قول

Core meaning

To say: to produce speech and make it heard; speech so said is the saying. In form V, to fabricate a saying and attribute it to another.

Uses

1. قَالَ, يَقُولُ, قُلْ → "to say" : introduces reported speech, whoever says it, even within dialogue.

   • «فَسَيَقُولُونَ ٱللَّهُ» — "They will say: "God" (10:31)
   • «إِذَا قَضَىٰٓ أَمْرًۭا فَإِنَّمَا يَقُولُ لَهُۥ كُن» — "When He decrees a matter, He only says to it: Be" (3:47)

2. قَوْل, قِيل → "saying" : the content of what is said.

   • «وَمَنْ أَصْدَقُ مِنَ ٱللَّهِ قِيلًۭا» — "And who is more veracious than God in saying?" (4:122)
   • «وَأَقْوَمُ قِيلًا» — "and more upright in saying" (73:6)

3. قُلْتُمْ, ٱلْجَهْر بِٱلْقَوْلِ, سَبَقَ عَلَيْهِ ٱلْقَوْلُ → "to say a saying", "to say one's saying aloud", "the saying has already preceded" : when the saying is the object of the verb, one says it; when the voice carries it, one says it aloud; settled beforehand against someone, it precedes him.

   • «وَإِذَا قُلْتُمْ فَٱعْدِلُوا۟» — "and when you say a saying, be just" (6:152)
   • «وَإِن تَجْهَرْ بِٱلْقَوْلِ» — "And if you say your saying aloud" (20:7)
   • «إِلَّا مَن سَبَقَ عَلَيْهِ ٱلْقَوْلُ» — "except him against whom the saying has already preceded" (11:40)

4. تَقَوَّلَ, ٱلْأَقَاوِيل → "to invent", "fabricated sayings" : to fabricate a saying and lend it to another.

   • «أَمْ يَقُولُونَ تَقَوَّلَهُۥ» — "Or do they say: "He invented it" (52:33)
   • «وَلَوْ تَقَوَّلَ عَلَيْنَا بَعْضَ ٱلْأَقَاوِيلِ» — "And had he attributed to Us some fabricated sayings" (69:44)

Evidence from the text

The verb is the most frequent in the text and keeps the same sense everywhere: it opens the speech of God, of messengers, of peoples, of individuals, and reports it as it is. The text often makes it the instrument of dialogue: to the question asked, "they will say" the answer (10:31, 23:85-89). Even when one retorts to the other, the text keeps the verb: "They said: Your omen lies with yourselves" (36:19).

The saying is held as one holds one's word: "speak a straight saying" (33:71), "when you say a saying, be just" (6:152). Said aloud, it is raised (7:205, 20:7); settled beforehand against the one who will not board the vessel, it "has already preceded" (11:40, 23:27).

The saying is judged by its truth: none is "more veracious than God in saying" (4:122). Form V turns the gesture around: to forge a saying and set it to another's account, which opponents lend to the messenger (52:33) and which the text rules out in 69:44.

Distinctions

• كلم — to speak, to address someone; قول names the act of saying and what is said
• نطق — to pronounce, to articulate sounds
• جوب — to answer the one who calls
• حدث — discourse that is passed on and reported

See also

فرى (to invent, to forge a lie)