نفخ

Core meaning

To blow, to project a breath into a thing: into the Horn that opens the Day, into the human to give him life, into the fire to stoke it.

Uses

1. نُفِخَ فِى → "be blown" : the blowing into the Horn, in the passive: the Day opens.

   • «فَإِذَا نُفِخَ فِى ٱلصُّورِ نَفْخَةٌۭ وَٰحِدَةٌۭ» — "When the Horn is blown with a single blast" (69:13)
   • «ثُمَّ نُفِخَ فِيهِ أُخْرَىٰ» — "then it will be blown a second time" (39:68)

2. نَفَخْتُ فِيهِ → "breathe into" : God places in the human a breath of His Influx.

   • «وَنَفَخْتُ فِيهِ مِن رُّوحِى» — "breathed into him of My Influx" (15:29)

3. ٱنفُخُوا → "blow" : the blowing on the fire of the forge.

   • «قَالَ ٱنفُخُوا۟» — "Blow!" (18:96)

Evidence from the text

The gesture is one: a breath carried into a thing. Into the Horn, it opens the Day: a first time every being is struck down, then "it will be blown a second time, and at once they will stand up, looking on" (39:68); a single blast suffices (69:13).

Into the human fashioned from clay, the breath of the Influx gives life (15:29, 32:9, 38:72); Maryam receives it too (21:91, 66:12), and Issa blows into the shape of a bird, which becomes a bird by God's permission (3:49, 5:110). Dhul-Qarnayn has the iron blown upon until it becomes fire (18:96).

Distinctions

• نفث — the short, repeated breath of the lips; نفخ projects a breath that fills.

See also

صور (the Horn) · روح (the Influx)