Qur’anic Root J R Z
Cutting and loss of vegetation: from vegetation-free land to plant growth when water arrives
Qur’anic and lexical forms
جُرُزًا / الْجُرُزِ
(juruzan / al-juruzi)
Adjective on fuʿul; two Qur’anic occurrences
جَرَزَ / جَرْز
(jaraza / jarz)
Form I verb and verbal noun; cutting or eating according to usage
جَرِزَ
(jariza)
Becoming vegetation-free; lexical form, not Qur’anic
جَرُزَ
(jaruza)
Eating voraciously; lexical form, not Qur’anic
أَجْرَزَ
(ajraza)
Form IV; usages involving bare land and scarcity
مَجْرُوز / مَجْرُوزَة
(majrūz / majrūzah)
Cut off; land stripped of vegetation; not Qur’anic
جَارِز
(jāriz)
Severe coughing in one usage; not Qur’anic
جَارِزَة
(jārizah)
Describing dry, hard land; not Qur’anic
جَرُوز
(jarūz)
Voracious eater leaving nothing; not Qur’anic
جُرَاز
(jurāz)
A cutting sword or knife; not Qur’anic
جَرْزَة / جَرَزَة
(jarzah / jarazah)
Eradication and destruction; distinct vocalizations
جُرْز / جِرْز / جُرْزَة
(jurz / jirz / jurzah)
Weapon, clothing, and a bundle of plants; non-Qur’anic forms
Arabic jaraza (جَرَزَ) means cutting or cutting something off. Within the same family, juruz (جُرُز) describes land with no visible vegetation, whether its former plant cover has disappeared or plants have not grown because water and suitable conditions were lacking.
Early Arabic uses jaraza al-shayʾa for cutting something, sayfun jurāzun for a sharp cutting sword, and arḍun juruzun for vegetation-free land. Jarūz also describes a person or animal that eats voraciously and leaves nothing behind.
Two familiar images connect these uses: cutting something off and removing it from its place, and consuming it until nothing remains.
Only the adjective juruz occurs in the Qur’an. Al-Kahf speaks of turning what is on the earth into a vegetation-free surface; Al-Sajdah describes juruz land becoming a place of crop growth when water reaches it.
The two passages establish a basic distinction: land presently without vegetation need not have lost its capacity to grow plants forever. Juruz describes the condition of its plant cover. The cause, duration, and possibility of change must be learned from further evidence.
1. Forms and semantic core
J R Z is a sound triliteral Arabic root. Recorded forms include jaraza, jarz, jariza, jaruza, juruz, jurz, jaraz, ajraza, majrūz, jāriz, jārizah, jarūz, jurāz, jarzah, and ajrāz.
They occur in usages concerning cutting, eating, land becoming vegetation-free, drought, hardness, and certain names for weapons and clothing.
The Qur’an has only two occurrences of the adjective juruz:
Al-Kahf 18:8: ṣaʿīdan juruzan (صَعِيدًا جُرُزًا), a vegetation-free ground surface.
Al-Sajdah 32:27: al-arḍi al-juruzi (الْأَرْضِ الْجُرُزِ), vegetation-free land.
Both have the pattern fuʿul. They differ in definiteness and grammatical case, rather than basic meaning.
No other noun or verb from the root occurs in the Qur’an.
Quranic Arabic Corpus: two occurrences of the adjective juruz
Cutting: Ibn Fāris’s account
In Maqāyīs al-Lughah, Ibn Fāris identifies al-qaṭʿ, cutting, as the family’s central principle.
He illustrates it with jaraztu al-shayʾa, I cut something, and sayfun jurāzun, a sharp cutting sword.
He then describes arḍun juruzun as land with no plants, as though its vegetation had been cut away.
The account makes the connection between cutting and vegetation-free land clear.
The image of its cover having been cut off should not become a rule that every juruz plot was previously vegetated and then physically cut by someone.
The sources also call land juruz when rain has not reached it and it therefore has no vegetation.
The etymological account through cutting and the adjective’s established meaning are connected but distinct. Brief root meaning: Cutting and removing something; of land, being without vegetation or plant cover.
Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs: cutting and vegetation-free land
Eating until nothing remains
Al-Khalīl ibn Aḥmad begins the entry in Kitāb al-ʿAyn with voracious eating.
Jarūz describes someone who eats a great deal or leaves nothing at the meal.
Al-Aṣmaʿī also records it for a she-camel that eats whatever it can find.
A practical connection can thus be observed between cutting plant cover away and its being eaten.
Plants may be cut with a blade or consumed by animals until removed from the ground. Either can reduce or eliminate vegetation.
Cutting and eating remain different actions. Jaraza does not mean eating in every use, nor does jarūz always mean cutting.
Qur’anic juruz describes land; it is not a verb of eating or cutting.
2. Vegetation-free land and early Arabic usages
Arḍun juruzun: land with no vegetation
Describing land is one clear use of the family.
Arabic dictionaries explain arḍun juruzun as land without plant cover. Arḍun majrūzatun also describes land whose vegetation has disappeared or been eaten.
Lexicographers nevertheless record different causes for this condition.
Al-Farrāʾ explains juruz land through its lack of plants and mentions vegetation eaten by locusts, sheep, camels, and similar creatures.
Al-Kisāʾī and Al-Aṣmaʿī likewise report two conditions for majrūzah land: land not reached by rain, and land whose vegetation has been eaten.
The distinction matters.
One plot may lack plants because water has not reached it. Another may have received rain and grown plants, only for animals or other factors to remove the cover.
Either may be called juruz in Arabic.
The adjective’s common element is therefore absence of plant cover in the condition described, rather than one necessary cause.
Lexical sources: absent rainfall or consumed vegetation
Does juruz mean dry land?
Dryness and absence of vegetation often accompany one another, but are not identical meanings.
Land may receive insufficient water and become both dry and vegetation-free. Both descriptions then apply.
Heavy grazing may instead remove plant cover while some moisture remains in the soil.
Hard, rocky ground may also have little vegetation without always being in drought.
Lexical sources explain arḍun jārizatun as dry, hard land surrounded by sand or level ground.
Dryness and hardness thus occur in particular derivatives of J R Z.
They should not be transferred without qualification to every use of juruz.
For the two Qur’anic passages, “vegetation-free land” is more precise than wording that necessarily adds lack of water, salinity, rockiness, or permanent infertility.
Sanatun jarazun: a year of drought and poor yield
Arabic uses sanatun jarazun for a year of little rain or poor yield.
Here the description extends from land to a period of time.
When rainfall is low and plants grow inadequately, people may regard the year as harsh and unproductive.
An early rajaz witness with no identified poet says:
«قَدْ جَرَفَتْهُنَّ السِّنُونُ الْأَجْرَازْ»
qad jarafathunna al-sinūnu al-ajrāz
That is: “The dry, unproductive years have worn them down and swept them away.”
Al-ajrāz describes years associated with scant yield and difficult subsistence.
The witness shows J R Z extending beyond a plot of ground to periods of scarcity.
The poet and date of composition are unknown. A dictionary’s preservation of the verse does not establish a pre-Islamic date.
Lisān al-ʿArab: the witness about unproductive years
Jarūz: a voracious eater who leaves nothing
Rajulun jarūzun describes someone who eats a great deal and leaves nothing at the table.
The same description is recorded for a woman and a camel.
Kitāb al-ʿAyn quotes humorous rajaz about a voracious older woman. Its wording is arā al-ʿajūza khabbatan jarūzan (أَرَى الْعَجُوزَ خَبَّةً جَرُوزًا), rather than the continuous phrase ʿajūzan jarūzan (عَجُوزًا جَرُوزًا). Maqāyīs also transmits an opening with tarā.
Al-ʿAyn: wording of the voracious-woman witness
Jarūz refers here to eating copiously and leaving no food, rather than cutting an object with a sharp tool.
The everyday example makes the use clear: something is consumed until little or nothing remains.
It can be connected conceptually with majrūzah land whose vegetation animals have eaten.
That connection does not make the Qur’anic earth a living creature eating its own plants.
Majrūzah describes loss of plant cover. The actual cause may be grazing, lack of rain, or another factor.
Cutting tools and a sharp sword
Jurāz describes a sword or knife that cuts effectively.
Lexical sources explain sayfun jurāzun as a sharp cutting sword, sometimes emphasizing a thorough, penetrating cut.
An anonymous rajaz witness says:
«يَا بِيضَ هِنْدِيٍّ جُرَازَ الْمَضَارِبِ»
yā bīḍa hindiyyin jurāza al-maḍāribi
The expression concerns sharp, effective Indian blades.
Al-ʿAyn: the Indian-blade witness
Jurāz describes cutting capacity, rather than eating or vegetation-free ground.
The use helps explain Ibn Fāris’s central principle.
A sword’s cut breaks continuity. When plant cover is cut away or consumed, land can likewise remain without plants.
Similar results do not make every J R Z use one identical physical act.
3. Other usages and extensions
A voracious she-camel and a cutting sword
Lexical sources record nāqatun jurāzun li-al-shajari for a she-camel that eats and breaks branches and vegetation.
A rajaz witness says:
«كُلُّ عَلَنْدَاةٍ جُرَازٍ لِلشَّجَرْ»
kullu ʿalandātin jurāzin li-al-shajar
ʿAlandāh here describes a large, tall she-camel.
Lisān under AYN L N D: a large, tall she-camel
The poet describes an animal eating and breaking vegetation and branches in a way compared with a sword’s cutting.
The image joins two important branches of the family: eating and cutting.
It does not establish that J R Z always denotes simultaneous eating and cutting.
The witness’s attribution and precise date are insufficiently established, so it is presented only as an attested lexical example.
Lisān and Al-Muḥkam: a camel compared with a sword
Jarzah: complete eradication
An Arabic proverb says:
«لَنْ تَرْضَى شَانِئَةٌ إِلَّا بِجَرْزَةٍ»
lan tarḍā shāniʾatun illā bi-jarzatin
That is: “Someone who bitterly hates another is satisfied only by that person’s complete eradication.”
Jarzah in the proverb concerns uprooting and eradication.
It can be compared with thorough cutting away, but the subject is human hostility rather than plants or agricultural tools.
Lisān al-ʿArab also records jarazah (جَرَزَة), with a fatḥah on rāʾ, for destruction. This vocalization should remain distinct from jarzah (جَرْزَة) in the proverb’s transmission.
Lisān: distinct vocalizations jarzah and jarazah
The examples show cutting and removal extending to destruction and the ending of something’s existence.
That destructive sense should not be inserted into juruz in the two Qur’anic passages.
Land without plants need not have been destroyed. Al-Sajdah 32:27 explicitly describes crops growing from such land.
Severe coughing and an animal’s voice
Jāṛiz can denote severe coughing in early Arabic.
Ibn Fāris explains the designation through an image of coughing cutting the throat.
Al-Shammākh, a poet who lived across the pre-Islamic and Islamic periods, describes the voices of wild animals:
«يُحَشْرِجُهَا طَوْرًا وَطَوْرًا كَأَنَّهَا
لَهَا بِالرُّغَامَى وَالْخَيَاشِيمِ جَارِزُ»
yuḥashrijuhā ṭawran wa-ṭawran ka-annahā / lahā bi-al-rughāmā wa-al-khayāshīmi jārizu
In the coughing explanation, the animal’s voice is compared with a severe cough. The verse alone does not report an actual airway obstruction or bodily injury.
Lexicographers differ over pronoun reference and the precise meaning of al-rughāmā. Ibn Barrī identifies the subject of yuḥashriju as the male wild ass and its object pronoun as the females. Jāṛiz is explained both through severe coughing and through nakhs, poking or goading an animal. The second account should not become an explanation through a blocked throat.
On one interpretation, the witness illustrates coughing or a similar sound. It establishes neither that every J R Z sense originated in the throat and breathing nor that an injury occurred.
Lisān: coughing, goading, and Ibn Barrī’s account
Other recorded forms
Kitāb al-ʿAyn records al-jurz as a weapon and al-jirz as clothing made from animal hair or hides.
Al-jurzah also names a bundle of fodder or cut plants.
The different vocalizations matter.
Qur’anic juruz describes vegetation-free land, while jurz can name an iron implement and jirz a kind of clothing.
Shared consonants alone do not make all these forms identical in meaning.
Other sources report bodily, hard, and sturdy usages, such as describing someone with a strong, solid build.
These limited branches help establish lexical range. The evidence does not require all of them to be derived directly from one image of cutting plants or voracious eating.
4. Ṣaʿīdan juruzan: removal of the earth’s adornment
Al-Kahf, verse 8
وَإِنَّا لَجَاعِلُونَ مَا عَلَيْهَا صَعِيدًا جُرُزًا
wa-innā la-jāʿilūna mā ʿalayhā ṣaʿīdan juruzan
“We will surely turn what is on it into barren ground.”
The verse follows Al-Kahf 18:7, which calls what is on the earth its adornment and a means of testing people.
Verse 8 then describes that condition being transformed.
Ṣaʿīdan and juruzan occur together.
Ṣaʿīd belongs to Ṣ AYN D and here concerns the ground’s surface or what lies exposed of the earth.
Study of Ṣ AYN D (Not yet published)
Juruz belongs to J R Z and describes absence of vegetation.
Together, ṣaʿīdan juruzan pictures ground from which its former vegetation and adornment have disappeared.
The grammatical role of juruzan
Juruzan qualifies ṣaʿīdan in this verse.
It does not directly name an action; it describes the condition into which the surface is changed.
La-jāʿilūna expresses making or placing something in a different condition.
Mā ʿalayhā identifies what undergoes transformation, while ṣaʿīdan juruzan describes the resulting state.
Transformation follows from the construction, and lack of vegetation from juruz.
Juruz itself should not be translated as “transforming,” “destroying the world,” or “ending life.”
Such meanings, where supported, require the complete sentence and its context.
What is removed from the earth?
The preceding verse says:
إِنَّا جَعَلْنَا مَا عَلَى الْأَرْضِ زِينَةً لَهَا لِنَبْلُوَهُمْ أَيُّهُمْ أَحْسَنُ عَمَلًا
innā jaʿalnā mā ʿalā al-arḍi zīnatan lahā li-nabluwahum ayyuhum aḥsanu ʿamalan
“We made what is on the earth an adornment for it, to test them as to which of them is best in deeds.” (Al-Kahf 18:7)
Mā ʿalā al-arḍi refers to what is on the earth, and zīnatan lahā calls it the earth’s adornment.
Verse 8 then describes that condition turning into a vegetation-free surface.
The contrast shows worldly beauty and enjoyment as a condition whose permanence people cannot assume.
The contextual message and the root’s lexical meaning should remain distinct.
Juruz does not mean “the world is impermanent.” That reflection arises from the contrast between adornment and vegetation-free ground.
Al-Ṭabarī: ṣaʿīdan juruzan and the earth’s adornment
Does the verse necessarily describe the world’s complete end?
Its connection with the earth’s adornment permits a reading within the impermanence of worldly life and removal of its adornment.
That theme connects with other verses on the earth’s transformation and the ending of the world’s present condition.
Ṣaʿīdan juruzan alone does not date the event.
The verse does not specify its precise stage, duration, or natural or eschatological mechanism.
The description alone cannot establish a geological theory of soil’s total destruction, all the world’s water drying up, or the earth becoming a permanent desert.
The clear element is the change from an adorned, covered condition to a vegetation-free surface.
Does juruz mean destruction of the earth itself?
No. In ṣaʿīdan juruzan, the ground’s surface remains what is being described.
Absence of vegetation differs from absence of the earth itself.
When land loses vegetation, its soil, rocks, and physical structure may remain.
The expression should therefore not be translated as the earth itself disappearing.
Nor does it establish that all possibility of plant growth has disappeared forever.
Al-Sajdah 32:27 shows juruz land becoming a place of plant growth when water reaches it.
This lexical and Qur’anic fact does not by itself establish the timing or manner of the transformation in Al-Kahf.
5. Al-arḍi al-juruzi: crops growing when water arrives
Al-Sajdah, verse 27
أَوَلَمْ يَرَوْا أَنَّا نَسُوقُ الْمَاءَ إِلَى الْأَرْضِ الْجُرُزِ فَنُخْرِجُ بِهِ زَرْعًا تَأْكُلُ مِنْهُ أَنْعَامُهُمْ وَأَنْفُسُهُمْ أَفَلَا يُبْصِرُونَ
a-wa-lam yaraw annā nasūqu al-māʾa ilā al-arḍi al-juruzi fa-nukhriju bihi zarʿan taʾkulu minhu anʿāmuhum wa-anfusuhum a-fa-lā yubṣirūn
“Have they not seen that We drive water to barren land and bring forth crops with it, from which their livestock and they themselves eat? Will they not then see?”
Al-juruzi qualifies al-arḍi in the verse.
The land lacks vegetation, but water is driven toward it and crops are brought forth when it arrives.
The use places juruz in a different situation from Al-Kahf.
Al-Kahf describes the earth’s adorned state turning into a vegetation-free surface.
Al-Sajdah moves from lack of vegetation to growth and provision of food.
Why is the land called juruz?
The verse describes the land as juruz before water arrives.
As the lexical evidence showed, the condition may result from water shortage or the loss of plant cover.
The verse does not recount the land’s previous history.
It does not say it was formerly green and then dried up, or that no plants had ever grown there since creation.
It identifies the relevant condition: land without vegetation.
It then describes water arriving and crops growing.
An unstated cause should not become part of the word’s meaning.
Nasūqu al-māʾa: bringing water to the land
Nasūqu belongs to S W Q and here describes driving water or setting it in motion toward its destination.
Study of S W Q (Not yet published)
Ilā supplies the direction: toward juruz land.
The phrase does not require water to arrive through direct rainfall, a river, a flood, or one other specified means.
In nature, water can reach land by different routes and enable plant growth.
The verse does not detail the transport mechanism. It emphasizes water reaching vegetation-free land and the result.
Without further evidence, nasūqu al-māʾa should be restricted neither to rainfall nor to river irrigation alone.
From vegetation-free land to crops
After the water’s delivery, the verse says:
«فَنُخْرِجُ بِهِ زَرْعًا»
fa-nukhriju bihi zarʿan
That is: We bring forth crops with it.
Fa- connects the water’s arrival with the subsequent emergence of crops.
Bi-hi refers to the water and makes its role in growth clear.
Zarʿan belongs to Z R AYN and concerns cultivation and plant growth.
The elements together present a clear scene: water enables growth in land presently without plants, and crops emerge.
Juruz itself does not mean “land certain to turn green with the first rain.” Water’s arrival and crop growth are stated separately in this verse.
Al-Ṭabarī: vegetation-free land, water, and growth
Does juruz mean infertile land?
In Persian, “infertile land” or “sterile soil” may suggest ground incapable of growing plants.
That is a stronger and more restrictive meaning than land currently without vegetation.
Al-Sajdah 32:27 expressly reports crops growing from juruz land.
Defining it as ground inherently and permanently incapable of plant growth would conflict with the verse.
The better meaning is land without plant cover at the time described.
Soil and water conditions may change and permit growth.
The distinction matters in Persian: bī-giyāh describes an observable lack of plants, whereas nāzā may imply a basic or lasting incapacity.
“Vegetation-free land” is therefore more precise for the verse.
Provision for people and livestock
The verse continues:
«تَأْكُلُ مِنْهُ أَنْعَامُهُمْ وَأَنْفُسُهُمْ»
taʾkulu minhu anʿāmuhum wa-anfusuhum
That is: their livestock and they themselves eat from it.
The phrase states the benefit of plant growth for domestic animals and humans.
Anʿām refers to familiar livestock in human life, animals that feed on vegetation and contribute to people’s livelihood.
Anfusuhum here refers to the people themselves.
The verse concerns more than the beauty of green land: it states growth’s practical result and its connection with food.
Water turns land without plants into a place supplying food for people and livestock.
The change makes clear the role of water and vegetation in human life.
A-fa-lā yubṣirūna: seeing a sign in nature
The verse ends with the question:
«أَفَلَا يُبْصِرُونَ»
a-fa-lā yubṣirūn
That is: “Will they not then see?”
The question directs attention to a phenomenon observable in the natural world.
Vegetation-free ground, arriving water, crop growth, and benefit to people and livestock are events people can see and consider.
The preceding Al-Sajdah 32:26 mentions past generations and historical signs. Verse 27 then turns attention to the ground and plant growth.
The passages draw reminders from two fields: human history and the natural world.
The connection does not make juruz itself mean a lesson, guidance, or resurrection after death.
Juruz land is a natural condition. Its role as a sign and an object of reflection follows from the complete verse.
Comparing the two Qur’anic occurrences
Al-Kahf 18:8 and Al-Sajdah 32:27 place lack of vegetation within two different processes.
Al-Kahf describes removal of the earth’s adorned condition and its transformation into vegetation-free ground.
Al-Sajdah describes water reaching vegetation-free land and crops emerging.
Juruz names neither the act of destruction nor the act of revival.
It describes a condition that can be the result of an earlier transformation or the starting point of fresh growth.
The difference clarifies the basic meaning: absence of plant cover, without fixing its cause, duration, or eventual outcome.
7. Translation proposals for Forqan
Bī-giyāh, “without vegetation,” is a natural, defensible Persian equivalent in both Qur’anic passages.
It expresses the land’s condition without adding its cause, such as drought or grazing, or its eventual outcome, such as permanent infertility.
The installed English Forqan translation of Al-Kahf 18:8, containing ṣaʿīdan juruzan, reads:
“We will surely turn what is on it into barren ground.”
The rendering conveys transformation through la-jāʿilūna and lack of vegetation through juruzan.
In Al-Sajdah 32:27, the installed Persian Forqan translation renders al-arḍi al-juruzi as “vegetation-free land”; the installed English uses “barren land.”
The Persian choice fits the continuation, since the land becomes a place of crop growth when water reaches it. English “barren” should likewise be understood contextually, without requiring permanent sterility.
Persian terms for fallow, dry, or unproductive land may approach juruz in some contexts, but each has limitations.
Bāyir, in modern Persian, may be an economic or agricultural term for abandoned or unused land.
Khushk, “dry,” emphasizes little or no moisture, while vegetation can be absent for other reasons.
Bī-ḥāṣil, “unproductive,” can mean no agricultural yield even when wild grass or plants are present.
Bī-giyāh, “without vegetation,” is therefore more precise for the basic sense.
Brief root meaning
“J R Z: cutting and removing something; of land, being without vegetation or plant cover.”
The two contextual meanings
Juruzan in Al-Kahf 18:8: without vegetation; describing ground whose former adornment and cover are removed.
Al-juruzi in Al-Sajdah 32:27: without vegetation; describing land toward which water is driven and from which crops then emerge.
Both explanations should distinguish the word’s basic meaning from the verse’s message.
Removal of worldly adornment in Al-Kahf and plant growth in Al-Sajdah are messages or events associated with the land’s condition. Neither is the adjective juruz’s independent meaning.
Conclusion
Arabic J R Z concerns cutting, cutting off, and removal. Ibn Fāris treats cutting as the family’s central principle, while Al-Khalīl ibn Aḥmad also emphasizes voracious eating and leaving nothing behind.
The field includes juruz for vegetation-free land, jarūz for a voracious person or animal, and jurāz for a cutting implement or sword.
These uses cannot all be reduced to one physical action. Land can lack plants without anyone cutting it with a tool. Water shortage, grazing, and other factors may cause the condition.
Juruz occurs only twice in the Qur’an, describing land.
Al-Kahf 18:8 describes the earth’s adornment turning into vegetation-free ground. Al-Sajdah 32:27 describes water reaching such land and crops emerging to feed people and livestock.
The uses make juruz a description of the land’s present condition, rather than a definitive judgment about its past or future.
The direct, defensible Qur’anic meaning of juruz is “without vegetation”: land lacking plant cover, without the word itself fixing the cause or requiring permanence.
One passage places the condition at the end of a transformation of adornment; the other places it before plant growth.
Juruz should not be equated with permanent destruction, the earth’s absolute death, or an inherent incapacity to grow plants. Land presently without vegetation can become a place of growth and life again when suitable conditions are available.