ظلل

Core meaning

To cover while the day lasts: the shade that shelters from the sun, and, through the verb ظَلَّ, the state in which one stays all day.

Uses

1. ظِلّ, ظِلَال → "shade", "shadows", "shades" : the shade things cast and the shelter it gives; in the Garden, the plural is "shades".

   • «أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ كَيْفَ مَدَّ ٱلظِّلَّ» — "Have you not seen your Guardian, how He extends the shadow?" (25:45)
   • «وَظِلَٰلُهُم بِٱلْغُدُوِّ وَٱلْءَاصَالِ» — "as do their shadows, morning and evening" (13:15)
   • «إِنَّ ٱلْمُتَّقِينَ فِى ظِلَٰلٍۢ وَعُيُونٍۢ» — "Indeed, those who guarded themselves will be amid shades and springs" (77:41)

2. ظَلِيل → "shading" : the shade that truly covers: promised to the believers, denied to the smoke-shade of the Fire.

   • «وَنُدْخِلُهُمْ ظِلًّۭا ظَلِيلًا» — "and We will admit them into a shade that shades" (4:57)
   • «لَّا ظَلِيلٍۢ وَلَا يُغْنِى مِنَ ٱللَّهَبِ» — "neither shading nor availing against the flame" (77:31)

3. ظَلَّلَ → "to spread the shade" : to cover with a shade: the cloud spread over the sons of Israel.

   • «وَظَلَّلْنَا عَلَيْكُمُ ٱلْغَمَامَ» — "And We spread over you the shade of the cloud" (2:57)

4. ظُلَّة, ظُلَل → "canopy" : what covers from above like a shade: the uprooted mountain, the clouds, the wave, the Fire.

   • «كَأَنَّهُۥ ظُلَّةٌۭ» — "as though it were a canopy" (7:171)
   • «فِى ظُلَلٍۢ مِّنَ ٱلْغَمَامِ» — "in canopies of clouds" (2:210)

5. ظَلَّ, يَظَلُّ → "to stay" : verb of state: to stay so all day; it does not name the shade, it introduces the state that lasts.

   • «فَظَلَّتْ أَعْنَٰقُهُمْ لَهَا خَٰضِعِينَ» — "their necks would stay bent" (26:4)
   • «ٱلَّذِى ظَلْتَ عَلَيْهِ عَاكِفًۭا» — "by which you stayed posted" (20:97)
   • «فَظَلْتُمْ تَفَكَّهُونَ» — "and you would stay lamenting" (56:65)

Evidence from the text

The noun always has a concrete support: the cloud (2:57, 7:160), the mountain (7:171), the trees and fruits of the Garden (56:30, 76:14), the created things whose shadows incline and prostrate (13:15, 16:48). God extends the shade (25:45), and gives it among what He created, beside the shelters of the mountains (16:81).

Its value is shelter. Shade stands against scorching heat (35:21); that of the Garden is constant (13:35) and close (76:14), that of 4:57 truly shades. Conversely, the shade of the Fire is "of black smoke — neither cool nor generous" (56:43-44), and that of 77:30-31 is "neither shading nor availing against the flame". What covers from above can also be a threat: the mountain over the sons of Israel (7:171), the wave that covers (31:32), the Fire above and below the losers (39:16).

The verb ظَلَّ never carries the shade: it introduces a state that lasts the day, the face that stays darkened (16:58, 43:17), necks that stay bent (26:4), one who stays posted by an idol (20:97, 26:71), ships that stay becalmed (42:33). The link between the two uses is the day itself: shade covers as long as the sun is there, and ظَلَّ says what lasts the length of the day.

Distinctions

• خلد — to abide: to stay without end, whereas ظَلَّ says the state that lasts the length of the day
• غمم — the cloud: what covers the sky, whereas ظُلَّة is what casts shade from above

See also

حرر (scorching heat, opposed to shade (35:21))