فلح

Core meaning

To succeed: to reach the end one was seeking, at the close of a course of conduct.

Uses

1. ٱلْمُفْلِحُونَ → "those who succeed" : the closing formula "those are the ones who succeed", after the portrait of a conduct.

   • «وَأُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلْمُفْلِحُونَ» — "and those are the ones who succeed" (2:5)
   • «فَمَن ثَقُلَتْ مَوَٰزِينُهُۥ فَأُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلْمُفْلِحُونَ» — "Those whose balances are heavy — those are the ones who succeed" (7:8)

2. لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ → "perhaps you will succeed" : success hoped for at the end of a command.

   • «وَٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ» — "and guard yourselves toward God, perhaps you will succeed" (3:200)

3. لَا يُفْلِحُ → "not to succeed" : the negation: those who will not reach the end.

   • «إِنَّهُۥ لَا يُفْلِحُ ٱلظَّٰلِمُونَ» — "The wrongdoers indeed do not succeed" (6:21)
   • «وَلَا يُفْلِحُ ٱلسَّٰحِرُونَ» — "But workers of illusion do not succeed" (10:77)

4. أَفْلَحَ → "to succeed", "to attain success" : the perfect: success already gained.

   • «قَدْ أَفْلَحَ مَن تَزَكَّىٰ» — "He has certainly succeeded who purifies himself" (87:14)
   • «قَدْ أَفْلَحَ ٱلْمُؤْمِنُونَ» — "The believers have attained success" (23:1)

Evidence from the text

Success is always the end of a course of conduct: guarding oneself (2:189, 3:130, 3:200, 5:100), striving in His way (5:35), avoiding wine and games of chance (5:90), remembering God (8:45, 62:10), turning to God (24:31), purifying oneself (87:14, 91:9). The portrait of the believers who "have attained success" (23:1) lists their traits down to 23:9, and the portrait of 2:2-5 closes on the same formula.

Failure is said by the same root negated, and the list is just as clear: the wrongdoers (6:21, 6:135, 12:23, 28:37), the severed (10:17), those who invent the lie against God (10:69, 16:116), the workers of illusion (10:77, 20:69), those who disown (23:117, 28:82). Fir'awn's workers of illusion take it as a matter of force (20:64); what follows shows them falling prostrate (20:70).

Distinctions

• فوز — triumph: the final gain granted, whereas فلح names the outcome of a conduct
• خيب — to fail: the opposite, joined in 91:9-10

See also

زكو (to purify oneself, which leads to success (87:14, 91:9))