سهو

Core meaning

To be absent-minded: to perform a thing, or to live, without being present in it.

Uses

1. سَاهُون → "absent-minded" : the inner absence beneath an act or a life that goes on; with عَن, the distance from a thing.

   • «ٱلَّذِينَ هُمْ فِى غَمْرَةٍۢ سَاهُونَ» — "those who are plunged in a gulf, absent-minded" (51:11)
   • «ٱلَّذِينَ هُمْ عَن صَلَاتِهِمْ سَاهُونَ» — "yet are absent-minded about their Contact" (107:5)

Evidence from the text

In 107:5, the absent-minded are first "those who make contact": the act is performed, the presence is lacking, and the preposition عَن states the distance. In 51:11, the absence is total, amid the blindness in which the guessers live. Both uses describe an emptiness beneath a gesture that goes on.

Distinctions

• لهو — to be diverted: to let oneself be occupied by something else, whereas سهو states the absence itself
• غفل — heedlessness: not paying attention to what is coming