The Qur’anic Root Ṣ F Ḥ
Ṣafaḥa: turning one’s face or side away, and passing over something
In Qur’anic usage, ṣafḥ concerns turning away and not continuing a confrontation or reproach. When another person’s wrongdoing is at issue, it can mean overlooking that wrong; its uses are not all confined to forgiveness. Its lexical connection with the surface, breadth, and side of things provides a concrete background to the family.
The root Ṣ F Ḥ occurs eight times in seven Qur’anic verses: six verbal uses and two verbal nouns. Ṣafaḥa / yaṣfaḥu are dictionary forms of the verb; the verses themselves contain forms such as iṣfaḥ, iṣfaḥū, yaṣfaḥū, and taṣfaḥū. The verbal noun ṣafḥ appears explicitly twice:
Al-ṣafḥa al-jamīla, “gracious overlooking,” in Al-Ḥijr 15:85;
And:
Ṣafḥan, “turning away,” in Al-Zukhruf 43:5.
Ṣafḥ is often understood alongside pardon and forgiveness. That use is real in the Qur’an, but the root’s semantic core is broader than “forgiving.”
In Arabic, ṣafḥ al-shayʾ denotes something’s broad face, surface, or side. Ṣafḥat al-wajh is the face or its broad surface; ṣafḥatā al-sayf are the two faces of a sword; and ṣafḥ al-shayʾ is its side.
Lexical explanations connect ṣafaḥa ʿanhu, turning one’s face or side away from someone or something, with this same field. In relation to a fault, this movement can become passing over it and not continuing to hold the person to account for it.
Al-Zukhruf 43:5 shows that the meaning is broader than forgiveness:
أَفَنَضْرِبُ عَنْكُمُ الذِّكْرَ صَفْحًا
A-fa-naḍribu ʿankumu dh-dhikra ṣafḥan.
Here al-dhikr, “the reminder,” is the object of naḍribu, while ṣafḥan expresses turning away or the manner of withdrawing it. This is not about forgiving a human fault, although human recipients are present in the expression ʿankum, “from you.”
An initial definition is:
Ṣ F Ḥ: the face, broad surface, or side of something; in verbal use, turning one’s face or side away and withdrawing from continued engagement with or pursuit of something. When a human fault is involved, this can mean passing over it and not continuing to hold someone to account for it.
Forms and designations examined
From a broad face or surface to turning away
The physical field of this root is clear in Arabic.
Ṣafḥ al-shayʾ is its broad surface or side.
Ṣafḥat al-wajh is the surface of the face.
Ṣafīḥah is used for a broad, flat object, such as a stone or metal plate.
In a poem attributed to al-Nābighah al-Dhubyānī, a pre-Islamic poet, swords are described as follows:
تَقُدُّ السَّلُوقِيَّ الْمُضَاعَفَ نَسْجُهُ
وَيُوقِدْنَ بِالصُّفَّاحِ نَارَ الْحُبَاحِبِ
Taquddu al-salūqiyya al-muḍāʿafa nasjuhu / wa-yūqidna bi-l-ṣuffāḥi nāra al-ḥubāḥib.
“They cleave the closely doubled weave of Salūqī armor and strike sparks of fire against broad stones.”
Here الصُّفَّاح (al-ṣuffāḥ) means broad stones: the swords strike sparks against them. Salūqī describes armor associated with Salūq, and nār al-ḥubāḥib evokes the sparks of impact. Transmitted variants include tajuddu for taquddu and tūqidu for yūqidna; the word under discussion still denotes broad stones. The verse attests the physical use of this family in poetry transmitted from the pre-Islamic period, without proving that it historically preceded every ethical use.
The same image underlies the expression:
صَفَحَ عنه
Ṣafaḥa ʿanhu.
Meaning that he turned away from someone.
In social use, this movement need not involve an actual turn of the face. The word extends to withdrawing from continued confrontation, pursuit, or reproach.
The connection between the physical and figurative branches is intelligible as a lexical explanation, but not every Qur’anic ṣafḥ should be reduced to a bodily movement of the head or face. The physical image helps explain the core; context determines how it is realized in each verse. This semantic explanation alone should not be treated as a definitive history of the word’s development.
The two explicit occurrences of the verbal noun ṣafḥ
The two occurrences of the verbal noun help clarify the root’s range.
Al-Ḥijr says:
وَإِنَّ السَّاعَةَ لَآتِيَةٌ فَاصْفَحِ الصَّفْحَ الْجَمِيلَ
Wa-inna s-sāʿata la-ātiyatun fa-ṣfaḥi ṣ-ṣafḥa l-jamīla.
“And the Hour is surely coming; so overlook graciously.”
Al-Ḥijr 15:85
The verb and verbal noun of the same root stand together:
فَاصْفَحِ الصَّفْحَ
Fa-ṣfaḥi ṣ-ṣafḥa.
The verbal noun is then qualified by:
الْجَمِيلَ
Al-jamīla.
Meaning “beautiful” or “gracious.”
The verse does not say that every instance of ṣafḥ is inherently jamīl. It calls for a kind of ṣafḥ that is gracious.
Nor should the adjective jamīl be made to yield details such as completely forgetting the fault, having no inward distress, or ascending through mystical degrees of forgiveness. The text describes the quality of this ṣafḥ as gracious.
The verbal noun also occurs in Al-Zukhruf:
أَفَنَضْرِبُ عَنْكُمُ الذِّكْرَ صَفْحًا أَنْ كُنْتُمْ قَوْمًا مُسْرِفِينَ
A-fa-naḍribu ʿankumu dh-dhikra ṣafḥan an kuntum qawman musrifīna.
“Should We withdraw the reminder from you, turning away, because you are a people who exceed bounds?”
Al-Zukhruf 43:5
Here ṣafḥ concerns withdrawing the reminder from its recipients, rather than forgiving a person.
This use is particularly important for defining the root’s core. If ṣafḥ is defined from the outset as forgiving a sin, Al-Zukhruf 43:5 becomes difficult to explain. With the core “turning away and withdrawing from continued engagement,” both uses of the verbal noun are natural:
In Al-Ḥijr, the opponents’ conduct is passed over graciously;
In Al-Zukhruf, the question is whether the reminder should be withdrawn from its recipients.
Forgiveness is therefore the result of some uses of ṣafḥ, not the whole of its meaning.
Fa-ṣfaḥ ʿanhum: withdrawing from continued confrontation
Al-Zukhruf says:
فَاصْفَحْ عَنْهُمْ وَقُلْ سَلَامٌ ۚ فَسَوْفَ يَعْلَمُونَ
Fa-ṣfaḥ ʿanhum wa-qul salāmun fa-sawfa yaʿlamūna.
“So turn away from them and say, ‘Peace’; they will soon know.”
Al-Zukhruf 43:89
The construction:
صَفَحَ عَنْ
Ṣafaḥa ʿan.
Clarifies the word’s direction. The preposition ʿan indicates turning away from someone or something.
The continuation:
وَقُلْ سَلَامٌ
Wa-qul salāmun.
“And say, ‘Peace,’” is also consistent with ending the dispute and not prolonging the confrontation.
Fa-ṣfaḥ ʿanhum should therefore not be reduced without explanation to “forgive them.” “Turn away from them,” “pass over their conduct,” or, more interpretively, “do not continue the confrontation” can better convey the verse’s image.
The same core appears in Al-Ḥijr 15:85 as:
الصفح الجميل
Al-ṣafḥ al-jamīl.
Thus in Al-Zukhruf 43:5, ṣafḥ occurs in a construction about withdrawing the reminder from its recipients, rather than forgiving their faults. Elsewhere, it expresses a way of responding to human wrongdoing.
ʿAfw and ṣafḥ: two closely related words retained together in the Qur’an
Several verses place ʿafw and ṣafḥ side by side.
In Al-Baqarah:
فَاعْفُوا وَاصْفَحُوا حَتَّىٰ يَأْتِيَ اللَّهُ بِأَمْرِهِ
Fa-ʿfū wa-ṣfaḥū ḥattā yaʾtiya llāhu bi-amrihi.
“So pardon and overlook until The God brings His command.”
Al-Baqarah 2:109
In Al-Māʾidah:
فَاعْفُ عَنْهُمْ وَاصْفَحْ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُحِبُّ الْمُحْسِنِينَ
Fa-ʿfu ʿanhum wa-ṣfaḥ inna llāha yuḥibbu l-muḥsinīna.
“So pardon them and overlook; indeed, The God loves those who do good.”
Al-Māʾidah 5:13
And in Al-Nūr:
وَلْيَعْفُوا وَلْيَصْفَحُوا ۗ أَلَا تُحِبُّونَ أَنْ يَغْفِرَ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ
Wa-l-yaʿfū wa-l-yaṣfaḥū a-lā tuḥibbūna an yaghfira llāhu lakum.
“Let them pardon and overlook. Would you not love The God to forgive you?”
Al-Nūr 24:22
Their repeated coordination shows how closely they are used together. Coordination alone, however, cannot establish a precise semantic difference; the proposed distinction must be tested against usage and lexical evidence.
For ṣafḥ, the central image is turning away from a fault and not continuing to confront it.
Considering the uses of the root ʿ F W, we can propose that ʿafw overlaps more with relinquishing reproach or a right to respond, while ṣafḥ foregrounds setting the fault aside rather than making it the continuing focus of the relationship or confrontation.
This is a tendency, not an absolute distinction.
From the order:
فَاعْفُوا وَاصْفَحُوا
Fa-ʿfū wa-ṣfaḥū.
We cannot conclude that ṣafḥ must be a higher stage or second degree of ʿafw. Coordination alone establishes neither a precise semantic boundary nor a hierarchy; ranking them ethically requires additional evidence.
Taʿfū wa-taṣfaḥū wa-taghfirū: three related images
Al-Taghābun says:
وَإِنْ تَعْفُوا وَتَصْفَحُوا وَتَغْفِرُوا فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ
Wa-in taʿfū wa-taṣfaḥū wa-taghfirū fa-inna llāha ghafūrun raḥīmun.
“And if you pardon, overlook, and forgive, then indeed The God is forgiving, merciful.”
Al-Taghābun 64:14
Three roots occur together:
ع ف و
AYN F W (ʿ F W).
ص ف ح
Ṣ F Ḥ.
And:
غ ف ر
GH F R.
Their closeness prevents us from separating them completely, yet treating them as identical would also erase the Qur’an’s choice of different words.
The contribution of ṣafḥ in this group is more readily identified:
Turning away from the fault or wrongdoer, and not making it the object of continued confrontation.
Lexically, ghafr is associated with covering or concealing, and in this context concerns forgiveness; ʿafw also has its own independent uses. These lexical associations should not replace each word’s meaning in the sentence.
Nor does the order of the three verbs alone justify a fixed system of three stages of forgiveness. The Qur’an coordinates three verbs; anything beyond that requires further evidence.
Ṣafḥ is not the same as forgetting
When someone passes over another’s fault, a reader may imagine that the event must be completely forgotten.
The root itself does not say this.
The central image is turning away and not continuing the confrontation. Someone may remember what happened while deciding not to keep bringing it up against the other person or making the relationship revolve around that fault.
Ṣafḥ should therefore not be translated as erasing the fault from memory.
This distinction also fits Al-Zukhruf 43:5. Withdrawing a reminder from someone does not mean that the reminder itself has been forgotten. The issue is ceasing or setting aside its presentation to the recipient.
Translation proposals for Forqan
In verses concerning other people’s faults, “overlook” or “pass over” is a natural rendering of ṣafḥ, while the image of turning away is best retained in the explanation.
For:
فَاعْفُوا وَاصْفَحُوا
Fa-ʿfū wa-ṣfaḥū.
We can say:
“So pardon and overlook.”
Translating both verbs simply as “forgive” would lose the Qur’an’s use of different words.
For:
فَاعْفُ عَنْهُمْ وَاصْفَحْ
Fa-ʿfu ʿanhum wa-ṣfaḥ.
“Pardon them and pass over their faults”
Can preserve something of the distinction between the two words.
For:
فَاصْفَحِ الصَّفْحَ الْجَمِيلَ
Fa-ṣfaḥi ṣ-ṣafḥa l-jamīla.
A natural translation is:
“So overlook graciously.”
The more direct image, “turn away in a gracious manner,” can be explained in the commentary.
For:
فَاصْفَحْ عَنْهُمْ وَقُلْ سَلَامٌ
Fa-ṣfaḥ ʿanhum wa-qul salāmun.
“So turn away from them and say, ‘Peace’”
Is closer to the verse’s construction than simply “forgive them.”
For:
أَفَنَضْرِبُ عَنْكُمُ الذِّكْرَ صَفْحًا
A-fa-naḍribu ʿankumu dh-dhikra ṣafḥan.
We can say:
“Should We withdraw the reminder from you?”
The explanation can then clarify that ṣafḥan gives the action the sense of turning away and setting aside.
Conclusion
The physical core of Ṣ F Ḥ concerns the face, broad surface, or side of something. Connected to this field, ṣafaḥa ʿanhu means turning one’s face or side away from someone or something, and withdrawing from continued engagement.
The verbal noun ṣafḥ occurs explicitly twice in the Qur’an, and these uses complement one another. In al-ṣafḥ al-jamīl, ṣafḥ is a manner of responding and passing over that is to be gracious. In a-fa-naḍribu ʿankumu al-dhikra ṣafḥan, the question concerns withdrawing the reminder, not forgiving a wrongdoer. This second use prevents the root from being reduced to forgiveness.
In human relationships, ṣafḥ accompanies pardon and forgiveness without being identical to them. The uses of these roots and their lexical associations allow us to identify related perspectives; merely coordinating ʿafw and ṣafḥ, or ʿafw, ṣafḥ, and maghfirah, is not enough to prove precise boundaries. Nor should fixed ethical ranks be deduced from their order.
A concise definition of the root is:
Ṣ F Ḥ: in its physical core, the face, broad surface, or side of something; in verbal use, turning one’s face or side away and withdrawing from continued engagement with or pursuit of something. When a human fault is involved, this becomes passing over the fault and not continuing reproach or confrontation over it. Ṣafḥ can accompany pardon and forgiveness, but is neither identical to them nor inherently restricted to forgiving.
This root in Al-Baqarah 2:109