رجو

Core meaning

To stand before what has not yet come about: to hope for it, or to leave its outcome pending; the plural أَرْجَاء names the edges.

Uses

1. رَجَا, يَرْجُو → "to hope" : to await a meeting or a good to come, while acting for it.

   • «أُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ يَرْجُونَ رَحْمَتَ ٱللَّهِ» — "those are the ones who hope for the benevolence of God" (2:218)
   • «فَمَن كَانَ يَرْجُوا۟ لِقَآءَ رَبِّهِۦ فَلْيَعْمَلْ عَمَلًۭا صَٰلِحًۭا» — "So whoever hopes for the meeting with his Guardian, let him do a sound deed" (18:110)

2. لَا يَرْجُونَ → "not to hope" : the formula that designates those who take no meeting into account.

   • «إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ لَا يَرْجُونَ لِقَآءَنَا» — "Indeed, those who do not hope for Our meeting" (10:7)
   • «بَلْ كَانُوا۟ لَا يَرْجُونَ نُشُورًۭا» — "But they did not hope for any Deployment" (25:40)

3. مَرْجُوّ → "a hope" : the one on whom one was counting.

   • «قَدْ كُنتَ فِينَا مَرْجُوًّۭا قَبْلَ هَٰذَآ» — "you were among us a hope before this" (11:62)

4. أَرْجِهْ, مُرْجَوْنَ, تُرْجِى → "to put off", "left pending", "to postpone" : form IV: to leave an outcome pending.

   • «قَالُوٓا۟ أَرْجِهْ وَأَخَاهُ» — "They said: "Put him off, him and his brother" (7:111)
   • «وَءَاخَرُونَ مُرْجَوْنَ لِأَمْرِ ٱللَّهِ» — "And others are left pending God's command" (9:106)
   • «تُرْجِى مَن تَشَآءُ مِنْهُنَّ» — "You may postpone whom you will of them" (33:51)

5. أَرْجَاء → "edge" : the edges of the split sky.

   • «وَٱلْمَلَكُ عَلَىٰٓ أَرْجَآئِهَا» — "with the Agent at its edges" (69:17)

Evidence from the text

Hope is turned toward a meeting or a day, and it commits: "So whoever hopes for the meeting with his Guardian, let him do a sound deed" (18:110; also 29:5, 33:21). The text designates going astray by its absence: those who do not hope for Our meeting are content with the present life (10:7), ask for another Recitation (10:15), hoped neither for a Deployment (25:40) nor for a reckoning (78:27).

Form IV leaves the outcome open: Fir'awn's court wants to put off the fate of Moussa and his brother (7:111, 26:36); others await God's command, punishment or clemency (9:106); the messenger may postpone whom he will (33:51). Hoping and postponing state the same gap: what is not yet there, and what one holds before oneself. The أَرْجَاء are the edges of the sky (69:17), where one stands before what is coming.

Distinctions

• طمع — to covet: the desire for what one wants to seize, whereas رجو awaits what comes
• اخر — to adjourn a fixed term, whereas form IV of رجو leaves the outcome pending

See also

لقى (the meeting)