امر

Core meaning

The command: the word that commands, and the thing it sets in motion, the matter. Hence the agency that urges without respite, the matter beyond measure, and the consultation in which each proposes and receives what is to be done.

Uses

1. أَمَرَ, يَأْمُرُ, أُمِرْتُ → "to command", "I have been commanded" : to give a command, or to receive one.

   • «أَمَرَ أَلَّا تَعْبُدُوٓا۟ إِلَّآ إِيَّاهُ» — "He has commanded that you obey none but Him" (12:40)
   • «وَأُمِرْتُ أَنْ أَكُونَ مِنَ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ» — "And I have been commanded to be among the believers" (10:104)

2. أَمْر (the command) → "the command", "the Order" : the command of God, which holds things in place or comes upon a people.

   • «أَلَا لَهُ ٱلْخَلْقُ وَٱلْأَمْرُ» — "Is it not to Him that creation and the Order belong?" (7:54)
   • «إِنَّهُۥ قَدْ جَآءَ أَمْرُ رَبِّكَ» — "the command of your Guardian has already come" (11:76)
   • «وَأُو۟لِى ٱلْأَمْرِ مِنكُمْ» — "and to those among you who hold command" (4:59)

3. أَمْر (the thing in hand), ٱلْأُمُور → "the matter", "matters" : what is at stake and must be decided: the fate of a person, a common decision.

   • «وَأَمْرُهُۥٓ إِلَى ٱللَّهِ» — "and his matter rests with God" (2:275)
   • «إِنَّ ٱلْأَمْرَ كُلَّهُۥ لِلَّهِ» — "The matter, entirely, indeed belongs to God" (3:154)
   • «وَلِلَّهِ عَٰقِبَةُ ٱلْأُمُورِ» — "And to God belongs the outcome of all matters" (22:41)

4. أَمَّارَة → "to incite" : the intensive: to command insistently.

   • «إِنَّ ٱلنَّفْسَ لَأَمَّارَةٌۢ بِٱلسُّوٓءِ» — "the Self surely incites to evil" (12:53)

5. إِمْرًا → "a very grave thing" : the matter beyond measure.

   • «لَقَدْ جِئْتَ شَيْـًٔا إِمْرًۭا» — "You have come to a very grave thing!" (18:71)

6. ٱئْتَمَرَ → "to consult together", "to conspire" : the exchange of directives within a group, for good or against someone.

   • «وَأْتَمِرُوا۟ بَيْنَكُم بِمَعْرُوفٍۢ» — "and consult together according to what is recognized" (65:6)
   • «إِنَّ ٱلْمَلَأَ يَأْتَمِرُونَ بِكَ لِيَقْتُلُوكَ» — "the court is conspiring against you to kill you" (28:20)

Evidence from the text

The command and the matter are the same thing seen from two sides: the word that commands, and what it sets in motion. The text moves from one to the other without changing the word. In 3:154, the waverers ask whether they have any part in "the matter", and the answer takes up the word: "The matter, entirely, indeed belongs to God". In 65:5, the provision just given is called "God's command, which He has sent down to you".

The derived forms remain within this field. أَمَّارَة is the command repeated insistently (12:53); إِمْرًا, the matter that exceeds measure (18:71); ٱئْتَمَرَ, the command exchanged among several, honestly in 65:6, to kill in 28:20. The noun also names the common decision: "confer with them on the matter" (3:159).

Distinctions

• حكم — judgment: deciding between two parties, whereas the command fixes what is to be done
• شور — consultation: asking for advice, whereas ٱئْتَمَرَ exchanges directives
• سلط — authority, a hold received over others; أُو۟لِى ٱلْأَمْر hold command (4:59, 4:83)

See also

نهى (to forbid)