بوب

Core meaning

The door: the opening by which one enters a place, and by which what it holds opens upon someone.

Uses

1. بَاب → "gate", "door" : the entrance of a city, of a house, or of a place of the Day.

   • «ٱدْخُلُوا۟ ٱلْبَابَ سُجَّدًۭا» — "Enter by the gate, prostrate" (4:154)
   • «وَٱلْمَلَٰٓئِكَةُ يَدْخُلُونَ عَلَيْهِم مِّن كُلِّ بَابٍۢ» — "and the Agents will enter upon them through every gate" (13:23)

2. أَبْوَاب → "gates", "doors" : the many entrances, each with its share.

   • «لَهَا سَبْعَةُ أَبْوَٰبٍۢ» — "it has seven gates" (15:44)
   • «وَأْتُوا۟ ٱلْبُيُوتَ مِنْ أَبْوَٰبِهَا» — "Come, then, to houses by their doors" (2:189)

3. فَتَحَ + أَبْوَاب → "to open the gates" : what God opens upon a people: goods, a water, a punishment.

   • «فَتَحْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ أَبْوَٰبَ كُلِّ شَىْءٍ» — "We opened upon them the gates of everything" (6:44)
   • «فَفَتَحْنَآ أَبْوَٰبَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ بِمَآءٍۢ مُّنْهَمِرٍۢ» — "So We opened the gates of heaven with pouring water" (54:11)

Evidence from the text

The plural is not a mere multiplication: Jahannam has seven gates, and "to each gate belongs a determined part of them" (15:44); Youssof's father asks his sons to "enter by separate gates" (12:67).

The gates are also what God opens: the gates of everything upon a people who forgot, before seizing them (6:44); the gates of heaven for the flood (54:11); the gates of the Garden and of Jahannam, opened at each one's arrival (39:71, 39:73).

See also

فتح (to open)