جُلُول
(jall / julūl)
Sail and plural; not Qur’anic
جُلْجُل
(juljul)
Bell; non-Qur’anic reduplicated form
جَلْجَلَة
(jaljalah)
Bell sound and resonance; quadriliteral and not Qur’anic
1. Introducing the root
The three-letter Arabic root J L L has several semantic branches. Its principal branch concerns greatness, magnitude, majesty, and elevated standing. This family includes جَلِيل (jalīl), great or exalted; جَلَال (jalāl), greatness and majesty; and إِجْلَال (ijlāl), honoring and showing respect.
Another branch concerns covering and encompassing something. جُلّ (jull) can name a covering placed over an animal’s back, while جَلَّلَ (jallala) can mean to cover or envelop one thing with another.
Early sources also record usages concerning sound and resonance, including جُلْجُل (juljul) and جَلْجَلَة (jaljalah), associated with bells, their sound, and movement accompanied by sound.
In Maqāyīs al-Lughah, Ibn Fāris examines this family through three principles: greatness and magnitude, covering and encompassing, and sound. This classification shows that the usages of J L L cannot all be reduced without examination to a single meaning.
The family’s forms also differ semantically. In its familiar use, jalīl denotes something great and important, whereas جَلَل (jalal) appears in some Arabic witnesses for both something great and something small or insignificant.
This significant difference shows that shared consonants alone cannot determine a derivative’s meaning.
The Qur’an uses this root only twice, both times as الْجَلَالِ (al-jalāli):
Quranic Arabic Corpus: two nominal occurrences of jalāl
- Al-Raḥmān 55:27: ذُو الْجَلَالِ وَالْإِكْرَامِ (dhū al-jalāli wa-al-ikrāmi).
- Al-Raḥmān 55:78: ذِي الْجَلَالِ وَالْإِكْرَامِ (dhī al-jalāli wa-al-ikrāmi).
In both verses, majesty is attributed to the Lord and accompanies إِكْرَام (ikrām).
The Qur’anic jalāl in these occurrences means greatness, majesty, and greatness of standing. This does not concern bodily size, physical height, or material volume. In describing the Lord, it concerns a greatness and standing not measured by creatures’ bodily dimensions.
The Qur’an uses none of this family’s other forms, such as jalīl, أَجَلّ (ajall), jull, تَجْلِيل (tajlīl), or jaljalah.
Although the lexical family is extensive, its Qur’anic use thus belongs specifically to greatness and majesty. Brief root meaning: Greatness, magnitude, and majesty; in other Arabic branches, covering and encompassing.
2. Greatness and magnitude: the first semantic core
Jalla: being great and important
Ibn Fāris writes in Maqāyīs al-Lughah:
جَلَّ الشَّيْءُ: عَظُمَ.
jalla al-shayʾu ʿaẓuma
Translation: “Something jalla: it became great or attained greatness.”
Ibn Fāris: three principles and the greatness sense
This definition clarifies the root’s first semantic branch.
Greatness in Arabic can concern an object’s size, such as a physically large animal. In other usages, the same concept concerns the standing, importance, power, or value of a person or matter.
An event, for example, may be described as great. Its significance or consequences are then in view, rather than necessarily its physical volume.
Likewise, calling someone jalīl can concern standing and esteem rather than a large body or tall stature.
This branch therefore requires distinguishing bodily size from greatness of standing.
Jalīl: great and exalted
Lisān al-ʿArab records jalīl for an important matter and a person of significant standing.
أَمْرٌ جَلِيلٌ (amrun jalīlun), for example, denotes a great, important matter.
رَجُلٌ جَلِيلٌ (rajulun jalīlun) can describe someone with high standing, respect, or esteem.
Here, being jalīl extends beyond physical size.
Someone physically small may be considered great and exalted through knowledge, conduct, responsibility, or social position.
Social standing and moral worth, however, do not always coincide. Someone may hold rank among a group while acting unjustly.
Ordinary jalīl can thus describe importance and high standing, while the rightness of that standing requires other criteria.
Jalāl: greatness and majesty
Jalāl is a verbal or abstract noun in this family, concerning magnitude, greatness, and majesty.
Lisān al-ʿArab states:
وَجَلَالُ اللَّهِ: عَظَمَتُهُ.
wa-jalālu Allāhi ʿaẓamatuhu
Translation: “God’s jalāl is His greatness.”
This definition fits both Qur’anic occurrences of al-jalāli.
Persian nevertheless distinguishes bozorgī, ʿaẓamat, and shokūh.
Bozorgī, “greatness,” is broad and can concern physical size or standing.
ʿAẓamat, “magnitude” or “greatness,” more particularly emphasizes importance, rank, and greatness beyond ordinary things.
Shokūh, “majesty” or “grandeur,” can express greatness with dignity and an impressive presence or standing.
In divine description, “majesty” and “greatness” are more natural equivalents than “bodily largeness.”
Jalāl must nevertheless not be restricted to the wonder or fear someone experiences before something great.
Something’s greatness may inspire wonder or respect, but the observer’s reaction is not the lexical meaning of greatness itself.
Jalāl fundamentally describes greatness and majesty; respect and reverence can arise from recognizing it.
Lisān al-ʿArab: jalāl and greatness
Ijlāl: honoring another
Arabic أَجَلَّهُ (ajallahu) means to honor, respect, or esteem another person.
If someone ajalla a teacher or father, for example, that person honored him and respected his standing.
The usage moves from a person’s own greatness to another’s conduct toward it.
The distinction between jalāl and ijlāl matters.
Jalāl concerns greatness and majesty; ijlāl can be the act of honoring and respecting that greatness.
When the Qur’an calls God dhū al-jalāl, it thus describes an attribute belonging to Him, rather than merely saying that people consider Him great.
Human honoring of God is a response to His greatness, rather than the cause of that greatness.
Jull: the greater part of a whole
Arabic جُلُّ الشَّيْءِ (jullu al-shayʾi) means the large or greater part of something.
جُلُّ الْقَوْمِ (jullu al-qawmi), for example, means most members of a group.
Here, greatness concerns a part’s proportion of the whole.
The greater part may be prominent in quantity or number without being morally or intrinsically superior.
Jull must therefore not always be translated as “the most valuable” or “the noblest.”
Most people in a group may make a decision, but their greater number alone does not establish that it is right.
The word here means greater quantity, rather than truth or rightness.
3. Jalal: great or small?
A word with opposing usages
A significant feature of this family is the use of jalal in two different senses.
Lisān al-ʿArab states:
وَالْجَلَلُ الشَّيْءُ الْعَظِيمُ وَالصَّغِيرُ الْهَيِّنُ.
wa-al-jalalu al-shayʾu al-ʿaẓīmu wa-al-ṣaghīru al-hayyinu
Translation: “Jalal denotes both something great and something small and insignificant.”
The Arabic linguistic tradition examines words with opposing senses among the أَضْدَاد (aḍdād), contronyms.
Jalal is a familiar example.
Opposing usages do not mean that both senses can be accepted simultaneously in every sentence.
Context determines whether the speaker means something great, or something small and slight compared with another matter.
This distinction appears clearly in pre-Islamic poetry.
Jalal as insignificant
A poem attributed to Imruʾ al-Qays, following his father’s killing, states:
بِقَتْلِ بَنِي أَسَدٍ رَبَّهُمْ
أَلَا كُلُّ شَيْءٍ سِوَاهُ جَلَلُ
bi-qatli Banī Asadin rabbahum / a-lā kullu shayʾin siwāhu jalalu
Translation: “At Banū Asad’s killing of their lord, know that everything else beside it is slight.”
Jalal here means small and insignificant.
The poet describes an event so great in his eyes that everything else seems slight by comparison.
The smallness here is relative.
The claim is not that everything else in the world is inherently worthless; the poet compares it with a great calamity.
That comparison clarifies the sense of jalal.
The witness shows that in language attributed to pre-Islamic Arabic, the word could have an apparently opposite sense to greatness.
Lisān: Imruʾ al-Qays and the slightness sense
Jalal as a great matter
A poem attributed to Al-Ḥārith ibn Waʿlah al-Dhuhlī states:
فَلَئِنْ عَفَوْتُ لَأَعْفُوَنَّ جَلَلًا
وَلَئِنْ سَطَوْتُ لَأُوهِنَنَّ عَظْمِي
fa-laʾin ʿafawtu la-aʿfuwanna jalalan / wa-laʾin saṭawtu la-ūhinanna ʿaẓmī
Translation: “If I forgive, I shall overlook a great matter; if I strike in revenge, I shall weaken my own bone and strength.”
Jalalan here refers to a weighty, significant matter.
The poet faces a painful event and speaks of choosing between forgiveness and revenge.
The magnitude of the matter forgiven clarifies jalal in this context.
This relates to the root’s first sense: greatness and importance.
The word itself, however, is the same in these witnesses; context determines the difference in meaning.
Dalāʾil al-Iʿjāz: Al-Ḥārith ibn Waʿlah al-Dhuhlī’s witness
Jullā: a great, difficult undertaking
Ṭarafah ibn al-ʿAbd’s Muʿallaqah states:
وَإِنْ أُدْعَ لِلْجُلَّى أَكُنْ مِنْ حُمَاتِهَا
وَإِنْ تَأْتِكَ الْأَعْدَاءُ بِالْجَهْدِ أَجْهَدِ
wa-in udʿa li-al-jullā akun min ḥumātihā / wa-in taʾtika al-aʿdāʾu bi-al-jahdi ajhadi
Translation: “If summoned to a great and difficult undertaking, I shall be among its defenders; if enemies confront you with their utmost strength, I shall exert mine.”
Al-jullā here denotes a great, important matter.
The poet continues by discussing confronting enemies and exerting strength. The context shows that the undertaking is not small or insignificant.
The witness also matters historically: Ṭarafah is a recognized pre-Islamic poet, and the line is recorded in his Muʿallaqah.
The use of J L L to express a great, significant undertaking was therefore known before the Qur’an’s revelation.
Sharḥ al-Qaṣāʾid al-Sabʿ: the li-al-jullā variant in Ṭarafah’s witness
Can jalāl also mean insignificant?
The opposing senses of jalal do not establish that Qur’anic jalāl also has both meanings.
Jalal and jalāl are distinct forms.
Lexicons associate jalāl, in its sense concerning standing, with greatness and majesty.
In Al-Raḥmān 55:27 and Al-Raḥmān 55:78, the word also describes the Lord.
Neither verse provides contextual evidence for taking jalāl as smallness, insignificance, or slight importance.
The opposing usages of jalal belong in the root study, but must not be imposed on Qur’anic al-jalāli.
4. Greatness in age, livestock, and social life
Jalīl: elderly and experienced
Arabic sometimes uses jalīl for an elderly person.
Greatness here concerns age.
Someone who has lived a long time may be described as advanced in age with this adjective.
In some social settings, old age also accompanied standing and respect.
Advanced age and moral virtue, however, are distinct matters.
An elderly person may be wise and experienced, but jalīl in this usage alone does not establish all that person’s moral qualities.
Jalīl can therefore mean “elderly” in one text and “great and exalted” in another.
Jillah: large and mature camels
Early Arabic uses جِلَّة (jillah) for large or mature camels.
Lisān al-ʿArab records this word for camels that have passed beyond their younger stages.
Greatness here can concern both bodily size and age.
In Arab pastoral life, camels differed in age, carrying capacity, fertility, and economic value.
Distinguishing larger and smaller camels consequently also mattered in language.
Expressions such as جِلَّةُ الْإِبِلِ (jillatu al-ibili) concern a group of large or mature camels, rather than all animals.
This meaning must not be transferred to Qur’anic al-jalāli. Divine description does not concern camels’ size or creatures’ advanced age.
Jill in contrast with diqq
Arabic جِلّ (jill) and دِقّ (diqq) stand in contrast in certain usages.
Jill denotes something large or a large amount, while diqq denotes something small or a small amount. In this contrast, Al-Ṣiḥāḥ and Mukhtār al-Ṣiḥāḥ record jill with kasrah on jīm; jull with ḍammah, meaning the greater part, is a separate usage.
Al-Ṣiḥāḥ and Mukhtār: jill in contrast with diqq
In economic relations, these can describe large and small possessions.
Some lexical accounts, for example, identify a camel as a larger possession in contrast with a sheep.
This shows the family’s sense of greatness in economic and pastoral life as well.
A possession’s economic value and its owner’s moral worth are nevertheless distinct.
Jill in this field concerns size and amount.
Animal dung
Lexicons also record jillah or related forms for animal dung.
From this usage, جَلَّالَة (jallālah) in some accounts describes an animal that feeds on dung or impure material.
This semantic branch differs from greatness and majesty.
Shared consonants alone must not turn it into a meaning of greatness or standing.
Later jurisprudential rulings concerning animals so described are also not part of the Qur’anic root J L L’s definition.
Considering permitted and forbidden foods requires examining the relevant texts and criteria for food itself, rather than converting a lexical or legal term without evidence into a Qur’anic ruling.
5. Covering and encompassing: the second branch
Jull: an animal covering
In Maqāyīs al-Lughah, Ibn Fāris identifies covering and encompassing as this family’s second principle.
One example is جُلُّ الْفَرَسِ (jullu al-farasi), a covering placed over a horse.
Something is drawn over the animal’s body and covers part of it.
Arabic jull can name a covering used to protect or cover an animal.
Its plurals in some usages are جِلال (jilāl) and أَجْلال (ajlāl).
These resemble jalāl, greatness, in writing, but their vowels and morphological roles differ.
Jilāl, animal coverings, must therefore remain distinct from jalāl, greatness.
Jallala: covering and encompassing
Arabic جَلَّلَ الشَّيْءَ (jallala al-shayʾa) is recorded for covering or enveloping something.
A cloth, for example, may be placed over an object and cover it.
The principal concern here is a covering placed over something.
Covering does not always mean concealing completely.
A covering may cover only part of an object, or something beneath it may remain visible.
Translation must therefore establish the covering’s nature and extent from context.
Encompassing rain
Ibn Fāris discusses rain that encompasses the ground with water and growing vegetation.
مُجَلِّل (mujallil) can here describe rain or a cloud whose effects extend over a broad area.
Lisān al-ʿArab likewise records al-mujallil for a cloud that encompasses the ground with rain.
This extends the covering branch from a physical animal covering to encompassing the natural environment.
It does not establish that every heavy rainfall or broad cloud must be called mujallil in Arabic.
Nor should encompassing rain be transferred to divine al-jalāl.
In Al-Raḥmān 55:27 and Al-Raḥmān 55:78, jalāl concerns greatness, rather than covering the ground with water.
A ship’s sail
In one Arabic usage, جَلّ (jall) also names a ship’s sail. Al-Ṣiḥāḥ vocalizes this sense with fatḥah on jīm.
Ibn Fāris reports its plural as جُلُول (julūl).
Al-Ṣiḥāḥ: jall with fatḥah for a sail
A sail is cloth or a covering installed on a vessel, contributing to its movement through wind.
Its connection with the branch concerning coverings and cloth is intelligible.
A sail nevertheless functions differently from a horse covering: one helps move a vessel; the other covers or protects an animal.
Sharing a name thus does not mean sharing every function.
Does divine jalāl mean being concealed?
Since J L L has a covering branch, one might propose that jalāl in divine description means concealment or the hiddenness of God’s reality.
The two Al-Raḥmān verses, however, offer no independent lexical evidence for that meaning.
Sources define jalāl in this usage as greatness and majesty.
The Qur’an also places it beside ikrām and attributes it to the Lord.
Shared root consonants alone therefore cannot replace greatness with covering.
The limits of human knowledge of God may be investigated separately through verses concerning knowledge, the unseen, encompassing, and divine knowledge.
Al-jalāl itself in these verses does not mean concealing or being concealed.
6. Sound and resonance: the third branch
Juljul: a bell
In Maqāyīs al-Lughah, Ibn Fāris connects this family’s third principle with sound.
An example is جُلْجُل (juljul), a small bell in Arabic.
When moved, a bell produces a resonant sound.
Jaljalah can likewise mean a bell’s sound or a strong, resonant sound.
Some Arabic usages express moving something so that its sound is heard through this family as well.
Thunder
Lexicons record سَحَابٌ مُجَلْجِلٌ (saḥābun mujaljilun) for a cloud from which thunder is heard.
The audible feature is prominent here.
Jaljalah can also describe a loud, continuing sound.
This does not mean that Qur’anic jalāl denotes a loud or thunderous sound.
Sound and majesty may accompany one another in literary imagery, but that association alone does not establish identical meanings.
The place of J L J L in the study
Forms such as juljul and jaljalah have repeated consonants in their structure.
Within the lexical tradition, Ibn Fāris examines them in relation to J L L.
Their four-consonant, reduplicated structure must nevertheless remain distinct from the three-consonant verb jalla.
Similarity of sound alone cannot establish that all four-consonant forms share the triliteral root’s history.
These forms also do not occur in the Qur’an.
The sound branch is therefore useful for understanding the family’s extent in early Arabic, but has no direct role in defining Qur’anic al-jalāl.
7. The root in pre-Islamic poetry
Greatness in Ṭarafah ibn al-ʿAbd’s poetry
Ṭarafah’s al-jullā witness shows this family’s established use in pre-Islamic Arabic for a great, difficult undertaking.
His Muʿallaqah concerns readiness to defend and confront enemies.
Al-jullā there refers to an important, significant matter.
The sense of greatness therefore predates later periods and theological terminology.
Treating matters as slight in Imruʾ al-Qays’s poetry
The Imruʾ al-Qays witness shows jalal’s other usage.
A major event in that poem causes every other matter to be described as slight by comparison.
Jalal can thus have a relative sense, with greatness or smallness understood through comparison.
This concerns jalal itself; it is no evidence for insignificance in jalāl as a divine description.
The magnitude of forgiveness in Al-Ḥārith ibn Waʿlah’s poetry
In Al-Ḥārith ibn Waʿlah’s line, jalalan concerns overlooking a great matter.
The poet speaks of choosing between forgiveness and revenge.
The matter’s magnitude is understood through its place in his moral and social decision.
Jalal in this witness therefore expresses importance and gravity.
What the historical witnesses establish
These witnesses show that J L L was known in Arabic before the Qur’an, describing great matters, difficult situations, and comparisons between events’ importance.
The use of one form in opposing senses also shows that context must determine its meaning.
None of these witnesses, however, authorizes transferring jalal’s particular meaning to every derivative.
Qur’anic al-jalāl describes the Lord, with the clear sense of greatness and majesty.
8. The first Qur’anic occurrence: Al-Raḥmān 55:27
وَيَبْقَىٰ وَجْهُ رَبِّكَ ذُو الْجَلَالِ وَالْإِكْرَامِ
wa-yabqā wajhu rabbika dhū al-jalāli wa-al-ikrāmi
Existing Persian Forqan translation, rendered here in English: “And the face of your Lord, Possessor of majesty and generosity, remains.”
This is the first Qur’anic occurrence of J L L.
The preceding verse states:
Al-Raḥmān 55:26
كُلُّ مَنْ عَلَيْهَا فَانٍ
kullu man ʿalayhā fānin
Translation proposed in this study: “Everyone upon it is passing away.”
These verses establish a clear contrast between creatures’ mortality and the Lord’s remaining.
The first describes beings as passing away; the next states that the face of the Lord remains.
Dhū al-jalāli wa-al-ikrāmi occurs within this context.
Dhū al-jalāl: Possessor of majesty
Arabic ذُو (dhū) means the possessor or owner of something.
Al-jalāli denotes greatness and majesty.
Dhū al-jalāl thus directly concerns the Possessor of greatness and majesty.
Jalāl here is attributed to the Lord.
In context, this greatness accompanies His remaining in contrast with creatures’ mortality.
The root itself, however, does not establish that jalāl inherently means eternity.
يَبْقَىٰ (yabqā) belongs to B Q Y and means to remain.
Al-jalāl refers to greatness and majesty.
These concepts are connected in the verse but have distinct lexical meanings.
Wajhu rabbika and the description’s grammatical position
In this verse, وَجْهُ رَبِّكَ (wajhu rabbika) is the subject.
Dhū al-jalāli wa-al-ikrāmi follows it.
In the reading of Ḥafṣ from ʿĀṣim, dhū is nominative and grammatically agrees with wajhu.
This construction links the description with wajh in the Qur’anic expression.
That grammatical relationship alone cannot determine a bodily structure or mode of being for God’s wajh.
Arabic wajh can in different usages concern a face, direction, presence, or the person themselves.
Here, the principal concern is the contrast between passing away and remaining.
Wajh must therefore be analyzed through this root’s other Qur’anic usages and this verse’s context.
For the J L L study, the clear lexical point is al-jalāl’s sense of greatness and majesty.
Al-Ṭabarī: dhū and its grammatical relationship with wajh
Majesty and creatures’ mortality
In Al-Raḥmān 55:26 and Al-Raḥmān 55:27, the Lord is presented in contrast with mortal creatures.
This contrast can make His greatness clearer to the reader.
Beings arise in the world, change, and pass away; the verse speaks of the Lord’s remaining.
Jalāl’s lexical meaning nevertheless cannot be restricted to “imperishability.”
Remaining is one of the subjects accompanying jalāl in this context.
In Arabic, jalāl can concern greatness and standing even when passing away and remaining are not under discussion.
Its meaning must therefore remain broader than this verse’s particular consequence.
Al-ikrām: the accompanying concept
The verse places al-jalāl beside al-ikrām.
Ikrām belongs to K R M and concerns generosity, honoring, and giving.
Lexically, the words are distinct.
Jalāl emphasizes greatness and majesty, while ikrām concerns generosity and honoring.
They occur together in divine description.
Their association does not itself mean the Qur’an supplies a fixed philosophical classification of divine attributes here, such as jalāl concerning only power and ikrām only material giving.
Such a classification requires separately examining both families’ usages.
The combination’s clear sense is the Lord’s greatness and generosity.
9. The second Qur’anic occurrence: Al-Raḥmān 55:78
تَبَارَكَ اسْمُ رَبِّكَ ذِي الْجَلَالِ وَالْإِكْرَامِ
tabāraka ismu rabbika dhī al-jalāli wa-al-ikrāmi
Existing Persian Forqan translation, rendered here in English: “Abundant in blessing is the name of your Lord, Possessor of majesty and generosity.”
This verse concludes Al-Raḥmān.
The surah begins with Al-Raḥmān, teaching the Qur’an, creating the human, the order of sun and moon, the balance, and the earth’s blessings.
It continues with the creation of humans and jinn, seas, natural resources, creatures’ mortality, human outcomes, and the blessings of the gardens of the hereafter.
Al-jalāli wa-al-ikrāmi appears again at the end of this sequence.
The repetition connects the Lord’s description in verse 27 with the surah’s conclusion.
The difference between dhū and dhī
Al-Raḥmān 55:27 states:
“ذُو الْجَلَالِ وَالْإِكْرَامِ” (dhū al-jalāli wa-al-ikrāmi).
Al-Raḥmān 55:78 states:
“ذِي الْجَلَالِ وَالْإِكْرَامِ” (dhī al-jalāli wa-al-ikrāmi).
This is not a distinction between separate roots or independent meanings.
Dhū and dhī are two case forms of the same word.
In verse 27, dhū is nominative and agrees with wajhu.
In verse 78, dhī in the reading of Ḥafṣ from ʿĀṣim is genitive and is considered a description of rabbika.
The difference therefore concerns grammatical role and the description’s relationship with the preceding word, rather than jalāl’s meaning.
Al-jalāl concerns majesty and greatness in both verses.
Al-Ṭabarī: dhī and the greatness sense
Tabāraka ismu rabbika
The final verse speaks of the Lord’s name as abundant in blessing.
تَبَارَكَ (tabāraka) belongs to B R K and concerns blessing and abundant good.
Ism, “name,” likewise belongs to another family.
Blessing and name must therefore not be added to jalāl’s lexical meaning.
The verse brings several concepts into one sentence: blessing, the Lord’s name, jalāl, and ikrām.
They are related, but each has a particular meaning from its own root and formation.
Majesty at the end of the surah of mercy
The surah begins with الرَّحْمَٰن (al-Raḥmān) and ends with dhī al-jalāli wa-al-ikrāmi.
This connection matters.
The surah presents both the blessings of creation and life, and human accountability and outcomes.
The Lord’s greatness thus occurs in a context also containing mercy, created order, judgment, and generosity.
This does not make jalāl a lexical synonym of mercy, or ikrām alone encompass mercy’s entire meaning.
These attributes and concepts are connected in the Qur’an while retaining their semantic differences.
Is jalāl here merely an attribute’s name?
Al-jalāl here refers to the Lord’s greatness and majesty.
Theological tradition and lists of divine names recognize dhū al-jalāli wa-al-ikrāmi as a description of God.
Qur’anic study, however, must first attend to the actual form in the verse.
The Qur’an does not present al-jalāl here as an independent name in a list of divine names; it uses the expression dhī al-jalāli wa-al-ikrāmi.
Study should therefore begin with this expression, rather than later lists of the most beautiful names.
10. Jalāl among divine descriptions
Al-jalāl and al-jalīl
Arabic jalīl can describe an exalted person or great matter.
Lexicographers also record it among divine descriptions.
The Qur’an, however, does not use al-jalīl as an independent description of God.
It uses al-jalāli in the two Al-Raḥmān expressions.
This distinction must remain clear.
An adjective’s validity in Arabic and prevalence in religious tradition do not mean that the identical form occurs in the Qur’an.
One can therefore say that the Qur’an calls God the Possessor of jalāl, but must not present al-jalīl without explanation as a direct Qur’anic quotation.
Lisān: jalīl in lexicons and jalāl in the Qur’an
Is jalāl used only of God?
Lisān al-ʿArab states that jalāl in its special religious usage is said of God.
The lexicons nevertheless also record forms such as jalīl, جَلَالَة (jalālah), and related expressions for humans and great matters.
We must therefore distinguish the particular Qur’anic application of dhū al-jalāli wa-al-ikrāmi from the root family’s general meaning.
Both Qur’anic occurrences of al-jalāl are attributed to the Lord.
This does not establish that Arabic never permits describing human standing or a great matter with derivatives of the same root.
The distinction concerns what is described and the level of greatness.
Human greatness is limited and dependent on circumstances; the jalāl attributed to the Lord occurs in the context of His greatness and remaining.
This distinction must not be turned into two wholly unrelated roots.
Majesty and bodily dimensions
In human usages, greatness can also concern bodily size.
In divine description, however, jalāl does not mean a large body, tall stature, or physical volume.
Al-Raḥmān speaks of the Lord’s greatness and majesty.
That greatness must not be measured by creatures’ bodily characteristics.
Rejecting that physical sense does not by itself answer every philosophical question about God’s mode of being.
Lexical study must remain within its evidence.
The defensible sense here is majesty and greatness, rather than a description of a being’s material or immaterial constitution.
Jalāl and ikrām: greatness and generosity
Both Qur’anic occurrences place al-jalāl beside al-ikrām.
They are semantically close, but distinct.
Jalāl concerns greatness and majesty.
Ikrām concerns nobility, generosity, and honoring.
Their association in divine description can express the Lord’s greatness and generosity together.
It does not restrict jalāl to giving or convert ikrām into mere power or greatness.
Forqan’s Persian “Possessor of majesty and generosity” preserves these distinct aspects.
12. Questions of interpretation and translation
Do all derivatives of J L L mean greatness?
No.
Arabic jalāl concerns greatness and majesty, but jull can denote the greater part of a whole, or, in another usage, an animal covering.
Early witnesses also use jalal for both a great matter and something small or insignificant.
Lexicons additionally record forms concerning sound and bells.
All derivatives therefore cannot be translated as “greatness” without examination.
Does Qur’anic jalāl mean God’s bodily size?
No.
In Al-Raḥmān 55:27 and Al-Raḥmān 55:78, jalāl describes the Lord.
Its lexical meaning is greatness and majesty.
The word cannot establish God’s bodily dimensions, volume, spatial direction, or physical constitution.
Such claims require independent evidence and do not follow from jalāl itself.
Is jalāl the same as human respect for God?
Jalāl and respect are related but distinct.
Jalāl expresses greatness and majesty.
Respect and honoring can be a human response to recognizing that greatness.
Arabic ijlāl accordingly concerns honoring another.
In Al-Raḥmān, however, dhū al-jalāl describes an attribute of the Lord, rather than merely human behavior toward Him.
Is Qur’anic al-jalāl simply another name for power?
Greatness and power can relate, but are lexically distinct.
Power concerns the ability to act.
Jalāl in these verses concerns greatness and majesty.
Al-Raḥmān discusses divine power in creation, ordering, and judgment across its verses, with jalāl accompanying this whole.
Jalāl itself, however, does not supply the entire sense of power and ability.
Is jalāl the same as fear and awe?
Jalāl can inspire human respect, reverence, or wonder.
These reactions themselves are not its direct meaning.
Someone may recognize something’s greatness and attend to it with respect and love.
Restricting jalāl to fear therefore narrows its semantic range without justification.
Does insignificant jalal also apply to divine jalāl?
No.
Jalal meaning insignificant is established in Arabic poetry.
Qur’anic jalāl, however, is a different form used to describe the Lord.
Both Al-Raḥmān contexts support greatness and majesty.
One derivative’s opposing usage therefore cannot be transferred to another without evidence.
Are jalāl and ikrām opposites?
No.
They occur together in the Qur’an with the conjunction wa, “and.”
Association can indicate distinction and complementary meanings, but alone does not establish definite opposition.
Jalāl concerns greatness and majesty; ikrām concerns generosity and honoring.
The Qur’an uses both to describe the Lord.
One should therefore not be presented solely as severity and the other solely as gentleness unless independent evidence supports that distinction in a specific context.
13. Translation proposals for Forqan
The principal equivalents for Qur’anic jalāl are “majesty” and “greatness.”
Human jalīl can be “great,” “exalted,” or “of high standing.”
Ijlāl means “honoring” and “showing respect.”
Ajallahu can likewise be rendered “he honored him” or “held him in respect.”
Quantitative jullu al-shayʾi denotes “the greater part” or “most of something.”
Jillah in livestock usage can mean “large and mature camels.”
Jull in the covering branch means “animal covering,” or, where appropriate, “a cloth placed over an animal’s back.”
Jallala in the covering usage is “covered” or “enveloped.”
For forms such as juljul and jaljalah, “bell,” “the sound of a bell,” and “resonance” are appropriate according to context.
These meanings must not be transferred without contextual evidence to Qur’anic al-jalāl.
Al-Raḥmān 55:27
The expression:
ذُو الْجَلَالِ وَالْإِكْرَامِ
dhū al-jalāli wa-al-ikrāmi
Appears in Forqan’s current Persian translation as:
“Possessor of majesty and generosity.”
This rendering is appropriate.
“Majesty” conveys jalāl, while “generosity” is natural for ikrām in this combination.
The complete verse, rendering the existing Persian Forqan translation in English:
“And the face of your Lord, Possessor of majesty and generosity, remains.”
Al-Raḥmān 55:78
The expression:
ذِي الْجَلَالِ وَالْإِكْرَامِ
dhī al-jalāli wa-al-ikrāmi
Likewise describes greatness and generosity here.
Dhū and dhī differ in grammatical role without changing jalāl’s meaning.
The complete verse, rendering the existing Persian Forqan translation in English:
“Abundant in blessing is the name of your Lord, Possessor of majesty and generosity.”
The existing Persian translations are accurate and natural in both verses and need no change.
14. Conclusion
Arabic J L L is a family with several branches. Its principal branch concerns greatness, magnitude, majesty, and standing. Another concerns covering and encompassing, while the lexical tradition also examines forms concerning sound and resonance in relation to it.
Ibn Fāris explains the family through these three principles.
In the first branch, jalīl denotes something great or an exalted person; jalāl expresses greatness and majesty; and ijlāl concerns honoring and respect.
Quantitative jull can mean the greater part of a whole. Pastoral life also uses forms such as jillah for large and mature camels.
A significant feature is jalal’s opposing usages. Pre-Islamic poetry uses it for both a great matter and something insignificant. Context determines its correct meaning.
The witnesses from Imruʾ al-Qays, Al-Ḥārith ibn Waʿlah, and Ṭarafah ibn al-ʿAbd show that greatness and importance were established usages in early Arabic.
These lexical differences nevertheless must not lead to interpreting Qur’anic jalāl through opposing senses.
The Qur’an uses this root only twice, both in Al-Raḥmān.
In Al-Raḥmān 55:27, dhū al-jalāli wa-al-ikrāmi follows the discussion of creatures’ mortality and the Lord’s remaining.
In Al-Raḥmān 55:78, dhī al-jalāli wa-al-ikrāmi repeats the Lord’s description at the surah’s end.
In both verses, jalāl concerns God’s greatness and majesty.
This greatness must not be restricted to bodily dimensions, spatial height, or material volume. Jalāl also relates contextually to the Lord’s generosity, blessing, and remaining, but these concepts are not the lexical meaning of every derivative.
J L L must also remain etymologically distinct from J L W. Tajallā in Al-Aʿrāf 7:143 concerns becoming apparent and must not be counted as J L L merely because it looks similar.
For Forqan, “majesty” is the principal equivalent of al-jalāl in both Al-Raḥmān verses. “Greatness” is also a correct, close equivalent.
Dhū al-jalāli wa-al-ikrāmi naturally translates as “Possessor of majesty and generosity.”
The semantic core of Qur’anic jalāl is greatness and majesty: it does not mean bodily size, merely the feeling of fear, or covering or concealing something.
This meaning remains consistent in both Al-Raḥmān verses. Its association with ikrām places the Lord’s description within mercy, creation, remaining, and human outcomes without requiring these concepts’ independent meanings to be merged.