امل

Core meaning

Hope: the mind reaching toward what it does not yet have. The word passes no judgment: hope is worth what its object is worth.

Uses

1. ٱلْأَمَل → "hope" : the expectation that occupies the mind and turns it from what matters.

   • «ذَرْهُمْ يَأْكُلُوا۟ وَيَتَمَتَّعُوا۟ وَيُلْهِهِمُ ٱلْأَمَلُ» — "Let them be: let them eat, let them enjoy themselves, and let hope distract them" (15:3)

2. أَمَلًا → "in hope" : what one may rightly expect of a thing.

   • «وَٱلْبَٰقِيَٰتُ ٱلصَّٰلِحَٰتُ خَيْرٌ عِندَ رَبِّكَ ثَوَابًۭا وَخَيْرٌ أَمَلًۭا» — "and the enduring, sound deeds are, with your Guardian, better in requital and better in hope" (18:46)

Evidence from the text

The two occurrences set two objects of the same movement against each other. In 15:3, hope goes with the eating and enjoyment of those who deny, and it distracts them; what follows is brief: "they will soon know". In 18:46, the verse opens on what passes, "Goods and sons are the adornment of the present life", then places what remains, the enduring, sound deeds, above it, "better in hope". Hope deceives when it aims at what passes, and it is well founded when it aims at what remains.

Distinctions

• رجو — expectation of a fulfilment desired but not guaranteed
• طمع — desire for a hoped-for good, which the text joins to fear

See also

لهو (distraction)