Qur’anic Root Ṣ F Ṣ F — Ṣafṣaf: Smooth, Level Ground without Unevenness
Qur’anic and lexical forms
صَفْصَفًا
(ṣafṣafan)
Ṭā Hā 20:106; accusative description of land
صَفْصَف
(ṣafṣaf)
Smooth, level ground
صَفَاصِف
(ṣafāṣif)
Plural; level expanses
صَفْصَفَة
(ṣafṣafah)
Noun for level ground; not used in the Qur’an
صَفْصَفَ
(ṣafṣafa)
Verb; traveling alone across a plain; not used in the Qur’an
صَفْصَاف
(ṣafṣāf)
Tree name; not used in the Qur’an
صُفْصُف
(ṣufṣuf)
Dialectal sparrow name; not used in the Qur’an
صَفْصَافَة
(ṣafṣāfah)
One recorded form of a dish name; not used in the Qur’an
1. Root Meaning and Word Structure
Arabic ṣafṣaf (صَفْصَف) denotes smooth, level ground with an even surface and no conspicuous rises or depressions. It is used for an open plain, level land, and, in certain uses, ground without vegetation.
Lisān al-ʿArab states: وَأَرْضٌ صَفْصَفٌ: مَلْسَاءُ مُسْتَوِيَةٌ—ṣafṣaf ground is smooth and level.
Abū ʿAmr likewise defines al-ṣafṣaf as al-mustawī mina al-arḍi (المُسْتَوِي مِنَ الأَرْضِ), the level part of the land.
Al-Farrāʾ highlights another feature: الصَّفْصَفُ الَّذِي لَا نَبَاتَ فِيهِ, ground on which there is no vegetation.
Ibn al-Aʿrābī also calls it al-qarʿāʾ (القَرْعَاء), bare land without plant cover.
Lisān al-ʿArab: levelness, absence of vegetation, and lexical definitions
Early sources therefore record two features: a smooth, level surface and barrenness or absence of vegetation.
Both can occur in the same land, but they are not identical.
Ground can be entirely level while supporting short plants. Conversely, land without vegetation can be full of stones, hills, or other irregularities.
Being level and being without vegetation are different descriptions.
Taken together, the lexical witnesses give broader support to smoothness and levelness. Vegetation-free ground is also attested in authoritative sources, but should not replace the meaning of levelness without a contextual reason.
Qur’anic ṣafṣafan describes the condition left after the mountains are removed. Smooth, level ground is central in that context.
Quadriliteral Structure
Qur’anic morphological classification registers Ṣ F Ṣ F (ص ف ص ف) as a quadriliteral entry repeating Ṣ F.
Its form can be compared with zalzala (زَلْزَلَ), waswasa (وَسْوَسَ), and damdama (دَمْدَمَ), each repeating two consonants.
Repeated letters do not carry one fixed meaning across all these families.
Zalzala concerns movement and shaking; waswasa concerns hidden, recurring suggestion. Qur’anic ṣafṣaf describes land.
Quadriliteral structure alone therefore does not establish repeated leveling or flattening the land several times.
Ṣafṣaf in the verse is a noun or description, rather than a verb.
Its central feature is the land’s condition: smooth, level ground.
2. Connections with Ṣ F F and Other Forms
Connection with Ṣaff
In Maqāyīs al-Lughah, Ibn Fāris connects ṣafṣaf with Ṣ F F (ص ف ف).
He describes that family in terms of evenness and equality of position, as when people stand beside each other in a row.
He then writes: وَالأَصْلُ فِي ذَلِكَ الصَّفْصَفُ، وَهُوَ المُسْتَوِي مِنَ الأَرْضِ—the basis of this is ṣafṣaf, the level part of the land.
Maqāyīs al-Lughah: ṣafṣaf, evenness, and ṣaff
His analysis connects two readily understandable images.
In ṣaff (صَفّ), people or things occupy an orderly, aligned extension. In ṣafṣaf, the land’s surface is smooth and level.
The proposed shared feature is alignment and an absence of unequal positioning.
A semantic explanation nevertheless differs from a historical derivation.
Ibn Fāris’s examination of the words in one semantic field does not prove that ṣafṣaf historically arose by repeating ṣaff.
Nor does the connection establish that Qur’anic ṣafṣaf means forming ranks, social order, or people standing in a line.
Qur’anic ṣaff concerns rows, alignment, and standing in ranks; ṣafṣaf in Ṭā Hā 20:106 describes land.
Their images of evenness and alignment can be close, but their referents and linguistic structures differ.
Ṣafṣaf and Ṣafāṣif
The basic form is ṣafṣaf, with the established plural ṣafāṣif (صَفَاصِف).
Lisān al-ʿArab records this plural through Abū ʿAmr and supplies a poetic witness.
Ṣafāṣif refers to level expanses or tracts of land.
The plural does not occur in the Qur’an.
Ṣafṣafah
Lexical sources also record ṣafṣafah (صَفْصَفَة) in a sense close to ṣafṣaf.
Ibn Jinnī places this form in the same semantic field.
Adding tāʾ marbūṭah (ة) can occur in Arabic naming and nominal formation, but does not justify inventing a new meaning such as greater intensity of levelness without evidence.
Here, ṣafṣafah likewise denotes level ground or a smooth expanse.
The Verb Ṣafṣafa
Arabic also records the verb ṣafṣafa (صَفْصَفَ).
Ṣafṣafa fī al-makāni (صَفْصَفَ فِي المَكَانِ) describes someone traveling alone in a place or across a broad plain.
Al-Muʿjam al-Wasīṭ also records ṣafṣafa of a place becoming empty or having fewer people. That modern dictionary entry alone should not be treated as evidence that this particular use goes back to the period of revelation.
Al-Muʿjam al-Wasīṭ: solitary travel and an empty place
Emptiness and a lack of inhabitants are prominent in this use.
A connection between open, empty ground and a person traveling alone across it is conceivable, but does not establish the verb’s historical origin.
These uses do not occur in the Qur’an.
Ṣafṣāf: A Tree Name
Ṣafṣāf (صَفْصاف) names a tree in Arabic, known in Persian as ṣafṣāf or willow.
Early lexicographers connect it with al-khilāf (الخِلَاف); some record it for a tree associated with the Syrian region.
This use clearly differs from ṣafṣaf as level ground.
Willows commonly grow in moist environments and beside water, whereas one lexical use of ṣafṣaf concerns ground without vegetation.
Similar letters and placement in one lexical collection do not authorize deriving the tree’s meaning from level ground or the reverse.
Establishing a historical relationship between the names requires independent evidence.
Ṣufṣuf and Other Names
Certain Arabic dialects record al-ṣufṣuf (الصُّفْصُف), with ḍammah on ṣād, for a sparrow.
Lisān al-ʿArab also records ṣafṣafah as the name of a small creature. For the dish sikbāj, it transmits both ṣafṣafah (صَفْصَفَة) and ṣafṣāfah (صَفْصَافَة), the latter in the anecdote about Al-Ḥajjāj’s cook. These names with shared letters should not be identified with the meaning of level ground.
Lexicographers identify the small creature’s name in particular as borrowed into Arabic. That statement should not be extended without evidence to every name sharing these letters.
Lisān al-ʿArab and Tāj al-ʿArūs: ṣafṣafah, ṣafṣāfah, and the borrowed animal name
Shared consonants do not necessarily imply a shared semantic core.
A hypothetical original meaning should therefore not be invented to connect smooth ground, willow, sparrow, and a kind of food.
For Qur’anic Ṣ F Ṣ F, the central attested use describes smooth, level land.
3. Early Arabic Evidence: Plains and Desert Ground
An important early poetic witness to ṣafṣaf comes from Al-Aʿshā:
وَكَمْ دُونَ بَيْتِكَ مِنْ صَفْصَفٍ
وَدَكْدَاكِ رَمْلٍ وَأَعْقَادِهَا
wa-kam dūna baytika min ṣafṣafin / wa-dakdāki ramlin wa-aʿqādihā
“How many level plains, stretches of compacted sand, and raised sandy masses lie between me and your house!”
Ṣafṣaf accompanies dakdāki ramlin and aʿqādihā in this verse.
In Arabic geographical uses, dakdāk (دَكْدَاك) concerns level or compacted sandy land or masses of sand.
Aʿqād (أَعْقَاد) here describes accumulated, raised sandy masses.
The poet lists several kinds of terrain to convey the journey’s difficulty and extent.
Ṣafṣaf describes a smooth plain beside sandy ground and elevated masses.
The witness matters because it uses the word in a poetic description of land; the meaning is not extracted solely from Qur’anic commentary. Independent evidence is nevertheless needed to date this particular verse precisely.
Al-Aʿshā is a prominent poet of the pre-Islamic tradition who also lived to see Islam emerge. The verse is transmitted in his dīwān, but the poet’s identity alone does not establish its exact date before revelation.
Dīwān of Al-Aʿshā: the poetic tradition, with caution about the verse’s exact date
The verse does not itself establish that ṣafṣaf must always be entirely without vegetation.
The accompanying words and geographical image clearly convey an open, level expanse along the route.
Another Witness Using Ṣafāṣif
Lisān al-ʿArab also quotes:
إِذَا رَكِبَتْ دَاوِيَةً مُدْلَهِمَّةً
وَغَرَّدَ حَادِيهَا لَهَا بِالصَّفَاصِفِ
idhā rakibat dāwiyatan mudlahimmatan / wa-gharrada ḥādīhā lahā bi-l-ṣafāṣifi
Explanatory rendering: “When she traversed a remote, dark wilderness, and her camel-driver sang to her across the level plains.” Dāwiyah concerns a vast, remote desert; al-ṣafāṣif refers to the level expanses being crossed.
Lisān al-ʿArab: the ṣafāṣif plural witness
The word is plural, referring to multiple tracts of land.
The witness fits the meaning of open, level plains.
The cited lexical account does not clearly identify the poet. It can attest the recorded use of ṣafāṣif, but neither its date nor attribution should be declared certain without further examination.
Ṣafṣaf in an Image of Heights Being Leveled
The collection known as Masāʾil Nāfiʿ ibn al-Azraq transmits a verse as evidence for ṣafṣaf:
بِمَلْمُومَةٍ شَهْبَاءَ لَوْ قُذِفُوا بِهَا
شَمَارِيخَ مِنْ رَضْوَىٰ إِذَنْ عَادَ صَفْصَفًا
bi-malmūmatin shahbāʾa law qudhifū bihā / shamārīkha min raḍwā idhan ʿāda ṣafṣafan
Transmissions differ in some of its words.
Explanatory rendering: “With a dense, gray-hued army which, if hurled against the peaks of Raḍwā, would leave the mountain a level plain.” Malmūmatun shahbāʾu pictures an assembled, formidable force; shamārīkh denotes mountain heights and peaks.
Ṣafṣaf here is the result of removing great elevations.
The sense resembles Ṭā Hā 20:106, where ṣafṣaf likewise follows the removal of mountains.
The witness’s historical attribution nevertheless requires caution.
The collection’s reports and attribution to Ibn ʿAbbās require historical and transmission analysis, and the verse’s exact date is unclear.
It can serve as a transmitted lexical witness, but should not be presented unqualifiedly as certainly pre-Islamic or as independent evidence determining the Qur’an’s meaning.
Masāʾil Nāfiʿ ibn al-Azraq: the transmitted witness and attribution caution
Al-Aʿshā’s witness provides clearer support for an early use of ṣafṣaf to describe land.
4. Qur’anic Use in Ṭā Hā 20:106
Ṣ F Ṣ F occurs only once in the Qur’an, as ṣafṣafan (صَفْصَفًا).
Quranic Arabic Corpus: the sole occurrence in Ṭā Hā 20:106
Three successive verses should be read together to understand this use.
Ṭā Hā 20:105: The Removal of Mountains
Ṭā Hā 20:105
وَيَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ الْجِبَالِ فَقُلْ يَنْسِفُهَا رَبِّي نَسْفًا
wa-yasʾalūnaka ʿani al-jibāli fa-qul yansifuhā rabbī nasfan
Translation quoted in this study, rendered here in English:
“They ask you about the mountains. Say: My Lord will scatter them.”
The verse raises a question about the mountains’ fate.
Yansifuhā (يَنْسِفُهَا) belongs to N S F (ن س ف), referring here to removing and scattering the mountains.
The mountains will therefore not remain in their present condition.
The verse provides the setting for ṣafṣaf, but ṣafṣaf’s own meaning is not taken from N S F.
Nasf concerns removing and scattering; ṣafṣaf describes the level condition resulting in the following verse.
Ṭā Hā 20:106: Smooth, Level Ground
Ṭā Hā 20:106
فَيَذَرُهَا قَاعًا صَفْصَفًا
fa-yadharuhā qāʿan ṣafṣafan
Translation quoted in this study, rendered here in English:
“Then He leaves it a level plain.”
Ṣafṣafan follows qāʿan (قَاعًا).
Arabic qāʿ denotes open, extensive, level land. In some uses, it can refer to lower-lying ground where water collects.
In Ṭā Hā 20:106, the combination with ṣafṣaf and the following verse highlights a smooth, level plain.
Ṣafṣaf makes the surface’s evenness clearer.
Grammatically, ṣafṣafan is accusative. One analysis treats it as an adjective modifying qāʿan: a plain that is smooth and level.
Another treats qāʿan and ṣafṣafan as two accusative circumstantial expressions describing the resulting condition.
Qāʿan has also been analyzed as a second object of yadharuhā when the verb carries the sense of making or rendering.
These analyses affect the sentence’s precise structure, but not ṣafṣaf’s central meaning.
Abū al-Suʿūd: qāʿan as circumstantial expression or second object
In each reading, the land’s surface is smooth and level after the mountains are removed.
The Referent of the Pronoun Hā
Fa-yadharuhā (فَيَذَرُهَا) contains the feminine pronoun hā.
Since the preceding verse concerns al-jibāl, the mountains, some analyses refer it back to them: their sites remain level land after the mountains are scattered.
Another refers the pronoun to the earth, understood from the discussion of the mountains.
Both readings ultimately concern the land’s level condition.
The disagreement about the pronoun should not become part of ṣafṣaf’s lexical meaning.
Ṣafṣaf itself denotes smooth, level ground; whether the pronoun refers to the earth or the mountains’ sites concerns sentence structure and context.
Ṭā Hā 20:107: No Crookedness or Unevenness
Ṭā Hā 20:107
لَا تَرَىٰ فِيهَا عِوَجًا وَلَا أَمْتًا
lā tarā fīhā ʿiwajan wa-lā amtan
Translation quoted in this study, rendered here in English:
“You see in it neither crookedness and winding nor any unevenness.”
The verse clarifies the condition described by qāʿan ṣafṣafan.
ʿIwaj concerns crookedness and deviation from straightness.
Amt here expresses unevenness, rises, and depressions in the land.
Verse 107 explains the level surface by denying crookedness and differences in elevation.
The connection matters because ṣafṣaf’s meaning does not rest solely on a general picture of a plain; the next verse itself states the absence of unevenness.
Smoothness and levelness are thus supported both by Arabic lexical uses and by the immediate Qur’anic context.
Al-Ṭabarī: level land and the mountain context
Does Ṣafṣaf Mean Ground without Vegetation?
As noted above, some lexicographers explain ṣafṣaf as land without vegetation.
The sense is linguistically defensible.
The context of Ṭā Hā 20:105, Ṭā Hā 20:106, and Ṭā Hā 20:107 nevertheless chiefly concerns removing mountains and eliminating surface irregularities.
The three verses do not discuss plants, trees, forests, or vegetation.
Ṣafṣafan alone therefore does not establish that the verse independently declares the destruction of every plant on earth.
Bare ground may also belong to the image, but smoothness and levelness are clearer and more direct in this context.
Nor does vegetation-free ground mean an absence of soil, stone, or every other material from the surface. The verse supplies no such details.
Does Ṣafṣaf Name the Process of Leveling?
Ṣafṣafan does not name the leveling operation itself in this verse.
The preceding verse expresses the transformation through yansifuhā nasfan (يَنْسِفُهَا نَسْفًا).
Verse 106 describes the resulting condition.
The distinction matters for translation.
Rendering ṣafṣaf merely as “He smooths it” erases its descriptive function and its distinction from the sentence’s verbs.
An expression such as “smooth and level” better preserves the description of the land’s condition.
6. Conclusion and Translation Proposals
Arabic ṣafṣaf denotes smooth, level, even land.
Lexical sources record it for open plains and, in certain uses, ground without vegetation.
Its central, more widely supported feature is a smooth, level surface.
Ṣ F Ṣ F is structurally quadriliteral, repeating Ṣ F.
Ibn Fāris connects it with ṣaff and the even positioning of things. The semantic explanation is understandable but does not alone prove the word’s historical derivation.
Arabic also records ṣafāṣif, ṣafṣafah, and the verb ṣafṣafa.
Other names include ṣafṣāf for a tree and dialectal ṣufṣuf for a sparrow. Shared consonantal structure does not establish a semantic or historical relationship among all these words.
The Qur’an uses this family only once: ṣafṣafan in Ṭā Hā 20:106.
The preceding verse describes the mountains’ removal. Verse 106 presents the resulting condition as qāʿan ṣafṣafan; the next denies crookedness and unevenness.
The sequence describes smooth, even land whose former elevations have disappeared.
Brief root meaning: Smooth, level, even ground; an expanse without perceptible unevenness. Certain lexical uses also call vegetation-free land ṣafṣaf.
Meaning of Qur’anic ṣafṣafan (صَفْصَفًا): Smooth and level; describing land with an even surface, without rises or depressions, after the mountains are removed.
Proposed translation:
فَيَذَرُهَا قَاعًا صَفْصَفًا
fa-yadharuhā qāʿan ṣafṣafan
“Then He leaves it a level plain.”
To give both words greater visibility, one may also render it:
“Then He leaves it an open expanse, smooth and level.”
Here, qāʿ emphasizes the open stretch of land and ṣafṣaf its smooth, even surface, without manufacturing an artificial distinction between the words.
The study’s central conclusion is that ṣafṣaf describes the condition of land, rather than naming the act of destroying mountains.
Verse 105 expresses the removal and scattering of mountains; verse 106 describes the level land; verse 107 clarifies the absence of crookedness and unevenness in that condition.
The word should therefore not be made to mean destruction, the absence of every kind of material, or a purely moral or allegorical concept.
Its use concerns the land’s condition after the mountains are transformed, rather than the earth’s present shape or scientific details of how the transformation occurs.
Its direct meaning is clear: smooth, open, even ground with no visible irregularities.