عن

Core meaning

Preposition of distance: it marks what one moves away from, what is taken off someone, or what one speaks about.

Uses

1. verb of distancing + عَنْ → "from", "away from" : what one moves away or turns away from, what moves away from someone.

   • «فَأَعْرِضْ عَنْهُمْ وَٱنتَظِرْ» — "So turn away from them, and wait" (32:30)
   • «قَالُوا۟ ضَلُّوا۟ عَنَّا» — "They have strayed away from us" (40:74)

2. to overlook, to lighten + عَنْ → "for", "from" : what is set apart from the one who bore it: the fault, the punishment.

   • «وَٱعْفُ عَنَّا» — "And overlook it for us" (2:286)
   • «فَلَا يُخَفَّفُ عَنْهُمْ» — "it will not be lightened for them" (16:85)

3. to ask, to be heedless, to be satisfied + عَنْ → "about", "of", "with" : the object one aims at from a distance: a question, an attention, a satisfaction.

   • «لَا يُسْـَٔلُ عَمَّا يَفْعَلُ» — "He is not questioned about what He does" (21:23)
   • «رَّضِىَ ٱللَّهُ عَنْهُمْ وَرَضُوا۟ عَنْهُ» — "God is satisfied with them, and they are satisfied with Him" (98:8)

4. تَعَٰلَىٰ عَمَّا, سُبْحَٰنَ … عَمَّا → "above" : the distance of height: God above what is associated with Him.

   • «سُبْحَٰنَ ٱللَّهِ عَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ» — "Glory be to God, above what they associate with Him" (59:23)

Evidence from the text

In every construction, عَنْ sets a distance between two terms. One turns away from someone (32:30); the associates stray away from those who invoked them (40:74); acquired wealth avails nothing to the one who amassed it (69:28). When God overlooks or lightens, the fault or the punishment is set apart from the one who bore it (2:286, 16:85). When He is "above what they associate with Him" (10:18), the distance is that of height.

The question too holds its object at a distance. Surah 78 opens on this word, عَمَّ, about what, and the next verse names what they ask one another about: "the immense Information" (78:2).

Distinctions

• من — provenance: where one comes from, whereas عَنْ marks what one moves away from
• فى — interiority: being in, whereas عَنْ is being away from