كنن

Core meaning

To envelop so as to keep sheltered: what one holds within, what obstructs, what is preserved.

Uses

1. أَكْنَنتُمْ, تُكِنُّ → "to shelter", "to conceal within oneself" : to keep an intention or a thought inside.

   • «أَوْ أَكْنَنتُمْ فِىٓ أَنفُسِكُمْ» — "or what you conceal within yourselves" (2:235)
   • «مَا تُكِنُّ صُدُورُهُمْ وَمَا يُعْلِنُونَ» — "what their chests shelter and what they disclose" (27:74)

2. أَكِنَّة → "coverings" : what envelops the core and prevents understanding.

   • «وَجَعَلْنَا عَلَىٰ قُلُوبِهِمْ أَكِنَّةً أَن يَفْقَهُوهُ» — "but We have placed over their cores coverings, so that they do not understand it" (6:25)

3. مَكْنُون → "well-sheltered" : what is preserved intact.

   • «كَأَنَّهُنَّ بَيْضٌۭ مَّكْنُونٌۭ» — "as though they were well-sheltered eggs" (37:49)
   • «فِى كِتَٰبٍۢ مَّكْنُونٍۢ» — "in a well-sheltered scripture" (56:78)

Evidence from the text

The envelope protects or obstructs, depending on what it surrounds. Within, it is the intention of marriage one keeps to oneself without blame (2:235), or what the chests shelter, facing what one discloses (27:74, 28:69). Over the core, they are coverings that prevent understanding, with deafness in the ears (6:25, 17:46, 18:57); those who refuse take up the word themselves (41:5).

Around a precious good, it is the guard that preserves it: eggs (37:49), pearls (52:24, 56:23), the scripture that only the purified touch (56:78-79). The mountains too give shelters (16:81).

Distinctions

• غشو — to cover over; كنن envelops in order to keep
• ستر — to veil, to put out of sight
• ورى — to conceal: to remove from sight, whereas كنن shelters within

See also

قلب (the core the covering obstructs)