ذلل

Core meaning

The lowering of what yields: humiliation when it is inflicted, docility when it is the nature of a thing made manageable.

Uses

1. ذِلَّة, ذُلّ → "humiliation" : the lowering inflicted, which is imprinted upon beings or veils them.

   • «ضُرِبَتْ عَلَيْهِمُ ٱلذِّلَّةُ» — "Humiliation has been imprinted upon them" (3:112)
   • «تَرْهَقُهُمْ ذِلَّةٌۭ» — "humiliation veiling them" (68:43)

2. أَذَلَّ, أَذِلَّة, ٱلْأَذَلّ → "to humiliate", "humiliated", "the more humiliated" : lowering as an act or as a rank, always facing might.

   • «وَتُعِزُّ مَن تَشَآءُ وَتُذِلُّ مَن تَشَآءُ» — "You make mighty whom You will, and You humiliate whom You will" (3:26)
   • «لَيُخْرِجَنَّ ٱلْأَعَزُّ مِنْهَا ٱلْأَذَلَّ» — "the mightier will surely expel the more humiliated therefrom" (63:8)

3. ذَلُول, ذَلَّلَ, ذُلُل → "docile", "to make docile" : what yields under the hand and lets itself be led: the earth, the beast, the ways, the fruits.

   • «هُوَ ٱلَّذِى جَعَلَ لَكُمُ ٱلْأَرْضَ ذَلُولًۭا» — "It is He who made the earth docile for you" (67:15)
   • «وَذَلَّلْنَٰهَا لَهُمْ» — "And We have made them docile for them" (36:72)

4. جَنَاحَ ٱلذُّلِّ, أَذِلَّةٍ عَلَى → "the wing of docility", "humbling itself before" : lowering chosen, before one's parents or before the believers.

   • «وَٱخْفِضْ لَهُمَا جَنَاحَ ٱلذُّلِّ مِنَ ٱلرَّحْمَةِ» — "And lower for them the wing of docility, out of benevolence" (17:24)
   • «أَذِلَّةٍ عَلَى ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ» — "humbling itself before the believers" (5:54)

Evidence from the text

Undergone, lowering is a sanction that is imprinted or that veils: "Humiliation has been imprinted upon them" (3:112, likewise 2:61), "humiliation veiling them" (68:43, 70:44). It always faces might: God makes mighty and humiliates (3:26), and the mightier claims he will expel the more humiliated (63:8). In 3:123, the believers were "humiliated" at Badr, and God helped them.

Chosen, the same lowering becomes a virtue: the people God loves humbles itself before the believers and stays mighty toward those who disown (5:54); the child lowers for his parents "the wing of docility" (17:24). In things, it is docility: the earth made docile (67:15), the cow not made docile to the plough (2:71), the ways made docile for the bee (16:69), the beasts (36:72), the fruits of the Garden (76:14). Everywhere, it is what yields.

Distinctions

• خشع — humility: inner lowering before God, whereas ذلل is what yields under a force or under the hand
• هون — debasement: the shame of a punishment that brings low
• خزى — disgrace: the opprobrium that covers the one exposed

See also

عزز (might)