كفى

Core meaning

To suffice: to be by itself what one needs, without other recourse.

Uses

1. وَكَفَىٰ بِٱللَّهِ → "God suffices as …" : the formula that sets God as sole recourse.

   • «وَكَفَىٰ بِٱللَّهِ وَلِيًّۭا وَكَفَىٰ بِٱللَّهِ نَصِيرًۭا» — "God suffices as protector, and God suffices as help" (4:45)
   • «وَكَفَىٰ بِٱللَّهِ شَهِيدًۭا» — "And God suffices as a witness" (4:79)
   • «وَكَفَىٰ بِنَا حَٰسِبِينَ» — "and We suffice as reckoners" (21:47)

2. يَكْفِى, كَافٍ → "to suffice", "enough" : to suffice someone, to fill his need.

   • «أَوَلَمْ يَكْفِهِمْ أَنَّآ أَنزَلْنَا عَلَيْكَ ٱلْكِتَٰبَ» — "Is it not enough for them that We have sent down to you the Scripture" (29:51)
   • «أَلَيْسَ ٱللَّهُ بِكَافٍ عَبْدَهُۥ» — "Is God not sufficient for His obedient one" (39:36)

3. كَفَىٰ (two objects) → "to suffice against", "to spare" : to suffice someone against a danger, to dispense him from it.

   • «فَسَيَكْفِيكَهُمُ ٱللَّهُ» — "God will soon suffice you against them" (2:137)
   • «وَكَفَى ٱللَّهُ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ ٱلْقِتَالَ» — "and God spared the believers the fight" (33:25)

Evidence from the text

The formula وَكَفَىٰ بِـ makes God, or what He is, the only measure needed: witness (4:79, 13:43), trustee (4:81), reckoner (4:6, 21:47, 33:39), protector and help (4:45). It also serves for blame: "that suffices as a manifest transgression" (4:50).

With two objects, to suffice someone against a thing is to dispense him from it: God suffices the messenger against the mockers (15:95) and spares the believers the fight (33:25). On the Day, each is enough to make his own reckoning: "it suffices that you be your own reckoner" (17:14).

Distinctions

• غنى — to be free of all need; كفى is to suffice for a given need

See also

وكل (the trustee who suffices)