Root TH R Y in the Qur’an
Moist earth, ground moisture, and its association with abundance
Qur’anic and lexical forms
الثَّرَىٰ / ثَرَى
(al-tharā / tharā)
Moist soil; sole Qur’anic occurrence, Ṭā Hā 20:6
ثَرِيَ
(thariya)
Became moist; Form I verb; not Qur’anic
ثَرِيَّة / ثَرْيَاء
(thariyyah / tharyāʾ)
Descriptions of moist land; not Qur’anic
ثَرَّى
(tharrā)
Moistened soil; Form II; not Qur’anic
أَثْرَى
(athrā)
Moistened; or became wealthy in the wealth branch; not Qur’anic
ثَرَاء
(tharāʾ)
Abundant wealth; not Qur’anic
ثَرْوَة
(tharwah)
Abundant possessions or numbers; not Qur’anic
ثُرَيَّا
(thurayyā)
Name of a star cluster; not Qur’anic
الثَّرَيَانِ
(al-tharayān)
Two moistures in iltaqā al-tharayān; not Qur’anic
مُثْرِي
(muthrī)
In Jarīr’s witness: moist and enduring; not Qur’anic
Arabic tharā denotes earth containing moisture. It is neither identical in meaning nor identical in root to turāb: turāb generally names soil, whereas moisture is prominent in the established meaning of tharā.
The root occurs once in the Qur’an, in wa-mā taḥta al-tharā at Ṭā Hā 20:6. What lies beneath the soil is placed, alongside the heavens, earth, and what is between them, within the ownership of The God.
Quranic Arabic Corpus: sole occurrence, Ṭā Hā 20:6
The Arabic family extends beyond moist soil. Lexicons also examine tharāʾ, tharwah, and thurayyā within this domain of final wāw and yāʾ. Some concern abundant wealth or numbers, others moisture or stars. These lexical connections do not place every meaning in the Qur’anic verse.
1. The semantic core and lexical family
Lisān al-ʿArab defines tharā as:
«الثَّرَى: التُّرَابُ النَّدِيُّ»
al-tharā: al-turābu al-nadiyyu
Tharā is moist earth.
Lexical sources: moist earth and forms
The same source records another definition: soil that does not become firm, sticky mud when moistened. Moist earth need not therefore be mud; it can retain a granular, earthy structure despite moisture.
Thariyati al-arḍu describes land becoming moist and soft after dryness. Arḍun thariyyatun and arḍun tharyāʾu likewise describe moist land.
Tharrā al-turbata and tharrā al-makāna concern moistening soil. A person or another agent causes the earth to become damp.
Athrā al-maṭaru is also recorded for rain moistening the soil.
This branch thus distinguishes moist soil, land becoming moist through water reaching it, and an action that moistens it.
These distinctions follow attested uses, without requiring a new meaning or separate historical image for each.
Tharā and tharāʾ: moisture and abundance
Ibn Fāris examines this family under TH R W/Y in Maqāyīs al-Lughah, stating its core:
«الثَّاءُ وَالرَّاءُ وَالْحَرْفُ الْمُعْتَلُّ أَصْلٌ وَاحِدٌ، وَهُوَ الْكَثْرَةُ وَخِلَافُ الْيُبْسِ»
al-thāʾu wa-al-rāʾu wa-al-ḥarfu al-muʿtallu aṣlun wāḥidun, wa-huwa al-kathratu wa-khilāfu al-yubsi
Thāʾ, rāʾ, and the final weak letter share a base associated with abundance and the opposite of dryness.
Maqāyīs al-Lughah: the TH R Y/W family
This brings together two aspects: abundance on one side, moisture and absence of dryness on the other.
Tharāʾ denotes abundant wealth. Athrā al-rajulu means someone’s possessions became plentiful. Early tharwah was not restricted to money, but could also mean a large number of people.
The family includes final-weak verbs whose last consonant appears as wāw in some derivatives and yāʾ in others. Early lexicographers therefore sometimes treat the forms together.
Lexical relationship or historical proximity must nevertheless be distinguished from a derivative’s particular meaning in a sentence.
Tharāʾ meaning abundant possessions does not make Qur’anic tharā mean wealth. Its form and the construction taḥta al-tharā determine the meaning.
Thurayyā: a star name
Thurayyā names a familiar star cluster. Lexical sources relate it to a diminutive of tharwā.
Naming explanations invoke the many stars within a small area or abundant rain associated with its rising and setting.
These concern linguistic and naming history. Thurayyā’s place in the family does not justify interpreting al-tharā in Ṭā Hā as stars or a celestial phenomenon.
The verse places it after taḥta, giving it a clear spatial relation with earth and what it contains.
2. Moist earth in early Arabic life and language
The significance of tharā can be understood against life in dry regions.
After a long rainless period, rainfall can soften and moisten dry soil, a change important for agriculture, vegetation, grazing, and assessing the land.
Arabic records particular expressions for this change.
Al-Aṣmaʿī transmits a three-stage version of an expression. Al-Muḥkam adds the fourth stage, shahr istawā, producing the fuller wording:
«شَهْرُ ثَرَى، وَشَهْرُ تَرَى، وَشَهْرُ مَرْعَى، وَشَهْرُ اسْتَوَى»
shahru tharā, wa-shahru tarā, wa-shahru marʿā, wa-shahru istawā
A month of moist earth; a month when vegetation is visible; a month for grazing; and a month of maturity.
Lexical commentary explains it as a sequence of rainfall and growth.
First rain moistens the earth, hence tharā. Vegetation then emerges and becomes visible; it grows enough for livestock to graze, finally approaching maturity.
Tharā here concerns the soil becoming moist, potentially before visible plant growth.
This is not a universal four-month calendar for all Arabian regions. Its lexical value lies in distinguishing moistening, emergence, grazeable growth, and maturity.
Tāj al-ʿArūs: Al-Aṣmaʿī’s three stages and Al-Muḥkam’s addition
Iltaqā al-tharayān
Lexical sources also record iltaqā al-tharayān.
Rainwater penetrates the soil until its moisture meets moisture already present below.
The image places moisture within the earth, rather than merely on its surface.
It reinforces tharā’s connection with soil moisture, including moisture underground.
It does not establish that Ṭā Hā intends two moisture layers or a particular groundwater structure. The Qur’anic phrase supplies no such detail.
A poetic witness from Ṭufayl al-Ghanawī
The well-known pre-Islamic poet Ṭufayl al-Ghanawī describes horses:
يُذَدْنَ ذِيَادَ الْخَامِسَاتِ وَقَدْ بَدَا
ثَرَى الْمَاءِ مِنْ أَعْطَافِهَا الْمُتَحَلِّبِ
yudhadna dhiyāda al-khāmisāti wa-qad badā / tharā al-māʾi min aʿṭāfihā al-mutaḥallibi
Translation:
“They are driven back from water like camels at their fifth-day watering, while dripping moisture has appeared upon their flanks.” Commentary explains khāmisāt as camels watered one day, grazing three days, and returning to water on the fifth.
Commentary on the selections: khāmisāt and driving away from water
Tharā al-māʾ denotes moisture appearing on the horses’ bodies; the lexical explanation identifies the sweat on their flanks.
Al-Ṣiḥāḥ: sweat in Ṭufayl’s witness
Tharā therefore need not always denote soil. Here the shared aspect is moisture appearing on a surface.
The verse is recorded in Ṭufayl’s collected poetry. His pre-Islamic classification is established, while precise wording and transmission still require distinguishing the Dīwān from later quotations.
Tharā in social expressions
Moist earth also becomes an image for a continuing relationship.
Lā tūbisi al-tharā baynī wa-baynaka, for example, means not drying up and severing the relationship between us.
Jarīr, an Umayyad poet, says:
فَلَا تُوبِسُوا بَيْنِي وَبَيْنَكُمُ الثَّرَى
فَإِنَّ الَّذِي بَيْنِي وَبَيْنَكُمْ مُثْرِي
fa-lā tūbisū baynī wa-baynakumu al-tharā / fa-inna alladhī baynī wa-baynakum muthrī
Translation:
“Do not dry the earth between me and you, for the bond between us remains moist and enduring.”
Tāj al-ʿArūs: Jarīr’s witness and a continuing bond
Drying soil pictures a severed relationship; remaining moisture pictures a continuing bond.
This poetry postdates Qur’anic revelation and is not pre-Islamic evidence. It illustrates figurative Arabic usage.
These expressions show how a physical meaning can be transferred to human relationships without changing tharā’s basic meaning in Ṭā Hā.
3. Qur’anic usage: wa-mā taḥta al-tharā
Ṭā Hā 20:6
لَهُ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا وَمَا تَحْتَ الثَّرَىٰ
lahu mā fī al-samāwāti wa-mā fī al-arḍi wa-mā baynahumā wa-mā taḥta al-tharā
The published Persian Forqan translation, rendered in English:
“Whatever is in the heavens, whatever is in the earth, whatever is between them, and whatever is beneath the soil belongs to Him.”
The syntax of al-tharā
Al-tharā is definite and belongs to Arabic nouns ending in alif maqṣūrah. In taḥta al-tharā, taḥta is a spatial adverb and first term of an annexation; al-tharā is its genitive complement.
The expression therefore means “beneath the soil.”
It does not say that tharā creates, owns, or performs an action. The noun identifies the reference point for the spatial relation taḥta.
What falls within ownership is mā taḥta al-tharā: whatever lies beneath the soil.
Must moisture be explicit in this verse?
Moist earth is the familiar lexical definition and should be preserved in studying the word.
The verse’s main subject, however, is not the soil’s moisture content. It places what lies beneath tharā beside the heavens, earth, and what is between them.
“Soil” can therefore be natural Persian, since the spatial reference is prominent.
“Moist soil” makes the established lexical feature more explicit, but should not suggest that divine ownership extends only to things directly beneath damp ground.
The word’s lexical sense and the sentence’s purpose differ: tharā denotes moist earth, while the verse uses it to express the scope of ownership.
Why does wa-mā taḥta al-tharā follow earth?
The verse juxtaposes what is in the heavens, earth, between them, and beneath the soil.
This expresses comprehensive ownership: what lies below the surface, as well as what is visible, remains within divine ownership.
Taḥta expresses the spatial relation; al-tharā provides its reference point.
The wording specifies no depth, number of metres, or geological layer.
Some early explanations gloss it as what is underground, sometimes associating it with seven earths. The first fits the phrase, but a number or structure of layers cannot be derived from tharā itself.
Al-Ṭabarī: moist soil and what lies beneath it
Translation and lexical study should not add that picture to the verse.
The neighbouring verses
Ṭā Hā 20:4 identifies the creator of earth and the high heavens. Ṭā Hā 20:5 speaks of the Raḥmān’s istiwāʾ over the Throne. Ṭā Hā 20:6 then presents His comprehensive ownership of what is in the heavens, earth, between them, and beneath the soil.
Ṭā Hā 20:7 turns to divine knowledge of spoken words, secrets, and what is more hidden.
The scope of ownership and the scope of knowledge are thus related subjects in the surah’s opening.
Tharā itself does not therefore mean hidden things or the unseen world. Soil retains its physical meaning; concealment below it follows from spatial relation and context.
5. Proposed equivalents for Forqan
Earth-related tharā can mean “moist soil” or “damp earth.” Where spatial reference matters most, “soil” is also natural and defensible.
Thariyati al-arḍu can be rendered “the land became moist”; tharrā al-turbata as “moistened the soil” or “dampened the earth.”
Wealth-related tharāʾ and tharwah can mean “abundant possessions,” “great wealth,” or “wealth.” These should not enter the translation of al-tharā in Ṭā Hā.
Qur’anic form: al-tharā
Brief root meaning: Moist earth; in the broader lexical family, moisture and abundance.
Meaning in this verse: The earth’s soil as the reference point for what lies beneath it.
The current Persian Forqan translation of Ṭā Hā 20:6, rendered in English:
“Whatever is in the heavens, whatever is in the earth, whatever is between them, and whatever is beneath the soil belongs to Him.”
The Persian is fluent and preserves the spatial meaning.
“Moist soil” is lexically more specific, but adding moisture to the main verse translation is not essential when it is not the sentence’s central subject.
The main translation can therefore remain, while the word information or root study explains the moisture feature.
6. Conclusion
Arabic tharā denotes moist soil. Uses concerning the ground becoming damp, moistening earth, and moisture appearing on a body show its importance in this branch.
The broader TH R family with final wāw and yāʾ also includes abundance, increased numbers, and plentiful possessions. Ibn Fāris treats these together, but this does not insert wealth into Qur’anic al-tharā.
In Ṭā Hā 20:6, al-tharā follows taḥta. The sentence expresses divine ownership of whatever lies underground, without specifying depth, layer count, or natural structure.
Tharā, turāb, ṭīn, and arḍ remain distinct: turāb generally names soil, ṭīn concerns clay or mud, arḍ denotes earth as a domain, and established lexical tharā denotes moist earth.
“Beneath the soil” conveys the sentence naturally, while “moist soil” specifies the lexical feature. These two levels should remain distinct.