Qur’anic Root J TH TH
Uprooting from the base, severing attachment to a place, and loss of stability
Qur’anic and lexical forms
اجْتُثَّتْ
(ujtuththat)
Feminine passive past, Form VIII; Ibrāhīm 14:26
جَثَّ / جَثّ
(jaththa / jathth)
Verb and verbal noun; cutting and uprooting
اجْتَثَّ / اجْتِثَاث
(ijtaththa / ijtithāth)
Active verb and verbal noun of Form VIII
مُجْتَثّ
(mujtathth)
Passive participle; not Qur’anic
اِنْجَثَّ
(injaththa)
To be pulled out or detached; not Qur’anic
جَثِيث / جَثِيثَة
(jathīth / jathīthah)
Young palm or offshoot; not Qur’anic
مِجَثَّة / مِجْثَاث
(mijaththah / mijthāth)
Palm-offshoot removal implement; not Qur’anic
جُثَّة
(juththah)
Body or physical form, not necessarily a corpse; not Qur’anic
جُثّ
(juthth)
Raised mass of earth; not Qur’anic
جَثْجَاث / جُثَاجِث
(jathjāth / juthājith)
Plant name and forms concerning density; not Qur’anic
Arabic جَثّ (jathth) concerns cutting or pulling something out, especially removing a plant or tree from its base. اجْتِثَاث (ijtithāth) denotes uprooting that detaches something from its original position. For a plant, this involves losing its connection to the soil and the roots that hold it in place.
The family also has other uses. In early Arabic, جُثَّة (juththah) denoted a person’s body or physical form, not necessarily a dead body. جُثّ (juthth) is recorded for raised ground, جَثِيث (jathīth) for a young palm or offshoot, and مِجَثَّة (mijaththah) for an implement used to detach it.
This root occurs only in Ibrāhīm 14:26. A bad utterance is compared to a bad tree uprooted from the earth, without firm footing or stability.
This preserves the established sense of uprooting while employing it in a Qur’anic likeness. The tree’s condition conveys the contrast between a firmly grounded utterance and one lacking support and permanence.
1. Forms and the semantic core
J TH TH is a doubled root: its second and third consonants are identical.
Important Arabic forms include جَثَّ (jaththa), جَثّ (jathth), اجْتَثَّ (ijtaththa), اجْتِثَاث (ijtithāth), مُجْتَثّ (mujtathth), اِنْجَثَّ (injaththa), جَثِيث (jathīth), جَثِيثَة (jathīthah), مِجَثَّة (mijaththah), مِجْثَاث (mijthāth), جُثَّة (juththah), and جُثّ (juthth). Sources also record forms such as جَثْجَاث (jathjāth) and جُثَاجِث (juthājith).
Only اجْتُثَّتْ (ujtuththat) occurs in the Qur’an. It is a third-person feminine singular passive past verb of Form VIII.
Quranic Arabic Corpus: sole occurrence in Ibrāhīm 14:26
The active ijtaththa means uprooting; ujtuththat states that something was uprooted. In Ibrāhīm, the verb concerns شَجَرَةٍ خَبِيثَةٍ (shajaratin khabīthatin), a bad tree.
Two lexical explanations of the root’s core
Kitāb al-ʿAyn explains jathth as cutting something from its base. This fits the Qur’anic verb and the uses involving trees and palm offshoots.
Ibn Fāris approaches the family differently in Maqāyīs al-Lughah, centering it on تَجَمُّعُ الشَّيْءِ (tajammuʿu al-shayʾi), something gathering into a mass.
In his explanation, juththah concerns a person’s distinct bodily form, and juthth a raised mass of earth. He then attempts to connect uprooting with the same core: in complete uprooting, something is removed together with its roots and attached parts.
Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs: gathered form and uprooting with all roots
The explanations are not necessarily contradictory, but they begin differently. One starts with cutting and uprooting; the other with a body or a distinct gathered whole.
For Qur’anic usage, the clear, direct meaning of ujtuththat is being uprooted. Its connection with gathering into a mass is an etymological explanation and should not replace the verb’s meaning in the sentence. Brief root meaning: cutting or uprooting something from its base or original position, especially a plant or tree.
2. Physical uses in early Arabic
Cutting and uprooting a tree
Lexical sources record:
«جَثَثْتُ الشَّجَرَةَ»
jathathtu al-shajarata
That is: I uprooted or detached the tree from its base.
Jathth here is not limited to cutting a single branch. It concerns removing a plant or tree from the position it occupied.
اجْتَثَثْتُ الشَّجَرَةَ (ijtathathtu al-shajarata) is likewise used for uprooting a tree. In the lexical statement al-ijtithāthu awḥā minhu, awḥā means “quicker”; it should not simply be translated “stronger.”
Tahdhīb al-Lughah: Al-Layth’s statement using awḥā
The difference between these forms does not establish that Form VIII always implies greater intensity than Form I. Morphological pattern alone does not determine force, duration, or destruction. Uprooting here comes from the verb’s attested use.
Lexical sources: speed and awḥā meaning quicker
Injaththa is also recorded for something being pulled out or detached.
Uprooting changes a tree’s relation to its growing place. If its roots are detached from the soil, that connection no longer provides the same support and nourishment.
This image illuminates the Qur’anic use, but ijtithāth itself conveys uprooting. Drying out, destruction, or inability to grow again must be understood from the plant’s actual condition or other evidence.
Palm offshoots and separation from the parent palm
One important use belongs to agriculture and palm cultivation.
Jathīth and jathīthah are recorded for a young palm, especially an offshoot detached from beside its parent.
A palm can produce offshoots beside its trunk. After sufficient growth, these can be detached for planting elsewhere.
Early Arabic could call such an offshoot jathīthah.
Some lexicographers associate the name with its initial detachment from the parent palm; others retain it until the young palm bears fruit.
The variation shows a connection both with detachment and with a particular growth stage.
Mijaththah and mijthāth also name iron implements used to cut or detach such offshoots.
Al-Ṣiḥāḥ and Lisān: palm offshoots and removal implements
These uses matter because jathth is not merely an abstract notion of destruction. Detaching an offshoot could be an ordinary agricultural act and preparation for replanting.
The root therefore does not always mean complete, irreversible destruction.
In Ibrāhīm, the tree’s negative condition comes from the combination of “a bad tree,” “was uprooted,” and “it has no stability,” rather than the inherent badness of every act named by J TH TH.
A witness from Arab agricultural life
Ibn Durayd’s Jamharat al-Lughah transmits this rajaz verse concerning palms:
Ibn Durayd, Jamharat al-Lughah: anonymous palm rajaz
«أَقْسَمْتُ لَا يَذْهَبُ عَنِّي بَعْلُهَا
أَوْ يَسْتَوِي جَثِيثُهَا وَجَعْلُهَا»
aqsamtu lā yadhhabu ʿannī baʿluhā / aw yastawī jathīthuhā wa-jaʿluhā
On one recorded explanation of jaʿl: “I swore its palms requiring no manual irrigation would not leave my possession until its offshoots and short palms became level.”
Lisān al-ʿArab: jathīth and the recorded senses of jaʿl
Lexical explanations use baʿl for a palm drawing moisture through its roots without manual irrigation; reliance on rainwater is also recorded. Jathīth denotes a young palm or offshoot. Jaʿl has recorded senses including an offshoot, a short palm, or one beyond hand’s reach; “requiring tending” is not its fixed, attested meaning.
Lisān al-ʿArab: baʿl and water uptake without manual irrigation
This shows jathīth known in actual palm cultivation rather than merely generated by abstract explanations of the root.
The poet and composition date are nevertheless not securely identified. It cannot therefore be presented unconditionally as pre-Islamic evidence.
3. Juththah: the body and its physical form
Modern Persian commonly uses juththah for a creature’s bodily size or build, whether large or small. Modern Arabic often uses جُثَّة for a corpse.
Early Arabic usage was broader.
Lexical sources use جُثَّةُ الْإِنْسَانِ (juththatu al-insāni) for a person’s body or bodily form, particularly when seated or lying down.
Some lexicographers also discuss whether the person is standing. These distinctions show that bodily posture mattered in some early uses.
Juththah in this field does not necessarily mean a dead body. Restricting its historical meaning to “carcass” or “lifeless body” is therefore inaccurate.
Al-Ṣiḥāḥ, Al-Miṣbāḥ, and Lisān: juththah and bodily posture
Juthth: raised ground
Some sources use juthth for a mound or small elevation of earth, like a low hill rising above the surrounding ground.
This relates to Ibn Fāris’s account of a gathered mass and distinct physical form.
A mound is material gathered above the surrounding surface; a human body likewise has a distinct, recognizable form.
This resemblance can help explain connections among some forms, but it does not make Qur’anic ijtithāth merely the removal of a mass or body.
In the Qur’anic use, a tree is uprooted from the earth. Physical form or prominence, if relevant to the word’s semantic history, does not replace this action.
Other uses
Lexical sources record jathth for substances accompanying honey, including wax or debris mixed with it.
Jathjāth names a plant, while juthājith is used in some expressions for dense vegetation or thick growth.
These meanings can be compared with gathering and density, but their precise historical connection to uprooting is unclear.
It is therefore preferable to recognize them as recorded branches rather than construct a certain etymological story covering them all.
4. A witness attributed to a pre-Islamic poet: uprooting a community’s foundations
Poetry attributed to Laqīṭ ibn Yaʿmur al-Iyādī, a pre-Islamic poet, reads:
«هُوَ الْجَلَاءُ الَّذِي يَجْتَثُّ أَصْلَكُمْ
فَمَنْ رَأَى مِثْلَ ذَا رَأْيًا وَمَنْ سَمِعَا»
huwa al-jalāʾu alladhī yajtaththu aṣlakum / fa-man raʾā mithla dhā raʾyan wa-man samiʿā
That is: “This is the expulsion that uproots your foundations; who has seen or heard of anything like it?”
The line belongs to a poem warning his people of a great danger.
Al-jalāʾ concerns expulsion or forced departure from one’s land. Yajtaththu aṣlakum applies the image of uprooting to the destruction of a community’s foundations.
No actual tree is being pulled out here. War and expulsion threaten a people’s existence and attachment to their land.
The witness matters because the image of uprooting could be transferred in early literary Arabic to collective human conditions.
Just as roots connect a tree to the earth, a community may be connected to homes, land, family, and social structures. Losing these ties can be compared to uprooting.
This poetic image should not become the word’s lexical definition. Ijtithāth retains uprooting, while its figurative object is the foundation of a community’s life.
The second hemistich also varies between raʾyan and yawman in different transmissions. This does not change yajtaththu aṣlakum.
Al-Durr al-Maṣūn: the yawman variant in Laqīṭ’s verse
The witness shows the figurative use of uprooting for human foundations. If its attribution to Laqīṭ is accepted, it can be discussed among pre-Qur’anic witnesses; transmission in later sources alone does not conclusively establish attribution or the precise composition date.
Ibn al-Shajarī, Mukhtārāt Shuʿarāʾ al-ʿArab: poem attributed to Laqīṭ
5. Qur’anic use: the uprooted tree and the bad utterance
Ibrāhīm 14:26
وَمَثَلُ كَلِمَةٍ خَبِيثَةٍ كَشَجَرَةٍ خَبِيثَةٍ اجْتُثَّتْ مِنْ فَوْقِ الْأَرْضِ مَا لَهَا مِنْ قَرَارٍ
wa-mathalu kalimatin khabīthatin ka-shajaratin khabīthatin ujtuththat min fawqi al-arḍi mā lahā min qarārin
“The likeness of a bad word is like a bad tree uprooted from the surface of the earth, with no stability.”
Ujtuththat concerns the tree to which the bad utterance is compared.
The sentence combines three features: the tree is bad, it has been uprooted from the earth, and it has no firm footing.
Ujtuththat conveys uprooting; min fawqi al-arḍi relates its location to the earth’s surface; mā lahā min qarārin explains the absence of stability or firm footing.
These parts are connected but do not simply repeat one meaning.
Ujtuththat in the verse’s structure
Ujtuththat is a passive past verb. The agent carrying out the uprooting is not named.
This matters because the sentence does not specify who or what uprooted the tree.
A real tree might be detached by a person, wind, flooding, or another cause. The passive verb itself does not identify any of these.
The basic translation should therefore not say “God uprooted it,” “the wind uprooted it,” or “people pulled it from the earth” unless another contextual indication supplies that agent.
The tree belongs to a likeness. The focus is its uprooted condition rather than identifying a physical cause.
Min fawqi al-arḍi: uprooting from the earth’s surface
Structurally, min fawqi al-arḍi associates the origin of the uprooting with the ground’s upper side or surface.
It should not be restricted without evidence to a tree necessarily having very shallow roots or no roots in the soil at all.
The verse says it has been uprooted and has no stability. Detachment from its established position follows, but its former root length, depth, and structure are unspecified.
Some exegetical reports identify it with plants having shallow roots or a weak structure.
These explanations may help envisage a natural example, but the verse itself names no particular tree or plant species.
The lexical meaning of ujtuththat does not depend on identifying a species either.
Al-Ṭabarī: uprooting, absence of stability, and reports identifying the tree
Does ijtithāth mean having no roots from the beginning?
Two conditions differ: something may never have had firm roots, or it may previously have occupied a place and then been uprooted.
As a verb, ujtuththat denotes an uprooting event. It does not by itself recount the tree’s earlier history.
The absence of firm footing follows the description of uprooting in the sentence.
The depicted tree can therefore be said to lack stability now, without unsupported certainty about the original condition of all its roots.
This also matters for the likeness. A bad utterance is compared in value and substance to an unstable tree; the comparison does not establish that every mistaken idea lacked followers or social influence from its beginning.
An utterance might circulate widely and attract many followers yet lack support in truth or argument. This is a contextual explanation of the likeness, rather than ijtithāth’s lexical meaning.
6. The uprooted tree and the firmly established tree
Understanding Ibrāhīm 14:26 requires considering the two preceding verses.
Ibrāhīm 14:24
أَلَمْ تَرَ كَيْفَ ضَرَبَ اللَّهُ مَثَلًا كَلِمَةً طَيِّبَةً كَشَجَرَةٍ طَيِّبَةٍ أَصْلُهَا ثَابِتٌ وَفَرْعُهَا فِي السَّمَاءِ
a-lam tara kayfa ḍaraba Allāhu mathalan kalimatan ṭayyibatan ka-shajaratin ṭayyibatin aṣluhā thābitun wa-farʿuhā fī al-samāʾi
“Have you not seen how The God sets forth a likeness: a good utterance is like a good tree, its root firm and its branch in the sky.”
The good tree is described by aṣluhā thābitun, “its root is firm.”
Aṣl concerns a root or foundation, while thābit expresses firmness and stability.
The tree has a lasting connection to its growing place, and its branches extend upward.
This stands opposite the uprooted tree of Ibrāhīm 14:26.
On one side the root is firm; on the other, the tree is uprooted and has no firm footing.
The contrast clarifies ijtithāth’s role: uprooting opposes the tree’s settled stability.
Ibrāhīm 14:25
تُؤْتِي أُكُلَهَا كُلَّ حِينٍ بِإِذْنِ رَبِّهَا وَيَضْرِبُ اللَّهُ الْأَمْثَالَ لِلنَّاسِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَذَكَّرُونَ
tuʾtī ukulahā kulla ḥīnin bi-idhni rabbihā wa-yaḍribu Allāhu al-amthāla li-al-nāsi laʿallahum yatadhakkarūna
“It gives its fruit at every appointed time by its Lord’s permission. The God sets forth likenesses for people so that they may remember.”
The good tree bears fruit as well as having a firm root.
This shows the result and yield of its lasting connection to its growing place.
Ibrāhīm 14:26, by contrast, mentions neither firm roots nor beneficial fruit for the bad tree. Its principal features are uprooting and absence of stability.
The omission of fruit should not become a categorical claim that every bad tree produces nothing at all. The Qur’an selects particular features for comparison.
The good tree is characterized by firm roots, an extended branch, and fruit; the bad tree by uprooting and absence of firm footing.
The good and bad utterances
The tree is not the likeness’s final subject. It illustrates qualities of an utterance.
Kalimatan ṭayyibatan and kalimatin khabīthatin are the two principal sides of the comparison.
Kalimah need not be restricted to a single lexical word. Arabic and Qur’anic usage can apply it to an utterance, saying, declared position, or content expressed in speech.
The firmly established tree illustrates the good utterance; the uprooted tree illustrates the bad utterance.
Within the likeness, ijtithāth thus relates to lacking a firm foundation and the ability to endure in truth.
This can be examined in relation to unsupported speech, a false claim, a call to falsehood, or a belief without proof.
Ujtuththat itself nevertheless does not mean polytheism, unbelief, lying, or corruption. These may be instances of a bad utterance where context supports them; the verb still means being uprooted.
Ibrāhīm 14:27 also describes believers being made firm through al-qawli al-thābiti, the firm utterance. This strengthens the contrast between firmly grounded and unstable speech.
The likeness therefore concerns more than a tree’s physical weakness: the endurance and consequences of speech in relation to truth are also at issue.
Does the likeness command physical elimination of those who utter bad speech?
Ujtuththat is passive description of a tree within a likeness. The sentence contains no command to uproot, destroy, or punish people who voice bad utterances.
Describing a claim’s instability differs fundamentally from ordering physical action against its speaker.
Concluding that religious opponents must be eliminated from society adds a ruling absent from the verse’s wording.
Critiquing a bad utterance, assessing its truth, and explaining a claim’s lack of support should be distinguished from coercion, violence, or punishment of people.
This distinction follows from the likeness’s structure and the absence of any command for physical action.
8. Translation proposals for Forqan
For ujtuththat in Ibrāhīm 14:26, “was uprooted” or “was pulled out” are natural, defensible equivalents.
“Was uprooted from the roots” can also clarify the lexical sense. In the complete verse, however, min fawqi al-arḍi and mā lahā min qarārin already provide information about position and lack of stability.
These explanations need not all be added to the verb itself.
Forqan’s current English translation reads:
“The likeness of a bad word is like a bad tree uprooted from the surface of the earth, with no stability.”
This preserves the sentence’s direct meaning. “From the surface of the earth” renders min fawqi al-arḍi, and “with no stability” conveys mā lahā min qarārin.
A brief root explanation may read:
“J TH TH: cutting or uprooting something from its base or original position, especially a plant or tree.”
For the Qur’anic form’s contextual meaning:
“Ujtuththat: was uprooted; describing a tree detached from its established position.”
The explanation can add that the tree illustrates a bad, unstable utterance. “False speech” or “an unsupported idea” should nevertheless not replace ujtuththat’s direct meaning in its root box.
Conclusion
Arabic J TH TH concerns cutting, uprooting, and detaching something from its base. Tree uprooting and palm-offshoot removal clearly illustrate it.
The wider family also includes juththah for a body, juthth for raised ground, and jathīthah for a young palm. Ibn Fāris’s account of gathering can illuminate some connections, but should not replace the established verb meaning of uprooting.
The root occurs only in Ibrāhīm 14:26, where ujtuththat describes a tree uprooted from the earth and without firm footing.
It contrasts with the good tree of Ibrāhīm 14:24, whose root is firm and branch extended, and which bears fruit in Ibrāhīm 14:25.
Uprooting in this contrast marks loss of attachment to an established position. The Qur’an uses the natural condition to convey the instability of a bad utterance.
Ujtuththat directly means being uprooted from the base or established position. The bad utterance’s lack of support is the figurative implication of the whole verse and its comparison with the firm tree.
The root itself does not rule on an utterance’s truth or falsehood, the agent of uprooting, or punishment of the speaker. These distinctions must be examined through context and the verse’s message rather than added to the word’s lexical meaning.