مرى

Core meaning

To enter into contention: to contest what is given, and to dispute over what one refuses to hold as certain.

Uses

1. مِرْيَة, ٱلْمُمْتَرِينَ → "contention", "those who contend" : the state of contention, and those who hold to it before what is given.

   • «فَلَا تَكُونَنَّ مِنَ ٱلْمُمْتَرِينَ» — "so never be among those who contend" (2:147)
   • «أَلَآ إِنَّهُمْ فِى مِرْيَةٍۢ مِّن لِّقَآءِ رَبِّهِمْ» — "Is it not so: they are indeed in contention about the meeting with their Guardian" (41:54)

2. تَمْتَرُونَ, يَمْتَرُونَ, تَتَمَارَىٰ, فَتَمَارَوْا۟ → "to contend" : refusing to hold as certain what is shown.

   • «ثُمَّ أَنتُمْ تَمْتَرُونَ» — "Yet still you contend" (6:2)
   • «فَتَمَارَوْا۟ بِٱلنُّذُرِ» — "but they contended about the warnings" (54:36)

3. تُمَارِ, مِرَآءًۭ, يُمَارُونَ, أَفَتُمَٰرُونَهُۥ → "to wrangle", "a wrangling" : contention turned against someone, in open dispute.

   • «فَلَا تُمَارِ فِيهِمْ إِلَّا مِرَآءًۭ ظَٰهِرًۭا» — "So do not wrangle about them except in an apparent wrangling" (18:22)
   • «أَفَتُمَٰرُونَهُۥ عَلَىٰ مَا يَرَىٰ» — "Will you then wrangle with him over what he sees?" (53:12)

Evidence from the text

The formula "do not be among those who contend" each time follows the statement that the truth comes from the Guardian (2:147, 3:60, 10:94): the contention in view is not an inner hesitation, it holds at a distance what has been given. In 54:36, the warned people answer only in this way: "they contended about the warnings".

Form III turns this contention toward an opponent: wrangling about the people of the cave (18:22), wrangling with the messenger over what he sees (53:12), wrangling about the Hour, and those are "in far error" (42:18).

Distinctions

• شكك — the perplexity that hesitates; مرى names the contention that disputes
• ريب — the suspicion that unsettles