خرج

Core meaning

To pass from inside to outside: to go out of a place or a state, to bring out of it, or to drive out of it.

Uses

1. خَرَجَ, يَخْرُجُ, خَٰرِج → "to come out" : to leave what contained.

   • «فَيَخْرُجُ مِنْهُ ٱلْمَآءُ» — "and water comes out of them" (2:74)
   • «وَمَا هُم بِخَٰرِجِينَ مِنَ ٱلنَّارِ» — "and they will never come out of the Fire" (2:167)

2. أَخْرَجَ, يُخْرِجُ → "to bring out", "to bring forth" : to draw outside: the plant out of the earth, man out of darkness; a knowledge, to bring it forth into the open.

   • «فَأَخْرَجْنَا بِهِۦ نَبَاتَ كُلِّ شَىْءٍۢ» — "and We brought forth by it the vegetation of every kind" (6:99)
   • «يُخْرِجُهُم مِّنَ ٱلظُّلُمَٰتِ إِلَى ٱلنُّورِ» — "He brings them out of the darknesses toward the light" (2:257)
   • «فَتُخْرِجُوهُ لَنَآ» — "that you could bring forth for us" (6:148)

3. أَخْرَجَ (from the dwelling, from the city), مُخْرَج, إِخْرَاج → "to expel", "expulsion" : to make someone go out against his will, to tear him from where he lives.

   • «وَلَا تُخْرِجُونَ أَنفُسَكُم مِّن دِيَٰرِكُمْ» — "and shall not expel yourselves from your abodes" (2:84)
   • «وَمَا هُم مِّنْهَا بِمُخْرَجِينَ» — "and they will never be expelled from it" (15:48)
   • «لِيُخْرِجُوكَ مِنْهَا» — "to expel you from it" (17:76)

4. ٱلْخُرُوج → "the coming forth", "to go out" : the going out from the graves, on the Day; and going out on campaign.

   • «ذَٰلِكَ يَوْمُ ٱلْخُرُوجِ» — "this is the Day of the coming forth" (50:42)
   • «كَذَٰلِكَ ٱلْخُرُوجُ» — "Such will be the coming forth" (50:11)
   • «وَلَوْ أَرَادُوا۟ ٱلْخُرُوجَ» — "And had they wanted to go out" (9:46)

5. خَرْج, خَرَاج → "tribute" : what one takes out of one's goods for another.

   • «أَمْ تَسْـَٔلُهُمْ خَرْجًۭا» — "Or do you ask them for a tribute?" (23:72)
   • «فَخَرَاجُ رَبِّكَ خَيْرٌۭ» — "The tribute of your Guardian is better" (23:72)

Evidence from the text

The verb always presupposes an inside: the stone from which water comes out (2:74), the earth from which God brings forth vegetation (6:99), the darknesses from which He brings out toward the light (2:257, 57:9), the Fire from which one does not come out (2:167, 5:37). It never names a mere displacement: one comes out of something.

When the one made to go out does not want it, the same verb becomes expulsion: out of the dwellings (2:84, 2:85), out of the city: "your city which expelled you" (47:13), as the messenger and the believers are driven out "because you believe in God, your Guardian" (60:1). The noun ٱلْخُرُوج names going out on campaign, which the laggards did not want (9:46, 9:83), and finally the coming forth of the Day, and the text shows it in the plant that comes out of a dead land: "Such will be the coming forth" (50:11).

Distinctions

• نبت — to grow: the growth of the plant, whereas خرج says its coming out: "a tree that comes out of Mount Sinai, which grows with oil" (23:20)

See also

دخل (to enter, the reverse movement)