نثر

Core meaning

To scatter: to spread out into separate elements what formed, or could form, a whole; the gesture takes its value from the context.

Uses

1. مَنثُور → "scattered" : participle: what is spread out into separate elements, dust or pearls.

   • «فَجَعَلْنَٰهُ هَبَآءًۭ مَّنثُورًا» — "We reduced it to scattered dust" (25:23)
   • «لُؤْلُؤًۭا مَّنثُورًۭا» — "scattered pearls" (76:19)

2. ٱنتَثَرَتْ → "scatter" : reflexive form: the heavenly bodies disperse of themselves.

   • «وَإِذَا ٱلْكَوَاكِبُ ٱنتَثَرَتْ» — "when the heavenly bodies scatter" (82:2)

Evidence from the text

The same gesture takes its value from the context. In 25:23, the work of the disowners becomes scattered dust: the dispersion undoes it. In 76:19, the children who circulate among the chosen seem scattered pearls: each keeps its lustre. In 82:2, the heavenly bodies disperse, in the sequence of the sky that is rent and the graves that are upheaved.