رغب

Core meaning

To carry one's desire in a direction: toward a thing, or away from it, according to the preposition.

Uses

1. رَغِبَ إِلَىٰ, رَغَب → "to turn in yearning", "yearning" : desire rising toward God.

   • «إِنَّآ إِلَى ٱللَّهِ رَٰغِبُونَ» — "it is toward God that we turn in yearning" (9:59)
   • «وَيَدْعُونَنَا رَغَبًۭا وَرَهَبًۭا» — "call upon Us in yearning and in reverence" (21:90)

2. رَغِبَ أَن → "to yearn" : to yearn to do a thing.

   • «وَتَرْغَبُونَ أَن تَنكِحُوهُنَّ» — "while yearning to marry them" (4:127)

3. رَغِبَ عَنْ → "to fall away from" : desire withdrawing from a thing.

   • «وَمَن يَرْغَبُ عَن مِّلَّةِ إِبْرَٰهِـۧمَ» — "And who, then, falls away from the doctrine of Ibrahim" (2:130)
   • «أَرَاغِبٌ أَنتَ عَنْ ءَالِهَتِى» — "Are you falling away from my deities, O Ibrahim" (19:46)

4. رَغِبَ بِنَفْسِهِۦ عَنْ → "to prefer one's own Self to" : to desire for oneself rather than for another.

   • «وَلَا يَرْغَبُوا۟ بِأَنفُسِهِمْ عَن نَّفْسِهِۦ» — "nor to prefer their own Selves to his" (9:120)

Evidence from the text

The preposition gives the direction. With إِلَىٰ, desire rises toward God: "to our Guardian that we turn in yearning" (68:32), and 94:8 makes it a command: to your Guardian turn your yearning. With عَنْ, it withdraws: to fall away from the doctrine of Ibrahim (2:130), from the father's deities (19:46); and in 9:120, to desire for oneself rather than for the messenger is to prefer one's own Self to his.

In 21:90, yearning is paired with reverence: the two movements of one who calls, toward what he hopes for and before what he dreads.

Distinctions

• رهب — reverence, paired with yearning in 21:90
• شهو — the desire for enjoyment, whereas رغب names the orientation of the will