Glossary: Q

qaḍāʾ

() Al-Rāghib: qaḍāʾ means deciding a matter, whether by word or by deed, and each of these is of two kinds, divine and human. → Read
() The original meaning of qaḍāʾ (here, set up) is to separate one thing from another; when God turned to the heavens they were smoke, raw unformed potentiality, and He determined their affair by making them seven heavens in two days. → Read

qadar

The divine rule of qadar (measurement, ordainment) runs through human actions as through every event: a voluntary act is done by free will, but God’s creational will (irādah takwīniyyah) has ordained that the person act by their own volition, and without His will the act would not occur. → Read at 74:56

qadīr

Al-Rāghib: one who can do whatever he wills to the extent that wisdom decrees, so only God is properly called qadīr. The ʿAllāmah accepts this but rejects al-Rāghib's claim that attributing power to God merely negates impotence, since God's essential attributes have affirmative meanings and are identical with His Essence. → Read at 42:29

qadr

() Qadr and qadar mean the size of something in smallness, largeness and the like, then generalized to non-physical things, such as a person's standing in society; since measuring a thing leads to describing it, qadr and taqdīr are also used for describing and knowing something. → Read
() The unique essence and manner of a thing's creation: the distinct attributes, inseparable from it, from which its guidance to its existential purpose follows. → Read
() Qadr here is the transitive sense of taqdīr (measurement, ordainment): after creating man, God ordained all the events, properties and states of his existence. → Read
() God subjected the essence, attributes and actions of humankind to qadr (measure, limit), so they cannot transgress the limits set for them or acquire what has not been proportioned for them; the next verse () shows that this does not contradict their volition. → Read
() Qadr apparently means taqdīr (measurement, ordainment): the Night of Destiny is the night in which God decrees the events of the coming year, repeating annually in Ramadan. → Read

qahr

A sort of domination in which one thing overcomes another and compels it to follow its effect, against the effect of the dominated thing, as water overcomes fire; since all causes are compelled to obey what God wants in them, God is the Supreme Dominator (al-Qāhir) over them. → Read at 6:18

qalb

() The heart (qalb) in His Book is characterized by cognition and understanding, so it refers to the human soul, the root of all cognition and will, as opposed to the physical organ in the chest. → Read
() The heart is what a person reasons with to discern truth from falsehood, good from evil, and benefit from harm; one who does not use it is as if he had none. → Read

qalb salīm

Soundness of heart means it is devoid of anything that would hinder its faith in God, such as open or secret association of partners, the effects of sins, or anything inclining a person to other than God; a sound heart is one that does not incline towards anything other than God. → Read at 37:84

qarḍ

Al-Rāghib: wealth given on condition that it be returned; Majmaʿ al-Bayān: originally "to detach"; al-Rāghib adds that ajr is reward and only beneficial, unlike jazāʾ, which can be either. → Read at 57:11

qāriʿah

() "The Catastrophe" is the Day of Resurrection, so called for its impact: it rattles the heavens and earth, moves the mountains, wraps the sun, and subdues all things. → Read
() Qāriʿah is one of the Qur’anic names for the resurrection, derived from qarʿ, “a severe blow, a massive strike.” → Read

qaṣaṣ

Al-Rāghib: to trace back or follow a track; hence consecutive accounts or narratives. Aḥsan al-qaṣaṣ is the best narrative or account. → Read at 12:3

qawwām

Al-qayyim is one who looks after the affairs of another; al-qawwām and al-qayyām give the same meaning in highly emphasized form. → Read at 4:34

qayyūm

Al-Qayyūm, on the intensive paradigm fayʿūl from al-qiyām (to stand), has by extension come to mean protecting, managing, bringing up, looking after and having power over a thing; God 'stands' over the affairs of His creation in this way. → Read at 2:255

qirāʾah

Al-Rāghib: qirāʾah means "assembling the letters and words as one recites," with the first usage being their gathering in the reader's mind; here iqraʾ seems to be used in that first sense, a command to receive the Qur'an from the angel of revelation. → Read at 96:1

qiyām

Al-Rāghib: al-qiyām and al-qawām are the name of that by which a thing stands firm, like a pillar or prop; so the Kaʿbah is made a support for the people, providing their means of support in this life and the hereafter. The ʿAllāmah: God made the Kaʿbah, the sacred months and the sacrificial animals a means of support for the people's blissful social life. → Read at 5:97

qunūt

() Al-Rāghib (Mufradāt): submissiveness means to obey another with humility; here it is a cosmic obedience, as the context suggests, rather than a moral obedience that can be contravened. → Read
() Al-Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī: qunūt (devoutness) means to be continuously obedient and humble before God. → Read

qurʾān

This book is called a qurʾān because it is recited (maqruww); mubīn is derived from ibānah, meaning to show or manifest, so it is a recited book clear about its objectives. → Read at 27:1

Glossary: Q ​

Glossary: Q