The Qur’anic Root W Q T
A specified time, an appointed occasion, and setting a temporal limit for an undertaking or event
Qur’anic and lexical forms
وَقْت
(waqt)
Noun; three Qur’anic occurrences
مِيقَات
(mīqāt)
Singular noun; seven Qur’anic occurrences
مَوَاقِيت
(mawāqīt)
Plural of mīqāt; one Qur’anic occurrence
مَوْقُوت
(mawqūt)
Passive participle; one Qur’anic occurrence
أُقِّتَتْ
(uqqitat)
Passive Form II verb; one Qur’anic occurrence
وَقَتَ / يَقِتُ
(waqata / yaqitu)
Form I verb in lexical usage; not Qur’anic
وَقَّتَ / يُوَقِّتُ
(waqqata / yuwaqqitu)
Form II; Qur’anic only as uqqitat
تَوْقِيت
(tawqīt)
Verbal noun; not Qur’anic
مُوَقَّت
(muwaqqat)
Form II passive participle; not Qur’anic
مُوَاقَتَة
(muwāqatah)
Form III verbal noun; not Qur’anic
مَوْقِت
(mawqit)
Lexical and poetic form; not Qur’anic
1. Introducing the root and its Qur’anic forms
The three-consonant Arabic root W Q T concerns time, appointing an occasion, and specifying the temporal limit of an undertaking or event. Waqt can denote a portion of time recognized or assigned for something; mīqāt more often denotes an appointed time or place for something to take place; and mawqūt describes something whose time or temporal limit has been prescribed.
In the Qur’an this root concerns markers for determining time, ṣalāt, appointed meetings, gathering people at a known time, and the Day of Decision.
The root occurs 13 times in the Qur’an, in 13 verses across ten surahs. Its important forms are:
- وَقْت (waqt): a time, occasion, or specified temporal limit. Qur’anic: yes, three occurrences.
- مِيقَات (mīqāt): an appointed time for an undertaking or meeting. Qur’anic: yes, seven occurrences.
- مَوَاقِيت (mawāqīt): appointments or markers for determining time; the plural of mīqāt. Qur’anic: yes, one occurrence.
- مَوْقُوت (mawqūt): having a specified time or prescribed temporal limit. Qur’anic: yes, one occurrence.
- أُقِّتَتْ (uqqitat): a time was appointed for them, or they were assigned an appointed occasion; a passive Form II verb. Qur’anic: yes, one occurrence.
- وَقَتَ / يَقِتُ (waqata / yaqitu): to appoint a time or specify something’s temporal limit. Qur’anic: no, in this verbal form.
- وَقَّتَ / يُوَقِّتُ (waqqata / yuwaqqitu): to schedule or appoint a time. Qur’anic: yes, only in uqqitat, whose initial hamzah replaces wāw.
- تَوْقِيت (tawqīt): appointing a time or scheduling. Qur’anic: no, in this verbal-noun form.
- مُوَقَّت (muwaqqat): scheduled or limited to a specified time. Qur’anic: no, in this exact form.
- مُوَاقَتَة (muwāqatah): agreeing on a time or setting a specified time between parties for something. Qur’anic: no.
- مَوْقِت (mawqit): an appointed time or place. Qur’anic: no, in this form.
All Qur’anic uses of this root relate in some way to determining or recognizing time. In Arabic, however, mīqāt can also have a spatial meaning, and in some verses the time and place of a meeting are connected.
2. The root’s semantic core in Arabic
Waqt: a portion of time with a specified limit
In Arabic, وَقْت denotes an amount or portion of time. When a particular time is assigned for something, it becomes mawqūt or muʾaqqat.
The expression وَقَتَ الشَّيْءَ is recorded with the meaning of determining something’s time or limit. وَقَّتَ لَهُ يَوْمًا likewise means assigning a day for it.
These uses emphasize a time or its limit being specified. There is, for example, a difference between saying that something will happen in the future and saying that it is appointed for a particular day.
The first statement tells us only that the event lies in the future. The second also specifies when it will occur or be performed.
This allows a distinction between zamān as the general expanse of past, present, and future, and waqt as a specified portion of it.
The distinction must not be made absolute, however. Arabic waqt can also refer to time generally, while zamān can denote a precisely specified period when qualified.
The root W Q T therefore tends toward specifying and delimiting time; it does not invariably denote a brief, exact instant.
Al-Mufradāt, Al-Miṣbāḥ, and Lisān al-ʿArab: time and determining a temporal limit
Must waqt be a single instant?
No. It can be an instant, an interval, a day, or a specified period.
Appointing the time of a meeting, for example, may identify when it begins. The time for carrying out an undertaking, however, may be an interval within which it can be performed.
In the Qur’an, مِيقَاتُ رَبِّهِ in Al-Aʿrāf 7:142 concerns forty nights. The root’s uses therefore cannot all be restricted to a point in time without duration.
In Al-Nisāʾ 4:103, مَوْقُوتًا also describes ṣalāt. It indicates that the obligation has an appointed time, but does not by itself establish whether that time is an instant or an interval with a beginning and end.
This distinction must be examined separately in each use.
From an appointed time to a meeting place
Arabic مِيقَات primarily denotes the appointed time for an undertaking, but has also been used for the assigned place of an action or meeting.
This extension is understandable. When a time is appointed for a meeting or undertaking, a place may also be assigned. The name for the appointment can gradually be applied to the place where it takes place.
Appointing a time and assigning a place nevertheless remain distinct concepts. A temporal mīqāt need not have a particular place, and a spatial use of the word should not simply be translated as “time.”
In post-Qur’anic jurisprudential language concerning ḥajj, mīqāt has been used for specified places associated with beginning certain rites. This linguistic use is recorded, but the rulings and places prescribed in jurisprudence cannot be attributed to the Qur’an solely from the meaning of W Q T.
Early Arabic evidence
A line of rajaz attributed to Al-ʿAjjāj, a poet of the Umayyad period, reads:
وَالْجَامِعُ النَّاسَ لِيَوْمِ الْمَوْقِتِ
wa-al-jāmiʿu al-nāsa li-yawmi al-mawqiti
Meaning: “And the One who gathers the people for the appointed day.”
Here الْمَوْقِتِ concerns an appointed time or occasion. Its connection with gathering people shows the root being used for a time at which an assembly is appointed.
This is evidence from first-century AH Arabic and should not be presented as pre-Islamic poetry.
Al-Jawharī’s Ṣiḥāḥ, entry waqt: Al-ʿAjjāj’s witness and mawqit
Lexical explanations also record الهِلَالُ مِيقَاتُ الشَّهْرِ, meaning that the crescent marks the beginning of the month.
This use shows that mīqāt does not always denote time itself; it can also denote something by which time is recognized.
Its recording in later lexical sources does not, by itself, establish when the expression first came into use. Independent and clearer evidence for this sense occurs in the Qur’an itself, in Al-Baqarah 2:189.
Asās al-Balāghah, entry waqt: the crescent as a marker for the month
The material examined did not yield a reliable poetic witness for this root that could confidently be dated before Islam. The analysis therefore relies on documented early Arabic usage and the Qur’an itself, without inventing a pre-Islamic witness.
3. Mawāqīt: markers for recognizing and organizing time
Al-Baqarah 2:189: crescents and determining time
Verse text
يَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ الْأَهِلَّةِ قُلْ هِيَ مَوَاقِيتُ لِلنَّاسِ وَالْحَجِّ وَلَيْسَ الْبِرُّ بِأَنْ تَأْتُوا الْبُيُوتَ مِنْ ظُهُورِهَا وَلَٰكِنَّ الْبِرَّ مَنِ اتَّقَىٰ وَأْتُوا الْبُيُوتَ مِنْ أَبْوَابِهَا وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ
yasʾalūnaka ʿani al-ahillati qul hiya mawāqītu li-al-nāsi wa-al-ḥajji wa-laysa al-birru bi-an taʾtū al-buyūta min ẓuhūrihā wa-lākinna al-birra mani ittaqā waʾtū al-buyūta min abwābihā wa-ittaqū Allāha laʿallakum tufliḥūna
English translation
They ask you about the crescents. Say: “They are markers for determining time for people and for ḥajj.” Righteousness does not consist in entering houses from their backs; rather, righteousness belongs to one who is mindful. Enter houses through their doors, and be mindful of The God, so that you may prosper.
Examining the use
مَوَاقِيت is the plural of مِيقَات. Here the crescents are described as mawāqīt for people and for ḥajj.
This use is especially significant because the Qur’an itself connects a celestial marker with recognizing time.
The moon’s visible changes enable people to recognize the passage of monthly periods and determine the times of their undertakings and rites.
The phrase لِلنَّاسِ وَالْحَجِّ must not be overlooked. The Qur’an does not say merely that the crescents are for ḥajj; it mentions people first and then specifies ḥajj separately.
The crescents’ function in determining time therefore extends beyond a particular rite.
At the same time, this verse alone cannot supply every detail of a calendrical method. How a month’s beginning is established in each region, or how differing horizons affect the dates of worship, are separate questions requiring other evidence.
Mawāqīt does not, by itself, prescribe that each individual must personally see the crescent, or that a sighting in one region suffices for every region on earth.
Its direct meaning here concerns the crescents’ role in recognizing and determining time.
Nor does mawāqīt mean “months” themselves, although crescents are used to recognize months. Shahr is a monthly unit of time; hilāl is a visible marker; and mīqāt is an appointment or a marker for determining time.
These three concepts are connected within a system of timekeeping, but are not synonyms.
Time and ḥajj
Mentioning ḥajj here shows that its rites are connected with a recognized time.
Al-Baqarah 2:197 also states:
“الْحَجُّ أَشْهُرٌ مَعْلُومَاتٌ.”
That is, ḥajj takes place in known months.
The two verses illuminate one another: crescents help people recognize and count periods of time, while ḥajj is situated in recognized months.
Reading them together, however, does not establish that mīqāt itself in Al-Baqarah 2:189 means a particular geographical place for entering iḥrām.
The subject here is al-ahillah: celestial markers associated with time. The principal concern is determining time, rather than listing places for entering the rites.
Understanding the place of ḥajj, its actual rites, people’s security, and the limits of its rulings requires an independent examination of the verses about ḥajj.
4. Mawqūt: ṣalāt as an obligation with an appointed time
Al-Nisāʾ 4:103
Verse text
فَإِذَا قَضَيْتُمُ الصَّلَاةَ فَاذْكُرُوا اللَّهَ قِيَامًا وَقُعُودًا وَعَلَىٰ جُنُوبِكُمْ فَإِذَا اطْمَأْنَنْتُمْ فَأَقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ إِنَّ الصَّلَاةَ كَانَتْ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ كِتَابًا مَوْقُوتًا
fa-idhā qaḍaytumu al-ṣalāta fa-udhkurū Allāha qiyāman wa-quʿūdan wa-ʿalā junūbikum fa-idhā iṭmaʾnantum fa-aqīmū al-ṣalāta inna al-ṣalāta kānat ʿalā al-muʾminīna kitāban mawqūtan
English translation
When you have completed ṣalāt, remember The God standing, sitting, and lying on your sides. Then, when you are secure, establish ṣalāt; indeed, ṣalāt has been an obligation with an appointed time for the believers.
Examining the use
مَوْقُوتًا is a passive participle from W Q T. It describes something for which a time or temporal limit has been prescribed.
In كِتَابًا مَوْقُوتًا, mawqūt qualifies kitāban.
It should therefore not be interpreted independently of kitāb. The verse describes ṣalāt as something prescribed for the believers whose time has also been appointed.
In this context, كِتَابًا does not refer to writing placed on paper merely to be read; it concerns something prescribed and binding.
مَوْقُوتًا expresses the temporal characteristic of that prescription.
The expression thus has two connected aspects: ṣalāt being prescribed, and its having an appointed time.
This also accords with the context. The preceding verses discuss danger and the manner of performing ṣalāt. The passage then speaks of remembering The God in various positions and establishing ṣalāt after security returns.
Ṣalāt therefore remains present in differing human circumstances, although its manner of performance may depend on actual conditions.
Does mawqūtan determine the exact number of times?
No. The word itself states only that ṣalāt has an appointed time.
Mawqūtan alone cannot establish exactly how many daily occasions are prescribed for ṣalāt, at what minute each begins, or how long it lasts.
Other verses must also be examined to understand the times, including Al-Isrāʾ 17:78, Hūd 11:114, and Al-Baqarah 2:238.
This limitation does not make time unimportant.
The verse explicitly shows that ṣalāt is not entirely unrestricted in time. Its temporal character forms part of the prescription.
Having an appointed time, on the other hand, does not reduce the whole reality of ṣalāt to observing the clock. The Qur’an also describes other effects and features of ṣalāt, including remembering The God, purification, awareness, standing, bowing, and prostration.
Time is therefore one real element of ṣalāt, without replacing all its other elements.
Appointed time and emergencies
In Al-Nisāʾ 4:103, the command to establish ṣalāt follows the return of security, while the preceding verses discuss ṣalāt in danger.
This connection shows that an obligation’s having an appointed time need not make every manner of performing it identical in all circumstances.
The appointed time remains, while the manner of acting under fear must be understood from the verses concerning fear and security themselves.
Flexibility in difficult circumstances cannot justify disregarding the appointed time of ṣalāt. Equally, mawqūtan cannot establish that every detail of its ordinary form must be performed without regard to danger or people’s condition.
W Q T identifies the temporal limit; the scope of flexibility in fulfilling the responsibility emerges from the commands concerning that subject taken together.
5. Mīqāt: an appointed meeting at a specified time
Al-Aʿrāf 7:142: Moses’ appointment of forty nights
Verse text
وَوَاعَدْنَا مُوسَىٰ ثَلَاثِينَ لَيْلَةً وَأَتْمَمْنَاهَا بِعَشْرٍ فَتَمَّ مِيقَاتُ رَبِّهِ أَرْبَعِينَ لَيْلَةً وَقَالَ مُوسَىٰ لِأَخِيهِ هَارُونَ اخْلُفْنِي فِي قَوْمِي وَأَصْلِحْ وَلَا تَتَّبِعْ سَبِيلَ الْمُفْسِدِينَ
wa-wāʿadnā Mūsā thalāthīna laylatan wa-atmamnāhā bi-ʿashrin fa-tamma mīqātu rabbihi arbaʿīna laylatan wa-qāla Mūsā li-akhīhi Hārūna ukhlufnī fī qawmī wa-aṣliḥ wa-lā tattabiʿ sabīla al-mufsidīna
English translation
We appointed thirty nights for Moses and completed them with ten more; thus his Lord’s appointed period was completed as forty nights. Moses said to his brother Aaron: “Take my place among my people, set things right, and do not follow the way of those who cause corruption.”
Examining the use
Here مِيقَاتُ رَبِّهِ is connected with a specified period of time.
Thirty nights are mentioned first, and then ten are added. The result is forty nights.
This construction matters because it shows that mīqāt need not be a brief instant. The appointed occasion here concerns a period of forty nights.
The verbs وَاعَدْنَا, أَتْمَمْنَاهَا, and تَمَّ also help determine the contextual meaning. Appointment, duration, and its completion occur together.
Mīqāt itself, however, is not synonymous with “forty nights.” Forty nights is the temporal measure of this particular appointment.
The general meaning of mīqāt can therefore be understood as an appointed time or occasion; its duration may differ with each context.
Attributing the mīqāt to Moses’ Lord does not imply that The God depends on time. The expression concerns an appointment prescribed in the relationship between The God and Moses.
مِيقَاتُ رَبِّهِ should therefore not be interpreted as restricting The God’s existence to a period of forty nights.
Al-Aʿrāf 7:143: Moses comes to the appointment
Verse text
وَلَمَّا جَاءَ مُوسَىٰ لِمِيقَاتِنَا وَكَلَّمَهُ رَبُّهُ قَالَ رَبِّ أَرِنِي أَنْظُرْ إِلَيْكَ قَالَ لَنْ تَرَانِي وَلَٰكِنِ انْظُرْ إِلَى الْجَبَلِ فَإِنِ اسْتَقَرَّ مَكَانَهُ فَسَوْفَ تَرَانِي فَلَمَّا تَجَلَّىٰ رَبُّهُ لِلْجَبَلِ جَعَلَهُ دَكًّا وَخَرَّ مُوسَىٰ صَعِقًا فَلَمَّا أَفَاقَ قَالَ سُبْحَانَكَ تُبْتُ إِلَيْكَ وَأَنَا أَوَّلُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ
wa-lammā jāʾa Mūsā li-mīqātinā wa-kallamahu rabbuhu qāla rabbi arinī anẓur ilayka qāla lan tarānī wa-lākini unẓur ilā al-jabali fa-ini istaqarra makānahu fa-sawfa tarānī fa-lammā tajallā rabbuhu li-al-jabali jaʿalahu dakkan wa-kharra Mūsā ṣaʿiqan fa-lammā afāqa qāla subḥānaka tubtu ilayka wa-anā awwalu al-muʾminīna
English translation
When Moses came to Our appointment and his Lord spoke to him, he said: “My Lord, show Yourself to me so that I may look at You.” He said: “You will not see Me; but look at the mountain. If it remains firm in its place, then you will see Me.” When his Lord manifested Himself to the mountain, He made it crumble, and Moses fell down unconscious. When he recovered, he said: “Glory be to You; I turn back to You, and I am the first of the believers.”
Examining the use
Here لِمِيقَاتِنَا occurs with the verb جَاءَ.
Moses comes to the appointment. This combination shows that an appointed occasion can also involve being present at a specified place.
Two things must nevertheless be distinguished: the word’s own meaning and the reality of the meeting in context.
جاء موسى لميقاتنا indicates that Moses came to fulfill the appointed meeting. His presence in the narrative also has a spatial dimension.
Mīqāt itself, however, cannot establish that The God occupies a restricted location or that the divine appointment resembled a meeting between two people sharing a physical space.
The verse states that Moses’ Lord spoke to him, but the manner of this speaking should not be deduced solely from mīqāt.
“Our appointed time” or “Our appointment” can therefore preserve the principal meaning here; the event’s place and manner require contextual reflection.
Al-Aʿrāf 7:155: seventy men selected for the appointment
Verse text
وَاخْتَارَ مُوسَىٰ قَوْمَهُ سَبْعِينَ رَجُلًا لِمِيقَاتِنَا فَلَمَّا أَخَذَتْهُمُ الرَّجْفَةُ قَالَ رَبِّ لَوْ شِئْتَ أَهْلَكْتَهُمْ مِنْ قَبْلُ وَإِيَّايَ أَتُهْلِكُنَا بِمَا فَعَلَ السُّفَهَاءُ مِنَّا إِنْ هِيَ إِلَّا فِتْنَتُكَ تُضِلُّ بِهَا مَنْ تَشَاءُ وَتَهْدِي مَنْ تَشَاءُ أَنْتَ وَلِيُّنَا فَاغْفِرْ لَنَا وَارْحَمْنَا وَأَنْتَ خَيْرُ الْغَافِرِينَ
wa-ikhtāra Mūsā qawmahu sabʿīna rajulan li-mīqātinā fa-lammā akhadhathumu al-rajfatu qāla rabbi law shiʾta ahlaktahum min qablu wa-iyyāya a-tuhlikunā bi-mā faʿala al-sufahāʾu minnā in hiya illā fitnatuka tuḍillu bihā man tashāʾu wa-tahdī man tashāʾu anta waliyyunā fa-ighfir lanā wa-irḥamnā wa-anta khayru al-ghāfirīna
English translation
Moses chose seventy men from his people for Our appointment. When the shaking seized them, he said: “My Lord, had You willed, You could have destroyed them and me before this. Will You destroy us for what the foolish among us have done? This is only Your trial; through it You lead astray whom You will and guide whom You will. You are our protector, so forgive us and have mercy on us; You are the best of those who forgive.”
Examining the use
لِمِيقَاتِنَا occurs here again, but this time Moses selects seventy men from his people for it.
A mīqāt can thus be an appointment for which particular people are selected to attend.
This accords with the meaning “appointed occasion.” Specified participants and an event taking place during the appointment bring meeting and assembly to the foreground.
The repetition of limīqātinā alone, however, should not lead us to identify every detail of this event with Al-Aʿrāf 7:143 without examination.
Seventy, likewise, is the number of people selected; it is not part of the lexical meaning of mīqāt.
Al-Aʿrāf 7:143 and Al-Aʿrāf 7:155 consequently show that mīqāt can encompass an appointment’s place and time in context. Its definition should nevertheless not be restricted to a particular place or historical event.
Al-Shuʿarāʾ 26:38: the appointment of a known day
Verse text
فَجُمِعَ السَّحَرَةُ لِمِيقَاتِ يَوْمٍ مَعْلُومٍ
fa-jumiʿa al-saḥaratu li-mīqāti yawmin maʿlūmin
English translation
The magicians were then gathered for the appointment of a known day.
Examining the use
Here mīqāt concerns gathering the magicians in the account of Moses and Pharaoh.
لِمِيقَاتِ يَوْمٍ مَعْلُومٍ denotes an appointment connected with a specified day.
The appointment here concerns an assembly and confrontation. The recognized time provides the setting for gathering the participants.
Unlike Al-Aʿrāf 7:142, this use does not concern a period of forty nights; the appointment of a particular day is in view.
Mīqāt therefore does not denote a fixed quantity of time. Depending on its subject, it can concern a day, a period, or an appointed instant.
مَعْلُومٍ also qualifies “day.” The appointment’s being known emerges from this adjective and the context; it does not mean that every appointed time must be known to everyone.
6. A specified time and knowledge of when an event occurs
Al-Aʿrāf 7:187: the Hour and the limits of human knowledge
Verse text
يَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ السَّاعَةِ أَيَّانَ مُرْسَاهَا قُلْ إِنَّمَا عِلْمُهَا عِنْدَ رَبِّي لَا يُجَلِّيهَا لِوَقْتِهَا إِلَّا هُوَ ثَقُلَتْ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ لَا تَأْتِيكُمْ إِلَّا بَغْتَةً يَسْأَلُونَكَ كَأَنَّكَ حَفِيٌّ عَنْهَا قُلْ إِنَّمَا عِلْمُهَا عِنْدَ اللَّهِ وَلَٰكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ النَّاسِ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ
yasʾalūnaka ʿani al-sāʿati ayyāna mursāhā qul innamā ʿilmuhā ʿinda rabbī lā yujallīhā li-waqtihā illā huwa thaqulat fī al-samāwāti wa-al-arḍi lā taʾtīkum illā baghtatan yasʾalūnaka ka-annaka ḥafiyyun ʿanhā qul innamā ʿilmuhā ʿinda Allāhi wa-lākinna akthara al-nāsi lā yaʿlamūna
English translation
They ask you about the Hour: when will it arrive? Say: “Knowledge of it rests only with my Lord. No one but He will disclose it at its time. It weighs heavily in the heavens and the earth; it will come upon you only suddenly.” They ask you as though you were fully informed about it. Say: “Knowledge of it rests only with The God, but most people do not know.”
Examining the use
لِوَقْتِهَا consists of the noun waqt and the pronoun hā, which refers back to al-sāʿah, “the Hour.”
The verse states that the Hour has a time whose disclosure belongs to The God.
Having an appointed time is distinct from that time being known to human beings.
The Qur’an clearly distinguishes the existence of a time from knowledge of it. An event’s having an appointed time does not mean that the Prophet or other people know it.
The verse even emphasizes that the Hour will come only suddenly.
W Q T therefore cannot establish that the time of every appointed event can be discovered through signs or human calculation.
The Hour’s time is real here, but knowledge of it is described as belonging to The God.
Waqt should not, on the other hand, be equated with the Hour itself. The Hour is the event; waqt is when it occurs.
Al-Ḥijr 15:38: the day of the known time
Verse text
إِلَىٰ يَوْمِ الْوَقْتِ الْمَعْلُومِ
ilā yawmi al-waqti al-maʿlūmi
English translation
Until the day of the known time.
Examining the use
This expression comes in response to Iblīs’ request for respite.
الْوَقْتِ الْمَعْلُومِ here describes a time or appointment prescribed for the respite to end or an event to take place.
مَعْلُومِ qualifies waqt, but the expression itself does not name who knows the details of that time.
“Known” alone therefore cannot establish that Iblīs or human beings know its exact date.
The context shows that a limit is set to Iblīs’ request; determining that limit precisely and its relation to the stages of resurrection requires examining the verses together.
Ṣād 38:81
Verse text
إِلَىٰ يَوْمِ الْوَقْتِ الْمَعْلُومِ
ilā yawmi al-waqti al-maʿlūmi
English translation
Until the day of the known time.
Examining the use
The same expression is repeated in Ṣād.
Here again, the “known time” is an appointed occasion. Repetition of the wording alone supplies no further information about its exact date.
The principal point in both verses is the limited duration of the respite. A prescribed limit is given in response to Iblīs’ request for delay.
The expression itself nevertheless neither specifies the date of resurrection nor authorizes human claims to certain knowledge of its time.
The basic meaning of waqt remains the same in both verses: an occasion appointed and known within divine knowledge and command.
7. The appointment of the Day of Decision: gathering and judgment
Al-Dukhān 44:40
Verse text
إِنَّ يَوْمَ الْفَصْلِ مِيقَاتُهُمْ أَجْمَعِينَ
inna yawma al-faṣli mīqātuhum ajmaʿīna
English translation
Indeed, the Day of Decision is the appointed time for them all.
Examining the use
مِيقَاتُهُمْ consists of mīqāt and a plural pronoun.
The Day of Decision is described here as the appointed occasion for all those under discussion.
أَجْمَعِينَ emphasizes inclusion and universality. Gathering or universality nevertheless does not arise from W Q T itself; the plural pronoun, the expression “Day of Decision,” and ajmaʿīn complete this meaning in context.
Mīqāt emphasizes the appointed occasion.
The Day of Decision should also not be reduced to a point in time without an event. Here the appointment concerns separation and judgment, but their nature is understood from F Ṣ L and the verses taken together.
Al-Wāqiʿah 56:50
Verse text
لَمَجْمُوعُونَ إِلَىٰ مِيقَاتِ يَوْمٍ مَعْلُومٍ
la-majmūʿūna ilā mīqāti yawmin maʿlūmin
English translation
They will certainly be gathered for the appointment of a known day.
Examining the use
Here mīqāt occurs with لَمَجْمُوعُونَ; majmūʿūn is a masculine plural passive participle from J M ʿ.
لَمَجْمُوعُونَ speaks of being gathered, while إِلَىٰ مِيقَاتِ يَوْمٍ مَعْلُومٍ specifies the temporal destination of that gathering.
Gathering and appointment are thus connected concepts, but not synonyms.
An undertaking can have an appointed time without involving the gathering of people, as in Al-Nisāʾ 4:103, which concerns the appointed time of ṣalāt.
Here the kind of event connects mīqāt with gathering.
Maʿlūm again qualifies “day.” The verse does not, however, say that the date of this day is evident to all human beings.
Al-Nabaʾ 78:17
Verse text
إِنَّ يَوْمَ الْفَصْلِ كَانَ مِيقَاتًا
inna yawma al-faṣli kāna mīqātan
English translation
Indeed, the Day of Decision has been an appointed time.
Examining the use
Here مِيقَاتًا is the predicate of kāna.
The Day of Decision is presented as an appointed occasion. Unlike Al-Dukhān 44:40, the pronoun hum, “them,” is absent; the statement concerns the Day of Decision itself being an appointment.
Mīqāt can therefore denote the temporal appointment of an important event itself, rather than only a meeting between two people.
The following verses speak of the Trumpet being blown and people coming in groups.
The appointment thus concerns events taking place on the Day of Decision; mīqāt itself, however, does not mean the Trumpet, gathering, or judgment.
8. Uqqitat: a time appointed for the messengers
Al-Mursalāt 77:11
Verse text
وَإِذَا الرُّسُلُ أُقِّتَتْ
wa-idhā al-rusulu uqqitat
English translation
And when a time is appointed for the messengers.
Examining the use
أُقِّتَتْ is the only verb from W Q T used in the Qur’an.
Morphologically it is connected with وُقِّتَتْ, a passive Form II verb denoting the appointment of a time for something.
The initial hamzah in أُقِّتَتْ should not lead to assigning it an independent root, ʾ Q T. The replacement of initial wāw by hamzah in certain phonetic constructions is recorded in Arabic.
Forms corresponding to وُقِّتَتْ and وُقِتَتْ are also reported in readings and early linguistic accounts. These differences concern morphology and pronunciation, while the principal semantic field remains time and appointing an occasion.
Lisān al-ʿArab, entry waqt: uqqitat and the reading forms with wāw
A time is appointed for what?
Here al-rusul, “the messengers,” are the subject under discussion. The passive construction indicates that their time or appointment is prescribed, but the short expression itself does not specify the details.
The following verses must be consulted for a fuller understanding.
Al-Mursalāt 77:12 asks:
“لِأَيِّ يَوْمٍ أُجِّلَتْ.”
Al-Mursalāt 77:13 answers:
“لِيَوْمِ الْفَصْلِ.”
This connection shows that the messengers’ appointed time concerns the Day of Decision.
The verse therefore does not merely concern determining when messengers are sent during earthly life; it belongs to the context of the Day of Decision and final judgment.
Uqqitat should nevertheless not be translated without explanation as “the messengers were gathered.” Their assembly at the appointed time may be a contextual implication, but the verb itself emphasizes appointing a time.
The Qur’an also uses J M ʿ for gathering, as seen in Al-Wāqiʿah 56:50.
“When a time is appointed for the messengers” therefore preserves the verbal meaning. Explaining how this appointment concerns the messengers’ presence for testimony and judgment belongs to reflection on the verses about the Day of Decision.
10. Translation proposals for Forqan
For the noun وَقْت, “time” and “occasion” are suitable equivalents. In an expression such as لِوَقْتِهَا in Al-Aʿrāf 7:187, “at its time” or “at its appointed time” is natural.
In الْوَقْتِ الْمَعْلُومِ, “the known time” is a direct rendering faithful to the wording. A particular date or identification must not be added to the translation.
For مِيقَات, “appointment,” “appointed time,” and “appointed occasion” are suitable equivalents.
In Al-Aʿrāf 7:142, “his Lord’s appointed period was completed as forty nights” preserves the noun’s relationship with the duration.
In Al-Aʿrāf 7:143 and Al-Aʿrāf 7:155, “Our appointment” or “Our appointed time” can be used. If explanatory discussion also considers the meeting place, it should clarify that this dimension is understood from the verse’s context.
In Al-Shuʿarāʾ 26:38, “for the appointment of a known day” is suitable.
In Al-Dukhān 44:40 and Al-Nabaʾ 78:17, “appointed time” conveys the principal meaning.
For مَوَاقِيت in Al-Baqarah 2:189, “markers for determining time” is clearer than simply “times,” since the verse itself presents the crescents as a means of recognizing time.
For مَوْقُوتًا in Al-Nisāʾ 4:103, “having an appointed time” or “scheduled” is suitable. In the full expression كِتَابًا مَوْقُوتًا, “an obligation with an appointed time” better conveys the grammatical and contextual meaning.
For أُقِّتَتْ in Al-Mursalāt 77:11, “a time was appointed for them” closely reflects the verbal construction. “They were gathered” is not a direct substitute without explanation.
In all these cases, translation should distinguish an event’s time, the appointed occasion for an undertaking, and a possible meeting place.
11. Final synthesis
Arabic W Q T concerns determining time, specifying an appointment, and placing an undertaking or event within a recognized or prescribed limit.
Its Qur’anic uses have four branches: waqt as a specified time or occasion; mīqāt and mawāqīt as appointments or markers for determining time; mawqūt as a description of something whose time is prescribed; and uqqitat as the appointment of a time.
These uses show that waqt is not always a brief instant. Moses’ appointment concerns a period of forty nights; the magicians’ appointment concerns a known day; and ṣalāt concerns a responsibility’s having an appointed time.
A time’s being specified also differs from its being known to every human being. The Qur’an speaks of the Hour’s time, but reserves knowledge of when it occurs to The God.
Therefore, an event’s having an appointed time does not imply that human beings can discover or calculate its exact time.
Mīqāt can, on the other hand, also concern a meeting place in Arabic, but not all its uses should be treated as spatial. In Al-Baqarah 2:189, crescents are markers for determining time; in Al-Aʿrāf 7:143, the appointment concerns Moses’ presence; and in Al-Nabaʾ 78:17, the Day of Decision itself is presented as an appointed occasion.
Time, month, day, term, and promise are connected, but none can replace another in every verse.
Final definition: W Q T denotes a specified time or temporal limit, and appointing it for an undertaking, appointment, or event. This determination may concern a beginning, performance, duration, or time of fulfillment; in uses involving meetings, it can also be connected with their place.
Understanding each use therefore requires three separate questions: what has an appointed time, what limit or appointment has been prescribed for it, and whether the verse also discloses that time to its audience.
This distinction matters both for understanding the times of ṣalāt and ḥajj and for examining Moses’ appointments and the Day of Decision. The root’s meaning must be preserved without adding unestablished ritual, historical, or unseen details.