قلب

Core meaning

To turn over: to make a thing pass from one side to the other. The قَلْب, "the core", is the centre of the person, where one turns toward meaning or closes oneself to it; the verb says the return, the turning about, the movement in every direction.

Uses

1. قَلْب, قُلُوب → "core", "cores" : the centre where one understands or refuses, where one receives, where one hardens.

   • «خَتَمَ ٱللَّهُ عَلَىٰ قُلُوبِهِمْ» — "God has sealed their cores" (2:7)
   • «وَٱللَّهُ يَعْلَمُ مَا فِى قُلُوبِكُمْ» — "And God knows what is in your cores" (33:51)
   • «يَهْدِ قَلْبَهُۥ» — "He guides his core" (64:11)

2. ٱنقَلَبَ, يَنقَلِبُ → "to turn back on one's heels", "to return", "to turn back", "to go back" : to turn about, to go back on one's steps or to one's people; followed by the state in which one leaves, to go back.

   • «وَمَن يَنقَلِبْ عَلَىٰ عَقِبَيْهِ فَلَن يَضُرَّ ٱللَّهَ شَيْـًۭٔا» — "And whoever turns back on his heels does not harm God at all" (3:144)
   • «فَٱنقَلَبُوا۟ بِنِعْمَةٍۢ مِّنَ ٱللَّهِ وَفَضْلٍۢ» — "They returned then with a blessing from God and a favor" (3:174)
   • «فَتَنقَلِبُوا۟ خَٰسِرِينَ» — "and you will go back as losers" (3:149)
   • «إِذَا ٱنقَلَبْتُمْ إِلَيْهِمْ» — "once you have turned back to them" (9:95)

3. مُنقَلِبُونَ, مُنقَلَب, تُقْلَبُونَ → "to return", "turning point", "to be turned back" : the last return, toward the Guardian.

   • «إِنَّآ إِلَىٰ رَبِّنَا مُنقَلِبُونَ» — "It is to our Guardian that we return" (26:50)
   • «أَىَّ مُنقَلَبٍۢ يَنقَلِبُونَ» — "to what turning point they will turn" (26:227)
   • «وَإِلَيْهِ تُقْلَبُونَ» — "and to Him you will be turned back" (29:21)

4. قَلَّبَ, تَقَلُّب → "to turn in every direction", "movements", "comings and goings", "to alternate" : to turn and turn again: the face, the hands, affairs, the night and the day.

   • «قَدْ نَرَىٰ تَقَلُّبَ وَجْهِكَ فِى ٱلسَّمَآءِ» — "We will indeed see your face turning in every direction in the sky" (2:144)
   • «لَا يَغُرَّنَّكَ تَقَلُّبُ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ فِى ٱلْبِلَٰدِ» — "Let not the movements of those who disown through the lands delude you" (3:196)
   • «أَوْ يَأْخُذَهُمْ فِى تَقَلُّبِهِمْ» — "or that He will not seize them in their comings and goings" (16:46)
   • «يُقَلِّبُ ٱللَّهُ ٱلَّيْلَ وَٱلنَّهَارَ» — "God alternates the night and the day" (24:44)
   • Written exception: in 2:144 and 6:110 the turning is shared with رجع.

Evidence from the text

The basic gesture is to turn over: "We turned them to the right and to the left" (18:18), the text says of the sleepers of the cave; the man whose garden is ruined "began turning his palms over in every direction" (18:42); God "alternates the night and the day" (24:44). The verb without object says the turning about: to turn back on one's heels (2:143, 3:144), to return to one's people (12:62, 84:9, 9:95), and, at the end, toward the Guardian (7:125, 26:50, 43:14). Followed by the state in which one leaves, it says the departure: "They returned then with a blessing from God" (3:174), "and they depart disappointed" (3:127), "and went away diminished" (7:119); likewise, brought back "on your heels", "you will go back as losers" (3:149). The noun تَقَلُّب says the comings and goings from place to place (3:196, 16:46, 26:219, 40:4).

The core carries this same movement. It is what turns toward meaning or closes itself to it: the Recitation comes down upon it (2:97), it is sealed (2:7), it hardens (2:74), it is calmed by the remembrance of God (13:28); and God says: "We turn about their Consciences and their sights" (6:110). Nothing in it remains hidden: "And God knows what is in your cores" (33:51).

Distinctions

• رجع — to go back to the point one started from; انقلب says the turning around, the turning about: "when you have returned to them" (9:94), then "once you have turned back to them" (9:95)
• صدر — the chest, which contains; the core is the centre that turns

See also

قسو (to harden) · طبع (the stamp)