هبط

Core meaning

To descend from a high place to a lower one: to leave a height, an abode or a rank.

Uses

1. ٱهْبِطُوا۟, ٱهْبِطْ, ٱهْبِطَا → "to descend" : the command to leave one place for another, lower one.

   • «ٱهْبِطُوا۟ مِنْهَا جَمِيعًۭا» — "Descend from it, all together" (2:38)
   • «فَٱهْبِطْ مِنْهَا» — "Then descend from here" (7:13)
   • «يَٰنُوحُ ٱهْبِطْ بِسَلَٰمٍۢ مِّنَّا» — "O Nuh, descend with a peace from Us" (11:48)

2. يَهْبِطُ → "to descend" : the movement of stones that leave their height.

   • «لَمَا يَهْبِطُ مِنْ خَشْيَةِ ٱللَّهِ» — "those which descend, out of dread of God" (2:74)
   • Written exception: "to descend" shared with نزل: no other noble verb fits.

Evidence from the text

Seven of the eight uses are imperatives. Adam and his own descend from the Garden (2:36, 2:38, 7:24, 20:123); Iblis descends from it because "it is not for you to act proudly here" (7:13); the sons of Israel, who demand herbs, descend to Egypt (2:61). In each case, one leaves a height for a lower condition.

The movement is not always a sanction: Nuh descends from the ark "with a peace from Us, and blessings" (11:48). What remains constant is the passage from a high place to a lower one. The stones of 2:74 make the same movement, out of dread of God.

Distinctions

• نزل — "to send down": what God sends from above; هبط names the movement of one who himself leaves a height.
• خرر — to fall: the fall or the prostration, without passing from one place to another.