فكك

Core meaning

To undo what was bound: to untie a bond, or to come apart from it.

Uses

1. فَكُّ → "to free" : to undo the bond that holds a person under a weight.

   • «فَكُّ رَقَبَةٍ» — "It is freeing a person from the burden of a debt" (90:13)

2. مُنفَكِّينَ → "to separate" : to come away from a position, or to part from it.

   • «لَمْ يَكُنِ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ مِنْ أَهْلِ ٱلْكِتَٰبِ وَٱلْمُشْرِكِينَ مُنفَكِّينَ حَتَّىٰ تَأْتِيَهُمُ ٱلْبَيِّنَةُ» — "Those who disowned among the People of the Scripture and the associators were not to separate until the Clear Proof came to them" (98:1)

Evidence from the text

In 90:13, the gesture is the first of the gifts one draws back from, "what makes one balk" (90:11-12): undoing the bond that holds a person under the burden of a debt, then feeding the orphan and the destitute (90:14-16).

In 98:1, the reflexive form says the reverse: those who disown were not to separate before the Clear Proof came. The text does not name what they did not separate from, and the translation does not add it. In both cases, the word names the moment a bond ceases to hold.

See also

رقب (the person, the neck) · بين (the Clear Proof)