ا-ل-ف
Alif-Lam-Fa
6 words from this root family
About this root
Alif-Lam-Fa (ا-ل-ف) has 6 words in the Fahm dictionary: alf (one thousand), alfāni (two thousand), thalāthatu ālāfin (three thousand), ʿasharatu ālāfin (ten thousand), and 2 more.
In the Quran, words built on this root occur 22 times in 19 verses, across 12 of the 114 suras. The first is in 2:96. The form أَلْف (one thousand) accounts for 14 of them.
Themes: Numbers, Basics, Numbers Large, Literature Arts
Words from this root
| Word | Meaning | Type | In the Quran | Taught in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
أَلْف alf | one thousand | numeral, A1 | 14× | Numbers 10-1000 |
أَلْفَانِ alfāni | two thousand | numeral, A2 | Large Numbers & Ordinals | |
ثَلَاثَةُ آلَافٍ thalāthatu ālāfin | three thousand | numeral, A2 | Large Numbers & Ordinals | |
عَشَرَةُ آلَافٍ ʿasharatu ālāfin | ten thousand | numeral, A2 | Large Numbers & Ordinals | |
مِئَةُ أَلْفٍ miʾatu alfin | one hundred thousand | numeral, A2 | Large Numbers & Ordinals | |
أَلَّفَ allafa | to compose / to author | verb, B2 | 5× | Music & Performance |
“In the Quran” counts every occurrence of that dictionary form, in any of its senses.
In the Quran
وَلَتَجِدَنَّهُمْ أَحْرَصَ ٱلنَّاسِ عَلَىٰ حَيَوٰةٍ وَمِنَ ٱلَّذِينَ أَشْرَكُوا۟ ۚ يَوَدُّ أَحَدُهُمْ لَوْ يُعَمَّرُ أَلْفَ سَنَةٍ وَمَا هُوَ بِمُزَحْزِحِهِۦ مِنَ ٱلْعَذَابِ أَن يُعَمَّرَ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ بَصِيرٌۢ بِمَا يَعْمَلُونَAnd thou wilt find them greediest of mankind for life and (greedier) than the idolaters. (Each) one of them would like to be allowed to live a thousand years. And to live (a thousand years) would be no means remove him from the doom. Allah is Seer of what they do.
وَأَلَّفَ بَيْنَ قُلُوبِهِمْ ۚ لَوْ أَنفَقْتَ مَا فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ جَمِيعًا مَّآ أَلَّفْتَ بَيْنَ قُلُوبِهِمْ وَلَـٰكِنَّ ٱللَّهَ أَلَّفَ بَيْنَهُمْ ۚ إِنَّهُۥ عَزِيزٌ حَكِيمٌAnd (as for the believers) hath attuned their hearts. If thou hadst spent all that is in the earth thou couldst not have attuned their hearts, but Allah hath attuned them. Lo! He is Mighty, Wise.
۞ إِنَّمَا ٱلصَّدَقَـٰتُ لِلْفُقَرَآءِ وَٱلْمَسَـٰكِينِ وَٱلْعَـٰمِلِينَ عَلَيْهَا وَٱلْمُؤَلَّفَةِ قُلُوبُهُمْ وَفِى ٱلرِّقَابِ وَٱلْغَـٰرِمِينَ وَفِى سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ وَٱبْنِ ٱلسَّبِيلِ ۖ فَرِيضَةً مِّنَ ٱللَّهِ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمٌThe alms are only for the poor and the needy, and those who collect them, and those whose hearts are to be reconciled, and to free the captives and the debtors, and for the cause of Allah, and (for) the wayfarer; a duty imposed by Allah. Allah is Knower, Wise.
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
two thousand
2000 uses the dual form of أَلْف: أَلْفَانِ (nominative) / أَلْفَيْنِ (accusative/genitive).
three thousand
3-10 thousand use the broken plural آلَاف. Because أَلْف is masculine, the units 3-10 appear in their with-taa form (ثَلَاثَة, أَرْبَعَة...) following reverse polarity. 11+ thousand use the singular أَلْف.