The Qur’anic Root M N Y

1. The Root in Pre-Islamic and Classical Arabic

One clear use of this family in early Arabic was to apportion or determine. المَنى (al-manā) denoted destiny and what had been allotted to a person.

Sakhr al-Ghayy, the pre-Islamic poet of Hudhayl, says:

لَعَمْرُ أَبِي عَمْرٍو لَقَدْ سَاقَهُ الْمَنَى
إِلَى جَدَثٍ يُوزَى لَهُ بِالْأَهَاضِبِ

La-ʿamru abī ʿamrin la-qad sāqahu al-manā / ilā jadathin yūzā lahu bi-l-ahāḍibi.

In this verse, المَنى (al-manā) is the destiny that has brought the person to the grave.

In the same field, مَنِيَّة (maniyyah) and its plural مَنَايَا (manāyā) became very common in Arabic poetry for the fate of death and what had been decreed for a person. These forms do not occur in the Qur’an, but they show that Arabic-speaking audiences did not know this word family only in the sense of “wishing.”

Tamannī was also known in the pre-Islamic language for desiring and holding a favorable outcome in mind. In the poetry of ʿUbayd ibn al-Abras, tamannī is used where something is imagined and expected, without the act of imagining alone guaranteeing its realization.

These two branches could draw close in the early language: in apportioning, a measure and an outcome are assigned to something; in tamannī, a person likewise imagines an outcome that has not yet happened. But one determines reality, while the other is a person’s desire or mental image.

Tamannī Meaning Reading and Recitation

In Classical Arabic, tamannī was also used for reading and reciting. Early dictionaries explicitly record the expression تَمَنَّى كتابَ الله (tamannā kitāba Allāh) as meaning “he recited the Book of The God,” and cite poetic evidence for it.

One verse transmitted as evidence reads:

تَمَنَّى كِتَابَ اللَّهِ أَوَّلَ لَيْلِهِ
وَآخِرَهُ لَاقَى حِمَامَ الْمَقَادِرِ

Tamannā kitāba Allāhi awwala laylihi / wa-ākhirahu lāqā ḥimāma al-maqādiri.

That is, the person was reciting the Book of The God.

Another cited example reads:

تَمَنَّى كِتَابَ اللَّهِ آخِرَ لَيْلِهِ
تَمَنِّيَ دَاوُدَ الزَّبُورَ عَلَى رِسْلِ

Tamannā kitāba Allāhi ākhira laylihi / tamanniya Dāwuda al-zabūra ʿalā risli.

That is, he read the Book of The God calmly and steadily, as David recited the Zabur, the Psalms.

Thus تَمَنَّى = قرأ وتلا (tamannā = qaraʾa wa-talā, “read and recited”) is not a meaning invented to resolve a difficult ayah; it is recorded in Classical Arabic.

The precise antiquity of this branch nevertheless requires caution. The explicit examples that dictionaries cite for the meaning of recitation are not clearly from pre-Islamic poetry in the way that Sakhr al-Ghayy’s example is. We can therefore speak confidently of Classical Arabic usage, but should not present it as an established pre-Islamic usage without independent evidence.

To explain the connection between this meaning and tamannī, some lexicographers said that recitation was called “umniyyah” because readers wish mercy for themselves when passing through ayahs of mercy, and wish to be protected when passing through ayahs of punishment. This explanation helps us understand the early lexicographers’ interpretation, but does not establish the word’s historical origin.

2. تَمَنَّى (Tamannā): What a Person Wishes for, Not What Necessarily Happens

One of this root’s clearest ayahs appears in An-Najm:

أَمْ لِلْإِنسَانِ مَا تَمَنَّىٰ

Am li-l-insāni mā tamannā.

Or does a person have everything they wish for?

An-Najm 53:24

And immediately afterward:

فَلِلَّهِ الْآخِرَةُ وَالْأُولَىٰ

Fa-li-llāhi al-ākhiratu wa-l-ūlā.

To The God belong the Hereafter and this world.

An-Najm 53:25

The ayah places a distance between human desire and reality. A person’s wishing something for themselves does not guarantee that it will happen.

The same distance appears in the account of Qarun:

وَأَصْبَحَ الَّذِينَ تَمَنَّوْا مَكَانَهُ بِالْأَمْسِ يَقُولُونَ وَيْكَأَنَّ اللَّهَ يَبْسُطُ الرِّزْقَ لِمَن يَشَاءُ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ وَيَقْدِرُ

Wa-aṣbaḥa alladhīna tamannaw makānahu bi-l-amsi yaqūlūna waykaʾanna Allāha yabsuṭu al-rizqa li-man yashāʾu min ʿibādihi wa-yaqdiru.

And those who had wished for his position the day before began saying in the morning: It seems that The God expands provision for whichever of His servants He wills, and measures it out.

Al-Qasas 28:82

They had seen Qarun’s position from the outside and considered it desirable for themselves. What happened next showed that their tamannī was not based on a full understanding of that situation.

We also read in Al-Imran:

وَلَقَدْ كُنتُمْ تَمَنَّوْنَ الْمَوْتَ مِن قَبْلِ أَن تَلْقَوْهُ فَقَدْ رَأَيْتُمُوهُ وَأَنتُمْ تَنظُرُونَ

Wa-la-qad kuntum tamannawna al-mawta min qabli an talqawhu fa-qad raʾaytumūhu wa-antum tanẓurūna.

You had wished for death before encountering it; now you have seen it while looking on.

Al-Imran 3:143

Here too, tamannī is set against actual experience. Desiring something in the mind is not the same as confronting its reality.

In this branch, therefore, tamannī is neither a decision, a prediction, nor a realization. A person wants something, sees it as desirable for themselves, or imagines its occurrence.

Wishing for Death and the Truthfulness of a Claim

Al-Baqarah states:

قُلْ إِن كَانَتْ لَكُمُ الدَّارُ الْآخِرَةُ عِندَ اللَّهِ خَالِصَةً مِّن دُونِ النَّاسِ فَتَمَنَّوُا الْمَوْتَ إِن كُنتُمْ صَادِقِينَ

Qul in kānat lakumu al-dāru al-ākhiratu ʿinda Allāhi khāliṣatan min dūni al-nāsi fa-tamannaw al-mawta in kuntum ṣādiqīna.

Say: If the abode of the Hereafter with The God is exclusively yours, to the exclusion of other people, then wish for death, if you are truthful.

Al-Baqarah 2:94

It then says:

وَلَن يَتَمَنَّوْهُ أَبَدًا بِمَا قَدَّمَتْ أَيْدِيهِمْ

Wa-lan yatamannawhu abadan bi-mā qaddamat aydīhim.

But they will never wish for it, because of what their hands have sent ahead.

Al-Baqarah 2:95

The same construction recurs in Al-Jumuah 62:6 and 62:7.

In these ayahs, wishing for death is not itself the objective. Tamannī becomes a test of the agreement between a claim and a person’s actual desire.

Wishing for What Another Has

An-Nisa states:

وَلَا تَتَمَنَّوْا مَا فَضَّلَ اللَّهُ بِهِ بَعْضَكُمْ عَلَىٰ بَعْضٍ

Wa-lā tatamannaw mā faḍḍala Allāhu bihi baʿḍakum ʿalā baʿḍin.

Do not wish for that through which The God has favored some of you over others.

An-Nisa 4:32

This ayah should not lead us to conclude that tamannī itself is always blameworthy. The negative direction comes from the object of the wish and the context of the ayah, not from the root alone.

3. يُمَنِّي (Yumannī): Cultivating Wishes in Another’s Mind

The two occurrences of this form in An-Nisa concern Satan:

وَلَأُضِلَّنَّهُمْ وَلَأُمَنِّيَنَّهُمْ

Wa-la-uḍillannahum wa-la-umanniyannahum.

I will certainly lead them astray, and I will certainly stir wishes in them.

An-Nisa 4:119

And:

يَعِدُهُمْ وَيُمَنِّيهِمْ وَمَا يَعِدُهُمُ الشَّيْطَانُ إِلَّا غُرُورًا

Yaʿiduhum wa-yumannīhim wa-mā yaʿiduhumu al-shayṭānu illā ghurūran.

He promises them and cultivates wishes in them; what Satan promises them is nothing but deception.

An-Nisa 4:120

The juxtaposition of يَعِدُهُمْ (yaʿiduhum) and يُمَنِّيهِمْ (yumannīhim) reveals an important difference. A promise offers the prospect of something in the future; tamniyah concerns creating and cultivating the desire for, and expectation of, that outcome in the hearer’s mind.

Another person, too, can construct a desirable image of the future in someone’s mind through promises and the stimulation of desires. In this ayah, that process serves ghurūr, delusion and deception.

4. أَمَانِيّ (Amānī): Wishes, Notions, or Recitations

أُمْنِيَّة (umniyyah) and its plural أَمَانِيّ (amānī) occur six times in the Qur’an. The word does not receive the same translation in all its Qur’anic uses.

In several ayahs, the sense of a wish, a desired conception, or a notion clearly fits the context.

Al-Baqarah states:

وَقَالُوا لَن يَدْخُلَ الْجَنَّةَ إِلَّا مَن كَانَ هُودًا أَوْ نَصَارَىٰ تِلْكَ أَمَانِيُّهُمْ قُلْ هَاتُوا بُرْهَانَكُمْ إِن كُنتُمْ صَادِقِينَ

Wa-qālū lan yadkhula al-jannata illā man kāna hūdan aw naṣārā tilka amāniyyuhum qul hātū burhānakum in kuntum ṣādiqīna.

They said: No one will enter the Garden unless they are Jewish or Christian. Those are their amānī. Say: Bring your proof, if you are truthful.

Al-Baqarah 2:111

Setting أَمَانِيُّهُمْ (amāniyyuhum) against بُرْهَانَكُمْ (burhānakum) shows that something can be a group’s desire or conception without that conception alone being sufficient to establish its truth.

An-Nisa also states:

لَّيْسَ بِأَمَانِيِّكُمْ وَلَا أَمَانِيِّ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ مَن يَعْمَلْ سُوءًا يُجْزَ بِهِ

Laysa bi-amāniyyikum wa-lā amāniyyi ahli al-kitābi man yaʿmal sūʾan yujza bihi.

It is not according to your amānī, nor the amānī of the People of the Book; whoever does evil will be recompensed for it.

An-Nisa 4:123

The outcome is not determined by any group’s wishes.

And in Al-Hadid:

وَغَرَّتْكُمُ الْأَمَانِيُّ حَتَّىٰ جَاءَ أَمْرُ اللَّهِ

Wa-gharratkumu al-amāniyyu ḥattā jāʾa amru Allāhi.

Amānī deceived you until the command of The God came.

Al-Hadid 57:14

In these uses, “wishes,” “notions,” and “desired conceptions” are present in the word’s semantic field.

But the classical use of أُمْنِيَّة (umniyyah) to mean recitation also prevents us from translating every instance of أَمَانِيّ (amānī) in advance simply as “wishes.” Each ayah must be examined separately.

أَمَانِيّ (Amānī) in Al-Baqarah 2:78

Al-Baqarah states:

وَمِنْهُمْ أُمِّيُّونَ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ الْكِتَابَ إِلَّا أَمَانِيَّ وَإِنْ هُمْ إِلَّا يَظُنُّونَ

Wa-minhum ummiyyūna lā yaʿlamūna al-kitāba illā amāniyya wa-in hum illā yaẓunnūna.

Among them are ummiyyūn who do not know the Book except amānī, and they do nothing but conjecture.

Al-Baqarah 2:78

Several meanings have been reported for أَمَانِيّ (amānī) in this ayah from early periods.

One interpretation understands it as wishes, notions, fabricated statements, or conceptions accepted about the Book without knowledge. The ending of the ayah, وَإِنْ هُمْ إِلَّا يَظُنُّونَ (wa-in hum illā yaẓunnūn), strengthens this direction: their position is not one of knowledge, but of conjecture.

Another interpretation, likewise grounded in actual Arabic usage, takes أَمَانِيّ (amānī) here to mean recitations or readings.

This possibility is lexically defensible, since تَمَنَّى الكتاب (tamannā al-kitāb) is recorded in Classical Arabic as meaning to read the Book, and أُمْنِيَّة (umniyyah) as recitation.

On this reading, the contrast within the ayah becomes particularly striking:

لَا يَعْلَمُونَ الْكِتَابَ (lā yaʿlamūna al-kitāb)

They do not know the Book;

but what they have of the Book may have remained at the level of reciting and reading it.

In that case, the ayah distinguishes reading the text from knowing the Book. People can read or repeat the Book’s words without having firm knowledge of its content.

This interpretation is possible within the ayah’s construction and has an old lexical basis, but it is not the only existing interpretation. Some early commentators considered the sense of notions and statements made without knowledge more compatible with the ending, وَإِنْ هُمْ إِلَّا يَظُنُّونَ (wa-in hum illā yaẓunnūn).

It is therefore better to retain both branches when studying the root:

أَمَانِيّ (amānī) in this ayah can refer to recitations without genuine knowledge of the Book, or to notions and conceptions that have taken the place of knowledge of the Book. Both meanings have a history in the language, and the context clarifies their shared center: knowledge of the Book is absent, and something at the level of amānī and conjecture has taken its place.

5. إِذَا تَمَنَّى (Idhā Tamannā) in Al-Hajj 22:52

The usage of recitation is even more prominent in this ayah:

وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا مِن قَبْلِكَ مِن رَّسُولٍ وَلَا نَبِيٍّ إِلَّا إِذَا تَمَنَّىٰ أَلْقَى الشَّيْطَانُ فِي أُمْنِيَّتِهِ فَيَنسَخُ اللَّهُ مَا يُلْقِي الشَّيْطَانُ ثُمَّ يُحْكِمُ اللَّهُ آيَاتِهِ

Wa-mā arsalnā min qablika min rasūlin wa-lā nabiyyin illā idhā tamannā alqā al-shayṭānu fī umniyyatihi fa-yansakhu Allāhu mā yulqī al-shayṭānu thumma yuḥkimu Allāhu āyātihi.

We sent no Messenger or Prophet before you without Satan casting something into his umniyyah when he engaged in tamannī; then The God removes what Satan casts and makes His ayahs firm.

Al-Hajj 22:52

The early exegetical tradition differed over تَمَنَّى (tamannā) in this ayah. Some understood it as wanting and wishing. Others, including reports from Ibn Abbas, Mujahid, and al-Dahhak, interpreted it as speaking, reading, and reciting.

The second meaning is defensible in Arabic independently of the historical narratives surrounding the ayah, since تَمَنَّى (tamannā) meaning recitation is recorded in the classical language.

The ayah’s own construction strengthens this meaning. After تَمَنَّى (tamannā), it speaks of casting something in; what Satan casts is then removed, and finally The God makes His ayahs firm:

فَيَنسَخُ اللَّهُ مَا يُلْقِي الشَّيْطَانُ ثُمَّ يُحْكِمُ اللَّهُ آيَاتِهِ (fa-yansakhu Allāhu mā yulqī al-shayṭānu thumma yuḥkimu Allāhu āyātih)

This continuity led some very early commentators to consider “reciting and reading” more consistent with the ayah’s construction.

On this reading, إِذَا تَمَنَّى (idhā tamannā) can be understood as “when he recited,” and فِي أُمْنِيَّتِهِ (fī umniyyatih) as “in his recitation.”

This particular usage should nevertheless not be extended to every occurrence of تَمَنَّى (tamannā) in the Qur’an. In An-Najm 53:24, Al-Qasas 28:82, Al-Baqarah 2:94, and other ayahs, the meaning of wishing is clear.

Accepting “recitation” in Al-Hajj 22:52 also does not mean accepting any particular historical narrative about the content of what was cast in. The ayah itself names no particular expression, idol, sentence, or event. Those reports lie outside the meaning of the root and should not fill what the ayah leaves unsaid.

6. مَنِيّ (Maniyy) and Its Emission

Another branch of the root concerns human reproduction.

An-Najm states:

وَأَنَّهُ خَلَقَ الزَّوْجَيْنِ الذَّكَرَ وَالْأُنثَىٰ ۝ مِن نُّطْفَةٍ إِذَا تُمْنَىٰ

Wa-annahu khalaqa al-zawjayni al-dhakara wa-l-unthā / min nuṭfatin idhā tumnā.

And that He created the two of the pair, male and female, from a drop when it is emitted.

An-Najm 53:45–46

In Al-Waqiah:

أَفَرَأَيْتُم مَّا تُمْنُونَ ۝ أَأَنتُمْ تَخْلُقُونَهُ أَمْ نَحْنُ الْخَالِقُونَ

A-fa-raʾaytum mā tumnūna / a-antum takhluqūnahu am naḥnu al-khāliqūna.

Have you considered what you emit? Do you create it, or are We the creators?

Al-Waqiah 56:58–59

And in Al-Qiyamah:

أَلَمْ يَكُ نُطْفَةً مِّن مَّنِيٍّ يُمْنَىٰ

A-lam yaku nuṭfatan min maniyyin yumnā.

Was he not a drop of emitted semen?

Al-Qiyamah 75:37

In these ayahs, the meaning is clear and physical. مَنِيّ (maniyy) is reproductive fluid, and its accompanying verbs denote emission.

Early lexicographers also saw a connection between this branch and the meaning of apportioning. To explain the name مَنِيّ (maniyy), Ibn Faris says that the creation of a human being is apportioned from it.

This explanation is valuable for understanding the early lexicographers’ interpretation: the very substance from which a human being comes into existence was seen as the starting point for the measuring and shaping of that person’s creation.

But this explanation should not be made more certain than it can bear. It does not establish that this image was necessarily the historical origin of the name مَنِيّ (maniyy). In translating the Qur’an, the natural meanings remain “semen” and “emitting.”

7. The Distance Between Apportioning and Wishing

The early branch of “apportioning” and the Qur’anic branch of “wishing” draw close at one point, but their difference also matters.

In apportioning, a measure or an outcome is assigned to something. In tamannī, a person desires for themselves, or imagines, an outcome that has not yet happened.

In this respect, both concern the future and a form that has not yet been fully realized. But one determines reality, while the other merely creates a desirable image of the future in the human mind.

The Qur’an repeatedly emphasizes this distance:

أَمْ لِلْإِنسَانِ مَا تَمَنَّىٰ

Am li-l-insāni mā tamannā.

Does a person obtain everything they wish for?

And:

تِلْكَ أَمَانِيُّهُمْ قُلْ هَاتُوا بُرْهَانَكُمْ

Tilka amāniyyuhum qul hātū burhānakum.

Wishing for an outcome does not take the place of proof.

And:

لَّيْسَ بِأَمَانِيِّكُمْ وَلَا أَمَانِيِّ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ

Laysa bi-amāniyyikum wa-lā amāniyyi ahli al-kitābi.

Reality is not determined by the wishes of groups.

And:

وَغَرَّتْكُمُ الْأَمَانِيُّ

Wa-gharratkumu al-amāniyyu.

A wish can even deceive a person about their own situation.

Nevertheless, tamannī itself has no fixed negative value. Its value is determined by its object and context. The problem arises when tamannī takes the place of knowledge, proof, or reality.

8. Comparison with Related Concepts

M N Y (تَمَنَّى, Tamannā) and R J W (رَجَا, Rajā)

Both roots can concern a desired future, but they are not identical.

Tamannī gives greater prominence to the wishing itself and the imagining of a desirable outcome.

Rajāʾ belongs more to the field of expectation and hope.

But we should not draw an absolute boundary by treating every rajāʾ as realistic and every tamannī as imaginary. Their precise difference must be examined through the full range of uses of both roots.

أَمَانِيّ (Amānī) and بُرْهَان (Burhān)

The Qur’an itself places the two side by side in Al-Baqarah 2:111:

تِلْكَ أَمَانِيُّهُمْ قُلْ هَاتُوا بُرْهَانَكُمْ

Tilka amāniyyuhum qul hātū burhānakum.

Amānī expresses what a group imagines or wishes concerning reality; burhān, proof, is what must demonstrate the validity of the claim.

This contrast is one of the Qur’an’s clearest boundaries between mental desire and evidence.

يُمَنِّي (Yumannī) and وَعَدَ (Waʿada)

An-Nisa 4:120 states:

يَعِدُهُمْ وَيُمَنِّيهِمْ

Yaʿiduhum wa-yumannīhim.

A promise offers the prospect of a future event; tamniyah creates and cultivates the desire for, and expectation of, that event in another person’s mind.

Their juxtaposition shows that the two words are not completely synonymous.

Knowledge, Recitation, and Amānī

Al-Baqarah 2:78 raises another distinction:

Knowing the Book is not the same as merely reciting it or holding amānī about it.

This difference does not come from the root M N Y alone, but from the ayah’s complete construction. “Recitation without understanding” should therefore not be treated as the general definition of amānī. In this ayah, however, such a reading is linguistically defensible in light of the word’s classical usage.

9. Challenges in Understanding and Translation

The first point in translation is not to restrict tamannī invariably to “wishing for the impossible.” Impossibility does not follow from the root itself.

Amānī, too, does not always mean only emotional wishes. Depending on context, it can denote a wish, a notion, a desired conception, an unfounded statement, or even recitation.

In Al-Baqarah 2:78 especially, translating أَمَانِيّ (amānī) definitively as “wishes” conceals part of the word’s linguistic history. “Recitation” is a real and old possibility and should be retained in the explanation of the ayah, even though the context of conjecture led some early commentators to prefer notions and statements made without knowledge.

In Al-Hajj 22:52, “recitation” for تَمَنَّى (tamannā) has even greater contextual support and should be taken seriously when examining the ayah. This particular usage should nevertheless not be generalized to other ayahs.

Nor should a story of derivation be invented to explain why tamannī acquired the meaning of recitation. The fact that dictionaries record this usage is itself a datum; its historical origin is a separate question.

The مَنِيّ (maniyy) branch should also retain its own physical meaning. The early explanation connecting it with the apportioning of creation can be discussed lexically, but the basic translation should not become contrived or cumbersome phrasing.

Finally, مَنُون (manūn) should not be placed under M N Y because of its semantic proximity to maniyyah. Distinguishing the actual roots takes precedence over conceptual similarity.

10. Suggested Translations for Forqan

تَمَنَّى / يَتَمَنَّى (tamannā / yatamannā), in clear uses of wishing:
“wished,” “wanted,” “wished inwardly.”

أَمْ لِلْإِنسَانِ مَا تَمَنَّىٰ (am li-l-insāni mā tamannā):
“Or does a person have everything they wish for?”

تَمَنَّوْا مَكَانَهُ (tamannaw makānah):
“They wished for his position.”

وَلَا تَتَمَنَّوْا (wa-lā tatamannaw):
“Do not wish for.”

يُمَنِّيهِمْ (yumannīhim):
“He cultivates wishes in them”;
“He sets them wishing.”

أُمْنِيَّة / أَمَانِيّ (umniyyah / amānī):
Depending on context: “wish,” “notion,” “conception,” “unfounded statement,” or “recitation.”

تِلْكَ أَمَانِيُّهُمْ (tilka amāniyyuhum):
“Those are their wishes and notions.”

لَيْسَ بِأَمَانِيِّكُمْ (laysa bi-amāniyyikum):
“The matter does not depend on your wishes”;
or “The outcome is not determined by your wishes.”

إِلَّا أَمَانِيَّ (illā amāniyya) in Al-Baqarah 2:78:
Two principal possibilities should be retained in the explanation:

“except notions and conceptions about the Book”;

or:

“except recitations / readings of the Book.”

The final choice should be made through a complete analysis of the ayah.

إِذَا تَمَنَّى (idhā tamannā) in Al-Hajj 22:52:
“When he recited” is a serious translation with an old linguistic basis, and it clearly fits the continuation of the ayah.

فِي أُمْنِيَّتِهِ (fī umniyyatih) in the same ayah:
“In his recitation,” if this semantic branch is selected.

مَنِيّ (maniyy):
“Semen.”

تُمْنُونَ (tumnūn):
“You emit.”

إِذَا تُمْنَىٰ / يُمْنَىٰ (idhā tumnā / yumnā):
“When it is emitted”;
“Which is emitted.”

Conclusion

The root M N Y has a history in Arabic broader than the familiar meaning “to wish.” In the early language, one of its branches was connected with apportioning and determining what is allotted to a person or thing. Pre-Islamic poetry also preserves this usage.

In the Qur’an, the largest branch of the root is tamannī and amānī. Tamannī is desiring or holding in mind an outcome that has not yet been realized. The Qur’an repeatedly shows that this mental desire alone does not determine reality.

But the M N Y family has another important branch that should not be overlooked in translation: recitation and reading. Classical Arabic dictionaries explicitly record تَمَنَّى الكتاب (tamannā al-kitāb) as reading and reciting. This meaning is directly relevant to Al-Hajj 22:52, whose construction speaks of casting something in, removing it, and then making the ayahs firm. Reading إِذَا تَمَنَّى (idhā tamannā) as “when he recited” has substantial linguistic and contextual support.

In Al-Baqarah 2:78, the same branch also prevents أَمَانِيّ (amānī) from being restricted to “wishes.” The meaning “recitations” is recorded in the early lexical tradition and can distinguish “reading the Book” from “knowing the Book.” Nevertheless, the meaning of notions and statements made without knowledge also has strong support in early exegesis, and the ayah’s ending, وَإِنْ هُمْ إِلَّا يَظُنُّونَ (wa-in hum illā yaẓunnūn), gives it weight. Both possibilities should therefore be retained when examining the ayah.

Another branch comprises مَنِيّ (maniyy) and the verbs concerning its emission. The Qur’an uses this word in the context of human creation. Early lexicographers saw a connection between it and the apportioning of creation, but this explanation should not be presented as the word’s certain origin or as part of the translation of the ayah.

A cautious account of this family can be stated as follows:

M N Y: a linguistic family connected in one of its early branches with apportioning and determining something; in tamannī, it extends to desiring and imagining a favorable outcome; in umniyyah and amānī, it can express a wish, a notion, or, in classical usage, recitation; and in the maniyy branch, it denotes reproductive fluid and its emission. The precise meaning of each form must be determined from the construction and context of the particular ayah.