ذئب

Core meaning

The wolf, the beast of prey that devours. The text names it only in the account of Youssof, where the father's fear becomes the brothers' alibi.

Uses

1. ٱلذِّئْب → "the wolf" : the beast that devours the child left unguarded; it is always the subject of "devour".

   • «وَأَخَافُ أَن يَأْكُلَهُ ٱلذِّئْبُ» — "I fear the wolf may devour him" (12:13)
   • «فَأَكَلَهُ ٱلذِّئْبُ» — "and the wolf devoured him" (12:17)

Evidence from the text

The three uses follow one lie in three stages. The father names the danger: "I fear the wolf may devour him while you are heedless of him" (12:13). The brothers take up the word to deny it, invoking their number: "If the wolf were to devour him, while we are a close-knit group" (12:14). Then they use it as their story, in the evening, weeping: "and the wolf devoured him" (12:17).

The word stays concrete in all three cases: it is the arrangement of the account, not the word, that makes the wolf a fable. The father's fear itself supplies the alibi.

See also

اكل (to devour)