حير

Core meaning

To be disoriented: to turn about without knowing where to go, having lost one's way.

Uses

1. حَيْرَان → "bewildered" : the state of one whom the Diverters have lured off his way.

   • «كَٱلَّذِى ٱسْتَهْوَتْهُ ٱلشَّيَٰطِينُ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ حَيْرَانَ» — "like one whom the Diverters have lured on earth, bewildered" (6:71)

Evidence from the text

The word occurs only once. It closes an image: to "be turned back on our heels after God has guided us" (6:71) is to be like the man lured by the Diverters and left bewildered, "while he has companions who call him to guidance" (6:71). The straying is not a lack of knowledge: he is called, and no longer knows where to go.

Distinctions

• ضلل — straying: leaving the way, whereas bewilderment is the state of one who can no longer find it

See also

هوى (to lure, to make fall) · شطن (the Diverters)