جوع

Core meaning

Hunger: the lack of food, a trial when it strikes, a blessing when it is removed.

Uses

1. ٱلْجُوع, جُوع → "hunger" : almost always joined to fear, as trial, as sanction, or as an evil from which God delivers.

   • «وَلَنَبْلُوَنَّكُم بِشَىْءٍۢ مِّنَ ٱلْخَوْفِ وَٱلْجُوعِ» — "We will certainly test you with some fear and hunger" (2:155)
   • «ٱلَّذِىٓ أَطْعَمَهُم مِّن جُوعٍۢ» — "who fed them against hunger" (106:4)

2. تَجُوعَ → "to go hungry" : the need itself, promised absent in the Garden.

   • «إِنَّ لَكَ أَلَّا تَجُوعَ فِيهَا وَلَا تَعْرَىٰ» — "You have therein the assurance that you will not go hungry nor be unclothed" (20:118)

Evidence from the text

Hunger goes with fear: a trial in 2:155, the sanction of the city that disowned God's blessings, which He made taste "the garment of hunger and fear" (16:112), a blessing when God delivers from it (106:4). In Adam's Garden it is promised absent (20:118); in the Fire, the food of dry thorns avails nothing against it (88:7).

See also

طعم (to feed) · خوف (fear)