غير

Core meaning

The other: what differs from a given term and excludes itself from it. In annexation, the particle negates a quality ("without") or sets another beside the term ("other than").

Uses

1. بِغَيْرِ + noun → "without" : the act done outside what should ground it: right, knowledge, count.

   • «وَيَقْتُلُونَ ٱلنَّبِيِّـۧنَ بِغَيْرِ حَقٍّۢ» — "kill the informants without right" (3:21)
   • «فَيَسُبُّوا۟ ٱللَّهَ عَدْوًۢا بِغَيْرِ عِلْمٍۢ» — "lest they insult God out of hostility, without knowledge" (6:108)
   • «رَفَعَ ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ بِغَيْرِ عَمَدٍۢ» — "elevated the heavens without pillars" (13:2)

2. غَيْر + noun or pronoun → "other than", "another" : another than the term, taken beside it or in its place.

   • «قُلْ أَغَيْرَ ٱللَّهِ أَبْغِى رَبًّۭا» — "Should I seek a Guardian other than God" (6:164)
   • «وَيَسْتَبْدِلْ قَوْمًا غَيْرَكُمْ» — "and replace you with another people" (9:39)

3. لِغَيْرِ ٱللَّهِ → "to other than God" : consecration turned away from God.

   • «وَمَآ أُهِلَّ بِهِۦ لِغَيْرِ ٱللَّهِ» — "and what has been consecrated to other than God" (2:173)

4. وَغَيْرَ + adjective → "and not" : the quality stated then negated, to express diversity.

   • «مُتَشَٰبِهًۭا وَغَيْرَ مُتَشَٰبِهٍۢ» — "resembling and not resembling" (6:141)

5. غَيَّرَ → "to alter" : the verb: to make other what has been created.

   • «وَلَءَامُرَنَّهُمْ فَلَيُغَيِّرُنَّ خَلْقَ ٱللَّهِ» — "and I will certainly order them to alter God's creation" (4:119)

Evidence from the text

بِغَيْرِ recurs above all in three formulas. "Without right" qualifies the killing of the informants (2:61, 3:21, 3:181, 4:155), pride and iniquity on the earth (7:146, 10:23, 41:15, 42:42); "without knowledge" speaks of the straying of one who talks about God (6:119, 22:3, 31:6); "without reckoning", "without account" speak of God's gift, who provides for whom He wills (2:212, 3:37, 24:38, 39:10, 40:40).

Before a noun, غَيْر sets another beside the term and sets it aside: "a Law other than God's" (3:83), another people who will take the place of those who turn their backs (9:39, 11:57, 47:38). The question أَغَيْرَ ٱللَّهِ, "other than God?", recurs to refuse this sharing (6:14, 6:40, 6:164, 39:64). The verb غَيَّرَ keeps its sense: to make other what God has created (4:119).

Distinctions

• دون — "besides": what is taken short of God, in His place, whereas غَيْر sets another beside Him
• بدل — to replace: to put one thing in the place of another, whereas غَيْر only names the other