Glossary: Z

Glossary of Key Terms · 10 terms

A B D F G H I J K L M N Q R S T U W Y Z

zabāniyah

Al-Zabāniyah are “the guardian angels of hell”; some say it means “sentry, patrol.” → Read at 96:18

zakāt

• () The root meaning of zakāt is sound, incorrupt growth; here the growth is the growth of the soul. → Read
• () Here zakāt means any kind of charity, that is, giving wealth for the sake of God without squandering it. → Read

zalzalah

Zalzalah and zilzāl both mean a violent and terrifying movement; the term is likely derived from zalla (to slip), the repetition of zal denoting exaggeration and recurrence. → Read at 22:1

ẓann

Knowledge is what is undeniably true; conjecture is the more likely of two possibilities, and the less likely is supposition (wahm). → Read at 53:28

zaygh

• () Zāgh is to incline away from uprightness, taghā to go beyond limits; the gaze swerving is perceiving a thing in a form other than it is, and overstepping is perceiving something utterly unreal. → Read
• () To deviate from integrity and rectitude, whose corollary is turning from truth to falsehood; God's making their hearts turn aside is withholding His guidance as requital for their own prior deviation, not primary misguidance. → Read

ẓihār

In the Age of Ignorance a man would say to his wife, "You are to me as my mother's back"; this comparison of the wife's back (ẓahr) with his mother's was called ẓihār and was a form of divorce that Islam abolished. → Read at 33:4

zīnah

Zayn is the opposite of shayn (what brings blame and disgrace), so zīnah is anything that removes blame and disgrace from a person and makes others not averse to him; God has guided humankind through their fiṭrah to invent adornments, which are among the most important foundations of human societies. → Read at 7:32

zubur

"Books" here are the records of people's deeds; it is foolish to take it as the Guarded Tablet. → Read at 54:52

ẓullām

A noun of magnification, so "I am not tyrannical" negates egregious injustice; this does not imply minor injustice, since any injustice in recompense, given the number affected, would be tyranny by quantity alone. → Read at 50:29

zūr

Majmaʿ al-bayān: zūr originally means presenting falsehood so that it looks like truth; so it includes lying as well as false vanities like singing (ghināʾ) and profanity. → Read at 25:72

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