حول

Core meaning

To turn around: to surround a point, to come between two terms, to change place, or to return to the same day after a year.

Uses

1. حَوْل → "around" : the space and the beings that surround a point.

   • «فَلَمَّآ أَضَآءَتْ مَا حَوْلَهُۥ» — "when it has lit up what is around him" (2:17)
   • «لِتُنذِرَ أُمَّ ٱلْقُرَىٰ وَمَنْ حَوْلَهَا» — "so that you may warn the metropolis of cities and those around it" (6:92)

2. حَالَ بَيْنَ → "to interpose" : to come between two terms and separate them.

   • «أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَحُولُ بَيْنَ ٱلْمَرْءِ وَقَلْبِهِۦ» — "that God interposes between man and his core" (8:24)
   • «وَحَالَ بَيْنَهُمَا ٱلْمَوْجُ» — "And the wave intervened between them" (11:43)

3. تَحْوِيل, حِيلَة → "shift", "expedient" : to make a thing change place; the detour that gets one out of trouble.

   • «وَلَا تَجِدُ لِسُنَّتِنَا تَحْوِيلًا» — "and you will find no shift in Our norm" (17:77)
   • «لَا يَسْتَطِيعُونَ حِيلَةًۭ» — "who can find no expedient" (4:98)

4. ٱلْحَوْل, حَوْلَيْن → "the anniversary", "two years" : the turn of time: the day that returns, and two full turns.

   • «مَّتَٰعًا إِلَى ٱلْحَوْلِ» — "an enjoyment until the anniversary" (2:240)
   • «يُرْضِعْنَ أَوْلَٰدَهُنَّ حَوْلَيْنِ كَامِلَيْنِ» — "take their children into care for two full years" (2:233)

Evidence from the text

The basic gesture is the turn: what a fire lights up around it (2:17), those around the metropolis (6:92, 42:7) or the Edifice (40:7), the notables around the people of the Capital (9:101, 9:120). Coming between two terms is one form of it: God interposes between man and his core (8:24), the wave between father and son (11:43), and what will come between those who disown and what they desire (34:54).

The turn also happens in time: ٱلْحَوْل is the day that returns, a year after the death (2:240), and two turns make the two years of the child's care (2:233). Changing place is the last use: God's norm knows "no shift" (17:77), the people of the Firdaws do not seek to be shifted from it (18:108), and the expedient, حِيلَة, is the detour the weakest cannot find (4:98).

Distinctions

• سنو — the year one counts, whereas ٱلْحَوْل is the day that returns