غرر

Core meaning

To make what is not safe appear safe: to delude by an appearance that attracts and reassures, until it turns one away from what is coming.

Uses

1. غَرَّ, غَرَّتْهُمُ, تَغُرَّنَّكُمُ → "to delude" : what deludes is almost always named: the present life, false hopes, what one invents.

   • «وَغَرَّتْهُمُ ٱلْحَيَوٰةُ ٱلدُّنْيَا» — "and whom the present life has deluded" (6:70)
   • «فَلَا تَغُرَّنَّكُمُ ٱلْحَيَوٰةُ ٱلدُّنْيَا» — "So do not let the present life delude you" (35:5)
   • «مَا غَرَّكَ بِرَبِّكَ ٱلْكَرِيمِ» — "What has deluded you concerning your Guardian, the Generous" (82:6)

2. ٱلْغُرُور, غُرُورًا → "delusion" : the promise that attracts and does not come; the enjoyment that holds one back.

   • «وَمَا يَعِدُهُمُ ٱلشَّيْطَٰنُ إِلَّا غُرُورًا» — "and the Diverter promises them only delusion" (4:120)
   • «وَمَا ٱلْحَيَوٰةُ ٱلدُّنْيَآ إِلَّا مَتَٰعُ ٱلْغُرُورِ» — "And the present life is nothing but a deluding enjoyment" (3:185)
   • «إِنِ ٱلْكَٰفِرُونَ إِلَّا فِى غُرُورٍ» — "Those who disown are only in delusion" (67:20)

3. ٱلْغَرُور → "the great deluder" : the intensive form: the one who does nothing but delude.

   • «وَلَا يَغُرَّنَّكُم بِٱللَّهِ ٱلْغَرُورُ» — "and do not let the great deluder delude you about God" (31:33)

Evidence from the text

Delusion stands between what is seen and what is coming. Its most frequent subject is the present life (3:185, 6:70, 6:130, 7:51, 31:33, 35:5, 45:35, 57:20); elsewhere it is the movements of those who disown through the lands (3:196, 40:4), false hopes, "until the command of God came" (57:14), or what one invents in one's Law, telling oneself that the Fire will touch "only for numbered days" (3:24).

It makes what is not safe appear safe. After swearing to be a sincere advisor, the Diverter brings the couple down "by delusion" (7:22); in 82:6, the Guardian's generosity is taken for a guarantee, and what follows says what it hid: "Rather, you deny the Due" (82:9). To promise "only delusion" is to promise what will not come (4:120, 17:64, 33:12, 35:40).

Distinctions

• خدع — to deceive: to act against someone while hiding one's design; غرر names the appearance that attracts and reassures
• سحر — illusion, which makes one see something other than what is; delusion seduces without changing what one sees

See also

منى (false hopes)