جبل

Core meaning

The raised and compact mass: the mountain; by extension, the numerous crowd, a mass of human beings.

Uses

1. جَبَل, ٱلْجِبَال → "the mountain", "the mountains" : the most stable mass of the earth, set as stakes and anchored; it is what the Day sets in motion and reduces to dust.

   • «وَٱلْجِبَالَ أَوْتَادًۭا» — "and the mountains as stakes" (78:7)
   • «وَٱلْجِبَالَ أَرْسَىٰهَا» — "and the mountains, He anchored them" (79:32)
   • «وَتَكُونُ ٱلْجِبَالُ كَٱلْعِهْنِ ٱلْمَنفُوشِ» — "and the mountains will be like carded wool" (101:5)

2. جِبِلّ, ٱلْجِبِلَّة → "the multitude" : the human mass, numerous and compact, named as one block.

   • «وَٱلْجِبِلَّةَ ٱلْأَوَّلِينَ» — "and the multitude of the earlier ones" (26:184)
   • «وَلَقَدْ أَضَلَّ مِنكُمْ جِبِلًّۭا كَثِيرًا» — "Yet he did lead astray a numerous multitude among you" (36:62)

Evidence from the text

The mountain is the measure of what holds: houses are carved in it (7:74, 15:82, 26:149), one takes refuge on it from the water (11:43), it is a peg of the earth (78:7) and anchored (79:32). The text therefore makes it the measure of what exceeds it: the Recitation sent down upon it would make it split (59:21), it collapses when the Guardian manifests Himself (7:143), and on the Day the mountains are set in motion (81:3), crushed to powder (56:5), become a mirage (78:20).

The second use keeps the idea of mass: the multitude is the compact crowd of the generations, created like those who are exhorted (26:184), the one the adversary led astray in great number (36:62).

Distinctions

• طور — the Mount: the named mountain, place of the covenant and of the word addressed to Moussa

See also

وتد (the stakes) · رسو (to anchor)