خير

Core meaning

What is worth preferring: the good, the better; and the act of taking it from among others: to opt.

Uses

1. خَيْر (noun) → "good" : what is good to do or to receive.

   • «وَمَا تَفْعَلُوا۟ مِنْ خَيْرٍۢ يَعْلَمْهُ ٱللَّهُ» — "And whatever good you do, God knows it." (2:197)
   • «فَمَن يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ خَيْرًۭا يَرَهُۥ» — "So whoever does the weight of a grain of good will see it" (99:7)

2. خَيْر (comparative), خَيْرُ + plural → "better", "the best of …" : what prevails when one compares; a title of God before those who do what He does.

   • «وَٱلْءَاخِرَةُ خَيْرٌۭ وَأَبْقَىٰٓ» — "while the last life is better and more lasting." (87:17)
   • «وَهُوَ خَيْرُ ٱلْحَٰكِمِينَ» — "He is the best of judges." (7:87)

3. ٱلْخَيْرَٰت → "good deeds", "the excellent things" : the plural: the deeds of good in which one races, and the goods one receives.

   • «فَٱسْتَبِقُوا۟ ٱلْخَيْرَٰتِ» — "Race, then, in good deeds." (5:48)
   • «وَأُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ لَهُمُ ٱلْخَيْرَٰتُ» — "and those are the ones to whom belongs the good" (9:88)

4. ٱلْأَخْيَار, خَيْرَٰت (beings) → "the best", "beings excellent" : those in whom good is found.

   • «وَكُلٌّۭ مِّنَ ٱلْأَخْيَارِ» — "and each among the best." (38:48)
   • «فِيهِنَّ خَيْرَٰتٌ حِسَانٌۭ» — "Therein are beings good and beautiful." (55:70)

5. ٱخْتَارَ, تَخَيَّرَ → "to opt" : to take from among others what one holds to be the best.

   • «وَرَبُّكَ يَخْلُقُ مَا يَشَآءُ وَيَخْتَارُ» — "Your Guardian creates what He wills and opts" (28:68)
   • «وَٱخْتَارَ مُوسَىٰ قَوْمَهُۥ سَبْعِينَ رَجُلًۭا» — "And Moussa opted, from among his people, for seventy men, with a view to Our appointed time" (7:155)

6. ٱلْخِيَرَة → "the option" : the power to opt.

   • «مَا كَانَ لَهُمُ ٱلْخِيَرَةُ» — "the option does not belong to them." (28:68)

Evidence from the text

The noun and the verb answer each other: one opts for what one holds to be better. The comparative shows it everywhere: taking what is immediate in exchange for what is better (2:61), the last life better and more lasting (87:17), Iblis calling himself better than Adam because created of fire (38:76). The good is not always where one sees it: one may dislike a thing while it is a good (2:216).

To opt belongs first to God: He creates what He wills and opts, and the option does not fall to men (28:68); He opted for Moussa (20:13) and for the sons of Israel, knowingly (44:32). Moussa in turn opts, from among his people, for seventy men (7:155); in the Garden, one opts among the fruits (56:20).

Distinctions

• صفو — to choose: to take what is pure and set it apart, whereas خير takes the better
• جبى — to elect: to draw to oneself the one elected
• حسن — excellence, beauty, whereas خير is the preferable

See also

شرر (ill, its opposite (17:11, 70:21))