فئى

Core meaning

A battalion: people held together facing another: the one confronted, the one joined, or the one that brings help.

Uses

1. فِئَة, فِئَتَيْنِ, ٱلْفِئَتَانِ (face to face) → "battalion" : two bodies measured against each other, by number or in combat.

   • «كَم مِّن فِئَةٍۢ قَلِيلَةٍ غَلَبَتْ فِئَةًۭ كَثِيرَةًۢ بِإِذْنِ ٱللَّهِ» — "How many a small battalion has overcome a large battalion, with God's permission" (2:249)
   • «قَدْ كَانَ لَكُمْ ءَايَةٌۭ فِى فِئَتَيْنِ ٱلْتَقَتَا» — "You had a sign in those two battalions that met" (3:13)

2. فِئَة (the support) → "battalion" : the one toward which one withdraws, or which should have helped.

   • «أَوْ مُتَحَيِّزًا إِلَىٰ فِئَةٍۢ» — "or a withdrawal toward a battalion" (8:16)
   • «وَلَمْ تَكُن لَّهُۥ فِئَةٌۭ يَنصُرُونَهُۥ مِن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ» — "He had no battalion to help him besides God" (18:43)

Evidence from the text

The word never names a body alone: there is always the other battalion. In 2:249, the small battalion and the large one; in 3:13, one of the two "fought in the way of God, and the other disowned"; in 8:48, "the two battalions saw one another". Even within a community, the word says division: "that you form two battalions" (4:88).

The battalion is also a support: the fighter may withdraw toward it (8:16), and the text refuses it to those who counted on their own. The owner of the two gardens (18:43) and the man of the treasures (28:76-81) had "no battalion to help him besides God" (28:81).

Distinctions

• فرق — the fraction (فَرِيق): a part detached from a whole, whereas فِئَة, the battalion, is the body held facing another
• طوف — the group (طَآئِفَة): those who move together to one side; فِئَة, the battalion, names the body held in confrontation or in help

See also

نصر (help)