ثوى

Core meaning

To sojourn: to stay in a place and remain there. مَثْوَى is the place of that sojourn, whether offered to a guest or reserved for the end.

Uses

1. مَثْوَى (the guest) → "sojourn" : the sojourn one provides to someone received in one's house.

   • «أَكْرِمِى مَثْوَىٰهُ» — "Make his sojourn honorable" (12:21)
   • «إِنَّهُۥ رَبِّىٓ أَحْسَنَ مَثْوَاىَ» — "He is my master: he has made my sojourn excellent" (12:23)

2. مَثْوَى (the end) → "sojourn" : the place where one remains at the end of the road: the Fire, Jahannam.

   • «وَبِئْسَ مَثْوَى ٱلظَّٰلِمِينَ» — "and how wretched is the sojourn for the wrongdoers" (3:151)

3. ثَاوِيًا → "to sojourn" : to be settled for a time among a people.

   • «وَمَا كُنتَ ثَاوِيًۭا فِىٓ أَهْلِ مَدْيَنَ» — "and you did not sojourn among the people of Madyan" (28:45)

Evidence from the text

The word carries by itself neither favour nor penalty. With the man of Egypt who bought him, Youssof receives an honorable sojourn (12:21), and he recalls it to refuse to betray his master (12:23). The same word names the Fire, the sojourn of those who disown and of the proud, under a question repeated word for word (29:68, 39:32, 39:60) and an exclamation repeated three times (16:29, 39:72, 40:76).

Between the two, 47:19 makes it the most ordinary place: God knows "your movements" (47:19) and the place where one stops. The sense holds from end to end, to remain in a place; only the place changes.

Distinctions

• دور — the abode: the house or domain where one lives, whereas مَثْوَى names the sojourn one makes there
• خلد — to abide eternally: duration without end, whereas ثوى names the sojourn itself

See also

اوى (refuge)