Qur'anic Root L W N

1. Introduction to the Root and Its Semantic Field

The root L W N in Arabic indicates a quality known through sight, a quality by which one thing is distinguished from other things. Blackness, whiteness, redness, and yellowness are examples of lawn.

In early definitions, lawn was understood, on one side, as “visible form and appearance,” and on the other side, as “that by which a thing is separated and distinguished from what is other than it.” From this second meaning, the word lawn also expanded at times to mean “kind, type, and class,” because difference in color is one of the clearest ways of recognizing different kinds and states of things.

Therefore the semantic field of this root has two close levels:

• Color in the direct sense: a visible quality such as white, red, black, and yellow;

• Color in the broader sense: an appearance, kind, or state that distinguishes one thing from another.

Both levels are also seen in Qur’anic usage. In the description of the cow, honey, mountains, and human beings, visible color is prominent. In expressions such as mukhtalifan alwanuhu about the creatures of the earth and cultivated fields, “colors” can include both differences of outward colors and the diversity of their kinds and visible forms.

The root L W N appears nine times in the Qur’an. All its occurrences are from the noun lawn: twice in the singular and seven times in the plural alwan. No verb from this root appears in the Qur’an.

2. Important Forms and Derivatives

The Qur’anic forms of the root are these:

• لَوْن, twice: the color of a thing; both times in Al-Baqarah 2:69 about the color of the cow.

• أَلْوَان, seven times: colors, different appearances, or kinds that are distinguished from one another by their appearance and color.

Forms such as لَوَّنَ, meaning “he colored,” تَلَوَّنَ, meaning “it changed color or state,” مُلَوَّن, meaning “colored,” and تَلْوِين, meaning “coloring or change of color,” are known in Arabic, but they do not appear in the Qur’an.

The word mutalawwin in human usage can be said of someone who does not remain fixed upon one state or character and keeps changing behavior or position. This metaphorical expansion also has no Qur’anic form.

4. The Semantic Core of the Root

The semantic core of L W N may be defined as follows:

The visible quality or appearance of a thing that makes it manifest in observation and distinguishes it from other things.

Color is not merely an added covering upon a thing. In Qur’anic usage, color can be part of the natural structure and a sign of the type, stage, or characteristic of that thing. The color of fruit, honey, a mountain, an animal, human skin, and a cultivated field each gives information about the structure, composition, or state of that phenomenon.

From here, the expansion of lawn to “type and class” becomes understandable. When things appear before the eye with different visible forms, color can become a sign of difference in type, genus, state, or stage. In language as well, “alwan” is sometimes used for different kinds of a thing, even if their difference is not limited only to outward color.

Even so, in the Qur’an the sensory meaning of color remains very strong. Explicit mention of yellow, white, red, and black shows that lawn is not an abstract concept separated from observation; it is a quality that the eye recognizes on the surface or appearance of things.

5. The Sensible Image of the Root

The basic image of this root is a surface or body that appears to the eye with a visible quality. Through difference in brightness, darkness, and color, the eye recognizes objects and their different parts from one another.

In older language it was said:

لَوْنُ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ مَا فَصَلَ بَيْنَهُ وَبَيْنَ غَيْرِهِ

The color of every thing is what separates it from what is other than it.

This definition shows that color in linguistic experience is not only the name of redness or yellowness; it is one of the main tools of recognition and distinction. When the color of a fruit changes, the stage of its ripening may become visible. When a cultivated field loses its greenness and becomes yellow, a change in its condition becomes observable. The difference of colors in mountains also makes their layers and different structures visible before the eye.

In Arabic, the change of fruit color when it approaches ripeness was also expressed with the verb lawwana. In this usage, color is not merely external decoration; it is a sign of inner transformation and entry into a new stage.

6. Use of the Root in Early Arabic

Lawn in early Arabic was used for qualities such as whiteness, blackness, redness, and yellowness. Its plural was alwan.

The word alwan also carried the meaning of “kinds and classes.” It could be said that these are different alwan of food, fruit, or goods; that is, kinds known from one another through different attributes and appearances.

Lawwantu ash-shay' means “I gave the thing color,” and talawwana means “its color or state changed.” This change could be material, such as the change of a fruit’s color, or metaphorical, such as a person who does not remain steady in one state and behavior.

In usages connected with dates, the beginning of the fruit’s change of color was a sign of gradual ripening. The fruit could first become yellow, then red, and then dark. This usage shows that color, besides distinguishing between different things, can also reveal the staged change of one single thing.

Historically, lawn was also used for a kind of date or a group of palms. This specialized usage is not present in the Qur’an and is separate from the Qur’anic meaning of colors.

7. The General Structure of Qur'anic Usage

The nine usages of this root occur in seven verses. The two singular usages are in one verse, Al-Baqarah 2:69. The other seven usages are in the plural form alwan.

One prominent feature of Qur’anic usage is that alwan is often accompanied by the concept of difference:

• مُخْتَلِفًا أَلْوَانُهُ

• مُخْتَلِفٌ أَلْوَانُهُ

• اخْتِلَافُ أَلْسِنَتِكُمْ وَأَلْوَانِكُمْ

• مُخْتَلِفًا أَلْوَانُهَا

• مُخْتَلِفٌ أَلْوَانُهَا

In these structures, color is not the main subject in isolation; the diversity of colors is what is being emphasized. This difference is seen in the creatures of the earth, the drink of the bee, human beings, fruits, mountains, animals, and cultivated fields.

The singular form lawn in the verse of the cow is used to determine one specific feature. The plural alwan, however, more often expresses diversity and difference in the living and non-living world.

8. Lawn: The Specific Color of the Cow

Al-Baqarah 2:69

قَالُوا ادْعُ لَنَا رَبَّكَ يُبَيِّنْ لَنَا مَا لَوْنُهَا

They said: Call upon your Lord for us, that He make clear to us what its color is.

Al-Baqarah 2:69

قَالَ إِنَّهُ يَقُولُ إِنَّهَا بَقَرَةٌ صَفْرَاءُ فَاقِعٌ لَوْنُهَا تَسُرُّ النَّاظِرِينَ

He said: He says that it is a yellow cow, whose color is vivid and intense, pleasing those who look.

In the question ma lawnuha, the pronoun ha returns to the cow. The aim is to determine the visible appearance by which the intended cow is distinguished from other cows.

The answer is built from two parts:

• صَفْرَاء: yellow;

• فَاقِعٌ لَوْنُهَا: its color is intense, bright, and manifest.

Faqiʿ, when describing yellowness, indicates a strong and visible color, not pale or faint yellow. The continuation of the verse, tasurru an-nazirin, states the visual effect of this color: seeing it is pleasing to those who look.

In this verse lawn has a direct and sensory meaning. Color is one of the necessary features for identifying the cow, just as in the previous verse its age had been determined by farid, bikr, and ʿawan.

9. Alwan in Things Spread Out on the Earth

An-Nahl 16:13

وَمَا ذَرَأَ لَكُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ مُخْتَلِفًا أَلْوَانُهُ إِنَّ فِي ذَٰلِكَ لَآيَةً لِقَوْمٍ يَذَّكَّرُونَ

And what He has brought forth and spread out for you in the earth, with its colors and kinds differing; surely in that is a sign for a people who remember.

An-Nahl 16:13

The pronoun hu in alwanuhu returns to ma dhara'a lakum fi al-ard: the collection of things brought forth and spread out in the earth. This expression can include animals, plants, trees, and fruits.

In this verse, alwan can carry both meanings of “colors” and “kinds.” The creatures of the earth differ in outward color, and these outward differences are often joined with difference in type, structure, and characteristic.

The singular ma and then the singular pronoun hu treat a broad collection as one whole. Within this collection, alwan comes in the plural and expresses the diversity of its parts.

The translation “with varied colors” preserves the sensory meaning of the word. Adding “and different kinds” can clarify the lexical range, but in the base translation color should not be removed, because this same root is used in nearby verses about honey, mountains, people, and animals in a visible sense.

10. Alwan of the Drink of the Bee

An-Nahl 16:69

يَخْرُجُ مِنْ بُطُونِهَا شَرَابٌ مُخْتَلِفٌ أَلْوَانُهُ فِيهِ شِفَاءٌ لِلنَّاسِ

From their bellies comes out a drink whose colors differ; in it there is healing for people.

An-Nahl 16:69

Sharab is singular, while alwanuhu is plural. The substance that comes out from the bees is one known category of drink, but its examples have different colors.

The color of honey can vary from light to dark and from yellow to reddish or brown. The verse does not explain the natural cause of this difference; the direct subject is the observed difference of color in a product that comes out from bees.

In this verse the visible meaning of alwan is clear. At the same time, difference of color can be a sign of difference in plant source, composition, or kind of drink. Therefore the meaning of “kind” is present in the background, but it is known through outward color.

The phrase fihi shifa'un lin-nas comes after the description of difference in color. Fihi states that a healing property exists in that drink, but from alwan itself one cannot conclude that every color has a separate healing property. The explicit relation of the verse is established between the drink and healing.

11. Alwan of Human Beings

Ar-Rum 30:22

وَمِنْ آيَاتِهِ خَلْقُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَاخْتِلَافُ أَلْسِنَتِكُمْ وَأَلْوَانِكُمْ إِنَّ فِي ذَٰلِكَ لَآيَاتٍ لِلْعَالِمِينَ

And among His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the difference of your tongues and your colors; surely in that are signs for those who know.

Ar-Rum 30:22

Alwanikum points to visible differences among human beings. Its clearest instance is the color of skin and face, but the visible appearance of the human being can include other differences known through sight as well.

Colors in this verse come beside alsinatikum. Tongues show the auditory and communicative differences of human beings, and colors show their visible differences. Both are placed within the structure of ikhtilaf.

The word alwan here is not the name of racial groups or fixed classifications of human beings. The verse speaks about the wide difference of human appearances and places this difference among the signs of creation.

Attributing this difference to the signs of The God presents the diversity of human colors as part of the structure of creation, not as a deviation from one standard color.

12. Alwan of Fruits and Mountains

Fatir 35:27

أَلَمْ تَرَ أَنَّ اللَّهَ أَنْزَلَ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ مَاءً فَأَخْرَجْنَا بِهِ ثَمَرَاتٍ مُخْتَلِفًا أَلْوَانُهَا

Have you not seen that The God sent down water from the sky, and through it We brought forth fruits whose colors differ?

Fatir 35:27

Fruits come into being through water, but they do not have one identical color. The difference of fruit colors can be joined with difference in kind, stage of ripening, and structure.

In this verse, alwan is both a sensory quality and a sign of the diversity of fruits. Fruits are not only different in name; this difference is also observable in their appearance and color.

The continuation of the verse moves the field of color from living things to the structure of mountains:

وَمِنَ الْجِبَالِ جُدَدٌ بِيضٌ وَحُمْرٌ مُخْتَلِفٌ أَلْوَانُهَا وَغَرَابِيبُ سُودٌ

And among the mountains are streaks, white and red, whose colors differ, and intensely black ones.

Judad points to paths, streaks, or visible bands in mountains. These streaks are white and red, but whiteness and redness themselves also have different degrees and appearances. Then gharabib sud speaks of intense blackness.

In this part, alwan has a fully visible meaning, and the general colors are named with specific words:

• بيض: whites;

• حمر: reds;

• سود: blacks.

Mukhtalifun alwanuha shows that each of these general names can have different ranges and degrees. “White” and “red” are not only one fixed form; inside each general name there are observable differences.

13. Alwan of People, Moving Creatures, and Cattle

Fatir 35:28

وَمِنَ النَّاسِ وَالدَّوَابِّ وَالْأَنْعَامِ مُخْتَلِفٌ أَلْوَانُهُ كَذَٰلِكَ

And among people, moving creatures, and cattle, likewise there are different colors.

Fatir 35:28

This verse shows diversity of color in three groups:

• human beings;

• moving creatures;

• cattle.

Kadhalik connects this difference to the examples in the previous verse: just as fruits and mountains have different colors, human beings and animals also appear with varied forms.

The singular pronoun in alwanuhu returns to the mentioned collection as one whole. Color here is not the feature of one particular individual; it is diversity seen in broad groups of creatures.

Placing the human being beside other living creatures shows color as one of the natural features of living bodies. Difference of color in each group is connected with the structure of creation, type, heredity, and environment of those creatures, but the verse does not enter into explaining the natural mechanism of this difference.

14. Alwan of Cultivated Fields and Change of Stage

Az-Zumar 39:21

أَلَمْ تَرَ أَنَّ اللَّهَ أَنْزَلَ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ مَاءً فَسَلَكَهُ يَنَابِيعَ فِي الْأَرْضِ ثُمَّ يُخْرِجُ بِهِ زَرْعًا مُخْتَلِفًا أَلْوَانُهُ ثُمَّ يَهِيجُ فَتَرَاهُ مُصْفَرًّا ثُمَّ يَجْعَلُهُ حُطَامًا

Have you not seen that The God sent down water from the sky, then He threaded it as springs and channels in the earth; then through it He brings forth cultivated growth with differing colors and kinds; then it dries up, so you see it yellowed, and then He makes it broken debris?

Az-Zumar 39:21

Mukhtalifan alwanuhu about cultivated growth can include two levels at the same time:

• different plants and crops that have different colors and appearances;

• one cultivated field that takes on different colors in different stages of growth.

The continuation of the verse speaks specifically of change in color:

فَتَرَاهُ مُصْفَرًّا

So you see it yellowed.

Color in this verse is a sign of the temporal and biological state of the plant. Greenness and freshness show one stage, and yellowing announces drying and nearness to collapse.

For this reason lawn in this usage is not merely a decorative attribute. Color gives the viewer visible information about the condition and stage of a living thing. The eye recognizes the transformation of the cultivated field through change in color.

15. Morphological and Structural Notes

All Qur’anic usages of this root are nouns. The verbs lawwana and talawwana do not appear in the Qur’an.

Singular Form

In Al-Baqarah 2:69, lawn appears both times with a feminine pronoun:

مَا لَوْنُهَا فَاقِعٌ لَوْنُهَا

In both structures, lawnuha means “the color of that cow.” In the first sentence it is the subject of the question, and in the second sentence it is the bearer of the description faqiʿ.

Plural Form

The plural of lawn appears as alwan. This plural in all its Qur’anic uses is connected to a pronoun or addressee:

• أَلْوَانُهُ

• أَلْوَانُهَا

• أَلْوَانِكُمْ

This structure shows that color is always the color of something or someone. In the Qur’an, the word does not come as a detached concept without an owner.

The Relation of Mukhtalif and Alwan

In most cases, alwan is the subject or a dependent part connected with the adjective mukhtalif:

مُخْتَلِفٌ أَلْوَانُهُ مُخْتَلِفًا أَلْوَانُهَا

The meaning is that its colors differ. The singular or plural form of mukhtalif agrees with the referent that introduces the collection possessing the colors, while alwan expresses the inner differences within that collection.

In Ar-Rum 30:22, instead of the adjective mukhtalif, the verbal noun ikhtilaf appears:

اخْتِلَافُ أَلْسِنَتِكُمْ وَأَلْوَانِكُمْ

In this structure, the difference of languages and colors itself is presented as one of the signs.

16. Comparison with Nearby Words and Roots

L W N and Ṣ B Gh: Color and Coloring

Lawn expresses the visible quality and resulting appearance. Ṣabgh is closer to dipping, coloring, or an effect that color leaves on something.

A thing can have natural color without having been colored by a substance. Therefore not every lawn is the result of human ṣabgh. The color of fruit, skin, mountain, and animal in the Qur’an is part of their natural structure.

Ṣibghah can also point to a penetrating and identity-forming effect, while lawn in Qur’anic usage is mostly what is recognized through seeing.

L W N and Kh L F: Color and Difference

Lawn is the visible quality itself, while ikhtilaf expresses the relation between two or more qualities. A thing can have color even if there is no other color present for comparison; but “difference of colors” has meaning when several appearances stand before one another.

The repeated pairing of alwan with mukhtalif shows that the Qur’an often considers color in the form of diversity and distinction, not as an isolated quality.

Lawn and Kind

In early Arabic lawn could also be used in the meaning of kind and class. The link between these two meanings is distinction: kinds are separated from one another by features, and color is one of the clearest of these features.

In An-Nahl 16:13 and Az-Zumar 39:21, both meanings can be present. The creatures of the earth and cultivated fields differ both in color and in kind. By contrast, in the description of the cow, honey, and the streaks of mountains, the sensory meaning of color is more prominent.

Lawn and Specific Color Names

Lawn is the general name for visible quality. The roots B Y Ḍ, S W D, Ḥ M R, and Ṣ F R express specific colors.

In Fatir 35:27, the specific names and the general word come together:

بِيضٌ وَحُمْرٌ مُخْتَلِفٌ أَلْوَانُهَا وَغَرَابِيبُ سُودٌ

White, red, and black are general color categories, and mukhtalifun alwanuha expresses the differences that exist inside these categories.

Lawn and Form or Shape

Color and shape are both known through seeing, but they are not the same. Shape concerns boundaries, structure, and the arrangement of a thing’s parts; color concerns the visible quality of its surface or appearance.

In some broader usages, alwan can include kinds that differ both in color and in form. Even so, the base meaning of the root remains color and visible appearance.

17. Translation Suggestions for Forqan

• مَا لَوْنُهَا: “What is its color?”

• فَاقِعٌ لَوْنُهَا: “its color is vivid and intense.”

• مُخْتَلِفًا أَلْوَانُهُ about the creatures of the earth: “with different colors and kinds.”

• شَرَابٌ مُخْتَلِفٌ أَلْوَانُهُ: “a drink with varied colors.”

• اخْتِلَافُ أَلْسِنَتِكُمْ وَأَلْوَانِكُمْ: “the difference of your languages and your colors.”

• ثَمَرَاتٍ مُخْتَلِفًا أَلْوَانُهَا: “fruits with varied colors.”

• جُدَدٌ بِيضٌ وَحُمْرٌ مُخْتَلِفٌ أَلْوَانُهَا: “white and red streaks with different colors.”

• مِنَ النَّاسِ وَالدَّوَابِّ وَالْأَنْعَامِ مُخْتَلِفٌ أَلْوَانُهُ: “among people, moving creatures, and cattle as well, there are different colors.”

• زَرْعًا مُخْتَلِفًا أَلْوَانُهُ: “cultivated growth with different colors and kinds.”

“Color” is the base and direct equivalent of lawn. In contexts where a collection of creatures or crops is the subject of the verse, “kind and appearance” may be added in explanation, because alwan in Arabic also has the capacity to indicate classes.

18. Conclusion

The root L W N in the Qur’an indicates color and visible appearance: a quality that makes something manifest in observation and distinguishes it from other things. From this meaning of distinction, the word expanded to the concept of kind, type, and class as well.

This root appears nine times and only in nominal form. Lawn appears twice about the specific color of the cow, and alwan appears seven times about the diversity of the creatures of the earth, honey, human beings, fruits, mountains, animals, and cultivated fields.

In Al-Baqarah 2:69, color is a feature for identifying a particular cow. In An-Nahl 16:13, it shows the diversity of color and kind among the creatures of the earth. In An-Nahl 16:69, it describes the difference of color in the drink of the bee. In Ar-Rum 30:22, the difference of human colors is placed beside the difference of languages. In Fatir 35:27-28, the color of fruits, mountains, people, and animals is seen as one wide system of diversity. In Az-Zumar 39:21, color reveals not only difference among crops, but also the plant’s change of stage from freshness to yellowness and collapse.

The repeated pairing of alwan with ikhtilaf shows that the dominant axis of Qur’anic usage is not merely the existence of color, but the diversity of colors. Color in these verses is both a means of recognition and distinction, and a visible sign of diversity in the structure of creation.

The condensed definition of the root is this:

L W N: the visible quality and appearance of a thing that makes it manifest in observation and distinguishes it from what is other than it; and in broader usage, a kind or state known through this distinction.