زهق

Core meaning

To vanish without return: what has only a semblance of substance slips away and disappears — the Self leaving life, falsehood before the truth.

Uses

1. تَزْهَقَ (the Self) → "to depart" : the Self leaving life, in the midst of disowning.

   • «وَتَزْهَقَ أَنفُسُهُمْ وَهُمْ كَٰفِرُونَ» — "and that their Selves depart while they disown" (9:55)

2. زَهَقَ, زَهُوق, زَاهِق (falsehood) → "to vanish" : falsehood, which does not hold before the truth.

   • «جَآءَ ٱلْحَقُّ وَزَهَقَ ٱلْبَٰطِلُ» — "The truth has come, and falsehood has vanished" (17:81)
   • «إِنَّ ٱلْبَٰطِلَ كَانَ زَهُوقًۭا» — "falsehood is indeed bound to vanish" (17:81)
   • «فَإِذَا هُوَ زَاهِقٌۭ» — "and at once it vanishes" (21:18)

Evidence from the text

The two registers tell one same departure. In 9:55 and 9:85, the Self departs while they disown: life goes before they have returned. In 17:81 and 21:18, it is falsehood that goes: it "is indeed bound to vanish" (17:81), and the truth hurled against it "crushes it" (21:18).

The word does not name a destruction coming from outside, but the end of what had nothing to last with: falsehood need not be struck down, it vanishes as soon as the truth comes.

Distinctions

• هلك — to annihilate: loss inflicted; here, the disappearance of what had no substance

See also

بطل (falsehood) · دمغ (to crush) · حقق (the truth)