حرج

Core meaning

The narrowness that tightens: the discomfort that weighs on the chest or on conduct. The text names it mostly to say that it imposes none.

Uses

1. حَرَج → "discomfort" : almost always in a negation: no discomfort for the Informant, for the believers, for the weak, in the Law.

   • «مَّا كَانَ عَلَى ٱلنَّبِىِّ مِنْ حَرَجٍۢ فِيمَا فَرَضَ ٱللَّهُ لَهُۥ» — "There is no discomfort for the Informant in what God has fixed for him" (33:38)
   • «لَّيْسَ عَلَى ٱلْأَعْمَىٰ حَرَجٌۭ وَلَا عَلَى ٱلْأَعْرَجِ حَرَجٌۭ وَلَا عَلَى ٱلْمَرِيضِ حَرَجٌۭ» — "There is no discomfort for the blind, nor discomfort for the lame, nor discomfort for the sick" (24:61)
   • «فَلَا يَكُن فِى صَدْرِكَ حَرَجٌۭ مِّنْهُ» — "let there be no discomfort in your chest because of it" (7:2)

2. حَرَجًا (adjective) → "constricted" : the chest of the one led astray, tightened like that of one climbing into the sky.

   • «يَجْعَلْ صَدْرَهُۥ ضَيِّقًا حَرَجًۭا» — "He makes his chest narrow and constricted" (6:125)

Evidence from the text

The word is first a sensation: in 6:125, the chest of the one God leads astray becomes narrow and constricted, "as if he were ascending into the sky" (6:125). It is the same discomfort the text removes from the messenger's chest before the Scripture (7:2), and from the believers' Self before what he has decided (4:65).

Elsewhere, the word appears only negated: God does not want to impose any discomfort on you (5:6), He has placed none in the Law (22:78); there is none for the weak and the sick (9:91), for the blind, the lame and the sick (24:61, 48:17), for the Informant in what God has fixed for him (33:38, 33:50), nor for the believers concerning the wives of their adopted sons (33:37). In 24:61, the text then moves to another word, جُنَاح, for what concerns everyone: discomfort is not blame.

Distinctions

• جنح — blame: what can be held against someone, whereas حَرَج is the narrowness he feels
• ضيق — the narrow: the tightening of space or means, whereas حَرَج is the discomfort that tightens within

See also

صدر (the chest)