جثو

Core meaning

To be on one's knees under constraint: the posture of those who are brought before judgment and left there.

Uses

1. جِثِيًّا → "on their knees" : those who are brought around Jahannam, then those who are left in it.

   • «وَّنَذَرُ ٱلظَّٰلِمِينَ فِيهَا جِثِيًّۭا» — "and forsake the wrongdoers in it, on their knees" (19:72)

2. جَاثِيَة → "on its knees" : every community, before it is called to its record.

   • «وَتَرَىٰ كُلَّ أُمَّةٍۢ جَاثِيَةًۭ» — "And you will see every community on its knees" (45:28)

Evidence from the text

All three uses are in a scene of judgment, never in a scene of worship. In 19:68, those who disown are brought "around Jahannam"; in 19:72, those who guarded themselves are saved and the wrongdoers remain; in 45:28, every community is then "called to its record" (45:28).

The posture comes before the reckoning and is not chosen. It is thus distinct from the kneeling of the Contact, a willed gesture, which the text expresses by another root.

Distinctions

• ركع — to kneel: the willed gesture of the Contact; جثو is the posture endured before judgment

See also

جهنم (Jahannam)