The Qur’anic Root J TH W
Kneeling: from the human body’s posture to waiting at the judgment of the Resurrection
Qur’anic and lexical forms
جِثِيًّا
(jithiyyan)
Two Qur’anic occurrences; usually analyzed as the plural of jāthin
جَاثِيَةً
(jāthiyatan)
Feminine singular active participle; one Qur’anic occurrence
جَثَا / يَجْثُو / يَجْثِي
(jathā / yajthū / yajthī)
Verb and recorded imperfect forms; not Qur’anic
جَثْو / جُثُوّ / جُثِيّ
(jathw / juthūw / juthiyy)
Lexical verbal nouns; juthiyy also has a plural analysis
جَاثٍ
(jāthin)
Singular active participle; base of the Qur’anic plural
أَجْثَى
(ajthā)
Causing someone to kneel; lexical form
جَاثَى
(jāthā)
Two people kneeling face to face; lexical form
تَجَاثَى / جِثَاء
(tajāthā / jithāʾ)
Kneeling in confrontation and recorded verbal noun; not Qur’anic
جُثْوَة / جَثْوَة / جِثْوَة
(juthwah / jathwah / jithwah)
Heap, grave, and bodily form; three lexical vocalizations
In Arabic, «جَثَا» (jathā) describes a person resting on their knees. The body comes down from a standing position, and the knees support it. This can occur when confronting someone, waiting, disputing, or facing a difficult situation.
Within this family, «جَاثٍ» (jāthin) denotes someone in this posture, while «جُثُوّ» (juthūw) names the act of kneeling. Arabic also records «جُثْوَة» (juthwah) for a heap of earth or stones, including a mound over a grave in some uses.
The root occurs in three Qur’anic verses. In two verses of Maryam, people associated with Hell are described as «جِثِيًّا» (jithiyyan); in Al-Jāthiyah, every community at the judgment is described as «جَاثِيَةً» (jāthiyatan).
These uses show that kneeling can occur while awaiting and facing divine judgment. The word itself, however, does not mean being sinful, condemned, or engaged in worship. Such ideas, where present, come from the context and other expressions.
1. Forms and semantic core
In the usual classification, J TH W is a root with final weak wāw, whose last radical changes in inflection. Both imperfect forms «يَجْثُو» (yajthū) and «يَجْثِي» (yajthī) are recorded; consequently, every yāʾ form should not be explained through a single simple rule of wāw substitution.
The familiar verb is «جَثَا» (jathā). Arabic records both «يَجْثُو» (yajthū) and «يَجْثِي» (yajthī) as its imperfect. Lexical sources also list the verbal nouns «جَثْو» (jathw), «جُثُوّ» (juthūw), and «جُثِيّ» (juthiyy).
Other forms include «جَاثٍ» (jāthin), «جَاثِيَة» (jāthiyah), «أَجْثَى» (ajthā), «جَاثَى» (jāthā), «تَجَاثَى» (tajāthā), «جُثْوَة» (juthwah), and «جِثَاء» (jithāʾ).
The Qur’an uses this root three times in two forms.
Quranic Arabic Corpus: three occurrences in two forms
«جِثِيًّا» (jithiyyan) occurs in Maryam 19:68 and Maryam 19:72. In the familiar analysis, it is the plural of «جَاثٍ» (jāthin); lexical and grammatical sources also consider a verbal noun used descriptively. The reading «جُثِيًّا» (juthiyyan), with ḍammah on jīm, is recorded too. The verse quotations here retain «جِثِيًّا», as in the installed text.
«جَاثِيَةً» (jāthiyatan) occurs in Al-Jāthiyah 45:28 and is the feminine active participle corresponding to «جَاثٍ» (jāthin).
No finite verb such as «جَثَا» (jathā) or «يَجْثُو» (yajthū) occurs in the Qur’an.
Semantic core
Lisān al-ʿArab explains «جَثَا» through «جَلَسَ عَلَى رُكْبَتَيْهِ» (jalasa ʿalā rukbatayhi): he sat on his two knees.
Lisān al-ʿArab: knees, forms, and Ibn al-Aʿrābī’s witness
Al-Zamakhsharī’s Asās al-Balāghah likewise records «جَثَا عَلَى رُكْبَتَيْهِ» (jathā ʿalā rukbatayhi) and connects the Qur’anic «جَاثِيًا» (jāthiyan) with this sense.
These witnesses clarify the main Qur’anic sense: a person resting on their knees. Brief root meaning: Kneeling; a posture in which the knees support the body.
This should not be equated with ordinary sitting. Someone may sit on the ground with their legs extended or crossed without being jāthin.
In juthūw, the knees are essential to the posture.
Conversely, every use of the family should not be confined to one fixed sitting position. Lexical sources report related postures, including standing on the tips of the toes, for «جَثَا» (jathā).
These accounts document varied bodily postures in lexical usage; they do not by themselves establish a common historical core such as “drawing the body together.” The direct, familiar Qur’anic meaning is kneeling.
2. Kneeling in early Arabic usage
Kneeling during confrontation and dispute
The Arabic expression «جَثَا عَلَى رُكْبَتَيْهِ» (jathā ʿalā rukbatayhi) was not restricted to rest or relaxed sitting.
Lexical sources also record this posture in dispute and confrontation. Someone might kneel during an argument, adjudication, or encounter with another person.
In that setting, the knees may support the person without their body being entirely relaxed.
Early sources also use «مُسْتَوْفِز» (mustawfiz) when explaining «جَاثِيَةً» (jāthiyatan) in Al-Jāthiyah.
Mustawfiz describes someone poised as if ready to rise. Their knees may be on the ground while their body is not fully resting as in relaxed sitting.
This explanation helps clarify the word’s bodily reference.
Readiness to rise cannot, however, be imposed on every use of juthūw. It is one recorded posture and does not restrict the familiar meaning of kneeling.
Al-Ṭabarī: the knees and mustawfiz
A poetic witness preserved in Arabic lexicography
Ibn al-Aʿrābī transmits the following verse when explaining this root:
«إِنَّا أُنَاسٌ مَعَدِّيُّونَ عَادَتُنَا
عِنْدَ الصِّيَاحِ جُثِيُّ الْمَوْتِ لِلرُّكَبِ»
innā unāsun maʿaddiyyūna ʿādatunā / ʿinda al-ṣiyāḥi juthiyyu al-mawti li-al-rukabi
Meaning: “We are people of Maʿadd whose custom, when the battle cry rises, is to kneel in facing death.”
Lexical sources cite the verse as a witness to juthūw in confrontation.
Its explanation identifies an inversion in the poet’s wording: the intended order is «جُثِيُّ الرُّكَبِ لِلْمَوْتِ» (juthiyyu al-rukabi li-al-mawt), kneeling when facing death.
Here, kneeling does not necessarily signify fear or defeat. The poet uses it for warriors meeting danger.
This matters because not every instance of juthūw can be translated as abasement, helplessness, or surrender to an enemy.
A person may kneel while preparing for a difficult encounter; elsewhere, the same posture may accompany fear, anxiety, or the expectation of judgment.
The poet and precise date of composition are not independently established here. It is therefore evidence of usage preserved in the lexical tradition, without grounds for assigning it to a particular pre-Islamic poet. Al-Muḥkam also transmits «الصَّباح» (al-ṣabāḥ) instead of «الصِّيَاح» (al-ṣiyāḥ); the quotation here retains Lisān al-ʿArab’s reading.
Al-Muḥkam and Lisān: al-ṣabāḥ and al-ṣiyāḥ variants
«جَاثَى» (jāthā): two people kneeling face to face
Arabic also records «جَاثَى فُلَانٌ فُلَانًا» (jāthā fulānun fulānan).
This construction describes two people facing one another with their knees close together.
«جَاثَيْتُ رُكْبَتِي إِلَى رُكْبَتِهِ» (jāthaytu rukbatī ilā rukbatihi) means that I placed my knee opposite or close to his.
«تَجَاثَوْا» (tajāthaw) is likewise used for a group kneeling in confrontation.
Their use in disputes shows that kneeling can belong to a formal or serious encounter, including disagreement and adjudication.
Jāthā itself does not necessarily mean hostility or sin. Conflict is one setting in which the posture can occur.
This distinction matters for the Qur’an. Kneeling and awaiting a decision occur together at the Resurrection’s judgment, but judgment comes from the surrounding verses, not from juthūw alone.
Gathering animals
Tāj al-ʿArūs and Al-Muʿjam al-Wasīṭ record «جَثَا الْإِبِلَ» (jathā al-ibila) for gathering camels; sheep and comparable animals are also mentioned in the lexical explanation. Its inclusion in dictionaries does not by itself establish a pre-Qur’anic date for this use.
Tāj al-ʿArūs: gathering camels and sheep
Here, the verb takes a direct object and concerns bringing animals together.
This differs from a person’s kneeling posture.
One can imagine a relationship between animals gathering in one place and settling into a particular posture. Demonstrating that one meaning developed from the other, however, requires independent historical evidence.
Nothing in the Qur’anic settings suggests that «جِثِيًّا» (jithiyyan) or «جَاثِيَةً» (jāthiyatan) means gathering camels or other animals.
3. «جُثْوَة» (juthwah): a heap of earth or stones, and bodily form
The noun «جُثْوَة» (juthwah) is an important branch of the J TH W family.
Arabic sources record three vocalizations: «جُثْوَة» (juthwah), «جَثْوَة» (jathwah), and «جِثْوَة» (jithwah).
It denotes earth or stones gathered in a heap. It also names the mound over a grave and, in some uses, the grave itself.
Here the subject is a heap or raised accumulation of material in one place, rather than a kneeling person.
A witness from Ṭarafah ibn al-ʿAbd
The pre-Islamic poet Ṭarafah ibn al-ʿAbd says:
«تَرَى جُثْوَتَيْنِ مِنْ تُرَابٍ عَلَيْهِمَا
صَفَائِحُ صُمٌّ مِنْ صَفِيحٍ مُصَمَّدِ»
tarā juthwatayni min turābin ʿalayhimā / ṣafāʾiḥu ṣummun min ṣafīḥin muṣammadi
Meaning: “You see two mounds of earth, over which lie solid, firmly closed slabs of stone.”
«جُثْوَتَيْنِ» (juthwatayni) is the dual of juthwah and refers to two earthen mounds.
Lisān al-ʿArab explains the witness as describing two graves. It records «مُصَمَّد» (muṣammad), referring to being firmly closed; Asās al-Balāghah and other transmissions have «مُنَضَّد» (munaḍḍad), laid in layers. The quotation here retains the supplied reading, also found in Lisān.
Lisān: Ṭarafah’s witness with muṣammad
This shows that juthwah could name a material heap in early Arabic without a direct reference to kneeling.
Asās al-Balāghah: munaḍḍad in Ṭarafah’s witness
Do «جُثْوَة» (juthwah) and «جُثُوّ» (juthūw) share one original meaning?
They belong to the same lexical family, but their meanings are not identical.
Juthūw concerns kneeling, whereas juthwah names a heap of earth or stones.
Gathering in one place and assuming a definite form might help explain a connection between the branches. That resemblance does not establish that the Qur’anic root means simply gathering in groups or piling up.
This question matters for «جِثِيًّا» (jithiyyan), since some early interpretations explain it as gathered companies.
Choosing between that interpretation and kneeling requires attention to the form and the verses’ context.
Juthwah describing the body
Some lexical accounts also use «جُثْوَة» (juthwah) for a person’s body or bodily form.
Here, the body is considered as a material whole with a definite form.
Juthwah cannot, however, be treated as an exact synonym of «جُثَّة» (juththah) everywhere. The latter belongs to J TH TH and has its own range of uses.
Their phonetic and semantic proximity should be recognized without merging the two roots.
4. Qur’anic usage in Maryam
Maryam 19:68: being brought around Hell on their knees
فَوَرَبِّكَ لَنَحْشُرَنَّهُمْ وَالشَّيَاطِينَ ثُمَّ لَنُحْضِرَنَّهُمْ حَوْلَ جَهَنَّمَ جِثِيًّا
fa-wa-rabbika la-naḥshurannahum wa-al-shayāṭīna thumma la-nuḥḍirannahum ḥawla jahannama jithiyyan
“By your Lord, We will surely gather them and the devils, then bring them around Hell on their knees.”
This verse follows a statement questioning or denying renewed life after death.
In Maryam 19:66, a human asks whether they will be brought out alive after dying. Maryam 19:67 recalls their first creation; Maryam 19:68 then describes gathering and bringing them into a scene associated with Hell.
«لَنَحْشُرَنَّهُمْ» (la-naḥshurannahum) expresses gathering, and «لَنُحْضِرَنَّهُمْ» (la-nuḥḍirannahum) bringing into presence.
Study of Ḥ SH R; Study of Ḥ Ḍ R
«جِثِيًّا» (jithiyyan) describes the condition of those brought there.
It should therefore not be equated with the verbs of gathering and summoning themselves. Those verbs do not, however, grammatically exclude a circumstantial description meaning “in groups.”
The central point is their manner or condition of appearing: on their knees.
Can «جِثِيًّا» (jithiyyan) also mean “in groups”?
Early commentaries record two semantic interpretations. This difference in interpretation should be distinguished from the variant readings «جِثِيًّا / جُثِيًّا» (jithiyyan / juthiyyan).
The first, familiar analysis takes it as the plural of «جَاثٍ» (jāthin): people on their knees.
Al-Ṭabarī treats it as that plural and cites a report attributed to Ibn ʿAbbās comparing it with «جَاثِيَةً» (jāthiyatan) in Al-Jāthiyah 45:28.
Al-Ṭabarī: plural of jāthin and comparison with jāthiyah
The second interpretation, transmitted by Al-Qurṭubī from Muqātil, connects it with «جُثْوَة» (juthwah), a heap or collection in one place. It can then refer to gathered companies or people in groups.
This possibility appears in early reports and can be examined within the lexical range of the family.
Al-Qurṭubī on Maryam 19:68: Muqātil’s interpretation as groups
Several contextual indications matter in choosing the basic translation.
First, the clear use of «جَاثِيَةً» (jāthiyatan) in Al-Jāthiyah 45:28 concerns kneeling.
Second, gathering and bringing into presence already have their own verbs in Maryam 19:68, while jithiyyan describes the people’s condition. This fits “kneeling,” though it does not independently disprove “in groups.”
Third, Maryam 19:72 uses the same word for the condition of those left in Hell. Kneeling fits that setting too.
Together, these considerations make “on their knees” the stronger basic translation.
The alternative should nevertheless be acknowledged in lexical research; the early tradition did record another possibility.
Around Hell, without necessarily specifying its interior
Maryam 19:68 has «حَوْلَ جَهَنَّمَ» (ḥawla jahannama).
In ordinary usage, «حَوْلَ» (ḥawla) denotes the surroundings of something.
The sentence thus describes being brought around Hell on their knees.
That expression should not be changed into “inside Hell” without further grounds.
Maryam 19:72 uses the different expression «فِيهَا» (fīhā), in it.
This difference matters: the first passage specifies location with ḥawla; the second describes the wrongdoers with fīhā.
Translation and analysis should preserve each verse’s spatial expression.
The verse does not explain the exact arrangement around Hell, people’s distance from it, or how the groups are positioned.
The meaning of jithiyyan is clearer than those unspecified details of the scene.
Maryam 19:72: wrongdoers left in the same posture
ثُمَّ نُنَجِّي الَّذِينَ اتَّقَوْا وَنَذَرُ الظَّالِمِينَ فِيهَا جِثِيًّا
thumma nunajjī alladhīna ittaqaw wa-nadharu al-ẓālimīna fīhā jithiyyan
“Then We will save those who were mindful and leave the wrongdoers there on their knees.”
Maryam 19:72 again has «جِثِيًّا» (jithiyyan), but the sentence differs from Maryam 19:68.
Maryam 19:68 described gathering and bringing into presence. Maryam 19:72 describes saving one group and leaving another.
«نُنَجِّي» (nunajjī) expresses saving, and «نَذَرُ» (nadharu) leaving or letting be.
Study of N J W; Study of W DH R (Not yet published)
«جِثِيًّا» (jithiyyan) describes the posture of the wrongdoers left there.
Its meaning remains continuous with the first passage, though its place in the sentence differs.
Maryam 19:68 gives the condition in which people are brought; Maryam 19:72 gives the condition of those remaining after others are saved.
Is kneeling confined to wrongdoers?
Maryam 19:72 calls those left in this condition «الظَّالِمِينَ» (al-ẓālimīna), the wrongdoers.
Their wrongdoing is not expressed by jithiyyan itself. It comes from al-ẓālimīna and the setting of judgment.
This distinction becomes particularly important in Al-Jāthiyah 45:28, where every community is described as jāthiyah.
Kneeling cannot therefore be inherently confined to sinners.
Maryam 19:72 describes wrongdoers remaining in this condition; Al-Jāthiyah applies the posture before stating the outcome of judgment for all communities.
The posture can occur at a general judgment and elsewhere accompany the fate of a particular group.
The word itself does not determine anyone’s final destiny.
5. «جَاثِيَةً» (jāthiyatan) and the judgment of every community
Al-Jāthiyah 45:28
وَتَرَىٰ كُلَّ أُمَّةٍ جَاثِيَةً ۚ كُلُّ أُمَّةٍ تُدْعَىٰ إِلَىٰ كِتَابِهَا الْيَوْمَ تُجْزَوْنَ مَا كُنتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ
wa-tarā kulla ummatin jāthiyatan kullu ummatin tudʿā ilā kitābihā al-yawma tujzawna mā kuntum taʿmalūna
“You will see every community kneeling. Every community will be called to its book: Today you are repaid for what you used to do.”
Here, «جَاثِيَةً» (jāthiyatan) describes the communities’ posture at judgment.
«كُلَّ أُمَّةٍ» (kulla ummatin), every community, establishes the scope.
The description should not be restricted from the outset to a single people, sect, or group of sinners.
The verse continues with each community being called to its book and recompensed for its deeds.
This places kneeling in a scene of accounting and judgment.
Jāthiyah: a feminine form or a group of women?
«جَاثِيَةً» (jāthiyatan) is the feminine active participle corresponding to «جَاثٍ» (jāthin).
Its feminine gender does not mean that the verse concerns women alone.
Arabic «أُمَّة» (ummah) is grammatically feminine. An adjective or circumstantial description relating to it can therefore take a feminine form.
«كُلَّ أُمَّةٍ جَاثِيَةً» (kulla ummatin jāthiyatan) means every community kneeling, rather than a group of kneeling women.
The singular form jāthiyah also fits the collective sense of ummah. Arabic can describe a group with a singular form agreeing with the collective noun’s grammatical gender.
Morphologically, jāthiyah here is thus a feminine singular active participle relating to ummah, not an independent feminine plural.
All communities and the judgment of deeds
Al-Jāthiyah 45:27 mentions the Hour’s arising and the loss of those who pursued falsehood. Al-Jāthiyah 45:28 then gives the broader scene of every community kneeling.
Al-Jāthiyah 45:29 describes a record testifying truthfully concerning human deeds.
Al-Jāthiyah 45:30 next addresses those who believed and did righteous deeds; Al-Jāthiyah 45:31 addresses those who disbelieved.
This sequence presents the posture before distinguishing the groups’ outcomes.
Being jāthiyah does not itself mean condemnation to punishment.
Believers and those who did righteous deeds are within the verse’s general scope, although their outcome differs from that of the other group.
This prevents the mistaken assumption that kneeling at judgment inherently signifies sin or a person’s worthlessness.
Kneeling here is the posture of appearing for judgment. The result is known from the deeds and criteria stated in the other verses.
Does juthūw mean fear or helplessness?
Many commentaries associate the communities’ kneeling with dread, the gravity of the occasion, and awaiting a verdict.
That is understandable contextually: people face judgment concerning their deeds and destiny.
The word jāthiyah itself does not mean frightened, helpless, or condemned.
Earlier lexical uses can even place kneeling in a context of readiness and confrontation.
Fear and anxiety, when inferred from the judgment scene, should therefore be identified as contextual inferences.
Nor does jāthiyah establish that fear has made every community unable to stand. That explanation of their bodily condition is not explicitly stated in the verse.
The verse states that every community is kneeling and called to its record of deeds.
Does kneeling here mean prostration?
Juthūw and sujūd can both involve lowering the body toward the ground, but they are not identical.
Prostration involves descending and placing parts of the body on the ground; the familiar sense of juthūw specifically emphasizes the knees.
Al-Jāthiyah 45:28 says «جَاثِيَةً» (jāthiyatan), not «سَاجِدَةً» (sājidatan).
It should not be translated as “every community prostrating” without further grounds.
Kneeling here is not necessarily a voluntary act of worship. The passage describes a posture at judgment.
Why the communities are in that posture belongs to contextual analysis, rather than the lexical meaning of jāthiyah itself.
7. Translation proposals for Forqan
In all three Qur’anic occurrences, “kneeling” or “on their knees” is a natural, concise, defensible equivalent.
In Maryam 19:68, jithiyyan describes those brought around Hell. A suitable rendering is:
“Then bring them around Hell on their knees.”
In Maryam 19:72, jithiyyan likewise gives the posture of the wrongdoers left in Hell:
“And leave the wrongdoers there on their knees.”
In Al-Jāthiyah 45:28, jāthiyatan describes every community’s posture at judgment:
“You will see every community kneeling.”
These Persian proposals agree with Forqan’s current Persian translations. The installed verses remain unchanged; this article also quotes the full English verses exactly as currently installed on the site.
Persian expressions equivalent to “sitting on the knees,” “kneeling,” and “resting on the knees” can all approach the meaning. The concise Persian zānūzadeh is fluent without necessarily suggesting relaxed sitting.
Alternatives such as frightened, abased, condemned, prostrating, or helpless replace the lexical sense with possible contextual interpretations.
A brief root explanation can read:
“J TH W: kneeling; a posture in which the knees support the body.”
For jithiyyan in Maryam, a contextual explanation can read:
“On their knees; describing those brought into the scene associated with Hell or left there.”
For jāthiyatan in Al-Jāthiyah:
“Kneeling; describing every community when called to its record of deeds.”
These explanations distinguish the bodily posture from the outcome of judgment.
Conclusion
In familiar Arabic usage, J TH W concerns a person kneeling. Jathā names the act, jāthin the person in that posture, and juthūw the state itself.
Alongside kneeling, the Arabic family has recorded uses involving people confronting one another, gathering animals, and heaps of earth or stones. Juthwah can name such a heap, and this branch underlies one alternative interpretation of jithiyyan in early commentary.
Despite that range, kneeling has strong lexical and contextual support in all three Qur’anic occurrences.
Maryam 19:68 describes people brought around Hell on their knees. Maryam 19:72 leaves the wrongdoers in that posture in Hell. Al-Jāthiyah 45:28 describes every community kneeling and called to its record of deeds.
Their differing settings show that kneeling does not inherently signify sin, condemnation, or punishment. It can occur at the general judgment while different groups have different outcomes afterward.
The direct, defensible Qur’anic meaning of J TH W is kneeling. Waiting, fear, humility, or the gravity of judgment may be inferred from particular settings, but none replaces the lexical meaning itself.
Consequently, “kneeling” or “on their knees” translates the three occurrences more accurately than equivalents that turn a bodily posture into a particular outcome of judgment.