مرد

Core meaning

Two uses that the text does not link: to harden in refusal to the point of rebellion; to make a surface smooth and polished.

Uses

1. مَرِيد, مَارِد → "rebellious" : the constant quality of the Diverter.

   • «وَإِن يَدْعُونَ إِلَّا شَيْطَٰنًۭا مَّرِيدًۭا» — "and they invoke only a rebellious Diverter" (4:117)
   • «وَحِفْظًۭا مِّن كُلِّ شَيْطَٰنٍۢ مَّارِدٍۢ» — "and preserved it from every rebellious Diverter" (37:7)

2. مَرَدُوا۟ → "hardened" : men hardened in a conduct.

   • «مَرَدُوا۟ عَلَى ٱلنِّفَاقِ» — "hardened in hypocrisy" (9:101)

3. مُمَرَّد → "polished" : a smooth surface, without roughness.

   • «إِنَّهُۥ صَرْحٌۭ مُّمَرَّدٌۭ مِّن قَوَارِيرَ» — "It is a polished belvedere, made of crystal" (27:44)

Evidence from the text

The rebel is always the Diverter: "a rebellious Diverter, whom God has cursed" (4:117); "every rebellious Diverter" followed by the one who argues about God without knowledge (22:3); "every rebellious Diverter" from whom the sky is preserved (37:7). The verb says the same hardness in men: dwellers of the Capital "hardened in hypocrisy", whom the Messenger does not know (9:101).

27:44 gives the other use: the belvedere is "polished, made of crystal", so smooth that the queen takes it for deep water. The text does not link the two uses; the entry keeps them apart.

See also

شطن (the Diverter)