Question:
Salaam Shaykh, I need your help in identifying the root and origin of an Arabic word. In the following Holy Verse:
Fain tawallaw faqul hasbiya Allahu la ilaha illa huwa AAalayhi tawakkaltu wahuwa rabbu alAAarshi al AAatheemi.
Could you tell me the meanings of “Fain Tawallaw“? The roots and origins of the words and the different meanings they carry in Arabic? What type of “turning away” do they imply? Is it a physical movement (such as turning one’s face or body away)? Or is it a symbolic meaning as in turning away from faith, or both? Also can the term be used in the case of moving away from something or from somewhere geographically?
Thank you in advance.
Answer:
`Alaykum Salam,
Root is w-l-y
Tawalla as a transitive denotes closeness, but if used with `an whether literally (lafzan) or implicitly (taqdiran) it denotes distance, separation, and estrangement. In the example cited in the question it is used with `an implicitly and denotes separation, refusal etc.
Tawalli in the latter sense can be physical, or with the senses (refusal to listen), or moral/doctrinal (refusal to believe).
See al-Raghib, Mufradat al-Qur’an.
Hajj Gibril Haddad
