ثبت

Core meaning

To be firm, without wavering or slipping; in the causative form, to make firm what was about to give way: the step, the Conscience, the Self.

Uses

1. ثَبَّتَ, يُثَبِّتُ → "to make firm" : to make firm what could waver; it is God who makes firm, or His Agents at His command.

   • «وَثَبِّتْ أَقْدَامَنَا» — "make firm our steps" (2:250)
   • «مَا نُثَبِّتُ بِهِۦ فُؤَادَكَ» — "that by which We make your Conscience firm" (11:120)
   • «فَثَبِّتُوا۟ ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟» — "so make firm those who have believed" (8:12)

2. تَثْبِيت → "strengthening" : the act of making firm, which one seeks for one's own Self.

   • «وَتَثْبِيتًۭا مِّنْ أَنفُسِهِمْ» — "and the strengthening of their own Selves" (2:265)

3. ٱثْبُتُوا۟ → "to stand firm" : to hold firm oneself, facing the adversary.

   • «إِذَا لَقِيتُمْ فِئَةًۭ فَٱثْبُتُوا۟» — "When you meet a battalion, stand firm" (8:45)

4. ثَابِت, ثُبُوت → "firm" : what holds: the root of the tree, the saying, the foot before it slips.

   • «أَصْلُهَا ثَابِتٌۭ وَفَرْعُهَا فِى ٱلسَّمَآءِ» — "whose root is firm and whose branches are in the sky" (14:24)
   • «بِٱلْقَوْلِ ٱلثَّابِتِ» — "by the firm saying" (14:27)
   • «فَتَزِلَّ قَدَمٌۢ بَعْدَ ثُبُوتِهَا» — "a foot would slip after having been firm" (16:94)

5. أَثْبَتَ → "to immobilize" : to fix someone in place to prevent him from acting: the gesture turned against the messenger.

   • «لِيُثْبِتُوكَ أَوْ يَقْتُلُوكَ أَوْ يُخْرِجُوكَ» — "to immobilize you, kill you, or expel you" (8:30)

Evidence from the text

Firmness is opposed to slipping: in 16:94, a foot "would slip after having been firm"; in 17:74, without being made firm, the messenger "would well nigh have leaned upon them". The root therefore names a support that keeps one from giving way.

This support is concrete in battle, where God makes the steps firm (2:250, 3:147, 8:11, 47:7), and inward elsewhere: the Conscience is made firm by the accounts of the messengers (11:120) and by the Recitation sent down in parts (25:32); those who believe are made firm "by the firm saying" (14:27), whose image is the tree with a firm root (14:24). In 8:30, the same gesture becomes a constraint: to fix the messenger in place so as to stop him.

Distinctions

• زلل — to slip: what firmness prevents (16:94)

See also

صبر (patience) · قدم (the step)