غوى

Core meaning

To err: to go adrift far from the way, through seduction or through one's own conduct, or to draw another into it. It is the opposite of rectitude.

Uses

1. ٱلْغَىّ, غَيًّا → "errancy" : the way opposed to rectitude, into which one sinks deeper, and what one meets at the end.

   • «قَد تَّبَيَّنَ ٱلرُّشْدُ مِنَ ٱلْغَىِّ» — "rectitude of judgment has become distinct from errancy" (2:256)
   • «وَإِن يَرَوْا۟ سَبِيلَ ٱلْغَىِّ يَتَّخِذُوهُ سَبِيلًۭا» — "if they saw the way of errancy, they would take it as a way" (7:146)
   • «فَسَوْفَ يَلْقَوْنَ غَيًّا» — "so they will meet with errancy" (19:59)

2. ٱلْغَاوِينَ, ٱلْغَاوُۥنَ, غَوِىّ → "the errant", "an errant man" : those who have taken this way: they follow the Diverter and the seductive orators.

   • «إِلَّا مَنِ ٱتَّبَعَكَ مِنَ ٱلْغَاوِينَ» — "except over whoever follows you among the errant" (15:42)
   • «وَٱلشُّعَرَآءُ يَتَّبِعُهُمُ ٱلْغَاوُۥنَ» — "And the seductive orators, it is the errant who follow them" (26:224)
   • «إِنَّكَ لَغَوِىٌّۭ مُّبِينٌۭ» — "You are surely a clearly errant man" (28:18)

3. غَوَىٰ, غَوَيْنَا → "to err" : to leave the way oneself.

   • «وَعَصَىٰٓ ءَادَمُ رَبَّهُۥ فَغَوَىٰ» — "And Adam disobeyed his Guardian, and erred" (20:121)
   • «مَا ضَلَّ صَاحِبُكُمْ وَمَا غَوَىٰ» — "your companion has not strayed, nor has he erred" (53:2)

4. أَغْوَىٰ, يُغْوِى, لَأُغْوِيَنَّهُمْ → "to make err", "to let err" : to draw another off the way; when Iblis addresses God, "let err" (7:16, 15:39).

   • «فَبِمَآ أَغْوَيْتَنِى» — "Since You have let me err" (7:16)
   • «أَغْوَيْنَٰهُمْ كَمَا غَوَيْنَا» — "we made them err just as we ourselves erred" (28:63)
   • «لَأُغْوِيَنَّهُمْ أَجْمَعِينَ» — "I will make them all err" (38:82)

Evidence from the text

The text sets the word against rectitude. In 2:256, rectitude of judgment has become distinct from errancy; in 7:146, the two ways face each other in the same sentence: those who act proudly leave the way of rectitude and take the other as a way. Errancy is therefore not the absence of a path: it is a way one takes, into which one is drawn "ever further" (7:202), and which one meets at the end (19:59).

One goes there through seduction or through one's own conduct. Iblis promises to embellish what is on earth and to make all humans err, except the refined obedient ones (15:39-40, 38:82-83); those who follow him are the errant, over whom alone he has authority (15:42); on the Day, those against whom the saying has proven true will acknowledge that they made the others err as they themselves erred (28:63, 37:32). Adam, for his part, errs after disobeying (20:121).

In 53:2, two negations follow one another: the companion has not strayed, nor has he erred. To stray is to lose the direction; to err is to go adrift far from the way. The next verse names what makes one err: he utters nothing "from emotion" (53:3).

Distinctions

• ضلل — to stray: to lose the direction, to have no path left; to err is to go adrift far from the way
• رشد — rectitude: the opposite way, named over against errancy (2:256, 7:146)
• تيه — to be lost: to find no path that leads anywhere, whereas to err is to go adrift far from the way, through seduction or through one's own conduct
• هوى — emotion: what draws one along and leads one to err (53:2-3)

See also

شطن (the Diverter, who makes one err)