The Qur’anic Root J Z ʾ
Part, share, and sufficiency: dividing a whole and making do with something
Qur’anic and lexical forms
جُزْءًا / جُزْءٌ
(juzʾan / juzʾun)
Noun; three Qur’anic occurrences
أَجْزَاء
(ajzāʾ)
Plural of juzʾ; not Qur’anic
جَزَأَ
(jazaʾa)
Form I verb; not Qur’anic
جَزَّأَ
(jazzaʾa)
Form II; not Qur’anic
تَجْزِئَة
(tajziʾah)
Partitioning; not Qur’anic
مُجَزَّأ
(mujazzaʾ)
Partitioned; not Qur’anic
أَجْزَأَ
(ajzaʾa)
To suffice; not Qur’anic
إِجْزَاء
(ijzāʾ)
Verbal noun of sufficiency; not Qur’anic
مُجْزِئ
(mujziʾ)
Sufficient; not Qur’anic
اجْتَزَأَ
(ijtazaʾa)
To make do; not Qur’anic
جَازِئَة / جَوَازِئ
(jāziʾah / jawāziʾ)
Animal sustained by moist forage; not Qur’anic
مَجْزُوء
(majzūʾ)
A prosodic term; not Qur’anic
جُزْأَة
(juzʾah)
An implement’s handle; not Qur’anic
1. Introducing the root
The triliteral Arabic root J Z ʾ has two important branches: a part or share of a whole, and sufficiency or doing without one thing through another. Early sources record both, in dividing objects, allocating shares, pastoral life, and doing something that fulfills a need or responsibility.
Its familiar noun juzʾ denotes a part of a whole or an assigned share. It can concern portions of an object, building components, elements of a collection, or shares allotted to people and groups.
Ajzaʾa and ijtazaʾa also express sufficing or making do. Something suffices when it meets a need or fulfills a function in place of something else.
Ibn Fāris makes sufficiency the root’s principle in Maqāyīs al-Lughah, while also defining juzʾ in the same entry as ṭāʾifatun mina al-shayʾ, a portion of something. Lisān al-ʿArab and other sources likewise record part and share. Some lexicographers connect the branches: a portion can meet a need, making the rest unnecessary.
That relationship is intelligible but does not establish a definite historical order of development without evidence. Brief root meaning: A part or share of a whole; in another verbal branch, sufficing and making do.
The root occurs only three times in the Qur’an, always as the noun juzʾ, meaning part or share. No verb from this root is Qur’anic.
Quranic Arabic Corpus: three occurrences of juzʾ
Qur’anic forms
The three occurrences are:
- «جُزْءًا» (juzʾan) in Al-Baqarah 2:260: a part of the collection of birds.
- «جُزْءٌ» (juzʾun) in Al-Ḥijr 15:44: an allocated part or share of a group.
- «جُزْءًا» (juzʾan) in Al-Zukhruf 43:15: a portion of the servants of The God attributed to Him.
The noun is lexically the same in all three, but its referent and role differ: birds, groups of people, and a claimed attribution concerning divine servants.
Juzʾ is therefore not restricted to a particular material or object. Its meaning arises from a part’s relationship to its larger whole.
2. The semantic core and principal branches
Juzʾ: a part belonging to a whole
Lisān al-ʿArab states:
الْجُزْءُ وَالْجَزْءُ: الْبَعْضُ، وَالْجَمْعُ أَجْزَاءٌ.
al-juzʾu wa-al-jazʾu: al-baʿḍu wa-al-jamʿu ajzāʾ
Translation: “Juzʾ and jazʾ mean a portion or part of something; the plural is ajzāʾ.”
Lisān al-ʿArab: part and its plural
This establishes the fundamental part–whole relationship.
A part is identified relative to a larger whole. It can be a portion of one object, such as wood, stone, or bread, or an element of a collection consisting of separate things.
A plank can be part of a gate, and a gate part of a building. Both involve parts, but the relationships differ.
The first concerns an object’s material construction; the second an element within a broader structure.
Juzʾ does not necessarily mean a piece physically cut from a body. Something can already belong to a collection and be identified as its part without cutting.
This distinction matters to all three Qur’anic occurrences.
Part and share
Juzʾ can also mean naṣīb, a share.
A portion of a whole is designated for a particular person, group, or destination.
When property is divided, each person’s share forms part of the total. “Share” emphasizes its relation to the recipient, as well as the portion’s size.
Juzʾ and naṣīb can therefore overlap without being exact synonyms everywhere.
A part can belong to an object without having an owner or recipient; naṣīb more readily concerns someone’s allotted share or benefit.
In Al-Mufradāt, Al-Rāghib describes a juzʾ as something constituting a larger whole, such as the parts of a ship, house, or numerical total. The part–whole relationship is not confined to breaking physical objects.
Al-Rāghib, Al-Mufradāt: part and whole
Dividing into parts
Arabic jazaʾa and its doubled form jazzaʾa can express division into parts.
Jazzaʾa al-māla baynahum means dividing property among people.
The action of division is prominent: something regarded as a whole is separated into portions or shares.
The noun naming a part should nevertheless be distinguished from the verb of dividing.
Juzʾ names the part; jazzaʾa expresses partitioning. A part’s existence alone proves neither cutting nor breaking nor the use of a particular tool.
Dividing people into groups, for example, does not require physically cutting bodies. It may mean grouping, assigning shares, or distinguishing people by a criterion.
With physical objects, division may indeed involve cutting or separating pieces.
The object and context determine the kind of division.
3. Sufficiency and making do
Ajzaʾa: to suffice
Ibn Fāris writes in Maqāyīs al-Lughah:
الْجِيمُ وَالزَّاءُ وَالْهَمْزَةُ أَصْلٌ وَاحِدٌ، هُوَ الِاكْتِفَاءُ بِالشَّيْءِ.
al-jīmu wa-al-zāʾu wa-al-hamzatu aṣlun wāḥidun huwa al-iktifāʾu bi-al-shayʾ
Translation: “Jīm, zāy, and hamzah have one principle: making do with something.”
Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs: sufficiency and part
He then explains ijtazaʾtu bi-al-shayʾi as making do with something and ajzaʾanī al-shayʾu as something sufficing for someone.
This branch concerns a need’s relationship with what fulfills it.
Ajzaʾanī hādhā, for example, means “this was sufficient for me.”
What suffices may meet the whole need or replace something normally used.
Ijzāʾ therefore concerns sufficiency and fulfillment, rather than necessarily partitioning an object.
Ijtazaʾa: to make do with something
Ijtazaʾa bi-al-shayʾi means contenting oneself or making do with something.
A subtle distinction separates this construction from ajzaʾa.
In ajzaʾanī al-shayʾu, something meets a person’s need. In ijtazaʾtu bi-al-shayʾi, the person makes do with what is available.
Both involve sufficiency, but one emphasizes the thing’s adequacy and the other the person’s acceptance of it.
This should not be equated with poverty or deprivation. Someone can make do with little without being poor; scarcity can also force a person to accept less than desired.
The root alone specifies neither the amount sufficient nor the reason for making do.
Connecting sufficiency and a part
Lisān al-ʿArab proposes a connection: a person may make do with less and dispense with more.
Someone may need only part of the available food, and that portion may suffice.
Here a portion of a whole adequately fulfills a need, connecting part and sufficiency.
The example does not make ajzaʾa imply a physical division in every occurrence.
Nor does every juzʾ necessarily mean “a sufficient portion.” A component may be insufficient alone and remain merely one part of a larger whole.
Both branches are established, but each derivative’s structure and use determine its meaning.
4. Pre-Islamic Arabic and daily life
Making do under difficult conditions
A historical account about sheltering Imruʾ al-Qays and refusing to betray a guest quotes these two verses:
لَقَدْ آلَيْتُ أَغْدِرُ فِي جَدَاعِ
وَإِنْ مُنِّيتُ أُمَّاتِ الرِّبَاعِ
لِأَنَّ الْغَدْرَ فِي الْأَقْوَامِ عَارٌ
وَإِنَّ الْحُرَّ يَجْزَأُ بِالْكُرَاعِ
laqad ālaytu aghdiru fī jadāʿi / wa-in munniytu ummāti al-ribāʿi // li-anna al-ghadra fī al-aqwāmi ʿārun / wa-inna al-ḥurra yajzaʾu bi-al-kurāʿi
Translation: “I have sworn not to betray in the harsh year Jadāʿ, even if promised the mother camels of young calves: betrayal is a disgrace among people, and a free man makes do with an animal’s lower leg.” In ālaytu aghdiru, the oath’s context and continuation imply lā aghdiru, “I will not betray.” With this vocalization, munniytu means being promised something; ummāt al-ribāʿ denotes mother camels with young calves, rather than severe hardships.
Maqāyīs: the oath and making do with kurāʿ
Yajzaʾu here means making do.
Kurāʿ denotes the lower leg or part of an animal’s foot, a portion that may be considered less substantial than meatier cuts.
The speaker says that a free person can accept modest food under difficult conditions rather than betray someone for more wealth or food.
This witness connects the root with actual living conditions and social values: food, need, and restraint against betrayal.
Sources attach different names to the accounts of Imruʾ al-Qays’s hosts, so a definite personal attribution requires caution. The expression yajzaʾu bi-al-kurāʿ is nevertheless recorded in lexical and literary sources and clearly expresses making do.
It documents sufficiency in language attributed to a pre-Islamic setting. It does not establish that the part-and-share sense was absent then. Jamharat al-Amthāl, for example, gives accounts naming ʿĀmir ibn Juwayn and Abū Ḥanbal Jāriyah ibn Murr; Al-Mustaqṣā also records the Abū Ḥanbal account.
Jamharat al-Amthāl: competing accounts of Imruʾ al-Qays’s host
Fresh vegetation sufficing for livestock
Jazaʾat al-ibilu describes camels taking sufficient moisture from fresh vegetation to do without drinking water separately.
Moist food here also supplies the animal’s need for water.
Lexical accounts record both jaziʾat al-ibilu and jazaʾat with different vocalization. Jāziʾah can likewise describe an animal making do without water through moist forage.
This relates to pastoral life and knowledge of plants, water, and animals’ needs.
Fresh versus dry vegetation has practical significance in dry regions. Moist forage can allow livestock to go for a time without a separate drink.
The usage does not establish that J Z ʾ originally named a plant, water, or thirst. Its relevant meaning is one thing sufficing in place of another need.
A witness from Al-Shammākh ibn Ḍirār
A poem attributed to Al-Shammākh ibn Ḍirār says:
إِذَا الْأَرْطَى تَوَسَّدَ أَبْرَدَيْهِ
خُدُودُ جَوَازِئٍ بِالرَّمْلِ عِينِ
idhā al-arṭā tawassada abradayhi / khudūdu jawāziʾin bi-al-ramli ʿīni
Translation: “When the cheeks of wide-eyed animals, content with moist forage, make the arṭā shrubs their pillow in the sands, in their shade and returning shade.” The lexical explanation of abradayhi here concerns shade and returning shade; it should not be silently restricted to two cool times of day.
Lisān al-ʿArab, B R D: the two shades
Jawāziʾ relates to animals doing without a drink through moist forage. It is the plural of jāziʾah; that adequacy of moist plants informs the lexical description.
Lexicographers disagree over the animal intended: some identify gazelles, others wild cattle.
Lexical sources: jawāziʾ and the disputed animal
Even when a derivative’s broad sense is clear, identifying its poetic referent may require examining the image, animal traits, and environment.
Al-Shammākh was a mukhaḍram poet who lived across the pre-Islamic and Islamic periods. Without dating this poem independently, it should not be confidently assigned to the period before Islam.
It nevertheless remains useful evidence for early Arabic J Z ʾ.
Sufficiency alongside partitioning
The human-food and livestock witnesses show the sufficiency branch’s practical role in Arabic life.
Juzʾ for part or share is also recorded in varied usages: dividing wealth, allocating shares, and a whole’s components.
A clear sufficiency witness does not establish a later date for the part sense. Failing to find a certain poetic witness in one inquiry does not prove that the usage did not exist before the Qur’an.
The Qur’an’s three clear occurrences themselves establish part and share in the language of revelation’s period.
5. Other Arabic derivatives and uses
Tajziʾah: partitioning
Tajziʾah is the verbal noun of jazzaʾa, dividing something into parts.
It can concern property, physical objects, or subjects regarded as wholes.
Dividing property among people, a text into sections, or an object into parts can all be expressed through this family.
Modern examples, however, do not automatically establish those exact phrases in pre-Islamic usage.
Mujazzaʾ: partitioned
Mujazzaʾ describes something divided into parts.
It differs from mujziʾ: the former concerns division, while the latter concerns sufficiency.
Their similar appearance without vowel marks can mislead readers.
The radicals alone are therefore insufficient: pattern, vowels, and derivative structure also matter.
Parts in poetic meter
In Arabic prosody, majzūʾ describes a meter shortened through omission of part of its usual structure.
This technical use draws on partitioning and reducing the components of a metrical structure.
It should not become the primary definition of Qur’anic juzʾ. Prosody uses the general part concept to explain verse construction.
Juzʾah: an implement’s handle
Arabic sources record juzʾah for the handle of certain tools, such as a knife.
Ibn Fāris records it in Maqāyīs and suggests that it may be named so because the handle is part of the implement.
Maqāyīs: juzʾah, an implement’s handle
The explanation is intelligible: a knife comprises a blade, handle, and related components.
The lexical suggestion nevertheless does not establish a certain historical cause.
Some sources also record jazʾah for the point where an animal’s tail joins its body. That usage requires separate consideration of the location and word form.
Ajzaʾat al-marʾatu: giving birth to a girl
Some lexicons record ajzaʾat al-marʾatu for giving birth to a daughter.
Some commentators discuss it under Al-Zukhruf 43:15 because the following verses concern attributing daughters to The God.
The age and reliability of the supporting witness are nevertheless disputed.
The record therefore does not establish that juzʾ always or primarily meant “daughter” in general Arabic.
The issue requires separate examination under the Al-Zukhruf occurrence.
6. Qur’anic occurrences
Al-Baqarah 2:260: a part of the collection of birds
وَإِذْ قَالَ إِبْرَاهِيمُ رَبِّ أَرِنِي كَيْفَ تُحْيِي الْمَوْتَىٰ ۖ قَالَ أَوَلَمْ تُؤْمِنْ ۖ قَالَ بَلَىٰ وَلَٰكِن لِّيَطْمَئِنَّ قَلْبِي ۖ قَالَ فَخُذْ أَرْبَعَةً مِّنَ الطَّيْرِ فَصُرْهُنَّ إِلَيْكَ ثُمَّ اجْعَلْ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ جَبَلٍ مِّنْهُنَّ جُزْءًا ثُمَّ ادْعُهُنَّ يَأْتِينَكَ سَعْيًا ۚ وَاعْلَمْ أَنَّ اللَّهَ عَزِيزٌ حَكِيمٌ
wa-idh qāla Ibrāhīmu rabbi arinī kayfa tuḥyī al-mawtā qāla a-wa-lam tuʾmin qāla balā wa-lākin li-yaṭmaʾinna qalbī qāla fa-khudh arbaʿatan mina al-ṭayri fa-ṣurhunna ilayka thumma ijʿal ʿalā kulli jabalin minhunna juzʾan thumma udʿuhunna yaʾtīnaka saʿyan wa-iʿlam anna Allāha ʿazīzun ḥakīm
Proposed translation based on this study: “When Abraham said: My Lord, show me how You give life to the dead. He said: Have you not believed? He said: Yes, but so that my heart may be reassured. He said: Take four birds and turn them toward yourself; then place a part of them on each mountain. Then call them, and they will come swiftly to you. Know that The God is Mighty, Wise.”
Abraham asks how the dead are brought to life and receives instructions concerning four birds.
Juzʾan in minhunna juzʾan denotes a part of that collection.
Minhunna identifies the part’s relationship to its referent. The feminine plural pronoun refers back to the birds, identifying the portion placed on a mountain as belonging to them.
This accords with juzʾ’s established Arabic meaning.
Does juzʾ necessarily mean a severed piece?
The familiar interpretation is that the four birds were to be killed and cut up, with their parts distributed over mountains.
This reading is established in the exegetical tradition and relates to resurrection. Lexical study should nevertheless distinguish the noun from the details of that interpretation.
Juzʾ means a part. It can be a piece separated from a body, but does not itself express killing, cutting, or mixing pieces.
Fa-ṣurhunna occurs before the instruction to distribute parts. Lexical and exegetical sources record different readings of that verb, including inclining or gathering and cutting or separating.
Assessing that disagreement requires independent study of the verb’s own root and structure.
Defining juzʾ in advance as “a piece of a killed bird’s body” merely to establish one reading of the preceding verb is unwarranted.
Conversely, the possibility of an uncut part of a collection does not prove that no cutting occurred in this verse.
Juzʾ’s lexical meaning is clear; the preparation of the birds is a separate question.
The part and the birds’ number
The verse names four birds and then instructs that a part of them be placed on every mountain.
Juzʾ has no fixed numerical size. A part can be half, a quarter, or another share of a whole.
Four comes from arbaʿatan mina al-ṭayr, rather than J Z ʾ.
Nor does juzʾ itself specify the number of mountains.
For this root study, it is sufficient to identify a part of the collection of birds. Division details and the instructions’ execution require the verse’s whole construction.
Al-Ṭabarī: the birds and explanations of fa-ṣurhunna
Al-Ḥijr 15:44: an apportioned share
لَهَا سَبْعَةُ أَبْوَابٍ لِّكُلِّ بَابٍ مِّنْهُمْ جُزْءٌ مَّقْسُومٌ
lahā sabʿatu abwābin li-kulli bābin minhum juzʾun maqsūm
Proposed translation based on this study: “It has seven gates; for each gate there is an apportioned share of them.”
The verse concerns Hell and those threatened with that destination in the preceding context.
Juzʾun here denotes a section of a group. Unlike Al-Baqarah 2:260, it concerns allocating people in relation to Hell’s gates, rather than parts of a collection of birds.
Minhum identifies the share as belonging to that same group.
Maqsūmun qualifies juzʾun, emphasizing allocation or division.
The verse therefore describes a designated, apportioned share for each gate.
Distinguishing juzʾ from maqsūm
Although juzʾ already concerns a part or share, the adjective maqsūm is also present.
Their combination is meaningful.
Juzʾ names the portion; maqsūm describes its allotted or divided status.
A part can be mentioned without explaining its allocation. Here its division and designation are made explicit.
Juzʾun maqsūmun should therefore not be reduced to “a part” while ignoring the adjective.
Nor does the adjective make J Z ʾ and Q S M synonymous everywhere. One names the portion; the other expresses division as an action or condition.
Does this mean a piece of a human body?
Because juzʾ can denote a physical piece, a reader might imagine the verse describing people’s bodies being cut up.
Minhum and the context instead concern a group of people assigned in relation to Hell’s gates.
A juzʾ can thus comprise people without implying severed bodily members.
“An apportioned share of them” is the direct, defensible meaning.
The word alone specifies neither each group’s size, the exact allocation criteria, nor the gates’ physical arrangement.
Those questions require other evidence, where available.
Al-Zukhruf 43:15: attributing a portion of the servants to The God
وَجَعَلُوا لَهُ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ جُزْءًا ۚ إِنَّ الْإِنسَانَ لَكَفُورٌ مُّبِينٌ
wa-jaʿalū lahu min ʿibādihi juzʾan inna al-insāna la-kafūrun mubīn
Proposed translation based on this study: “They assigned Him a portion from among His servants. The human being is indeed openly ungrateful.”
The context criticizes people who acknowledge The God as Creator yet attribute improper things to Him.
The sentence has several components.
Jaʿalū expresses assigning or attributing; lahu refers to The God; min ʿibādihi identifies the collection from which the portion is taken; juzʾan names the attributed share.
Juzʾ still means a part, but its referent is a group of divine servants attributed to Him, rather than a physically severed object.
The connection with attributing daughters to The God
The following verses of Al-Zukhruf clarify the attribution.
Al-Zukhruf 43:16 discusses attributing daughters to The God while choosing sons for oneself.
Al-Zukhruf 43:17 criticizes people who dislike the birth of a daughter in their own household yet attribute to The God what they reject for themselves.
In Al-Zukhruf 43:19, the Qur’an also discusses assigning female sex to the angels and asks whether those making the claim witnessed their creation.
This context connects juzʾan in verse 15 with their claim about the relationship of some divine servants, particularly the angels, to The God.
That conclusion follows from the subsequent verses, rather than from juzʾ inherently meaning “daughter.”
Did juzʾ mean “daughter” in Arabic?
Some lexicographers and commentators suggest that juzʾ here can mean a daughter, citing ajzaʾat al-marʾatu in support.
Lexical sources record this expression in the sense of giving birth to a daughter.
The familiar poetic witness cited for it, however, has an uncertain historical status:
إِنْ أَجْزَأَتْ حُرَّةٌ يَوْمًا فَلَا عَجَبٌ
قَدْ تُجْزِئُ الْحُرَّةُ الْمِذْكَارُ أَحْيَانًا
in ajzaʾat ḥurratun yawman fa-lā ʿajabun / qad tujziʾu al-ḥurratu al-midhkāru aḥyānan
Translation: “If a free woman bears a daughter one day, there is no surprise: even a woman who usually bears sons sometimes bears a daughter.”
Abū Isḥāq al-Zajjāj explicitly says he does not know whether the verse is ancient or fabricated. Lisān al-ʿArab also reports his failure to find an old, reliable witness for this usage. Al-ʿUbāb additionally transmits Al-Azharī’s stronger verdict, “the first verse is fabricated.” Uncertainty about authenticity should therefore be distinguished from an explicit judgment of fabrication.
Lisān and ʿUbāb: Al-Zajjāj’s uncertainty and Al-Azharī’s verdict
This uncertainty matters fundamentally.
A witness intended to establish the special sense “daughter” cannot provide a certain basis for defining the root when its age and authenticity are themselves disputed.
Moreover, even if ajzaʾat al-marʾatu were established in some Arabic usage as “she bore a daughter,” it would not follow that the noun juzʾ originally or universally meant “daughter.”
The three Qur’anic occurrences do not support that generalization either. In Al-Baqarah 2:260 and Al-Ḥijr 15:44, juzʾ clearly denotes a part or share, without any direct lexical connection to a daughter.
In Al-Zukhruf 43:15, “part” or “share” is thus the basic meaning; attributing daughters or angels to The God is understood from the following context.
Does the verse affirm that the servants are parts of the divine essence?
A claim criticized by the Qur’an must be distinguished from a reality that the Qur’an itself affirms.
The verse says that a group assigned The God a portion from among His servants. It reports that group’s attribution.
This does not establish that the Qur’an affirms parts within the divine essence. The context instead criticizes and condemns their attributions.
Nor does juzʾ alone prove that the criticized claim necessarily concerned a physical piece separated from the divine essence.
The following verses discuss offspring and assigning female sex to angels. This context identifies the subject; philosophical or theological details about the group’s conception require separate evidence.
In a basic translation, “a portion of His servants” or “a share from among His servants” preserves the direct meaning without replacing the Arabic word with an interpretation of the following verses.
7. Parts, shares, and sufficiency in the three Qur’anic occurrences
The three occurrences of juzʾ share a semantic core, while each expresses a different relationship.
In Al-Baqarah 2:260, the part belongs to a collection of birds. The verse concerns placing a portion of that collection on each mountain.
In Al-Ḥijr 15:44, the part belongs to a group of people; maqsūm indicates that the intended share is divided and designated.
In Al-Zukhruf 43:15, a portion from among the divine servants is attributed to The God, in a context criticizing the claim that He has offspring.
In none of these three occurrences does juzʾ directly mean sufficing or making do.
This matters because Ibn Fāris identifies sufficiency as the family’s principle. A lexicographer’s proposed root core should not override the actual meaning of the Qur’anic derivative.
Rendering juzʾ here as “something that suffices” would lose the sense of a part or share and produce unnatural, inaccurate sentences.
Juzʾ in the Qur’an therefore means a part or share. The sufficiency branch matters to the study of Arabic, but should not be imposed on these verses without evidence.
9. Morphology and sentence structure
Juzʾan and juzʾun
In Al-Baqarah 2:260 and Al-Zukhruf 43:15, juzʾan is accusative.
In Al-Baqarah, it is the object of ijʿal. In Al-Zukhruf, juzʾan is likewise an object of jaʿalū; in a two-object analysis, it is the first object, with lahu functioning as the second. Calling juzʾan itself the second object is therefore inaccurate.
Iʿrāb al-Qurʾān: juzʾan as first object in the two-object analysis
In Al-Ḥijr 15:44, juzʾun is nominative, functioning as the delayed subject of a nominal sentence, with the preceding li-kulli bābin as its predicate.
These case differences do not change the root or the word’s basic meaning.
All three are forms of the same noun; their endings differ according to syntactic role.
Variant readings
Recognized Qur’anic readings record differences in the vowel of zāy in juzʾ and in the pronunciation of hamzah.
In the common Ḥafṣ reading, zāy is unvocalized: juzʾ. Some readings have ḍammah on zāy: juzuʾ.
Some reading traditions also ease or substitute the hamzah.
These differences concern vocalization and pronunciation, without changing the basic sense of a part or share.
Phonetic variation therefore does not establish several roots or independent meanings in these verses.
Al-Qurṭubī: variant readings and the shared sense of a portion
The plural ajzāʾ
The familiar plural of juzʾ is ajzāʾ.
Lexical sources use it for the parts of an object or collection.
This plural does not occur in the Qur’an. All three Qur’anic instances are singular, although one concerns a collection of birds and another a group of people.
A singular juzʾ therefore need not be small or comprise only one external entity. A part may itself contain several things.
10. Questions of understanding and translation
Is a juzʾ always a detached piece?
In Persian, juzʾ sometimes evokes a detached piece. Arabic usage, however, also applies it to any part belonging to a collection.
A part may remain attached to a whole, have been separated, or simply be identified as a share of a collection.
“Part” is consequently the more general equivalent; “piece” fits where context establishes cutting or physical separation.
Is a juzʾ always less than half?
Juzʾ contains no fixed numerical measure.
A part may be a small or large share of a collection. Its exact amount is learned from a number, qualifier, or sentence structure.
In Al-Ḥijr 15:44, seven counts Hell’s gates; it does not make juzʾ lexically mean one seventh.
Likewise, four in Al-Baqarah 2:260 counts the birds, rather than defining the word juzʾ.
Rendering it as “one quarter,” “half,” or “a small amount” without evidence is therefore inaccurate.
Is a part always separated from something previously continuous?
With physical objects, a part may arise through dividing a single thing.
A group of people, however, can comprise separate members from the outset. Dividing that collection into portions does not necessarily separate a single body.
In Al-Ḥijr 15:44, people are allocated in groups. Juzʾ concerns those groups’ relationship to the collection, rather than human anatomy.
Does sufficing mean rewarding?
Arabic ajzaʾa and jazā can concern sufficing or discharging something in certain constructions.
The roots must nevertheless remain distinct.
Ijzāʾ in J Z ʾ concerns adequacy and meeting a need. Qur’anic jazāʾ in J Z Y concerns a response to an action, payment, and a corresponding outcome.
Their proximity does not make Qur’anic juzʾ mean reward, punishment, or recompense.
Does juzʾan in Al-Zukhruf 43:15 refer to daughters?
The following context makes clear that the criticized claim attributes daughters and angels to The God.
This contextual sense must be distinguished from the lexical definition of juzʾ.
Replacing “part” directly with “daughter” in a basic translation imports something learned from the subsequent verses, rather than a certain meaning of juzʾ itself.
A reflection can explain that connection; a direct translation should preferably preserve the word and its relationship to min ʿibādihi.
11. Translation proposals for Forqan
The principal Persian equivalent of juzʾ is bakhsh, “part.” Sahm, “share,” also fits certain contexts.
For Al-Baqarah 2:260, juzʾan means “a part.” Minhunna juzʾan can be rendered “a part of them.”
If an independent study of the verse’s verbs establishes that cut pieces are intended, that explanation can enter the verse analysis. Cutting should not be imposed on juzʾ itself.
For Al-Ḥijr 15:44, juzʾun maqsūmun can be rendered “an apportioned part” or “an apportioned share.”
Because each part is assigned to a gate, “share” is also natural and defensible here.
For Al-Zukhruf 43:15, juzʾan means “a part” or “a share.”
Wa-jaʿalū lahu min ʿibādihi juzʾan can be rendered:
“They assigned Him a portion from among His servants.”
This preserves the portion’s relationship to the collection of servants, leaving the attribution of daughters or angels to The God for contextual analysis.
Outside the Qur’an, ajzaʾa means “it sufficed,” “it was adequate,” or “it met the need.” Ijtazaʾa bi-al-shayʾi means “he made do with something.”
Tajziʾah can be rendered “partitioning” or “dividing into parts.”
Mujziʾ means “sufficient” or “adequate,” whereas mujazzaʾ describes something divided into parts.
These morphological and semantic differences must be preserved in translation.
12. Conclusion
J Z ʾ has two main semantic branches in Arabic: parts and shares, and sufficiency and making do.
Juzʾ denotes part of a collection, whether a physical object or something comprising several members or groups. The part may be cut off, allocated as a share, or simply identified as a component.
Ajzaʾa and ijtazaʾa belong to the sufficiency branch, concerning meeting a need or making do with something.
Old Arabic witnesses concerning human and animal food show sufficiency in daily life. Parts and shares are equally clear in Arabic and in the Qur’an itself. The connection between these branches merits examination, but neither should become the sole meaning of every derivative without evidence.
The Qur’an uses the root three times as juzʾ. Al-Baqarah 2:260 concerns part of a collection of birds; Al-Ḥijr 15:44, an apportioned share of a group; and Al-Zukhruf 43:15, a relationship people assign between The God and a portion of His servants.
These occurrences establish the Qur’anic sense as a part or share, rather than sufficiency, reward, a specifically severed piece, or a daughter.
In Al-Zukhruf 43:15, the attribution of daughters and angels to The God emerges from the following context. In Al-Baqarah 2:260, preparing the birds is examined through the other verbs. In Al-Ḥijr 15:44, maqsūm expresses division and designation of the share.
“Part” is therefore the principal, stable equivalent for Forqan; “share” fits where allocation or division is prominent.
The distinction from J Z Y also matters. Juzʾ is part of a whole or collection, while jazāʾ concerns a response to an action, payment, and a corresponding outcome. Overlap in some sufficiency usages does not justify merging the two roots.