Qur’anic root س خ ر — S KH R

1. The semantic core and older Arabic usage

Sakhira minhu: ridiculing and belittling

سَخِرَ مِنْ فُلَانٍ (sakhira min fulānin) means ridiculing someone, making their words or conduct a laughingstock, or looking down on them contemptuously.

Lexical sources record verbal nouns including سَخَر (sakhar), سُخْر (sukhr), سُخْرِيَة (sukhriyah) and مَسْخَر (maskhar). Different vowels and forms should not be turned into entirely independent kinds of mockery without adequate evidence.

سَخِرَ مِنْهُ (sakhira minhu) is an established, eloquent construction. سَخِرَ بِهِ (sakhira bihi) is also recorded, though lexicographers differed over its currency and linguistic standing. The Qur’anic verb of ridicule occurs with مِنْ (min), as in لَا يَسْخَرْ قَوْمٌ مِنْ قَوْمٍ (lā yaskhar qawmun min qawmin).

Ridicule can accompany laughter, but not every laugh is ridicule. People can laugh from joy, surprise or affection without humiliating anyone. In mockery, laughter or words relate to another person in a way that diminishes their standing, speech or conduct.

Ridicule is not confined to loud laughter. Insinuation, gestures, imitation or disparaging speech can mock someone without an overt laugh.

“Mock” or “ridicule” is therefore more precise for this branch than “laugh.”

Mockery in poetry before Islam

The pre-Islamic poet Aʿshā Bāhilah opens an elegy for his maternal brother, al-Muntashir ibn Wahb, with:

«إِنِّي أَتَتْنِي لِسَانٌ لَا أُسَرُّ بِهَا
مِنْ عُلْوَ لَا عَجَبٌ مِنْهَا وَلَا سَخَرُ»

“News has reached me from the uplands that brings me no joy: news I regard neither as a cause for wonder nor as a laughing matter.”

لِسَان (lisān) here means a message or report, explaining its feminine pronoun. The poet has received news of his brother’s death and speaks of his sorrow.

سَخَر (sakhar) at the line’s end concerns ridicule and mockery. The poet does not treat the news as something to mock.

The evidence matters because it shows the family’s mockery sense in poetry attributed to the pre-Islamic period. The meaning is not exclusive to Qur’anic language or later ethical terminology.

Transmission varies, including سَخَر (sakhar) and سُخْر (sukhr), and differences elsewhere in the second hemistich. This line therefore cannot establish two categorically different meanings solely from the first vowel. It reaches us through the transmission and compilation of early poetry; lexical accounts do not independently date every form’s currency before revelation.

Sakhkhara: taming and putting to work

سَخَّرَ الشَّيْءَ (sakhkhara al-shayʾa) means bringing something under control, command or service, enabling use of its capacity, movement or function.

Arabic sources explain التَّسْخِير (al-taskhīr) through التَّذْلِيل (al-tadhlīl). Here ذَلَّلَ (dhallala) can concern taming or making something ready to follow direction or be used.

An initially unresponsive animal may be tamed for riding or carrying loads. A ship whose movement suits sea and wind conditions can likewise transport people and goods.

Older language records سُفُنٌ سَوَاخِرُ (sufunun sawākhiru) for ships that sail well and are usable under travel conditions.

Subjection therefore does not always mean forcing a being with human will. For ships and other objects, readiness for a function and usability are prominent.

Applied to humans, however, سَخَّرَ فُلَانًا (sakhkhara fulānan) can mean making someone work. Some lexical accounts include employing someone without pay or against their wishes.

Human relationships must thus be distinguished from the subjection of natural phenomena. The former may concern another person’s will, consent and rights; the latter concerns forces and resources operating within an order enabling their use.

Did mockery and subjection emerge from one origin?

Ibn Fāris gives the root a general principle involving اِحْتِقَار (iḥtiqār), contempt, and اِسْتِذْلَال (istidhlāl), bringing into subordination.

On this account, ridicule diminishes another in one’s judgement; subjection makes something answer to a wish or function.

This semantic connection is defensible, with an essential qualification: the Qur’an’s subjection of the sun and moon does not mean morally humiliating them. Nor is every taming or act of bringing into service ethically equivalent to ridiculing a person.

A lexical definition must preserve both branches without transferring one branch’s ethical value into the other without justification.

2. Sakhira: ridiculing prophets and believers

Noah and his people’s chiefs

Hūd 11:38 says:

«وَيَصْنَعُ الْفُلْكَ وَكُلَّمَا مَرَّ عَلَيْهِ مَلَأٌ مِنْ قَوْمِهِ سَخِرُوا مِنْهُ قَالَ إِنْ تَسْخَرُوا مِنَّا فَإِنَّا نَسْخَرُ مِنْكُمْ كَمَا تَسْخَرُونَ»

“And he was building the ship. Whenever chiefs of his people passed him, they mocked him. He said: If you mock us, we too will mock you just as you mock.”

(Hūd 11:38)

The root occurs four times here in different basic verbal forms.

First, the chiefs’ behaviour is described: they pass Noah while he builds the ship and mock him.

Noah then replies: if they mock now, a situation will come in which their conduct’s outcome becomes apparent.

The next verse says:

«فَسَوْفَ تَعْلَمُونَ مَنْ يَأْتِيهِ عَذَابٌ يُخْزِيهِ وَيَحِلُّ عَلَيْهِ عَذَابٌ مُقِيمٌ»

“Then you will soon know who will receive a punishment that disgraces him, and upon whom an enduring punishment will descend.”

(Hūd 11:39)

This continuation places Noah’s response within a warning about the outcome. The mockers laugh at something whose reality and result they do not understand.

His response should not therefore become a general permission for reciprocal humiliation in every dispute. The narrative concerns a particular confrontation between a prophet and those denying him.

Mocking messengers and the consequences returning

Al-Anʿām 6:10 says:

«وَلَقَدِ اسْتُهْزِئَ بِرُسُلٍ مِنْ قَبْلِكَ فَحَاقَ بِالَّذِينَ سَخِرُوا مِنْهُمْ مَا كَانُوا بِهِ يَسْتَهْزِئُونَ»

“And messengers before you were indeed mocked. Then what they had mocked engulfed those who ridiculed them.”

(Al-Anʿām 6:10)

Al-Anbiyāʾ 21:41 contains very similar wording.

The roots س خ ر (S KH R) and ه ز أ (H Z ʾ) occur together. سَخِرُوا (sakhirū) describes the mockers’ conduct; يَسْتَهْزِئُونَ (yastahziʾūna) likewise concerns their ridicule.

This shows proximity without making the roots completely synonymous in every Arabic use.

The passages foreground the distance between the deniers’ contemptuous view and the reality they ultimately encounter.

Mockery here is more than a critical opinion: it treats truth and those conveying it as worthless.

Ridiculing believers over social standing

Al-Baqarah 2:212 says:

«زُيِّنَ لِلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا وَيَسْخَرُونَ مِنَ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَالَّذِينَ اتَّقَوْا فَوْقَهُمْ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ وَاللَّهُ يَرْزُقُ مَنْ يَشَاءُ بِغَيْرِ حِسَابٍ»

“Worldly life has been made attractive to those who commit kufr, and they mock those who believe. Those who practise taqwa will be above them on the Day of Resurrection. And The God provides without measure for whomever He wills.”

(Al-Baqarah 2:212)

Ridiculing believers occurs in a context of attachment to worldly life. The standing on the Day of Resurrection of those practising taqwa—mindful care to avoid wrongdoing—then contrasts with the mockers’ perspective. Kufr concerns rejection and denial.

Apparent superiority in wealth or social position does not necessarily indicate someone’s true superiority.

Al-Tawbah 9:79 offers a clearer example:

«الَّذِينَ يَلْمِزُونَ الْمُطَّوِّعِينَ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ فِي الصَّدَقَاتِ وَالَّذِينَ لَا يَجِدُونَ إِلَّا جُهْدَهُمْ فَيَسْخَرُونَ مِنْهُمْ سَخِرَ اللَّهُ مِنْهُمْ وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ»

“Those who find fault with believers who give charity voluntarily, and with those who find nothing beyond their capacity and the fruits of their effort, and ridicule them: The God has mocked them, and theirs is a painful punishment.”

(Al-Tawbah 9:79)

Voluntary believers and those with limited means face fault-finding and ridicule. This does not necessarily identify two entirely separate, non-overlapping groups.

The verse mentions لَمْز (lamz) and mockery. Lamz concerns fault-finding and carping; sakhar concerns belittling and ridicule.

Instead of attending to another’s effort and intention, someone may turn their limited resources into a reason for humiliation.

Sakhira Allāhu minhum: the divine response to mockery

In Al-Tawbah 9:79, فَيَسْخَرُونَ مِنْهُمْ (fa-yaskharūna minhum) is followed by سَخِرَ اللَّهُ مِنْهُمْ (sakhira Allāhu minhum).

This connection should not be erased or replaced with an expression unrelated to the root. The Qur’an deliberately repeats the same verb in response to the mockers’ behaviour.

The verb applied to The God should nevertheless not be understood in every respect as a human mocker’s behaviour. In the first clause, people disparage believers to humiliate them; in the second, that behaviour meets a divine response and consequence.

The construction can express mockery returning upon the mockers and their judgement’s worthlessness becoming apparent.

Explanation must retain the connection between action and response, neither overlooking the Qur’anic verb nor attributing every motive and psychological state of human mockers to The God.

Yastaskhirūna: intensified mockery

Al-Ṣāffāt 37:12, Al-Ṣāffāt 37:13 and Al-Ṣāffāt 37:14 say:

«بَلْ عَجِبْتَ وَيَسْخَرُونَ ۝ وَإِذَا ذُكِّرُوا لَا يَذْكُرُونَ ۝ وَإِذَا رَأَوْا آيَةً يَسْتَسْخِرُونَ»

“Rather, you marvel while they mock. When admonished, they take no heed; and when they see a sign, they engage in ridicule.”

(Al-Ṣāffāt 37:12; Al-Ṣāffāt 37:13; Al-Ṣāffāt 37:14)

The sequence first has basic يَسْخَرُونَ (yaskharūna), then Form X يَسْتَسْخِرُونَ (yastaskhirūna).

Older explanations give two tendencies for اِسْتِسْخَار (istiskhār): intensified ridicule, and inviting others to join in mockery.

Both can be examined against Form X and context. The form alone does not establish that others must have been present and invited to laugh.

What is clear is the continuation of ridicule in response to signs.

Al-Zumar 39:56 also contains السَّاخِرِينَ (al-sākhirīna):

«أَنْ تَقُولَ نَفْسٌ يَا حَسْرَتَا عَلَىٰ مَا فَرَّطْتُ فِي جَنْبِ اللَّهِ وَإِنْ كُنْتُ لَمِنَ السَّاخِرِينَ»

“Lest a soul say: Alas for my neglect towards The God! Indeed, I was among the mockers.”

(Al-Zumar 39:56)

Al-sākhirīn is a plural active participle, describing those who mocked. In regret, the person recalls past conduct.

Ridicule in these verses may therefore become an enduring response to reminders and truth, rather than merely a passing reaction.

3. Lā yaskhar qawmun min qawmin: humiliation in social relationships

Al-Ḥujurāt 49:11 says:

«يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا يَسْخَرْ قَوْمٌ مِنْ قَوْمٍ عَسَىٰ أَنْ يَكُونُوا خَيْرًا مِنْهُمْ وَلَا نِسَاءٌ مِنْ نِسَاءٍ عَسَىٰ أَنْ يَكُنَّ خَيْرًا مِنْهُنَّ وَلَا تَلْمِزُوا أَنْفُسَكُمْ وَلَا تَنَابَزُوا بِالْأَلْقَابِ بِئْسَ الِاسْمُ الْفُسُوقُ بَعْدَ الْإِيمَانِ وَمَنْ لَمْ يَتُبْ فَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الظَّالِمُونَ»

“You who have believed, let no group ridicule another: they may be better than those mocking. Nor let women ridicule other women: they may be better than them. Do not find fault with one another or call one another by disparaging nicknames. How evil is the name of disobedience after faith! Those who do not turn back are the wrongdoers.”

(Al-Ḥujurāt 49:11)

This is among the clearest ethical uses of sakhira.

The Qur’an first prohibits ridicule between groups, then women ridiculing other women, followed by fault-finding and disparaging nicknames.

These belong to one area of social conduct without being exactly the same action.

Someone can ridicule another through words and conduct without assigning a nickname. Conversely, a disparaging name can humiliate without laughter at that moment.

Why mention that those mocked may be better?

The Qur’an says عَسَىٰ أَنْ يَكُونُوا خَيْرًا مِنْهُمْ (ʿasā an yakūnū khayran minhum), “they may be better than them.”

This challenges the mocker’s perspective. Someone mocking another generally speaks as though personally superior or more worthy.

Yet the person humiliated may be better.

Appearance, wealth, social position, language, ethnicity and unfamiliar behaviour do not independently justify a contemptuous judgement of someone’s worth.

The verse does not say every person mocked is necessarily better than the mocker. ʿAsā introduces a possibility, sufficient to undermine the arrogant judgement’s certainty.

Is every criticism or disagreement mockery?

No. Criticising a statement, identifying an error or opposing wrongful conduct is not necessarily ridicule.

Ridicule foregrounds belittling and making the other person an object of mockery. Criticism may instead concern whether a claim or action is right.

Someone can explicitly oppose a scientific, religious or social claim and offer reasons without humiliating its proponent.

Conversely, apparent humour can target someone’s character or dignity.

Laughter’s presence or absence therefore cannot alone distinguish criticism from mockery. Subject and manner matter.

Al-Ḥujurāt 49:11 places ridicule alongside fault-finding and disparaging names and connects it with wrongdoing. The context makes the conduct’s negative character clear.

4. Sikhriyyan and sukhriyyan: mockery or service?

The Qur’an has the similar forms سِخْرِيًّا (sikhriyyan) and سُخْرِيًّا (sukhriyyan). Their initial i and u vowels matter lexically and in recitation.

A familiar explanation associates sikhriyy, with i, with ridicule, and sukhriyy, with u, with subjection and service.

Not all lexicographers make the distinction categorical. Some regard both as linguistic variants also interchangeable for mockery.

The vocalisation difference should therefore be retained without erecting an absolute boundary.

Fa-ttakhadhtumūhum sikhriyyan: making believers a laughingstock

Al-Muʾminūn 23:109 and Al-Muʾminūn 23:110 say:

«إِنَّهُ كَانَ فَرِيقٌ مِنْ عِبَادِي يَقُولُونَ رَبَّنَا آمَنَّا فَاغْفِرْ لَنَا وَارْحَمْنَا وَأَنْتَ خَيْرُ الرَّاحِمِينَ ۝ فَاتَّخَذْتُمُوهُمْ سِخْرِيًّا حَتَّىٰ أَنْسَوْكُمْ ذِكْرِي وَكُنْتُمْ مِنْهُمْ تَضْحَكُونَ»

“Indeed, a group of My servants used to say: Our Lord, we have believed; forgive us and have mercy on us, for You are the best of those who show mercy. You then made them a laughingstock until they made you forget My remembrance, and you used to laugh at them.”

(Al-Muʾminūn 23:109; Al-Muʾminūn 23:110)

Sikhriyyan concerns mockery. وَكُنْتُمْ مِنْهُمْ تَضْحَكُونَ (wa-kuntum minhum taḍḥakūna), “you used to laugh at them,” makes this clearer.

The recitation transmitted by Ḥafṣ has initial i in sikhriyyan. Other recognised recitations also have sukhriyyan, with u.

Some lexicographers assign i exclusively to ridicule and u exclusively to service. Yet a u-vowel recitation occurs in this clearly mocking context, preventing an exceptionless distinction.

The sentence, rather than the initial vowel alone, therefore establishes the principal meaning.

A-ttakhadhnāhum sikhriyyan: mistaken judgements of others

Ṣād 38:62 and Ṣād 38:63 say:

«وَقَالُوا مَا لَنَا لَا نَرَىٰ رِجَالًا كُنَّا نَعُدُّهُمْ مِنَ الْأَشْرَارِ ۝ أَتَّخَذْنَاهُمْ سِخْرِيًّا أَمْ زَاغَتْ عَنْهُمُ الْأَبْصَارُ»

“They say: Why do we not see men whom we used to count among the wicked? Did we make them a laughingstock, or have our eyes failed to see them?”

(Ṣād 38:62; Ṣād 38:63)

Those facing punishment recall men they counted among the wicked in their former lives.

They now wonder at not seeing them and question their past judgement.

Sikhriyyan again concerns ridicule and belittling.

This question in a scene of punishment does not establish that everyone whom the speakers opposed in worldly life necessarily occupied one identical standing. The passage concerns a particular group’s mistaken judgement.

The u-vowel recitation sukhriyyan is likewise recognised here alongside the i-vowel form.

Study should register the vocalisation difference without overlooking the contextual sense of ridicule.

Li-yattakhidha baʿḍuhum baʿḍan sukhriyyan: work and livelihood

Al-Zukhruf 43:32 says:

«أَهُمْ يَقْسِمُونَ رَحْمَتَ رَبِّكَ نَحْنُ قَسَمْنَا بَيْنَهُمْ مَعِيشَتَهُمْ فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَرَفَعْنَا بَعْضَهُمْ فَوْقَ بَعْضٍ دَرَجَاتٍ لِيَتَّخِذَ بَعْضُهُمْ بَعْضًا سُخْرِيًّا وَرَحْمَتُ رَبِّكَ خَيْرٌ مِمَّا يَجْمَعُونَ»

“Do they apportion your Lord’s mercy? We have apportioned their livelihood among them in worldly life and raised some above others in degrees, so that some may take others into service. Your Lord’s mercy is better than what they amass.”

(Al-Zukhruf 43:32)

Sukhriyyan concerns livelihood, differences of rank and employing others.

This clearly differs from Al-Muʾminūn 23:110 and Ṣād 38:63, which concern ridicule. Here the subject is using others’ work and capacity in economic and social life.

Older explanations connect this sukhriyyan with taking into service, employing and, in some accounts, servitude and forced labour.

The historical force of subjection should not be erased by translating merely “friendly cooperation.” Employing others may involve real differences in power and standing.

Conversely, the verse alone does not grant unlimited permission for enslavement, exploitation, withholding wages or humiliating another person.

Do differences of livelihood establish human superiority?

The preceding verse reports opponents asking why the Qur’an was not sent down to a great man of the two towns.

The response therefore addresses the idea that wealth and social standing determine fitness to receive the messenger’s mission.

The verse places apportioning livelihood with The God, then describes different worldly ranks, but concludes:

«وَرَحْمَتُ رَبِّكَ خَيْرٌ مِمَّا يَجْمَعُونَ»

“Your Lord’s mercy is better than what they amass.”

Abundant wealth or the power to employ others is thus not the ultimate standard of human worth or proof of fitness for prophethood.

This matters for sukhriyyan. The Qur’an states a social and economic reality while answering opponents’ mistaken standards. It does not make every historical form of human domination just and approved.

بَعْضُهُمْ بَعْضًا (baʿḍuhum baʿḍan), “some of them others,” concerns human relationships. It does not make both sides equal in power, wealth and discretion in every particular relationship.

People may depend on one another’s skills and resources while their actual economic relationships remain unequal.

“Take into service” is therefore preferable here, with the relationship’s ethical and legal limits examined separately.

5. Sakhkhara: bringing creation’s resources into service

The sun, moon, night and day

Ibrāhīm 14:32 and Ibrāhīm 14:33 say:

«وَسَخَّرَ لَكُمُ الْفُلْكَ لِتَجْرِيَ فِي الْبَحْرِ بِأَمْرِهِ وَسَخَّرَ لَكُمُ الْأَنْهَارَ ۝ وَسَخَّرَ لَكُمُ الشَّمْسَ وَالْقَمَرَ دَائِبَيْنِ وَسَخَّرَ لَكُمُ اللَّيْلَ وَالنَّهَارَ»

“And He subjected ships for you to sail through the sea at His command, and made rivers available to you. He subjected the sun and moon for you, continuing their courses, and subjected night and day for you.”

(Ibrāhīm 14:32; Ibrāhīm 14:33, passages concerning subjection)

Subjection here concerns resources of human life.

Ships enable travel and transporting goods; rivers contribute to life and farming; the sun and moon relate to time and light; night and day’s succession belongs to life’s order.

سَخَّرَ لَكُمْ (sakhkhara lakum), “subjected for you,” does not mean humans command the sun and moon’s movement or exercise absolute control over nature.

لَكُمْ (lakum), “for you,” expresses human benefit. Something may be available for human use without humans absolutely owning it or independently commanding its every movement.

Al-Raʿd 13:2, Al-Naḥl 16:12, Al-ʿAnkabūt 29:61, Luqmān 31:29, Fāṭir 35:13 and Al-Zumar 39:5 also mention the sun and moon’s subjection. Several include كُلٌّ يَجْرِي لِأَجَلٍ مُسَمًّى (kullun yajrī li-ajalin musamman), “each runs to an appointed term.”

Their Qur’anic subjection therefore concerns prescribed movement and order, rather than stopping or obeying direct human commands.

The sea, ships and resources for life

Al-Naḥl 16:14 says:

«وَهُوَ الَّذِي سَخَّرَ الْبَحْرَ لِتَأْكُلُوا مِنْهُ لَحْمًا طَرِيًّا وَتَسْتَخْرِجُوا مِنْهُ حِلْيَةً تَلْبَسُونَهَا وَتَرَى الْفُلْكَ مَوَاخِرَ فِيهِ وَلِتَبْتَغُوا مِنْ فَضْلِهِ وَلَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ»

“He is the One who subjected the sea for you to eat fresh flesh from it and extract ornaments you wear. You see ships cleaving through it, so that you may seek His bounty and perhaps give thanks.”

(Al-Naḥl 16:14)

The sea’s subjection accompanies several benefits: food, ornaments, ships’ movement and seeking bounty.

The sea’s lexical meaning remains unchanged. Nor does subjection turn it into humanity’s personal property.

Al-Jāthiyah 45:12 again connects the sea’s subjection with ships sailing by The God’s command. Al-Jāthiyah 45:13 broadens the scope:

«وَسَخَّرَ لَكُمْ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِ جَمِيعًا مِنْهُ إِنَّ فِي ذَٰلِكَ لَآيَاتٍ لِقَوْمٍ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ»

“And He subjected for you whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth, all from Him. Indeed, in that are signs for people who reflect.”

(Al-Jāthiyah 45:13)

Subjection is expressed through creation’s broad resources.

This does not establish that every being exists merely for human consumption or that humans may exploit them regardless of others’ rights and environmental consequences.

Other verses discuss measure, corruption on earth and human responsibility. Lexically, subjection concerns availability or serving a function; ethical limits of use are a separate matter.

Musakhkhar: clouds, stars and birds

Al-Baqarah 2:164 says:

«وَالسَّحَابِ الْمُسَخَّرِ بَيْنَ السَّمَاءِ وَالْأَرْضِ لَآيَاتٍ لِقَوْمٍ يَعْقِلُونَ»

“And in the cloud subjected between heaven and earth are indeed signs for people who use reason.”

(Al-Baqarah 2:164, closing passage)

الْمُسَخَّر (al-musakhkhar) is a Form II passive participle: something that has been subjected.

Al-Aʿrāf 7:54 and Al-Naḥl 16:12 also describe stars as مُسَخَّرَات (musakhkharāt).

Al-Naḥl 16:79 says:

«أَلَمْ يَرَوْا إِلَى الطَّيْرِ مُسَخَّرَاتٍ فِي جَوِّ السَّمَاءِ مَا يُمْسِكُهُنَّ إِلَّا اللَّهُ إِنَّ فِي ذَٰلِكَ لَآيَاتٍ لِقَوْمٍ يُؤْمِنُونَ»

“Have they not looked at the birds subjected in the sky’s expanse? None holds them except The God. Indeed, in that are signs for people who believe.”

(Al-Naḥl 16:79)

Birds are musakhkharāt, and the continuation attributes their being held in the air to The God.

Subjection therefore does not always mean being bound, deprived of movement or visibly coerced.

A bird flies and moves while being described as subjected.

For nature, subjection can consequently mean creatures’ movements and functions operating within an order and conditions enabling action.

Musakhkharāt itself does not supply every physical mechanism of flight. The verse concerns actual flight and its relationship to The God’s power, rather than scientific details of wings and air movement.

Sakhkhara lanā hādhā: a mount brought under control

Al-Zukhruf 43:13 says:

«لِتَسْتَوُوا عَلَىٰ ظُهُورِهِ ثُمَّ تَذْكُرُوا نِعْمَةَ رَبِّكُمْ إِذَا اسْتَوَيْتُمْ عَلَيْهِ وَتَقُولُوا سُبْحَانَ الَّذِي سَخَّرَ لَنَا هَٰذَا وَمَا كُنَّا لَهُ مُقْرِنِينَ»

“So that you may settle on its back, then remember your Lord’s blessing when you have mounted it and say: Glory be to the One who tamed and subjected this for us; we could not have mastered it by our own strength.”

(Al-Zukhruf 43:13)

Subjection here concerns a means of riding. The preceding verse mentions ships and livestock on which humans ride.

وَمَا كُنَّا لَهُ مُقْرِنِينَ (wa-mā kunnā lahu muqrinīna) matters: people recall that they cannot control this means independently of the capacities The God provides.

Subjection concerns something made usable and manageable, whose capacities and conditions humans did not create alone.

It does not mean morally humiliating an animal or vehicle.

6. David, Solomon and a counterexample involving ʿĀd

Mountains and birds accompanying David

Al-Anbiyāʾ 21:79 says:

«وَسَخَّرْنَا مَعَ دَاوُودَ الْجِبَالَ يُسَبِّحْنَ وَالطَّيْرَ وَكُنَّا فَاعِلِينَ»

“And We subjected the mountains and birds with David, glorifying, and We were the doers.”

(Al-Anbiyāʾ 21:79, closing passage)

Ṣād 38:18 also says:

«إِنَّا سَخَّرْنَا الْجِبَالَ مَعَهُ يُسَبِّحْنَ بِالْعَشِيِّ وَالْإِشْرَاقِ»

“Indeed, We subjected the mountains with him, glorifying in the evening and at daybreak.”

(Ṣād 38:18)

Subjection accompanies mountains and birds glorifying.

سَخَّرْنَا (sakhkharnā) does not itself mean glorifying. It expresses a relationship established for mountains and birds with David; a separate verb supplies glorification.

How the mountains glorify and accompany him requires the wider verses. S KH R alone cannot restrict it either to natural mountain sounds or human speech.

Wind serving Solomon

Ṣād 38:36 says:

«فَسَخَّرْنَا لَهُ الرِّيحَ تَجْرِي بِأَمْرِهِ رُخَاءً حَيْثُ أَصَابَ»

“So We subjected the wind to him, moving gently at his command wherever he intended.”

(Ṣād 38:36)

Sakhkharnā here concerns wind.

تَجْرِي (tajrī) expresses movement; بِأَمْرِهِ (bi-amrihi), “at his command,” identifies its relation to Solomon. رُخَاءً (rukhāʾan) concerns gentle, easy movement.

Subjection places wind’s power at Solomon’s service, without specifying the movement’s technical means or a possible vehicle.

Sakhkharahā ʿalayhim: wind that does not benefit people

Al-Ḥāqqah 69:6 and Al-Ḥāqqah 69:7 say:

«وَأَمَّا عَادٌ فَأُهْلِكُوا بِرِيحٍ صَرْصَرٍ عَاتِيَةٍ ۝ سَخَّرَهَا عَلَيْهِمْ سَبْعَ لَيَالٍ وَثَمَانِيَةَ أَيَّامٍ حُسُومًا فَتَرَى الْقَوْمَ فِيهَا صَرْعَىٰ كَأَنَّهُمْ أَعْجَازُ نَخْلٍ خَاوِيَةٍ»

“As for ʿĀd, they were destroyed by a fierce, raging wind. The God deployed it against them for seven nights and eight successive days, so you would see the people fallen, like hollow trunks of date palms.”

(Al-Ḥāqqah 69:6; Al-Ḥāqqah 69:7)

This is among the root’s most important counterexamples.

Many verses have sakhkhara lakum, with subjection benefiting people. Here it is سَخَّرَهَا عَلَيْهِمْ (sakhkharahā ʿalayhim), “He deployed it against them.”

Wind was not brought into service for their benefit: it was directed against them and destroyed them.

Subjection is thus not lexically identical with bestowing a blessing. A force may be commanded for an action or outcome harmful to a group.

Sakhkhara itself does not mean killing or punishment. Destruction comes from the preceding verse and continuation. The verb concerns deploying and employing wind for the event.

This prevents defining every Form II derivative merely as “placing at humanity’s service.”

Livestock subjected for pilgrimage rites

Al-Ḥajj 22:36 and Al-Ḥajj 22:37 also mention sacrificial livestock being subjected.

Al-Ḥajj 22:36 says:

«كَذَٰلِكَ سَخَّرْنَاهَا لَكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ»

“Thus We made them manageable and available to you, so that you may give thanks.”

(Al-Ḥajj 22:36, closing passage)

The following verse says:

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

“Neither their flesh nor their blood reaches The God, but your taqwa reaches Him. Thus He made them manageable and available to you, so that you may magnify The God for guiding you. Give good news to those who do good.”

(Al-Ḥajj 22:37)

Subjection relates to livestock being available for the rites.

Sakhkhara itself does not mean sacrificing. Livestock are available for use; sacrifice and its other conditions come from separate words and commands.

Their subjection does not establish permission for arbitrary, unjustified harm to animals.

The context foregrounds gratitude and taqwa. Benefiting from creatures and human ethical responsibility therefore need not negate one another.

7. Related roots and suggested translations

S KH R (sakhira) and H Z ʾ (haziʾa)

هَزِئَ (haziʾa), from ه ز أ (hāʾ zāy hamzah), concerns ridicule and making someone an object of mockery.

Al-Anʿām 6:10 and Al-Anbiyāʾ 21:41 place sakhirū and yastahziʾūna in one construction, showing their proximity in mockery.

S KH R also has a separate branch of subjection and bringing into service, absent from Qur’anic H Z ʾ uses.

The roots should therefore not be treated as synonymous across every derivative.

S KH R (sakhira) and Ḍ Ḥ K (ḍaḥika)

ضَحِكَ (ḍaḥika), from ض ح ك (ḍād ḥāʾ kāf), concerns laughing; sakhira foregrounds ridicule and belittling.

Al-Muʾminūn 23:110 includes both: the mockers made believers a laughingstock and laughed at them.

Laughter may manifest ridicule, but not every laugh is mockery.

“Laugh” is insufficient for every sakhira use because it can erase the element of humiliation.

S KH R (sakhira) and L M Z (lamaza)

لَمَزَ (lamaza), from ل م ز (lām mīm zāy), concerns finding fault with another.

Al-Tawbah 9:79 has يَلْمِزُونَ (yalmizūna) alongside فَيَسْخَرُونَ (fa-yaskharūna). Al-Ḥujurāt 49:11 likewise prohibits lamz after prohibiting ridicule.

The behaviours can coincide without being identical. Someone may diminish others through fault-finding or make them a laughingstock without identifying a particular fault.

S KH R (sakhkhara) and DH L L (dhalla)

ذَلَّ (dhalla), from ذ ل ل (dhāl lām lām), concerns becoming tractable, humility or lowered standing.

Lexical sources sometimes explain taskhīr through tadhlīl. For animals or means of transport, the proximity is clear: something becomes manageable and ready for a task.

In human use, lowliness can also mean humiliation. That proximity does not make everything The God subjects for humans ethically degraded or worthless.

S KH R (sakhkhara) and Q H R (qahara)

قَهَرَ (qahara), from ق ه ر (qāf hāʾ rāʾ), concerns overpowering and prevailing over another.

Subjection can involve force and coercion, particularly making someone work against their wishes.

Verses about the sun, moon, sea and ships, however, do not invariably depict a contest of strength or prior resistance.

Qahr and taskhīr are consequently close in some uses without encompassing each other’s complete meanings.

S KH R (sakhkhara) and KH D M (khadama)

خَدَمَ (khadama), from خ د م (khāʾ dāl mīm), concerns work or activity performed for another.

Sukhriyyan in Al-Zukhruf 43:32 concerns employing others, but its field can be stronger than voluntary service and include unequal relationships or imposed labour.

“Cooperation” in every situation could therefore conceal power and control.

Conversely, not every voluntary service is compulsory subjection.

S KH R (sakhira) and S Ḥ R (siḥr)

س خ ر (S KH R), with khāʾ, and س ح ر (S Ḥ R), with ḥāʾ, are independent roots.

سِحْر (siḥr) concerns magic and deceptive or extraordinary influence in the Qur’an. Sakhira means ridiculing; sakhkhara concerns taming and employing.

The sun and moon’s subjection does not therefore intrinsically mean performing magic.

صَخْر (ṣakhr), rock, belongs to ص خ ر (Ṣ KH R) and should likewise not be confused with this root.

Suggested translations for Forqan

“Ridicule” and “mock” are appropriate for sakhira and its related derivatives. Lā yaskhar qawmun min qawmin in Al-Ḥujurāt 49:11 is best “let no group ridicule another.”

Al-sākhirīn naturally means “mockers.” According to context, yastaskhirūna can be “engage in ridicule” or “mock intensely.”

For sikhriyyan in Al-Muʾminūn 23:110 and Ṣād 38:63, “a laughingstock” is precise and natural. Explanation should retain the recitational difference and overlap of i- and u-vowel forms.

For sukhriyyan in Al-Zukhruf 43:32, prefer “taken into service,” or in the sentence, “some may take others into service.” “A laughingstock” fits the livelihood context less well.

For sakhkhara and musakhkhar, equivalents include “tame,” “subject,” “bring into service,” “make available” and “place under an order or command,” according to the subject.

For the sun, moon, clouds and stars, an explanation of prescribed order can clarify meaning. Subjection should not be reduced merely to creating or being governed by laws.

For livestock and means of riding, “make manageable and available” is more natural.

Sakhkharahā ʿalayhim in Al-Ḥāqqah 69:7 is close to “He deployed that wind against them,” retaining its difference from sakhkhara lakum.

For sakhira Allāhu minhum in Al-Tawbah 9:79, preserve the verbal connection with their mockery and explain the divine response and the consequences returning upon them, without attributing every psychological feature of human ridicule to The God.

Conclusion

S KH R has two prominent branches: ridiculing and belittling, and taming or bringing a person or thing into service. Lexical tradition connects them through contempt and subordination, but that connection must not erase their actual differences.

Qur’anic sakhira often concerns prophets and believers being mocked. Al-Ḥujurāt 49:11 prohibits ridicule socially and recalls that the person mocked may be better. The same family occurs in Noah’s story and the divine response to mockers, with response and consequence determined contextually.

Sakhkhara and musakhkhar mostly concern forces and resources of creation placed within a particular order and service: the sun, moon, night, day, sea, ships, birds and wind. These involve available benefits and ordered movement, rather than absolute human control over nature.

Al-Ḥāqqah 69:7 shows that subjection need not benefit those addressed. A destructive wind was deployed against ʿĀd. The lexical sense concerns being under command for a function; context determines whether the outcome is beneficial or harmful.

Sukhriyyan in Al-Zukhruf 43:32 concerns work and livelihood. It should not be restricted to equal, voluntary cooperation, because employment can involve different power and standing. The verse nevertheless grants no general permission for exploitation and humiliation; it concludes by placing The God’s mercy above accumulated wealth.

S KH R’s semantic family must retain two branches: belittling and making another an object of ridicule; and placing a person or thing under a particular command, control or function so that its work or capacity can be used.

Lowering or subordination can connect the branches without making mockery and subjection identical.

Every use requires identifying its subject and relationship: does someone humiliate another, does a natural force serve a function, is a being made responsive to someone’s command, or do humans employ one another in livelihood relationships?

This distinction preserves both the Qur’an’s prohibition of human ridicule and the meaning of subjecting nature and human service, without assigning one fixed ethical value to every derivative.