بغى

Core meaning

To reach toward what one wants: to seek. The same impulse, when it goes beyond the limit of its right, becomes iniquity.

Uses

1. ٱبْتَغَىٰ, يَبْتَغُونَ, ٱبْتِغَآءَ → "to seek", "seeking" : the quest: a favor, God's good pleasure, provision, or the goods of this world.

   • «فَٱبْتَغُوا۟ عِندَ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرِّزْقَ» — "so seek provision with God" (29:17)
   • «يَبْتَغُونَ فَضْلًۭا مِّنَ ٱللَّهِ وَرِضْوَٰنًۭا» — "seeking favor from God and His pleasure" (48:29)
   • «تَبْتَغُونَ عَرَضَ ٱلْحَيَوٰةِ ٱلدُّنْيَا» — "seeking the fleeting goods of the present life" (4:94)

2. بَغَىٰ, يَبْغِى + object → "to seek" : the simple form also means to seek, even to seek the crookedness of a way.

   • «ذَٰلِكَ مَا كُنَّا نَبْغِ» — "That is what we were seeking" (18:64)
   • «وَيَبْغُونَهَا عِوَجًۭا» — "seeking to make it crooked" (7:45)
   • «لَا يَبْغُونَ عَنْهَا حِوَلًۭا» — "not seeking to be shifted from it" (18:108)

3. بَغْى, بَغَىٰ عَلَىٰ, يَبْغِيَانِ → "iniquity", "to commit iniquity", "to encroach" : the quest that goes beyond its right and falls upon others.

   • «يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّاسُ إِنَّمَا بَغْيُكُمْ عَلَىٰٓ أَنفُسِكُم» — "O mankind! Your iniquity falls back only upon yourselves" (10:23)
   • «بَغْيًۢا بَيْنَهُمْ» — "out of iniquity among themselves" (3:19)
   • «بَيْنَهُمَا بَرْزَخٌۭ لَّا يَبْغِيَانِ» — "between them a barrier; they do not encroach on each other" (55:20)

4. بَاغٍ → "rebellious" : one who seeks the prohibited beyond need.

   • «فَمَنِ ٱضْطُرَّ غَيْرَ بَاغٍۢ وَلَا عَادٍۢ» — "But whoever is compelled to it, without being rebellious or crossing the limits" (2:173)

5. بَغِيًّا, ٱلْبِغَآء → "unchaste", "prostitution" : desire that goes beyond the limit, in the domain of bodies.

   • «وَلَمْ أَكُ بَغِيًّۭا» — "and I have not been unchaste" (19:20)
   • «وَلَا تُكْرِهُوا۟ فَتَيَٰتِكُمْ عَلَى ٱلْبِغَآءِ» — "And do not compel your young women to prostitution" (24:33)

6. يَنۢبَغِى → "to befit", "to be for" : what a thing may reach toward according to what it is.

   • «وَمَا يَنۢبَغِى لِلرَّحْمَٰنِ أَن يَتَّخِذَ وَلَدًا» — "It does not befit the All-Benevolent to take a child" (19:92)
   • «لَا ٱلشَّمْسُ يَنۢبَغِى لَهَآ أَن تُدْرِكَ ٱلْقَمَرَ» — "It does not befit the sun to overtake the moon" (36:40)

Evidence from the text

The root states a single impulse, reaching toward what one wants, and the text shows its two outcomes. Most uses are a permitted or praised quest: seeking a favor from God (2:198, 17:66, 62:10), His good pleasure (2:207, 4:114), provision with Him (29:17); or, lower down, the fleeting goods of this world (4:94, 24:33). The noun says the same quest: "And do not slacken in seeking that people" (4:104). The simple verb means to seek: "That is what we were seeking" (18:64); or to seek harm: those who bar from the way of God, "seeking to make it crooked" (7:45); and the people of the Firdaws abide there "not seeking to be shifted from it" (18:108).

When the quest goes beyond right, it becomes iniquity: "without right" goes with it (7:33, 10:23, 42:42), and it falls back on its author (10:23). Those who had received knowledge diverged "out of iniquity among themselves" (2:213, 3:19, 42:14, 45:17): it was not ignorance that divided them. The same overstepping names the rebellious one who eats what is prohibited beyond need (2:173, 6:145, 16:115), and the unchaste (19:20, 19:28). Between the two seas, the barrier prevents the same excess: "they do not encroach on each other" (55:20).

يَنۢبَغِى turns the impulse into measure: what a thing may reach toward according to what it is. It does not befit the All-Benevolent to take a child (19:92); it does not befit the sun to overtake the moon (36:40), nor the messenger the art of seduction (36:69).

Distinctions

• عدو — to cross the limit (عَادٍ, ٱعْتَدَىٰ): to go past a boundary, whereas بغى states the quest that goes beyond its right
• ظلم — wrongdoing: to wrong, to harm, whereas iniquity is the quest that encroaches on others

See also

فضل (favor) · رضو (good pleasure)