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Arabic root

ا-ج-ل

Alif-Jim-Lam

1 word from this root family

About this root

Alif-Jim-Lam (ا-ج-ل) has 1 word in the Fahm dictionary: ajal (appointed term / deadline / lifespan).

In the Quran, words built on this root occur 56 times in 48 verses, across 29 of the 114 suras. The first is in 2:231. The form أَجَلٌ (appointed term / deadline / lifespan) accounts for 52 of them.

Themes: Quranic

Words from this root

WordMeaningTypeIn the QuranTaught in
أَجَلٌ
ajal
appointed term / deadline / lifespannoun, A252×Reward, Recompense, and Deeds

“In the Quran” counts every occurrence of that dictionary form, in any of its senses.

In the Quran

وَٱلَّذِينَ يُتَوَفَّوْنَ مِنكُمْ وَيَذَرُونَ أَزْوَٰجًا يَتَرَبَّصْنَ بِأَنفُسِهِنَّ أَرْبَعَةَ أَشْهُرٍ وَعَشْرًا ۖ فَإِذَا بَلَغْنَ أَجَلَهُنَّ فَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْكُمْ فِيمَا فَعَلْنَ فِىٓ أَنفُسِهِنَّ بِٱلْمَعْرُوفِ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ خَبِيرٌ

Such of you as die and leave behind them wives, they (the wives) shall wait, keeping themselves apart, four months and ten days. And when they reach the term (prescribed for them) then there is no sin for you in aught that they may do with themselves in decency. Allah is informed of what ye do.

Quran 2:234
وَمَا كَانَ لِنَفْسٍ أَن تَمُوتَ إِلَّا بِإِذْنِ ٱللَّهِ كِتَـٰبًا مُّؤَجَّلًا ۗ وَمَن يُرِدْ ثَوَابَ ٱلدُّنْيَا نُؤْتِهِۦ مِنْهَا وَمَن يُرِدْ ثَوَابَ ٱلْـَٔاخِرَةِ نُؤْتِهِۦ مِنْهَا ۚ وَسَنَجْزِى ٱلشَّـٰكِرِينَ

No soul can ever die except by Allah's leave and at a term appointed. Whoso desireth the reward of the world, We bestow on him thereof; and whoso desireth the reward of the Hereafter, We bestow on him thereof. We shall reward the thankful.

Quran 3:145
هُوَ ٱلَّذِى خَلَقَكُم مِّن طِينٍ ثُمَّ قَضَىٰٓ أَجَلًا ۖ وَأَجَلٌ مُّسَمًّى عِندَهُۥ ۖ ثُمَّ أَنتُمْ تَمْتَرُونَ

He it is Who hath created you from clay, and hath decreed a term for you. A term is fixed with Him. Yet still ye doubt!

Quran 6:2

Arabic text: Tanzil Quran Text (Uthmani 1.1), CC BY 3.0, tanzil.net. English: Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930), public domain, via Project Gutenberg. Counts and verse choice: Quranic Arabic Corpus morphology data (corpus.quran.com).

Word cards with examples

A2noun
أَجَلٌ
ajal

appointed term / deadline / lifespan

Example
وَلِكُلِّ أُمَّةٍ أَجَلٌ فَإِذَا جَاءَ أَجَلُهُمْ لَا يَسْتَأْخِرُونَ سَاعَةً
wa-likulli ummatin ajalun fa-idhā jāʾa ajaluhum lā yastaʾkhirūna sāʿah
And for every nation is an appointed term. When their term has come, they will not remain behind an hour (7:34)
Grammar

Masculine noun. Plural: آجَالٌ (ājāl). Refers to both individual lifespans and the appointed end of nations. From أَجَّلَ (to set a term).

Culture

Every soul and every nation has a divinely decreed ajal - this belief shapes the Muslim understanding of death as an appointment, not an accident.

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