ذكر

Core meaning

To bring back to mind what already has its place there: to remember, to remind others, to mention; the Reminder is the text that performs this gesture. Under the same root, ذَكَر names the male, always paired with the female.

Uses

1. ذَكَرَ, يَذْكُرُ, ٱذْكُرُوا۟ → "to remember" : to keep present in mind, by oneself or at another's call; God, a blessing, a person.

   • «فَٱذْكُرُونِىٓ أَذْكُرْكُمْ» — "Remember Me, then, I will remember you" (2:152)
   • «ٱذْكُرُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ ذِكْرًۭا كَثِيرًۭا» — "Remember God much" (33:41)
   • «فَمَن شَآءَ ذَكَرَهُۥ» — "so whoever wants may remember it" (74:55)

2. ذُكِرَ ٱللَّهُ, يَذْكُرُوا۟ ٱسْمَ ٱللَّهِ → "to remember", "to be remembered" : to bring God or His name back to speech and mind.

   • «إِذَا ذُكِرَ ٱللَّهُ وَجِلَتْ قُلُوبُهُمْ» — "whose cores tremble when God is remembered" (8:2)
   • «وَيَذْكُرُوا۟ ٱسْمَ ٱللَّهِ» — "and to remember the name of God" (22:28)

3. تَذَكَّرَ, ٱدَّكَرَ, مُدَّكِر → "to remember" : the return upon oneself expected of the listener, as a formula after the signs and the accounts.

   • «أَفَلَا تَذَكَّرُونَ» — "Will you not then remember?" (10:3)
   • «فَهَلْ مِن مُّدَّكِرٍۢ» — "is there then anyone to remember?" (54:15)

4. ذَكَّرَ, مُذَكِّر → "to remind" : to make remember: the messenger's task.

   • «فَذَكِّرْ إِنَّمَآ أَنتَ مُذَكِّرٌۭ» — "So remind; you are only one who reminds" (88:21)

5. ٱذْكُرْ فِى ٱلْكِتَٰبِ, مَذْكُور → "to mention" : to name someone so as to make him present to memory.

   • «وَٱذْكُرْ فِى ٱلْكِتَٰبِ مَرْيَمَ» — "And mention, in the Scripture, Maryam" (19:16)
   • «لَمْ يَكُن شَيْـًۭٔا مَّذْكُورًا» — "when he was not a thing worth mentioning" (76:1)

6. ٱلذِّكْر → "the Reminder" : the text sent down, which makes one remember.

   • «إِنَّا نَحْنُ نَزَّلْنَا ٱلذِّكْرَ» — "It is We who have sent down the Reminder" (15:9)
   • «وَإِنَّهُۥ لَذِكْرٌۭ لَّكَ وَلِقَوْمِكَ» — "And it is surely a Reminder for you and for your people" (43:44)

7. ذِكْر, ذِكْرَىٰ, تَذْكِرَة → "remembrance", "reminder" : the act of remembering, or what makes one remember.

   • «أَلَا بِذِكْرِ ٱللَّهِ تَطْمَئِنُّ ٱلْقُلُوبُ» — "Is it not by the remembrance of God that the cores are calmed?" (13:28)
   • «إِنَّ هَٰذِهِۦ تَذْكِرَةٌۭ» — "This is a reminder" (73:19)

8. ذَكَر, ذُكُور, ذُكْرَان → "male", "sons" : the male sex, always named with the female; of children, "sons" (42:49-50).

   • «وَلَيْسَ ٱلذَّكَرُ كَٱلْأُنثَىٰ» — "and the male is not like the female" (3:36)
   • «لِلذَّكَرِ مِثْلُ حَظِّ ٱلْأُنثَيَيْنِ» — "to the male, the equivalent of the share of two females" (4:11)

Evidence from the text

Remembrance bears on what is already there. The refrain of sourate 54 follows each account of a destroyed people: "is there then anyone to remember?" (54:15); God has "made the Recitation easy for remembrance" (54:17). What is expected of the listener is not to learn but to remember: the question "Will you not then remember?" returns after the signs of creation (10:3, 16:17, 45:23).

The same gesture passes from one to the other. God and man remember each other (2:152); the messenger reminds, and that is his whole task (88:21), yet the reminder may find no echo: "when they are reminded, they do not remember" (37:13); to mention someone in the Scripture is to make him present to memory (19:16). The text calls itself the Reminder (15:9), "a reminder for all beings" (81:28). The word stays the same whatever its object: God, "much" (33:41), His name over the beasts of sacrifice (22:28), the blessing received (43:13), or the lost son: "you will not cease to remember Youssof" (12:85). Its opposite is forgetting: the Diverter "made him forget to mention this to his master" (12:42).

ذَكَر, the male, never crosses this sense: it is always named with the female, أُنثَى (3:36, 4:11, 53:21), and the two branches remain distinct throughout the text.

Distinctions

• نسى — forgetting: what leaves the mind, the opposite of remembrance
• علم — knowledge: what one learns, whereas ذكر brings back what one already has
• فكر — to reflect: to examine in order to understand, whereas ذكر brings back what is already there

See also

انث (the female)