رذل

Core meaning

The lowest point of a scale: the rank despised among people, or the age at which life falls back to its lowest.

Uses

1. أَرَاذِل, ٱلْأَرْذَلُونَ → "the lowliest" : in the mouth of the court: those it places at the lowest of rank, on appearance.

   • «وَمَا نَرَىٰكَ ٱتَّبَعَكَ إِلَّا ٱلَّذِينَ هُمْ أَرَاذِلُنَا بَادِىَ ٱلرَّأْىِ» — "and we see that only those who are, among us, the lowliest, followed you, at first glance" (11:27)
   • «وَٱتَّبَعَكَ ٱلْأَرْذَلُونَ» — "it is the lowliest who have followed you" (26:111)

2. أَرْذَلِ ٱلْعُمُرِ → "the lowliest age" : extreme old age, when one no longer knows anything after having known.

   • «وَمِنكُم مَّن يُرَدُّ إِلَىٰٓ أَرْذَلِ ٱلْعُمُرِ» — "and among you are those brought back to the lowliest age" (16:70)

Evidence from the text

The four uses name one degree, the lowest. Against Nuh, the court of those who disowned applies it to his followers, and judges "at first glance" (11:27): a supposed rank, read from appearance, which 26:111 takes up in the same reproach. In 16:70 and 22:5 the word passes from the scale of people to that of life: after growth, some are brought back to the lowest of age, so as to know nothing more after having known.

Distinctions

• خبث — the vile: what is bad in itself, whereas رذل names a rank, the lowest of a scale
• سفل — the low: position, what lies beneath, without the idea of a despised rank