صدد

Core meaning

To stand in the way: to bar someone from the way, or to hold back from it oneself. The noun صَدِيد, apart, names the fluid that oozes from a wound.

Uses

1. صَدَّ عَن سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ → "to bar from the way of God" : the most frequent formula: to close the way of God to others; the person may be left unstated.

   • «لِيَصُدُّوا۟ عَن سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ» — "so as to bar from the way of God" (8:36)
   • «ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ وَصَدُّوا۟ عَن سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ» — "Those who disown and bar from the way of God" (47:1)

2. صَدَّ + person + عَن → "to bar someone from" : to keep a person from a place, a sign, guidance.

   • «وَلَا يَصُدُّنَّكَ عَنْ ءَايَٰتِ ٱللَّهِ» — "And let them not bar you from the signs of God" (28:87)
   • «أَنَحْنُ صَدَدْنَٰكُمْ عَنِ ٱلْهُدَىٰ» — "Was it we who barred you from guidance" (34:32)
   • «وَصَدُّوكُمْ عَنِ ٱلْمَسْجِدِ ٱلْحَرَامِ» — "and barred you from the inviolable place of prostration" (48:25)

3. صُدَّ, صُدُّوا۟ → "to be barred" : the passive: the one to whom the way has been closed.

   • «وَصُدَّ عَنِ ٱلسَّبِيلِ» — "and he was barred from the way" (40:37)
   • «وَصُدُّوا۟ عَنِ ٱلسَّبِيلِ» — "and they have been barred from the way" (13:33)

4. يَصُدُّونَ, يَصِدُّونَ, صُدُود → "to hold back" : with no person as object: to close oneself to a call.

   • «يَصُدُّونَ عَنكَ صُدُودًۭا» — "hold back from you, resolutely" (4:61)
   • «إِذَا قَوْمُكَ مِنْهُ يَصِدُّونَ» — "your people held back from it" (43:57)

5. صَدِيد → "purulent water" : the fluid that oozes from a wound, the drink of Jahannam.

   • «وَيُسْقَىٰ مِن مَّآءٍۢ صَدِيدٍۢ» — "he will be given to drink there a purulent water" (14:16)

Evidence from the text

The verb almost always bears on others and on a road: one bars "from the way of God" (2:217), "from the inviolable place of prostration" (8:34), "from the signs of God" (28:87), "from guidance" (34:32). It follows disowning in the same sentence (4:167, 16:88, 47:1, 47:34), and it goes with the wish to make the way crooked (3:99, 7:45, 11:19, 14:3): to bar is to close to others the road one refuses oneself. In 48:25 the scene and the wording are those of 5:2: they "barred you from the inviolable place of prostration".

The same verb also names the movement of one who closes himself: the hypocrites called to the messenger (4:61), the people before the example of the son of Maryam (43:57, read يَصُدُّونَ with Warsh), as others before the Scripture (4:55), those who, invited to forgiveness, "turn their heads aside" (63:5). The passive shows the other side: those whom the Diverter barred from the way (27:24, 29:38), Fir'awn for whom "the evil of his deed" was made appealing (40:37). In 63:2 and 58:16 the sentence does not name who is barred, and the translation keeps it open.

Distinctions

• صرف — to turn a thing in another direction (a gaze, an evil, a person), whereas صدد bars someone's road

See also

سبل (the way) · شطن (the Diverter)