Glossary: M
A B D F G H I J K L M N Q R S T U W Y Z
maʿārij
Synonymous with maṣāʿid, ladders: the stages the angels and the Spirit traverse in ascending to God, stations in the malakūt representing their real existential proximity to Him, not conventional positions. → Read at 70:3
maghfirah
Forgiveness signifies the covering of something; God's forgiving the Prophet's dhanb is covering it by removing its evil consequences and depriving them of their power. → Read at 48:2
maḥw
To remove all trace of something, as effacing writing; maḥw is synonymous with naskh (abrogation), as when the sun "abrogates" the shadow. → Read at 13:39
maʿīshah
- () Al-Rāghib: al-ʿaysh means life exclusive to animals, more particular than ḥayāt, which is said of animals, the Creator and the angels; maʿīshah is derived from it because a living is made from it. → Read
- () Al-Rāghib: ʿaysh is specifically the animal sense of living, more particular than ḥayāt, which can be ascribed to animals, angels and even God. Livelihood (maʿīshah), derived from ʿaysh, is the means by which one goes on living. → Read
maʿiyyah
- () God's being "with" the faithful here means that divine assistance (naṣr) is with them, not His sustaining (qayūmiyyah) meant in "He is with you wherever you may be" (). → Read
- () "He is with you wherever you may be": He encompasses you fully so you are never absent from Him in any place, time, or state; all are equal in relation to Him. → Read
- () God being with the secret conferrers means His being with them in knowledge and awareness, not completing their number like another person, since He is beyond corporeality. → Read
majd
Majmaʿ al-Bayān: glory in everyday speech means abundant nobility; originally the Arabs said a camel was "glorious" when its stomach was enormous from spring pasture. → Read at 50:1
makr
- () Directing harm, or something leading to harm, at someone without their awareness; as a divine act it is always retribution, and it is impossible that God would exercise makr against a servant without previous disobedience on his part. → Read
- () Al-Rāghib: to divert someone from their aim through trickery. It can be praiseworthy, as in "Allah is the best of plotters" (), or reprehensible, as in "an evil plot does nothing but turn back on its plotters" (). → Read
- () Al-Rāghib: makr means treating others deceptively to attain one's ends; it is of two types, a praiseworthy plot to do good and a blameworthy plot to do evil. → Read
maʿkūf
ʿUkūf means being engaged with a task; per Majmaʿ al-Bayān, "detained" is something prevented from going in a direction by being kept in its place, from which iʿtikāf (residing in a mosque for worship) is derived. → Read at 48:25
malāʾikah
The angels are beings God created as intermediaries between Himself and the visible universe and placed in charge of the domain of creation and legislation; they are honored worshippers who do not disobey God in any of His commands. → Read at 35:1
malakūt
Divine dominion (malakūt) is associated with the aspect of things that faces God, whereas the divine kingdom (mulk) is associated with the aspect that faces creation, or both aspects together. → Read at 36:83
mālik
Al-mālik (master) is derived from al-milk (possession), whereas the variant reading al-malik (king) is from al-mulk (kingdom): the king has authority to manage his nation's affairs but does not own it; God is both Master and King. → Read at 1:4
mamnūn
From the root m-n-n, "to cut" (mannahu li-sayr mannan: "he weakened him and rendered him unable to walk"); it is a different word family from minnah, reminding someone of what you have done for them so that they feel heavily indebted. → Read at 68:3
mann
- () Al-Rāghib: to pour out blessings on someone, which is good, or to enumerate one's favors to someone, which is detestable from anyone but God. → Read
- () Given the context, mann here means mentioning one’s favor upon someone in a way that hurts their feeling and ruins one’s benevolence, and istikthār means seeing something as great and significant. → Read
manṭiq
Manṭiq is synonymous with nuṭq: sounds set by convention to indicate a meaning intended by a speaker. Al-Rāghib says it is used only for human beings, but the Qur'an uses it more comprehensively for the expression and indication of any intended meaning by anything. → Read at 27:16
maqām
Besides its primary meanings, an attribute or condition of something may be treated as its maqām (station); since the verse ascribes maqām to the Lord, it means God’s quality of Lordship with all its attributes, a source of mercy and forgiveness for those who believe and restrain themselves, and of punishment for those who deny and disobey. → Read at 79:40
maqām rabbih
"His Lord's standing": God standing over people with their deeds, that is, His all-encompassing knowledge of them, preserving them, and requiting them (). → Read at 55:46
maqt
maʿrūf
- () That thing or custom which people recognize in their social structure and do not reject or disapprove. So living with wives 'in a proper manner' means living with them in a manner known and recognized by society. → Read
- () Kindness means acting in accordance with the custom that Islamic law has ordained; retaining or separating with kindness means observing the wife's rights. → Read
maʿrūf and munkar
Translated 'right' and 'wrong', they literally mean 'known' and 'unknown'. In the ideal society that holds fast to God's cord, only the right and good would be recognized and 'known' to people, and only the wrong and evil would be 'unknown' to them. → Read at 3:104
masbūq
Sabaqa literally means to outrun someone, used metaphorically for overcoming; being outmaneuvered would mean people could prevent God from replacing them with a better people. → Read at 70:41
masjūr
Al-Rāghib: sajr originally meant for a fire to blaze up; Majmaʿ al-Bayān: masjūr means overflowing. The first reading is supported by "when the seas are set afire" (). → Read at 52:6
mass
To "touch" the Qur'an here is to know it while it is in the guarded book (). → Read at 56:79
mathānī
- () Apparently the plural of mathnīya, from thanī, to bend, fold or repeat: Qur'anic verses are mathānī because some clarify others and fold around one another; or it may be the plural of muthannā, repetition. → Read
- () Mathānī is the plural of mathniya (lit. folded): some of the Qur'an's verses are attached to others, refer to others, clarify and explain others, without any disagreement or contradiction between them. → Read
māʿūn
Māʿūn is a general term for anything that helps someone meet their needs, such as a loan, benevolence or lending household utensils. → Read at 107:7
mawaddah
- () Affection seems to refer to the visible effects of love in practice, while mercy (raḥma) is the psychological state brought about by witnessing someone deprived of completeness, which moves the merciful to save them from their deprivation and fulfill their needs. → Read
- () Majmaʿ al-Bayān: homonymous between wishing (tamannī) and love (maḥabbah); it could be that its original meaning is love, with wishing implied as a component of it. → Read
mawʿiẓa
Al-Rāghib: waʿẓ is deterrence combined with a threat. Al-Khalīl: an admonition to goodness that softens the heart. → Read at 10:57
mawlā
- () A mawlā is one who has the right to involve himself in the affairs of another; it refers both to the one who takes charge of the affairs and the one whose affairs are taken charge of. → Read
- () A mīm verbal noun used in the sense of walī: one with authority to intervene in another's affairs, hence used for a master and for a helper; God is the mawlā of the faithful in the special sense of guiding them to felicity, a mastery only for the faithful. → Read
mawr
Majmaʿ al-Bayān: alternating back and forth, as smoke swirls before it vanishes; al-Rāghib: rapid movement. → Read at 52:9
mawt
Life is the state in which a thing senses and intends, death the absence of these; but in the Qur'an's teaching death is a transition from one mode of life to another (), so it too can be created. → Read at 67:2
maymanah
- () From yumn (good fortune), the opposite of shuʾm; the People of the maymanah are the people of felicity, and of the mashʾamah the people of misery. The view that it means the right hand is rejected, since mashʾamah does not mean the left hand. → Read
- () Maymanah here is synonymous with yumn (felicity, blessing, auspiciousness), the antonym of shuʾm (misery, misfortune); not, as some say, the right side. → Read
minna
Al-Rāghib: al-mann originally means something significant, heavy and weighty, so al-minna is a blessing or favor that is significant and weighty, and such bestowal of favor may take place in two ways, the first being by an act, as in this verse. → Read at 28:5
mīqāt
A tryst is the specific time appointed for a thing; here the Day of Resurrection, whose time is known to God. → Read at 56:50
miqdār
The limit that defines a thing and distinguishes it from others; every existing thing is necessarily defined in itself, otherwise it would not exist at all. → Read at 13:8
mīrāth
Heritage is the wealth left by a deceased person for heirs; the "heritage of the heavens and the earth" covers all they contain that intelligent creatures own, ownership (mulk) being a construct God guided them to for organizing social life. → Read at 57:10
mirṣād
Mirṣād is “a place where one waits in ambush and on guard”; it is used metaphorically for God, Who watches the deeds of His servants and seizes them when they transgress and exceed in corruption. → Read at 89:14
miryah
Al-Rāghib: miryah means hesitation about something and is narrower in meaning than shakk (doubt); imtirāʾ and mumārāt both mean contending over something about which there is uncertainty. → Read at 18:22
mishkāh
As al-Rāghib and others have said, a mishkāh (niche) is an enclosed opening made in a wall to place articles in it, such as lamps, which makes it different from a lantern. → Read at 24:35
muʿāqabah
Al-Rāghib: arriving at the ultimate result or outcome (ʿuqbā) of something. → Read at 60:11
mubīn
Calling the Qur'an manifest means either that it makes visible and clarifies the path of guidance (), or that it is clear in itself and without doubt (). → Read at 43:2
muḥkamāt
Derived from the root ḥ-k-m, which implies that a thing is so protected that nothing can pervert or break it or interfere with it. The iḥkām of the verses means making them so precise that no ambiguity remains in them, in contrast to the mutashābihāt (ambiguous) verses. → Read at 3:7
muḥṣanāt
Passive participle of al-iḥṣān (to make inaccessible, as in an invulnerable fortress). Said of a woman, it means she is protected from illicit relations by her own chastity, by her marriage, or by being free rather than a slave. → Read at 4:24
mujāhadah
- () Al-Rāghib: its root is j-h-d, meaning to expend effort, while mujāhada literally means to give one's all in repelling an enemy; it has three varieties: striving against a manifest foe, against Satan, and against one's self. → Read
- () To wage jihad is to expend effort and exertion; "the way of God" is His religion, so jihad with wealth and person means doing one's utmost in monetary and bodily duties. → Read
mukhallaf
Majmaʿ al-Bayān: one left in a place behind those who go out from a land; derived from khalf ("behind"), its opposite being muqaddam. → Read at 48:11
mukhlaṣ
Mukhlaṣ is one whom God has rendered exclusively for Himself, so that there is no share for anyone other than God in himself or in his deeds; it is the highest level of servitude. → Read at 19:51
mukhlaṣūn
It is mukhlaṣūn, not mukhliṣūn, meaning that God has purified them, so they associate nothing with Him and are not attached to anything other than God, whether the ornaments of worldly life or the blessings of the Hereafter; there is nothing in their hearts but God. → Read at 37:40
mukhtāl
Al-Rāghib: a braggart is one taken by conceit (khuyalāʾ) arising from imagining he has some virtue, and fakhūr one abounding in pride; both rest on the false belief that one deserves one's blessings, rather than receiving them from God. → Read at 57:23
mulk
- () Milk and mulk mean having authority over something so that one can manage, utilize and decide about it as one wishes; it is either possession of a thing one owns or authority and dominion over others, such as that of a king. → Read
- () "To Him belongs the dominion" is absolute: His dominion has no limitation in any form, no rule is effective but His, and it is effected as He wishes. → Read
- () "In Whose hand is the kingdom" covers every kingdom; "in His hand" is a figure for His total dominion, dealing with it as He wishes; God owns everything from every perspective, and what everything else owns. → Read
mulk ḥaqīqī
The lām in "nothing belongs to man" denotes real ownership: what is with its owner as long as he exists and never departs, namely the deeds he earns; wealth, children, and status are his only by ephemeral social convention. → Read at 53:39
munīb
From inābah, to return; coming with a penitent heart means having spent one's life turning to God so that one comes to Him with a heart enveloped by this quality. → Read at 50:33
muntahā
A mīm verbal noun meaning the end or limit of something, used absolutely here: every being, its effects, and every cosmic affair ultimately end with God. → Read at 53:42
muqarrabūn
Al-muqarrabūn (those brought near) are a subset of the inhabitants of paradise superior to most good-doers; they witness the record of the virtuous as God shows it to them, which shows that they are the people of certitude (ahl al-yaqīn). → Read at 83:21
murābaṭah
More comprehensive than al-muṣābarah (vying with one another in patience): it implies people's linking up with one another in their powers, faculties and activities in all affairs of their religious life, in ease as well as in difficulty. → Read at 3:200
murāwada
Al-Rāghib: rawd is to request something persistently and gently; murāwada is to dispute with someone about a desire, wanting other than what he wants, i.e. trying to change his mind. → Read at 12:23
musābaqah
To race, vying to reach a goal first; it conveys more than musāraʿah (to hasten), adding the aim of outrunning one's rivals. → Read at 57:21
muṣībah
A misfortune that befalls something, from iṣābah, an arrow hitting its mark; basically good or ill, but mostly used of adversity. → Read at 57:22
muṭahharūn
The purified ones are those whose souls God has cleansed of the pollution of sin, or more fully of all attachment to anything but Him, which best fits touching as knowledge rather than ritual purity. → Read at 56:79
mutaqallab
"Itinerary" is a mīm verbal noun meaning movement from one state to another, while mathwā ("abode") means being settled and still; God knows all their states, changing or fixed. → Read at 47:19
mutraf
The affluent are those whose worldly blessings made them proud and disobedient; an affluent person is one attached to his possessions and what he seeks through them, whether he has little or much. → Read at 56:45