زبد

Core meaning

Froth: what rises to the surface of floodwater or of molten metal, is seen first, then goes off leaving no profit.

Uses

1. زَبَد → "froth" : the light matter the torrent carries and the fire brings up; the same word serves both halves of the example.

   • «فَٱحْتَمَلَ ٱلسَّيْلُ زَبَدًۭا رَّابِيًۭا» — "and the torrent carried a swollen froth" (13:17)
   • «زَبَدٌۭ مِّثْلُهُۥ» — "there is likewise a froth" (13:17)
   • «فَأَمَّا ٱلزَّبَدُ فَيَذْهَبُ جُفَآءًۭ» — "the froth goes off as scum" (13:17)

Evidence from the text

All three uses stand in one verse, which sets two parallel examples. The water sent down from the sky makes the valleys flow, and the torrent carries "a swollen froth"; what is heated in the fire, "seeking an ornament or a use", likewise produces "a froth" (13:17). Two different processes bring the same thing to the surface.

The end of the verse gives the froth's fate and sets it against what remains: it "goes off as scum", "while what is useful to men remains on the earth" (13:17). The text makes it the image of falsehood against truth: what is seen first is not what remains.

See also

ربو (to swell: the froth is called رَابِي, swollen) · حلى (the ornament sought by heating the metal)