درج

Core meaning

To advance by degrees: graded progression, step after step, upward, or toward loss without seeing it come.

Uses

1. دَرَجَة, دَرَجَات → "degree(s)" : a step on a ladder: God elevates in degrees, and each receives his own according to his deeds.

   • «نَرْفَعُ دَرَجَٰتٍۢ مَّن نَّشَآءُ» — "We elevate in degrees whom We will" (6:83)
   • «لَّهُمْ دَرَجَٰتٌ عِندَ رَبِّهِمْ» — "They have degrees with their Guardian" (8:4)

2. ٱسْتَدْرَجَ → "to lead gradually" : to lead step by step, without the one led noticing it.

   • «سَنَسْتَدْرِجُهُم مِّنْ حَيْثُ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ» — "We will gradually lead them, from where they do not know" (68:44)

Evidence from the text

The degree is always a step on a ladder: God elevates "some of you above others in degrees" (6:165, 43:32), those who strive pass ahead of those who remain seated (4:95-96), the last life is "greater in degrees" (17:21), and God Himself elevates in degrees (40:15). Each has his own "according to what they did" (6:132, 46:19).

The form ٱسْتَدْرَجَ makes the same path downward: those who deny are led "from where they do not know", and God grants them "a delay" (7:182, 68:44). Loss too comes by degrees, but the steps are not seen.

Distinctions

• رفع — to elevate: the upward movement; the degree is the step it leads to

See also

فضل (to favor)