The Qur’anic Root N Y L

The Qur’anic forms and the middle root letter

The morphological index used here classifies نَالَ / يَنَالُ / نَيْل under ن ي ل. The Qur’anic occurrences comprise eleven imperfect verbs and one verbal noun; the past-tense form nāla itself does not occur in this count. The verbal noun نَيْلًا in At-Tawbah 9:120 is written with yāʾ.

Morphological classification should be distinguished from reconstructing a word’s history. The resemblance between nayl and words of giving, such as nawāl and nāʾil, does not establish that all developed through one historical route from a single original meaning. The early poetry below permits comparison, but does not conclusively establish the historical middle root letter.

The verses must first be understood through their attested forms. Reaching and attaining are clear in these uses; the sentence specifies the kind of access or effect involved.

Early Arabic: reaching something

In the collected poetry of Zuhayr ibn Abī Sulmā, a pre-Islamic poet, a poem praising Haram ibn Sinān says:

لَوْ نَالَ حَيٌّ مِنَ الدُّنْيَا بِمَكْرُمَةٍ
وَسْطَ السَّمَاءِ لَنَالَتْ كَفُّهُ الْأُفُقَا

“If anyone in this world could reach the middle of heaven through nobility, his hand would reach the horizon.”

Both instances of nāla in this conditional line express reaching: if nobility could take someone to the middle of heaven, the praised man’s hand would reach the horizon. The line uses reaching in poetic praise, rather than reporting an actual attainment. It is preserved in the transmitted Dīwān of Zuhayr; the text examined does not establish this particular line’s exact date of composition.

A complete line from the same poet’s poem beginning “صحا القلب عن سلمى” reads:

هُمُ خَيْرُ حَيٍّ مِنْ مَعَدٍّ عَلِمْتُهُمْ
لَهُمْ نَائِلٌ فِي قَوْمِهِمْ وَلَهُمْ فَضْلُ

“They are the finest clan of Maʿadd that I have known; among their people they have generosity and distinction.”

Nāʾil refers to giving in this context of praise. Its occurrence in early poetry makes it useful for comparison with attainment. The line does not, however, authorize transferring “giving” into every Qur’anic use of yanālu or asserting a certain common derivation.

“Your hands and spears reach it”: the clearest physical image

One of the Qur’an’s most tangible uses occurs in Al-Ma’idah:

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَيَبْلُوَنَّكُمُ اللَّهُ بِشَيْءٍ مِنَ الصَّيْدِ تَنَالُهُ أَيْدِيكُمْ وَرِمَاحُكُمْ لِيَعْلَمَ اللَّهُ مَنْ يَخَافُهُ بِالْغَيْبِ فَمَنِ اعْتَدَىٰ بَعْدَ ذَٰلِكَ فَلَهُ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ

“You who have believed, The God will certainly test you with some game that your hands and spears can reach, so that The God may know who fears Him in the unseen. Whoever transgresses after that will have a painful punishment.”

Al-Ma’idah 5:94

تَنَالُهُ أَيْدِيكُمْ وَرِمَاحُكُمْ presents a concrete image: the game is accessible enough for a hand or spear to reach it.

This verse matters because nāla does not necessarily mean owning or taking something. A hand or spear can reach it; the verb expresses access and contact or arrival.

This sense also helps explain nonmaterial uses without turning them into physical movement.

People attain something: “You will not attain birr”

In Aal ‘Imran, people themselves are the subject:

لَنْ تَنَالُوا الْبِرَّ حَتَّىٰ تُنْفِقُوا مِمَّا تُحِبُّونَ وَمَا تُنْفِقُوا مِنْ شَيْءٍ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ بِهِ عَلِيمٌ

“You will not attain birr until you spend from what you love; whatever you spend, The God knows it.”

Aal ‘Imran 3:92

Birr is not something held in the hand. The verb expresses reaching on a nonmaterial level: a person attains birr.

“Attain” is therefore more natural here than “take.”

Al-Ahzab 33:25 also says:

وَرَدَّ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا بِغَيْظِهِمْ لَمْ يَنَالُوا خَيْرًا

“The God turned back those who disbelieved in their rage, having attained no good.”

Here too, good is what they failed to attain.

At-Tawbah 9:74 likewise describes an intention that did not achieve its aim, without explicitly naming that aim in this expression:

وَهَمُّوا بِمَا لَمْ يَنَالُوا

“They intended what they did not attain.”

Mā refers to what they intended. The object is therefore not wholly absent: it is expressed relatively, while its specific referent is not named here. The verb states that they did not attain it.

Sometimes a person does not reach; something reaches the person

Nāla does not only describe a person moving toward a desired object. The relationship can run in the other direction: an effect, share, covenant, or anger reaches someone.

In Al-A‘raf 7:152:

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ اتَّخَذُوا الْعِجْلَ سَيَنَالُهُمْ غَضَبٌ مِنْ رَبِّهِمْ وَذِلَّةٌ فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا

“Those who took the calf [for worship] will be reached by anger from their Lord and humiliation in worldly life.”

Here anger is the grammatical subject, while the people are those whom it reaches.

In Al-A‘raf 7:37:

أُولَٰئِكَ يَنَالُهُمْ نَصِيبُهُمْ مِنَ الْكِتَابِ

“Those are the ones whom their share from the Book will reach.”

The direction is therefore not restricted to a person obtaining something. Sometimes something reaches the person.

This feature is especially important in Al-Baqarah 2:124.

“My covenant does not reach the wrongdoers”: the covenant is the subject

In the response to Abraham’s request concerning his descendants:

قَالَ وَمِنْ ذُرِّيَّتِي قَالَ لَا يَنَالُ عَهْدِي الظَّالِمِينَ

“He said, ‘And from my descendants?’ He said, ‘My covenant does not reach the wrongdoers.’”

Al-Baqarah 2:124

In the wording quoted, عَهْدِي is the subject and الظَّالِمِينَ the object. The construction says “My covenant does not reach the wrongdoers,” rather than making the wrongdoers the subject of attaining the covenant. The case marking identifies this direction.

This distinction matters for the root: nāla accommodates both directions, with a person reaching something or something reaching a person.

“My covenant does not extend to the wrongdoers” is a natural English rendering. “Extend to” explains the relationship in context; the more direct expression is:

“My covenant does not reach the wrongdoers.”

The verb alone cannot define the nature of the covenant or the details of leadership. Those require the full exchange in the verse and examination of the uses of ʿahd.

Mercy and anger in constructions with nāla

Al-A‘raf uses the verb in two different constructions involving mercy and anger.

First, concerning people whom others had imagined excluded from mercy:

أَهَٰؤُلَاءِ الَّذِينَ أَقْسَمْتُمْ لَا يَنَالُهُمُ اللَّهُ بِرَحْمَةٍ

“Are these the ones about whom you swore that The God would not grant them any mercy?”

Al-A‘raf 7:49

Here اللَّهُ is the subject, هم the object pronoun, and بِرَحْمَةٍ a prepositional phrase. Mercy is therefore not the subject of yanālu. “Would not grant them any mercy” is idiomatic English; the Arabic construction presents The God as reaching them with mercy. This differs from the verse where anger itself is the subject.

Later, concerning those who worshipped the calf:

سَيَنَالُهُمْ غَضَبٌ مِنْ رَبِّهِمْ

“Anger from their Lord will reach them.”

Al-A‘raf 7:152

The same verb can occur in contexts of mercy and anger. It therefore has no inherently positive or negative value. What reaches someone determines whether the outcome is mercy or punishment.

“Neither their meat nor their blood reaches The God”: nonspatial reaching

One of the root’s most important occurrences appears in Al-Hajj:

لَنْ يَنَالَ اللَّهَ لُحُومُهَا وَلَا دِمَاؤُهَا وَلَٰكِنْ يَنَالُهُ التَّقْوَىٰ مِنْكُمْ كَذَٰلِكَ سَخَّرَهَا لَكُمْ لِتُكَبِّرُوا اللَّهَ عَلَىٰ مَا هَدَاكُمْ وَبَشِّرِ الْمُحْسِنِينَ

“Neither their meat nor their blood will reach The God, but taqwā from you reaches Him. Thus He has subjected them to you so that you may magnify The God for guiding you; and give good news to those who do good.”

Al-Hajj 22:37

In the first clause, اللَّهَ is the object placed before the subject, لُحُومُهَا is the delayed subject, and دِمَاؤُهَا is coordinated with it. In the second clause, التَّقْوَىٰ is the subject and the pronoun ه is the object.

This reaching should not be understood as bodily or spatial. The verse contrasts material meat and blood with taqwā. The root can thus be used for physical contact in Al-Ma’idah 5:94 and for a nonmaterial relationship in Al-Hajj 22:37.

The basic sense remains reaching, while the participants determine its nature. Taqwā is not a body transported to a location.

A direct translation should not simply replace “taqwā reaches Him” with “The God accepts taqwā.” Acceptance is an interpretation of the verse’s relationship, rather than the verb’s basic lexical meaning. “Reaches” can be retained, with its nonspatial sense explained.

“They attain a nayl against an enemy”: the sole Qur’anic verbal noun

The family’s only nominal occurrence appears in At-Tawbah:

مَا كَانَ لِأَهْلِ الْمَدِينَةِ وَمَنْ حَوْلَهُمْ مِنَ الْأَعْرَابِ أَنْ يَتَخَلَّفُوا عَنْ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ وَلَا يَرْغَبُوا بِأَنْفُسِهِمْ عَنْ نَفْسِهِ ذَٰلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ لَا يُصِيبُهُمْ ظَمَأٌ وَلَا نَصَبٌ وَلَا مَخْمَصَةٌ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ وَلَا يَطَئُونَ مَوْطِئًا يَغِيظُ الْكُفَّارَ وَلَا يَنَالُونَ مِنْ عَدُوٍّ نَيْلًا إِلَّا كُتِبَ لَهُمْ بِهِ عَمَلٌ صَالِحٌ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يُضِيعُ أَجْرَ الْمُحْسِنِينَ

“It was not fitting for the people of Medina and the Bedouins around them to stay behind the messenger of The God or prefer their own lives to his. For no thirst, fatigue, or hunger afflicts them in the way of The God, they tread no ground that enrages the disbelievers, and they attain no result against any enemy, without a righteous deed being recorded for them on its account. The God does not let the reward of those who do good go to waste.”

At-Tawbah 9:120

نَيْلًا is the accusative verbal noun of يَنَالُونَ, functioning here as a cognate accusative (mafʿūl muṭlaq). Its indefinite form within the scope of negation encompasses any degree of such attainment or effect against the enemy.

In the verse’s context of warfare, the expression can refer to attaining a result against an enemy or inflicting harm upon one. The expression itself does not restrict that result to killing or one particular form of victory.

Its range must be assessed within this context: attainment against the enemy or an effect inflicted upon that enemy, rather than any neutral effect unrelated to the confrontation.

Naylan should therefore not be defined simply as killing, wounding, or military victory. The context of warfare gives it direction, but the word has a broader range.

This نَيْل is also not the name of the Nile River; it is the verbal noun of yanālūna.

Nāla is not limited to desirable things

English “attain” commonly suggests something desired, as in attaining a goal or success. Using that equivalent throughout can make the Arabic verb seem inherently positive.

The Qur’anic uses do not have that restriction.

People can attain birr:

لَنْ تَنَالُوا الْبِرَّ

They can fail to attain good:

لَمْ يَنَالُوا خَيْرًا

But anger can also reach a person:

سَيَنَالُهُمْ غَضَبٌ

And a prescribed share can reach someone:

يَنَالُهُمْ نَصِيبُهُمْ

Nāla does not determine the value of what reaches its destination. It expresses the relationship of reaching.

N Y L compared with B L GH and Ṣ W B

N Y L and B L GH

Balagha and nāla can both be rendered as “reach,” but they do not always emphasize the same aspect.

Uses of balagha frequently highlight reaching a limit, stage, time, or destination: reaching maturity, a specified term, the delivery of a message, or arrival at a place.

The Qur’anic uses of nāla more often foreground access or an effect between two participants: a hand reaches game, people attain birr, anger reaches people, and a covenant does not reach a group.

This is a tendency, not an absolute rule. A complete account of B L GH must be based on the range of its own uses.

N Y L and Ṣ W B: the verb aṣāba

أَصَابَ / يُصِيبُ is form IV of ص و ب. Its initial hamzah belongs to the derived form, rather than being the root’s first consonant. At-Tawbah 9:120 places both families in the same verse:

لَا يُصِيبُهُمْ ظَمَأٌ وَلَا نَصَبٌ وَلَا مَخْمَصَةٌ

Then:

وَلَا يَنَالُونَ مِنْ عَدُوٍّ نَيْلًا

In the first expression, thirst, fatigue, and hunger befall and affect them. In the second, the people themselves attain something against the enemy or inflict an effect upon one.

The contrast helps identify the direction of the relationship in this verse; it is not a distinction between active and passive voice. Both verbs here are active. Nor are people always recipients with aṣāba or always attainers with nāla. Aal ‘Imran 3:165 makes people the subject in قَدْ أَصَبْتُمْ مِثْلَيْهَا, while Al-A‘raf 7:152 makes anger itself the subject of nāla.

Translation proposals for Forqan

Nāla does not have one suitable equivalent for every verse.

In Al-Ma’idah 5:94:

In Aal ‘Imran 3:92:

Or, with an explanatory English rendering of birr:

“You will not attain true righteousness.”

In Al-Baqarah 2:124:

In Al-A‘raf 7:152:

In Al-Ahzab 33:25:

In Al-Hajj 22:37:

And:

The final rendering should be accompanied by an explanation that reaching here is neither spatial nor bodily.

In At-Tawbah 9:120, naylan may be explained in context as “attainment against an enemy” or “an effect against an enemy.” The translation here uses “attaining a result against an enemy”; killing or defeating is not the verbal noun’s fixed and exclusive meaning.

Conclusion

The Qur’anic uses of nāla revolve around a clear relationship: something reaches something else, and that reaching takes place.

Sometimes people themselves are the subject and attain something desired, such as birr or good. Sometimes hands and spears reach game. Sometimes a share, a covenant, or anger reaches people. Al-Hajj 22:37 uses the same language to contrast the meat and blood of sacrifice with taqwā, without making reaching The God a spatial movement.

The root is neutral with respect to value. Mercy can reach someone, and so can anger. Good can be attained, while another effort may fail.

The index’s label N Y L classifies the Qur’anic forms. Nāʾil in Zuhayr’s poetry also attests a use involving generosity, but this proximity should not replace independent examination of the forms’ morphological and semantic history. Understanding the Qur’anic contexts does not require a conclusive solution to that historical question.

N Y L: reaching or attaining. Sometimes a person reaches something; sometimes something reaches the person. The subject, object, and context identify the relationship. “Receive a share,” “extend to,” and “affect” are possible contextual renderings; the root itself is not restricted to good or bad, material or nonmaterial things.