ضلل

Core meaning

To lose the right direction: to stray from the way, literally or in conduct, or to make another lose it; error is the state of one who no longer has a path.

Uses

1. ضَلَّ, يَضِلُّ → "to stray" : to lose the way oneself; the complement names the lost way.

   • «وَمَن ضَلَّ فَإِنَّمَا يَضِلُّ عَلَيْهَا» — "and whoever strays only strays against himself" (10:108)
   • «فَقَدْ ضَلَّ سَوَآءَ ٱلسَّبِيلِ» — "has indeed strayed from the straight way" (2:108)
   • «لَّا يَضِلُّ رَبِّى وَلَا يَنسَى» — "My Guardian neither strays nor forgets" (20:52)

2. ضَلَّ عَن → "to stray away from" : what was invoked is lost, away from those who relied on it.

   • «وَضَلَّ عَنْهُم مَّا كَانُوا۟ يَفْتَرُونَ» — "and what they used to invent will have strayed away from them" (10:30)
   • «ضَلُّوا۟ عَنَّا» — "They have strayed away from us" (7:37)

3. أَضَلَّ, يُضِلُّ, مُضِلّ, تَضْلِيل → "to lead astray", "misleader" : to make another lose the way.

   • «يُضِلُّ بِهِۦ كَثِيرًۭا وَيَهْدِى بِهِۦ كَثِيرًۭا» — "He leads astray by it many, and guides by it many" (2:26)
   • «وَأَضَلَّ فِرْعَوْنُ قَوْمَهُۥ وَمَا هَدَىٰ» — "And Fir'awn led his people astray; he did not guide them" (20:79)
   • «إِنَّهُۥ عَدُوٌّۭ مُّضِلٌّۭ مُّبِينٌۭ» — "he is indeed an enemy, a manifest misleader" (28:15)

4. ضَلَٰل, ضَلَٰلَة → "error" : the state of being without a way, often called "manifest" or "far".

   • «ٱشْتَرَوُا۟ ٱلضَّلَٰلَةَ بِٱلْهُدَىٰ» — "bought error at the price of guidance" (2:16)
   • «ذَٰلِكَ هُوَ ٱلضَّلَٰلُ ٱلْبَعِيدُ» — "That is the far error" (14:18)
   • «فِى ضَلَٰلٍۢ مُّبِينٍۢ» — "in manifest error" (6:74)

5. ضَآلّ, ٱلضَّآلُّونَ, أَضَلُّ → "astray", "the astray", "more astray" : one who has lost the way; the comparative measures the distance.

   • «وَلَا ٱلضَّآلِّينَ» — "nor of the astray" (1:7)
   • «وَوَجَدَكَ ضَآلًّۭا فَهَدَىٰ» — "Did He not find you astray and guide you" (93:8)
   • «بَلْ هُمْ أَضَلُّ» — "no, they are even more astray" (7:179)

Evidence from the text

The word always says a lost way, and the text names it: one strays "from the straight way" (5:12), "from His way" (6:117), "from the way" (25:17). Its opposite is guidance, often in the same sentence: "He leads astray by it many, and guides by it many" (2:26); "Did He not find you astray and guide you?" (93:8).

It does not first say a fault, but a lost direction: Moussa says it of himself, "while I was among the astray" (26:20), and it applies to the witness whose memory falters (2:282). Whoever strays "only strays against himself" (10:108).

The causative form makes another lose the way. Its subject is the Diverter (4:60), Fir'awn (20:79), as-Samiri (20:85), the chiefs (33:67), emotion (38:26), and God; but God does not lead a people astray before making clear to them "what they must guard themselves against" (9:115), and He leads astray by the example "only the oversteppers" (2:27). What was invoked besides Him strays in turn, away from those who invoked it (6:24, 7:37, 41:48), and the effort of those who lose themselves "has gone astray in the present life" (18:104).

Distinctions

• هدى — guidance: the opposite, often in the same sentence
• غوى — to err: to go adrift far from the way, through seduction or through one's own conduct
• زيغ — deviation: swerving from a received axis, whereas ضلل says the lost way

See also

سبل (the way)