The Qur’anic Root Ṣ M D
Ṣamad: the one to whom people turn in their needs; greatness and firmness—from human leadership to The God's absolute self-sufficiency
Qur’anic and lexical forms
الصَّمَدُ
(al-ṣamad)
The only Qur’anic form; a definite nominative description; Al-Ikhlāṣ 112:2
صَمَدَ إِلَيْهِ
(ṣamada ilayhi)
Lexical usage: turned toward someone
صَمَد
(ṣamad)
Human lexical use: a distinguished person whom others approach
مُصَمَّد
(muṣammad)
Lexical form in poetry: honored and sought out
صَمْد
(ṣamd)
Lexical noun with unvoweled mīm: hard, firm ground
مُصْمَد
(muṣmad)
Material lexical use: an object without an internal hollow
صِمَاد
(ṣimād)
Lexical form: a head wrapping or vessel stopper
صُمُود
(ṣumūd)
Common contemporary use: steadfastness or resistance
1. Introducing the root and its Qur’anic forms
Arabic Ṣ M D has two recognized semantic fields. The first concerns intending or turning toward someone or something for a particular purpose; the second concerns hardness, firmness, and structural solidity without weakness.
In the first branch, صَمَدَ إِلَيْهِ (ṣamada ilayhi) means turning toward someone or making that person one's destination. Ṣamad describes a distinguished person to whom others turn in their affairs and needs. The second branch includes firm ground, elevated places, and solid objects without an internal hollow.
These fields converge in some uses, but they should not be assumed to derive from one original material image. In particular, historical evidence would be needed to establish that ṣamad as a point of recourse arose from the hardness of a stone or its lack of an internal cavity.
This root occurs only once in the Qur’an:
Al-Ikhlāṣ, 112:2
اللَّهُ الصَّمَدُ
Allāhu al-ṣamad
“The God is self-sufficient, the One to whom all needs are directed.”
Al-Ṣamad here describes The God. Its attested Arabic meaning concerns being a point of recourse for people who turn to someone in important affairs or in need. In Al-Ikhlāṣ, the description applies to The God and acquires a scope beyond limited human leadership.
Forms examined
Important forms in this Arabic family include:
- صَمَدَ، يَصْمِدُ، يَصْمُدُ (ṣamada, yaṣmidu, yaṣmudu): to intend or turn toward someone or something.
- صَمْد (ṣamd): intending or turning toward; in another branch, hardness or firmness.
- صَمَد (ṣamad): a master or distinguished person to whom others turn for their needs and affairs.
- الصَّمَد (al-ṣamad): the definite form of this description, and the root's only Qur’anic form.
- مَصْمُود (maṣmūd): someone or something made a destination or point of recourse.
- مُصَمَّد (muṣammad): a person or position sought out; in another usage, something hard or firm.
- صَمْد، صِمَاد (ṣamd, ṣimād): hard, rocky, or elevated ground.
- صَمْدَة (ṣamdah): a firm stone or rock in the ground.
- صِمَاد (ṣimād): cloth tied around the head; also a cover or stopper for a vessel.
- تَصْمِيد (taṣmīd): wrapping or covering the head with cloth.
- صُمُود (ṣumūd): commonly used in contemporary Arabic for steadfastness or resistance.
Only al-ṣamad occurs in the Qur’an. All the other witnesses illuminate the root's linguistic field rather than constituting additional Qur’anic occurrences.
Ṣamd, without a vowel on mīm and meaning intending, must also be distinguished from ṣamad, with a short a on mīm, in descriptive use. Similar spelling does not establish an identical morphological function.
2. Intending and turning toward: the first branch
Ṣamada ilayhi: turning toward a particular destination
Early Arabic uses صَمَدَ إِلَيْهِ (ṣamada ilayhi) for turning toward someone or something.
صَمَدَهُ (ṣamadahu), without a preposition, is also attested for intending or directing oneself toward something.
The person is not merely looking at something or naming it, but making it the focus of attention and movement.
For example, صَمَدْتُ صَمْدَ الأَمْرِ (ṣamadtu ṣamda al-amr) expresses setting oneself toward an undertaking or intending to carry it out.
Some uses involve bodily movement, as when one person goes to another. Others concern turning to someone with a request, for help, or to have an affair attended to.
The verb itself therefore does not mean that a need has been fulfilled. Someone can intend to approach a person and go there without yet receiving a response.
Intending, approaching, and having a request fulfilled are three different stages. The verb's basic meaning expresses direction or turning toward; the outcome must be established from context.
Ṣamad: a master to whom people turn
In early Arab society, ṣamad described a distinguished person to whom others turned in important affairs.
This could be a household head, a tribal leader, or someone whose judgment, assistance, and support others needed.
Simply holding a social rank is not the salient point. Ṣamad brings out that person's position as someone others seek out.
Lexical sources accordingly explain al-ṣamad as السيد الذي يصمد إليه في الحوائج (al-sayyid alladhī yuṣmadu ilayhi fī al-ḥawāʾij): a master to whom people turn in their needs.
This shows that ṣamad was an Arabic description of human beings independently of examining its use as a divine attribute.
However distinguished, a human master remains limited and dependent. Such a person might meet some needs while being unable to answer others.
Human and divine uses of ṣamad should therefore not be equated in the extent of capacity or self-sufficiency.
3. Early Arabic poetic evidence
Ṣamad describing a community's distinguished leader
A verse transmitted in early lexical sources says:
أَلَا بَكَّرَ النَّاعِي بِخَيْرَيْ بَنِي أَسَدْ
بِعَمْرِو بْنِ مَسْعُودٍ وَبِالسَّيِّدِ الصَّمَدْ
alā bakkara al-nāʿī bi-khayray Banī Asad / bi-ʿAmri bni Masʿūdin wa-bi-l-sayyidi al-ṣamad
“Behold, the death-announcer came early with news of two of Banū Asad's finest: ʿAmr ibn Masʿūd and the noble master to whom people turned.”
Al-Ṣamad appears alongside al-sayyid, “the master.”
The subject is thus a person of standing, rather than a hard object or a stone without a cavity.
Older explanations differ about the second person's exact name and certain details of attribution. The poet and date of composition should therefore not be treated as certain without independent investigation.
The linguistic use is nevertheless clear: al-sayyid al-ṣamad describes a distinguished person whose social standing involves being others' point of recourse.
This witness matters because it illustrates recourse and leadership independently of interpreting the verse in Al-Ikhlāṣ.
Muṣammad in the poetry of Ṭarafah ibn al-ʿAbd
Ṭarafah ibn al-ʿAbd's celebrated Muʿallaqah says:
وَإِنْ يَلْتَقِ الْحَيُّ الْجَمِيعُ تُلَاقِنِي
إِلَى ذِرْوَةِ الْبَيْتِ الرَّفِيعِ الْمُصَمَّدِ
wa-in yaltaqi al-ḥayyu al-jamīʿu tulāqinī / ilā dhirwati al-bayti al-rafīʿi al-muṣammad
“And if the whole tribe gathers, you will find me at the summit of that exalted house to which people turn.”
The poet is speaking about his standing within the tribe.
Dhirwat al-bayt, “the house's summit,” denotes the family's highest place in honor and standing; muṣammad concerns its honored position as a point of recourse.
Manuscripts and commentaries vary in certain words, but muṣammad is established in reliable transmissions.
The witness is particularly significant because Ṭarafah is a pre-Islamic poet and the verse belongs to his recognized poetic corpus.
Here too the root concerns being a destination or point of recourse, rather than the absence of a hollow within a body.
Was ṣamad only a tribal chief's title?
These witnesses show that ṣamad could describe distinguished people and those of social standing.
They do not establish that it was exclusively a tribal chief's official title.
This branch's basic meaning concerns intending or turning toward. Its application to a master is intelligible because people seek that person out.
Nor does calling a person ṣamad establish independence from every other person.
Someone can be a point of recourse for others while still needing other people or resources.
This distinction matters when examining اللَّهُ الصَّمَدُ (Allāhu al-ṣamad) in the Qur’an.
4. Hardness, firmness, and solidity: the second branch
Ṣamd: hard, firm ground
Arabic lexical sources also record al-ṣamd for hard, raised, or rocky ground.
Sometimes it describes a firm surface; sometimes an elevation smaller than a mountain.
A line attributed to Abū al-Najm al-ʿIjlī says:
يُغَادِرُ الصَّمْدَ كَظَهْرِ الْأَجْزَلِ
yughādiru al-ṣamda ka-ẓahri al-ajzal
“It leaves the hard, raised ground like the back of a camel whose withers have sunk through injury.”
Here ṣamd concerns a hard, firm place in the ground.
Abū al-Najm belongs to the Islamic period, so the line should not be presented as pre-Islamic poetry.
Arabic also records ṣamdah for a firm rock embedded in the ground, sometimes rising slightly above its surface.
These uses connect Ṣ M D's material field with hardness and firmness.
They do not establish that leadership and being a point of recourse necessarily developed from the form of such a rock. Maqāyīs al-Lughah identifies intending and hardness as two distinct semantic bases.
Muṣammad: something without weakness
Another usage describes something hard and firm as muṣammad: something with no evident structural weakness.
This concerns firmness and solidity.
Material hardness and personal reliability are not identical meanings, even if a literary resemblance can be drawn.
Calling a person firm or steadfast, for example, need not mean that the person's body is as hard as stone.
Such a resemblance cannot establish ṣamad's derivational history.
Having no hollow: an attested meaning requiring caution
Certain lexical sources and early explanations give “not hollow within” as a meaning of al-ṣamad.
A relationship is also reported between مُصْمَد (muṣmad) and مُصْمَت (muṣmat), both used in some settings for a hard object without an internal cavity.
This material usage is attested and should not be omitted from the investigation.
Two questions must nevertheless remain separate.
First, did early Arabic have a word from Ṣ M D for an object without an internal cavity? Yes.
Second, does اللَّهُ الصَّمَدُ (Allāhu al-ṣamad) describe a solid, nonhollow body? The existence of that lexical usage does not establish this conclusion.
Such a transfer attributes bodily form to The God, whereas Al-Ikhlāṣ itself says nothing about His body, organs, cavities, or material structure.
Older explanations also differ about applying “without a hollow” to The God. Some take it literally or explain it as denying bodily needs; others reject a bodily understanding of the expression.
A linguistic investigation should report this disagreement, without allowing an explanation to displace the verse's direct meaning without justification.
If the intention is to deny The God's need for eating, drinking, or other bodily necessities, that conclusion should be expressed clearly in nonbodily terms, rather than describing Him as a closed, solid body.
Ṣamad and steadfastness in contemporary usage
Contemporary uses of ṣumūd and resistance commonly concern steadfastness under pressure, difficulty, or opposition.
Ṣumūd is also particularly common in modern Arabic for standing firm or resisting.
This has an intelligible semantic relationship with the family's firmness and hardness branch.
However, major early Arabic sources more commonly give ṣamd as the verb's verbal noun. Linguists have also debated the currency and acceptance of ṣumūd in its contemporary sense.
Today's familiar meaning should therefore not be transferred to Al-Ikhlāṣ without historical examination.
اللَّهُ الصَّمَدُ (Allāhu al-ṣamad) does not in itself mean “The God resists enemies.”
Nor should divine firmness be equated with a person's need to defend against external forces.
5. Allāhu al-ṣamad: the root's only Qur’anic occurrence
Al-Ikhlāṣ, 112:2
اللَّهُ الصَّمَدُ
Allāhu al-ṣamad
“The God is self-sufficient, the One to whom all needs are directed.”
This short verse is Ṣ M D's only Qur’anic occurrence.
Understanding it requires both ṣamad's attested Arabic meaning and the surah's complete structure.
Ṣamad: the one to whom others turn
Arabic uses ṣamad for a distinguished person whom others approach in their needs.
Al-Ikhlāṣ applies this description to The God.
Being a point of recourse for others nevertheless differs greatly between a human being and The God.
A tribal elder has limited capacity even when people approach him. He may decide an affair or meet a need while remaining dependent on other things for life, property, security, and continued existence.
By contrast, the Qur’an presents The God as the source of creation, possessing power independent of created beings.
When ṣamad describes The God in Al-Ikhlāṣ, being a point of recourse is therefore understood as absolute and without equal.
Absolute self-sufficiency, however, is not the verb ṣamada's complete lexical meaning. Full independence follows from applying this description to The God and from the network of Qur’anic passages concerning His oneness.
Ṣamad: a point of recourse or self-sufficiency itself?
Al-Ṣamad is often rendered with an expression of self-sufficiency.
That conveys an important aspect of the divine description, but on its own it leaves less visible ṣamad's attested connection with turning toward or seeking someone out.
The Arabic description is not merely about independence from others; it identifies someone to whom others turn.
In the divine context, two related directions can therefore be distinguished:
The God does not depend on creation, while created beings depend on Him in their needs.
These directions are not lexically identical.
Intending and seeking recourse have direct support in Arabic usage. The God's absolute self-sufficiency is further illuminated by His other Qur’anic descriptions.
A rendering such as “self-sufficient, the One to whom all needs are directed” can preserve both directions more fully.
Does ṣamad mean someone who grants every request?
Arabic ṣamad describes someone whom people approach in their needs.
The verb itself does not mean that every request is fulfilled.
A person can approach a tribal elder with a request that is not accepted.
Approaching, responding, and realizing a wish must therefore be distinguished.
The Qur’an describes The God as responding to those who call upon Him, for example in Al-Baqarah 2:186 and Al-Naml 27:62. Responding, however, belongs to J W B, not Ṣ M D itself.
Al-Ṣamad expresses The God's being the point of recourse. How He responds, what He grants, and what He brings about must be understood through the passages concerning calling upon Him, His will, and response.
Ṣamad should consequently not be defined as someone who immediately fulfills every wish exactly as requested.
Ṣamad and leadership
In human usage, ṣamad appears alongside al-sayyid: a distinguished person to whom people turn.
The word sayyid does not, however, occur in Al-Ikhlāṣ.
Simply translating ṣamad as “master” or “ruler” is therefore insufficient: readers may understand political or social authority alone.
Alongside greatness, the attested Arabic meaning involves others turning toward or approaching someone.
In divine usage, this position accompanies The God's self-sufficiency and oneness.
A translation should make both directions as clear as possible without depicting The God as a human community's chief or a ruler dependent on subjects.
6. Ṣamad within the whole of Al-Ikhlāṣ
Allāhu al-ṣamad should be read alongside the surah's other three verses.
The God's oneness
Al-Ikhlāṣ, 112:1
قُلْ هُوَ اللَّهُ أَحَدٌ
qul huwa Allāhu aḥad
“Say: He is The God; aḥad—One.”
The surah opens by identifying The God as aḥad.
This word belongs to another root and concerns oneness.
Oneness does not, however, follow from Ṣ M D itself.
The second verse describes this same One God as al-Ṣamad.
Two distinct descriptions thus appear within a connected construction: being aḥad and being ṣamad.
Together they show that ṣamad describes the same One God, rather than naming one of several independent powers or points of recourse.
The absence of a conjunction between the sentences should nevertheless not support conclusions beyond what syntax and context establish.
Allāhu al-ṣamad as an independent sentence
In the second verse, both Allāh and al-ṣamad are definite.
A straightforward grammatical analysis takes Allāh as the subject and al-ṣamad as the predicate: The God is al-Ṣamad.
Another analysis relates this sentence to the first verse as an additional predicate concerning huwa, “He.”
In either analysis, ṣamad is a description attributed to The God.
The definiteness of al-ṣamad alone does not establish the whole meaning of oneness and incomparability. Those meanings become clearer through its relation to aḥad and the surah's conclusion.
Al-Ṣamad itself also occurs only here in the Qur’an. No form should be added to or removed from the verse merely to align it with later lists of divine names.
Lam yalid wa-lam yūlad: denying begetting and being begotten
Al-Ikhlāṣ, 112:3
لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يُولَدْ
lam yalid wa-lam yūlad
“He has neither begotten nor been begotten.”
This immediately follows Allāhu al-ṣamad.
The Qur’an here denies begetting and being begotten of The God.
Among known living beings, being born involves lineage and dependence on an origin. In ordinary language, begetting likewise concerns descent and offspring.
The verse explicitly denies both relationships.
Being ṣamad thus appears within a context rejecting the attribution of birth and generative relationships to The God.
This proximity allows a connection between His self-sufficiency and the denial of dependence through lineage.
It does not, however, make “neither begetting nor begotten” ṣamad's exact lexical meaning.
Those meanings are expressed by two separate verbs from W L D.
Each verse's contribution must be preserved: the second describes The God as ṣamad, while the third denies begetting and being begotten.
Wa-lam yakun lahu kufuwan aḥad: incomparability
Al-Ikhlāṣ, 112:4
وَلَمْ يَكُنْ لَهُ كُفُوًا أَحَدٌ
wa-lam yakun lahu kufuwan aḥad
“And no one has ever been His equal.”
The surah ends by denying a counterpart to The God.
Kufuwan belongs to another root and concerns equivalence in standing or a relevant characteristic.
Ṣamad alone should therefore not be translated “without equal,” although the surah connects being ṣamad with divine oneness and incomparability.
The final verse prevents the human and divine uses of ṣamad from being placed on one level.
A community's leading figure may be called ṣamad because others approach him in need, but he still has human counterparts and limitations.
Al-Ikhlāṣ describes The God as a ṣamad who is aḥad, has not been begotten, has no offspring, and has no equal.
Ṣamad's meaning in the surah must therefore be understood within this combination of descriptions.
7. Ṣamad and self-sufficiency across the Qur’an
Although Ṣ M D occurs only once, human dependence and The God's self-sufficiency appear in other Qur’anic passages.
These can illuminate His being ṣamad, but their own words should not be presented as derivatives of Ṣ M D.
The God is self-sufficient; people are dependent
Fāṭir, 35:15
يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ أَنْتُمُ الْفُقَرَاءُ إِلَى اللَّهِ ۖ وَاللَّهُ هُوَ الْغَنِيُّ الْحَمِيدُ
yā ayyuhā al-nāsu antumu al-fuqarāʾu ilā Allāhi wa-Allāhu huwa al-ghaniyyu al-ḥamīd
“O people, you are in need of The God; and The God is the Self-Sufficient, the Praiseworthy.”
This explicitly distinguishes human need from The God's self-sufficiency.
Al-fuqarāʾ belongs to F Q R, while al-ghaniyy belongs to GH N Y.
Neither should therefore be treated as a lexical derivative of Ṣ M D.
The passage nevertheless accords with understanding ṣamad as the point of recourse in need.
People are dependent and The God self-sufficient. This relationship can help explain applying ṣamad to Him in Al-Ikhlāṣ.
There is still an important distinction: ghaniyy explicitly expresses self-sufficiency, while ṣamad's attested Arabic usage emphasizes being sought out by others.
The meanings are related but distinct.
Ṣamad and calling directly upon The God
In Al-Baqarah 2:186, The God describes Himself as near and speaks of responding to the call of someone who calls upon Him.
Ghāfir 40:60 likewise joins the instruction to call upon Him with a promise of response.
These passages clearly relate to ṣamad as the point of recourse in need.
Lexical meaning must nevertheless be distinguished from a broader Qur’anic conclusion.
Ṣamad does not itself mean calling or supplication. Nor does it alone determine every boundary concerning intercession, mediation, or requesting human help.
Al-Ikhlāṣ establishes The God's oneness and His being ṣamad; the passages about calling upon Him establish the direct relationship of the servant's call and request to Him.
The matters and circumstances in which human help may be requested, or the kinds of mediation compatible with Qur’anic oneness, are broader questions. They should not be decided through ṣamad's derivation alone.
Ṣamad and entrusting one's affairs
In Āl ʿImrān 3:173, the believers say that The God suffices for them and describe Him as an excellent wakīl, the One entrusted with their affairs.
Al-Ṭalāq 65:3 likewise describes The God as sufficient for whoever places trust in Him.
These passages concern trust and turning toward The God.
However, ḥasb belongs to Ḥ S B, and tawakkul, entrusting one's affairs, belongs to W K L.
Ṣamad, ḥasb, and wakīl cannot therefore be treated as complete synonyms.
Ḥasb expresses sufficiency, tawakkul concerns entrusting and relying, and ṣamad in its attested sense identifies the one to whom others turn.
In describing The God, these ideas can complement one another while retaining their linguistic distinctions.
9. Challenges in understanding and translation
Is self-sufficient alone enough to translate ṣamad?
“Self-sufficient” is among the suitable short equivalents for the divine description.
On its own, however, it does not disclose others' turning toward Him.
Early Arabic witnesses describe a distinguished person whom people approach in their affairs as ṣamad.
If the translation uses only “self-sufficient,” the lexical explanation should make this side of the relationship clear.
Conversely, “the point of recourse in need,” without divine self-sufficiency, might suggest limited human leadership.
A research article can therefore present both aspects together.
Does ṣamad mean a solid body?
Some older sources attest a usage meaning without an internal hollow.
This material definition should not be directly attributed to The God.
Al-Ikhlāṣ does not define Him through a body, size, limb, or cavity.
Reading the divine description as a closed, solid body adds something the verse itself does not state.
If the intention is to explain His independence from eating, drinking, and other creaturely needs, that conclusion is better expressed naturally and without attributing bodily form.
Does ṣamad mean everlasting?
Some older explanations describe ṣamad as one who remains and does not perish.
Applied to The God, this agrees with the Qur’anic passages concerning His abiding existence.
However, other families also express continuance in Qur’anic language, while the clear Arabic witnesses link ṣamad more directly to intending and being sought out.
“Everlasting” can therefore form part of a theological explanation of the divine description, but should not silently replace its principal lexical meaning.
Does ṣamad simply mean absolute power?
Human ṣamad describes a master or distinguished person of standing.
Power and greatness can accordingly relate to this description.
Ṣamad is nevertheless not a direct lexical equivalent of absolute power.
The Qur’an also expresses divine power through other words and attributes.
Translating ṣamad only as “powerful” would lose the characteristic of being sought out in need.
Understanding this description more precisely therefore requires attention to the relationship between the one in need and the point of recourse.
10. Translation recommendations for Forqan
A single English word for al-ṣamad in Al-Ikhlāṣ 112:2 is unlikely to convey its entire attested meaning.
Three renderings deserve consideration.
“Self-sufficient” is concise and natural. It conveys The God's independence, but leaves the other direction—creation's turning toward Him—unexpressed.
“The One to whom all needs are directed” more directly reflects the basic Arabic usage. It shows others turning to Him in need, without explicitly stating His absolute self-sufficiency.
“Self-sufficient, the One to whom all needs are directed” preserves both directions and is the more precise proposal for Forqan's study.
The proposed translation is therefore:
Al-Ikhlāṣ, 112:2
اللَّهُ الصَّمَدُ
Allāhu al-ṣamad
“The God is self-sufficient, the One to whom all needs are directed.”
A shorter translation could retain “The God is self-sufficient,” with being the point of recourse explained in the lexical discussion.
Ṣamad itself may also be retained:
“The God is al-Ṣamad: self-sufficient, the One to whom all needs are directed.”
This is useful for conceptual study, but a general translation should not leave readers with an unexplained, unfamiliar term.
A brief meaning for the word-by-word box
الصَّمَدُ (al-ṣamad): self-sufficient and the point of recourse in need; describing The God, who needs no one while created beings depend on Him.
The root explanation can add that Arabic also applied ṣamad to a distinguished person whom people approached in their affairs.
The brief box should not introduce bodily meanings such as solid or nonhollow as a direct translation of the divine description.
Nor should ṣamad be rendered simply as one resisting an enemy or as hard stone: these meanings do not adequately accord with the surah's context and principal witnesses to the descriptive usage.
11. Conclusion
Arabic Ṣ M D has two principal fields: intending and turning toward, and hardness and firmness.
In the first, ṣamada ilayhi means turning toward someone or something. Within this field, ṣamad describes a master whom people approach in important affairs or in need.
Early Arabic poetic witnesses support this meaning, including muṣammad in Ṭarafah's poetry and al-sayyid al-ṣamad in a verse transmitted by lexical sources.
The second branch includes hard ground, firm rock, and a body without structural weakness. Some early sources also record the nonhollow explanation, but it should not be transferred directly into a bodily description of The God.
The root appears only once in the Qur’an: Allāhu al-ṣamad in Al-Ikhlāṣ 112:2.
Here ṣamad describes the same One God identified as aḥad in the first verse. The following verses deny begetting, being begotten, and having an equal.
His being ṣamad thus belongs to a context distinguishing His position from limited human recourse.
A person can be sought out for some needs while remaining dependent in many ways. By contrast, the Qur’an presents The God as self-sufficient and creation as dependent on Him.
“Self-sufficient” consequently preserves an important part of al-ṣamad's divine meaning, but the attested Arabic meaning of the one to whom others turn must not be forgotten.
Nor should ṣamad be treated as completely synonymous with aḥad, ghaniyy, ḥasb, rabb, or wakīl. Each has its own meaning and can illuminate the others within the Qur’anic account of divine oneness.
For Forqan, this family's basic definition is: descriptive ṣamad identifies the one to whom others turn in their affairs and needs. Applied to The God, this recourse accompanies absolute self-sufficiency and creation's dependence on Him. The root's other branch concerns hardness and firmness, but its material characteristics should not be attributed to The God without evidence.
This definition encompasses Arabic witnesses and the root's sole Qur’anic use, without omitting being sought out or converting divine self-sufficiency into material hardness or solidity.