غلب

Core meaning

To get the better of the other in a confrontation: to overcome, or to be overcome.

Uses

1. غَلَبَ, يَغْلِبُ → "to overcome", "to win out" : to have the upper hand over an adversary, or in a disputed matter.

   • «كَم مِّن فِئَةٍۢ قَلِيلَةٍ غَلَبَتْ فِئَةًۭ كَثِيرَةًۢ بِإِذْنِ ٱللَّهِ» — "How many a small battalion has overcome a large battalion, with God's permission" (2:249)
   • «إِن يَكُن مِّنكُمْ عِشْرُونَ صَٰبِرُونَ يَغْلِبُوا۟ مِا۟ئَتَيْنِ» — "If there are, among you, twenty patient men, they will overcome two hundred" (8:65)
   • «ٱلَّذِينَ غَلَبُوا۟ عَلَىٰٓ أَمْرِهِمْ» — "Those who won out in the matter" (18:21)

2. سَتُغْلَبُونَ, غُلِبُوا۟, مَغْلُوب → "to be defeated", "to be overcome" : to undergo the outcome of the confrontation.

   • «سَتُغْلَبُونَ وَتُحْشَرُونَ إِلَىٰ جَهَنَّمَ» — "You will be defeated, and gathered toward Jahannam" (3:12)
   • «أَنِّى مَغْلُوبٌۭ فَٱنتَصِرْ» — "I am overcome, so grant help" (54:10)

3. غَالِب, ٱلْغَٰلِبُون → "victorious", "the victors" : the one who has the upper hand; with the negation, none can overcome.

   • «إِن يَنصُرْكُمُ ٱللَّهُ فَلَا غَالِبَ لَكُمْ» — "If God helps you, none can overcome you" (3:160)
   • «فَإِنَّ حِزْبَ ٱللَّهِ هُمُ ٱلْغَٰلِبُونَ» — "the party of God, those are the victors" (5:56)
   • «وَٱللَّهُ غَالِبٌ عَلَىٰٓ أَمْرِهِۦ» — "God is victorious in His purpose" (12:21)

4. غُلْبًا → "dense" : gardens where vegetation prevails and grows thick.

   • «وَحَدَآئِقَ غُلْبًۭا» — "and dense enclosed gardens" (80:30)

Evidence from the text

Victory does not depend on number: "a small battalion" against "a large battalion" (2:249), twenty against two hundred, a hundred against a thousand (8:65-66). It depends on help: "If God helps you, none can overcome you" (3:160), and the two words go together: "and We helped them, and they were the victors" (37:116; also 37:172-173).

The word is also the stake of a wager: the workers of illusion ask for a reward "if we are the victors" (7:113, 26:41), then "They were defeated, right there" (7:119). In 30:2-4, the same verb carries the two moments of a story: "The Romans were victorious", then, "after their victory, they will be defeated, within a few years".

Distinctions

• نصر — help, which gives victory; غلب names victory itself
• قهر — to dominate and subdue; غلب names the outcome of a confrontation