فوت

Core meaning

To pass out of reach: what goes away before one holds it and is not recovered; negated, the impossibility of getting away; in form VI, the gap between parts that do not meet.

Uses

1. فَاتَ → "to elude" : what has gone out of reach: a good, an opportunity, a wife.

   • «لِّكَيْلَا تَحْزَنُوا۟ عَلَىٰ مَا فَاتَكُمْ» — "so that you would not grieve either for what you had missed" (3:153)
   • «وَإِن فَاتَكُمْ شَىْءٌۭ مِّنْ أَزْوَٰجِكُمْ إِلَى ٱلْكُفَّارِ» — "And if you miss any of your wives, gone over to those who disown" (60:11)

2. فَلَا فَوْتَ → "with no way out" : the negation: none passes out of reach.

   • «إِذْ فَزِعُوا۟ فَلَا فَوْتَ» — "when they are seized with fright, with no way out" (34:51)

3. تَفَٰوُت → "disharmony" : form VI: parts that miss one another.

   • «مَّا تَرَىٰ فِى خَلْقِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ مِن تَفَٰوُتٍۢ» — "You do not see in the creation of the All-Benevolent any disharmony" (67:3)

Evidence from the text

What passes out of reach is always set against an affliction. In 3:153, the anguish given upon anguish comes so that one grieve neither for what has gone nor for what has struck; in 57:23, not to lament what goes, not to rejoice in what is given, since everything is already in a register (57:22). In 60:11, the wife gone to those who disown gives the right to a compensation.

Negated, the word closes every exit: on the Day they are seized "from a place nearby" (34:51), and nothing passes out of reach. In form VI, it names the gap between parts that do not meet: the verse sees none in creation, and invites one to return the gaze to be sure of it (67:3-4).

Distinctions

• غيب — what escapes the senses: what is not present, whereas فوت names what has gone out of reach
• حيص — escape: the way by which one gets out of trouble

See also

فزع (the fright that seizes with no way out (34:51))