The Qur’anic Root L ʿ N

Laʿn before the Qur’an

L ʿ N was not coined in the Qur’an’s religious language. Pre-Islamic poetry attests the expression “أَبَيْتَ اللَّعْنَ” (abayta l-laʿn) in addresses to kings. An-Nābighah adh-Dhubyānī says:

أَتَانِي أَبَيْتَ اللَّعْنَ أَنَّكَ لُمْتَنِي
وَتِلْكَ الَّتِي أَهْتَمُّ مِنْهَا وَأَنْصَبُ

Atānī abayta l-laʿna annaka lumtanī / wa-tilka llatī ahtammu minhā wa-anṣabu.

“It has reached me—may you be beyond reproach—that you have blamed me; that is what troubles and wearies me.”

In this courtly setting, abayta l-laʿn was a respectful expression, something like “May you remain far from what brings a curse.” This usage itself shows that the word was already known before the Qur’an in the field of condemnation and exclusion.

Inscriptional evidence is older still. The funerary inscription of Raqūsh at Ḥijr, known as JSNab 17 and dated to 267 CE, calls upon the “Lord of the World” to curse anyone who violates or wrongfully interferes with the tomb. Its language lies at the boundary between early Arabic and Nabataean Aramaic, and the root L ʿ N itself is recorded in its funerary curse.

This is not the only witness. Safaitic inscriptions from northern Arabia also repeatedly use L ʿ N in prayers asking a deity to curse an aggressor, someone who erases an inscription, or an enemy. One directly asks two deities to “curse” a group who have acted unjustly; others request a curse upon whoever damages the writing.

These witnesses show that before the Qur’an, laʿn was known in northern Arabia both in ordinary language and in religious and prayer language. Its prayer usage also has the same construction later found in the Qur’an: a human being asks a higher power to bring exclusion and condemnation upon another.

Comparatively, L ʿ N differs from roots such as R W Ḥ. Biblical Hebrew chiefly uses other word families for cursing, and does not show a clear, widespread cognate of L ʿ N with this meaning. Aramaic likewise commonly employs other roots for cursing. L ʿ N does occur in Nabataean texts from northern Arabia, but the linguistic evidence even allows it to be considered a borrowing there from Arabic or another northern Arabian language. The safest conclusion is therefore not that L ʿ N is a widely shared root across all Semitic languages. What can be stated with high confidence is its antiquity in the Arabic and northern Arabian environment before the Qur’an.

How does the Qur’an itself clarify the root’s meaning?

One of the strongest pieces of internal evidence occurs in the account of ʿĀd. Hūd 11:60 says: “وَأُتْبِعُوا فِي هَٰذِهِ الدُّنْيَا لَعْنَةً وَيَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ ... أَلَا بُعْدًا لِعَادٍ قَوْمِ هُودٍ” (wa-utbiʿū fī hādhihi d-dunyā laʿnatan wa-yawma l-qiyāmati … alā buʿdan li-ʿādin qawmi Hūd). A curse was made to follow them in this world, and the same verse ends with “أَلَا بُعْدًا لِعَادٍ” (alā buʿdan li-ʿĀd): “Away with ʿĀd.”

Buʿd is not a complete dictionary synonym of laʿn. Nevertheless, the use of laʿnah and buʿdan for the same people in one verse demonstrates the connection between laʿn and distance from within the Qur’an itself.

The account of Iblīs makes this image clearer. Al-Ḥijr 15:34, 15:35 reads: “فَاخْرُجْ مِنْهَا فَإِنَّكَ رَجِيمٌ وَإِنَّ عَلَيْكَ اللَّعْنَةَ إِلَىٰ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ” (fa-khruj minhā fa-innaka rajīmun wa-inna ʿalayka l-laʿnata ilā yawmi d-dīn). First comes the command to leave, then rajīm, and then al-laʿnah. Ṣād 38:77, 38:78 repeats the same sequence with “لَعْنَتِي” (laʿnatī, “My curse”). In such a context, laʿn is not a verbal insult: it accompanies being driven out and placed in a state of exclusion.

An-Nisāʾ 4:52 shows another consequence: “وَمَنْ يَلْعَنِ اللَّهُ فَلَنْ تَجِدَ لَهُ نَصِيرًا” (wa-man yalʿani llāhu fa-lan tajida lahu naṣīrā). Whoever The God curses, you will find no helper for him. Here distancing accompanies the loss of support and help.

From this network, laʿn in the Qur’an can be understood as placing someone or something in a state of distance and exclusion. Whether that distance is from mercy, help, acceptance, or some other position is determined by each verse’s context.

Laʿn by The God and human laʿn do not operate on the same level

Al-Baqarah 2:88 reads: “بَلْ لَعَنَهُمُ اللَّهُ بِكُفْرِهِمْ” (bal laʿanahumu llāhu bi-kufrihim). “The God cursed them” is imprecise if “cursing” is understood as merely speaking or wishing harm. The God does not ask another power to cast them out; the action is attributed to Him Himself.

Al-Māʾidah 5:13 places the same meaning in a chain of cause and consequence: “فَبِمَا نَقْضِهِمْ مِيثَاقَهُمْ لَعَنَّاهُمْ وَجَعَلْنَا قُلُوبَهُمْ قَاسِيَةً” (fa-bi-mā naqḍihim mīthāqahum laʿannāhum wa-jaʿalnā qulūbahum qāsiyah): because they broke their covenant, We cursed them and made their hearts hard. Laʿn here is an actual deed in response to prior conduct.

The construction differs when human beings curse one another. Al-Aʿrāf 7:38 says: “كُلَّمَا دَخَلَتْ أُمَّةٌ لَعَنَتْ أُخْتَهَا” (kullamā dakhalat ummatun laʿanat ukhtahā): whenever a community enters, it curses its fellow community. Al-ʿAnkabūt 29:25 likewise says: “وَيَلْعَنُ بَعْضُكُمْ بَعْضًا” (wa-yalʿanu baʿḍukum baʿḍā). These people do not themselves possess the power to remove another from the mercy of The God; their laʿn is a declaration of condemnation and repudiation, and a wish for another’s exclusion.

This aspect is clearer in Al-Aḥzāb 33:68: “رَبَّنَا آتِهِمْ ضِعْفَيْنِ مِنَ الْعَذَابِ وَالْعَنْهُمْ لَعْنًا كَبِيرًا” (rabbanā ātihim ḍiʿfayni mina l-ʿadhābi wa-lʿanhum laʿnan kabīrā). The speakers ask their Lord to bring laʿn upon others.

In An-Nūr 24:7, too, the man declares “أَنَّ لَعْنَتَ اللَّهِ عَلَيْهِ إِنْ كَانَ مِنَ الْكَاذِبِينَ” (anna laʿnata llāhi ʿalayhi in kāna mina l-kādhibīn): the curse of The God is to be upon himself if he is lying. Āl ʿImrān 3:61 likewise says in the mutual invocation of a curse, mubāhalah: “فَنَجْعَلْ لَعْنَتَ اللَّهِ عَلَى الْكَاذِبِينَ” (fa-najʿal laʿnata llāhi ʿalā l-kādhibīn). Again, the human being attributes the realization of laʿn to The God.

We can preserve this distinction without constructing two separate definitions: the core in both is exclusion and distance. Divine laʿn is the realization and judgment of that exclusion, whereas a creature’s laʿn is usually its declaration, request, or invocation upon another.

Al-Māʾidah 5:78 also bridges these two levels: “لُعِنَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ عَلَىٰ لِسَانِ دَاوُودَ وَعِيسَى ابْنِ مَرْيَمَ” (luʿina lladhīna kafarū min banī isrāʾīla ʿalā lisāni dāwūda wa-ʿīsā bni maryam). Laʿn is expressed “on the tongue” of David and Jesus: condemnation and exclusion can be announced through the speech of Prophets. The reason is given later in the verse as “بِمَا عَصَوْا وَكَانُوا يَعْتَدُونَ” (bi-mā ʿaṣaw wa-kānū yaʿtadūn), because they disobeyed and used to transgress.

Ghaḍab, ʿadhāb, and sabb do not replace laʿn

The Qur’an itself prevents treating laʿn as synonymous with several nearby terms.

Concerning intentional killing, An-Nisāʾ 4:93 says: “وَغَضِبَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَلَعَنَهُ وَأَعَدَّ لَهُ عَذَابًا عَظِيمًا” (wa-ghaḍiba llāhu ʿalayhi wa-laʿanahu wa-aʿadda lahu ʿadhāban ʿaẓīmā). Wrath, laʿn, and punishment are mentioned separately in a single sentence. Al-Fatḥ 48:6 has the same sequence: “وَغَضِبَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَعَنَهُمْ وَأَعَدَّ لَهُمْ جَهَنَّمَ” (wa-ghaḍiba llāhu ʿalayhim wa-laʿanahum wa-aʿadda lahum jahannam). Al-Māʾidah 5:60 likewise says “مَنْ لَعَنَهُ اللَّهُ وَغَضِبَ عَلَيْهِ” (man laʿanahu llāhu wa-ghaḍiba ʿalayh).

Laʿn is therefore not identical with wrath. Punishment, too, is not laʿn itself; it may be among the consequences of the condition accompanying laʿn. Al-Aḥzāb 33:68 even asks for “ضِعْفَيْنِ مِنَ الْعَذَابِ” (ḍiʿfayni mina l-ʿadhāb), a double share of punishment, on the one hand, and “وَالْعَنْهُمْ” (wa-lʿanhum), “and curse them,” on the other.

Sabb belongs to another family. Al-Anʿām 6:108 says: “وَلَا تَسُبُّوا الَّذِينَ يَدْعُونَ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ” (wa-lā tasubbū lladhīna yadʿūna min dūni llāh). Sabb concerns verbal insult and abuse. In human speech, laʿn may accompany abusive language, but fundamentally it requests or declares exclusion, rather than merely insulting.

For this reason, “insulting,” “being wrathful,” “punishing,” and “cursing” should not be reduced in translation to one indistinct field.

Laʿn is not an irreversible condition for every living person

Concerning those who conceal clear proofs and guidance, Al-Baqarah 2:159 says: “أُولَٰئِكَ يَلْعَنُهُمُ اللَّهُ وَيَلْعَنُهُمُ اللَّاعِنُونَ” (ulāʾika yalʿanuhumu llāhu wa-yalʿanuhumu l-lāʿinūn). The next verse immediately makes an exception: “إِلَّا الَّذِينَ تَابُوا وَأَصْلَحُوا وَبَيَّنُوا فَأُولَٰئِكَ أَتُوبُ عَلَيْهِمْ” (illā lladhīna tābū wa-aṣlaḥū wa-bayyanū fa-ulāʾika atūbu ʿalayhim), except those who repent, make amends, and make clear; to those I turn in acceptance (Al-Baqarah 2:160).

This sequence is crucial. The very people placed under laʿn in the preceding verse can turn back from that course through repentance, making amends, and revealing what they had concealed.

Āl ʿImrān 3:87 also speaks of “لَعْنَةَ اللَّهِ وَالْمَلَائِكَةِ وَالنَّاسِ أَجْمَعِينَ” (laʿnata llāhi wa-l-malāʾikati wa-n-nāsi ajmaʿīn), and two verses later adds “إِلَّا الَّذِينَ تَابُوا مِنْ بَعْدِ ذَٰلِكَ وَأَصْلَحُوا” (illā lladhīna tābū min baʿdi dhālika wa-aṣlaḥū), except those who repent after that and make amends.

Al-Baqarah 2:161 draws another boundary: “إِنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا وَمَاتُوا وَهُمْ كُفَّارٌ أُولَٰئِكَ عَلَيْهِمْ لَعْنَةُ اللَّهِ وَالْمَلَائِكَةِ وَالنَّاسِ أَجْمَعِينَ” (inna lladhīna kafarū wa-mātū wa-hum kuffārun ulāʾika ʿalayhim laʿnatu llāhi wa-l-malāʾikati wa-n-nāsi ajmaʿīn). Here the qualification “وَمَاتُوا وَهُمْ كُفَّارٌ” (wa-mātū wa-hum kuffār), “and died while disbelievers,” extends the condition until death, and the next verse speaks of enduring punishment.

Consequently, when applied to a living person, malʿūn should not automatically mean someone for whom every path of return is forever closed. The Qur’an itself places repentance and making amends after its mention of laʿn in several instances.

Nor do the verses leave divine laʿn without an ethical cause. Breaking a covenant, concealing guidance, disbelief, disobedience, transgression, intentional killing, corruption, severing bonds, harming the Messenger, and slander are among the actions associated with laʿn in different contexts. This connection prevents every illness, poverty, defeat, or worldly calamity from being treated as a sign of laʿn. The Qur’an does not establish such an equation.

Lāʿin and malʿūn: the agent and the one upon whom exclusion falls

Qur’anic morphology also displays an important distinction.

Lāʿin is an active participle: someone who performs laʿn. Al-Baqarah 2:159 speaks of “اللَّاعِنُون” (al-lāʿinūn), those who themselves curse.

Malʿūn is a passive participle: someone or something upon whom laʿn has been enacted. Al-Aḥzāb 33:61 has “مَلْعُونِينَ” (malʿūnīn), while Al-Isrāʾ 17:60 speaks of “الشَّجَرَةَ الْمَلْعُونَةَ فِي الْقُرْآنِ” (ash-shajarata l-malʿūnata fī l-qurʾān), the accursed tree in the Qur’an.

This construction matters for understanding ash-shajarah al-malʿūnah. Morphologically, malʿūnah does not say that the tree itself has an inward ethical condition; it says that laʿn has been enacted upon it and it has been placed in the position of something accursed.

This usage itself shows that laʿn cannot be defined solely in terms of human psychology or an inward moral decision. A tree, too, can be called malʿūnah. The root’s meaning must be broad enough to account for the exclusion and condemnation of something nonhuman as well.

Precisely what ash-shajarah al-malʿūnah refers to in Al-Isrāʾ is a separate question, which cannot be settled by the root L ʿ N alone.

In Al-Aḥzāb 33:61, too, malʿūnīn describes people whose expulsion and whose presence no longer being tolerated in Medina are discussed in the preceding verses. This association again accords with the root’s field of being driven away.

The challenge of translating laʿn into English

“Curse” is a familiar English rendering of laʿn, but everyday usage can limit it to uttering a curse or wishing harm. This restriction creates serious difficulties in some verses.

Translating “لَعَنَهُمُ اللَّهُ” (laʿanahumu llāh) as “The God cursed them” may suggest that words were merely spoken against them. Qur’anic contexts, however, associate divine laʿn with exclusion, loss of help, and distancing.

“He drove them away,” “He distanced them from His goodness and mercy,” or “He placed them in a state of exclusion” may, depending on the verse, clarify the root’s meaning.

At the same time, adding “from mercy” everywhere should not become a mechanical rule. When two groups curse one another on the Day of Resurrection, they do not possess the power actually to remove one another from the mercy of The God. In such cases, “cursing,” “invoking a curse,” “condemning,” or “requesting another’s exclusion” may be more appropriate, depending on the context.

In An-Nūr 24:7 and Āl ʿImrān 3:61, it is preferable to preserve the construction “the curse of The God upon …” because the text specifically concerns invoking laʿnat Allāh upon a liar.

Translation must therefore take the agent seriously. The same root retains its core of exclusion throughout, but the way that exclusion is realized changes with the agent and the sentence’s construction.

Summary

L ʿ N is fundamentally a root for distancing and driving away. This meaning is visible in early Arabic, pre-Islamic poetry, northern Arabian inscriptions, and the Qur’an’s own network of usage. The Raqūsh inscription of 267 CE and Safaitic prayers show that even before the Qur’an, a deity was asked to enact laʿn upon an aggressor or violator.

Semitic comparison also calls for caution. Unlike certain other roots, there is no clear evidence that L ʿ N, with this meaning of cursing and exclusion, was a widely shared root in Hebrew and Aramaic. Its presence in Nabataean from northern Arabia may even reflect contact with Arabic or northern Arabian languages. The root’s antiquity in the Arabic environment is clear; extending it into a general Semitic root requires further evidence.

The Qur’an itself confirms the root’s core through clear images. ʿĀd is followed by laʿnah and is also associated with buʿdan; Iblīs is driven out and then placed under a curse; someone whom The God has cursed finds no naṣīr, or helper. In this network, laʿn is more than a verbal curse and is connected with being placed at a distance and excluded.

The agent determines how this exclusion is realized. Laʿn by The God is His judgment and deed; human laʿn usually declares repudiation or condemnation, or requests that exclusion befall another. This distinction makes “curse” an adequate equivalent only in certain usages.

The Qur’an does not equate laʿn with ghaḍab, ʿadhāb, or sabb. Each has its own root and independent image. Nor does laʿn necessarily end the possibility of return for a living person: Al-Baqarah and Āl ʿImrān explicitly make exceptions for repentance and making amends after mentioning it.

Lāʿin and malʿūn also clarify this construction morphologically. A lāʿin is one who curses; malʿūn is someone or something upon whom laʿn has fallen. Accordingly, even a shajarah, a tree, can be malʿūnah, without restricting the root to an inward ethical condition of a human being.

A cautious conclusion for this root is:

L ʿ N: a family centered on driving away, distancing, and placing in a state of exclusion. Laʿn by The God realizes this judgment; a creature’s laʿn may declare, invoke, or request that same exclusion. Distance from mercy is one of the principal expressions of divine laʿn, but it should not constrain the word’s definition so narrowly that other Qur’anic usages fall outside its semantic range.