Arabic root

ب-ل-و

Ba-Lam-Waw

1 word from this root family

About this root

Ba-Lam-Waw (ب-ل-و) has 1 word in the Fahm dictionary: ibtalā (he tested / he put to trial).

In the Quran, words built on this root occur 38 times in 35 verses, across 25 of the 114 suras. The first is in 2:49. The form ابْتَلَى (he tested / he put to trial) accounts for 8 of them.

Themes: Quranic

Words from this root

Word	Meaning	Type	In the Quran	Taught in
ابْتَلَى ibtalā	he tested / he put to trial	verb, B1	8×	Knowledge, Reflection, and Recitation

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

In the Quran

وَإِذْ نَجَّيْنَـٰكُم مِّنْ ءَالِ فِرْعَوْنَ يَسُومُونَكُمْ سُوٓءَ ٱلْعَذَابِ يُذَبِّحُونَ أَبْنَآءَكُمْ وَيَسْتَحْيُونَ نِسَآءَكُمْ ۚ وَفِى ذَٰلِكُم بَلَآءٌ مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ عَظِيمٌ

And (remember) when We did deliver you from Pharaoh's folk, who were afflicting you with dreadful torment, slaying your sons and sparing your women: that was a tremendous trial from your Lord.

Quran 2:49

۞ وَإِذِ ٱبْتَلَىٰٓ إِبْرَٰهِـۧمَ رَبُّهُۥ بِكَلِمَـٰتٍ فَأَتَمَّهُنَّ ۖ قَالَ إِنِّى جَاعِلُكَ لِلنَّاسِ إِمَامًا ۖ قَالَ وَمِن ذُرِّيَّتِى ۖ قَالَ لَا يَنَالُ عَهْدِى ٱلظَّـٰلِمِينَ

And (remember) when his Lord tried Abraham with (His) commands, and he fulfilled them, He said: Lo! I have appointed thee a leader for mankind. (Abraham) said: And of my offspring (will there be leaders)? He said: My covenant includeth not wrong-doers.

Quran 2:124

وَلَنَبْلُوَنَّكُم بِشَىْءٍ مِّنَ ٱلْخَوْفِ وَٱلْجُوعِ وَنَقْصٍ مِّنَ ٱلْأَمْوَٰلِ وَٱلْأَنفُسِ وَٱلثَّمَرَٰتِ ۗ وَبَشِّرِ ٱلصَّـٰبِرِينَ

And surely We shall try you with something of fear and hunger, and loss of wealth and lives and crops; but give glad tidings to the steadfast,

Quran 2:155

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

B1verb

ابْتَلَى

ibtalā

he tested / he put to trial

Example

وَإِذِ ابْتَلَى إِبْرَاهِيمَ رَبُّهُ بِكَلِمَاتٍ فَأَتَمَّهُنَّ

wa-idhi ibtalā Ibrāhīma rabbuhū bikalimātin fa-atammahunna

And when Abraham was tested by his Lord with words and he fulfilled them (2:124)

Root: ب-ل-و Quranic

Grammar

Form VIII verb (اِفْتَعَلَ). Noun: اِبْتِلَاءٌ (trial/test). Related: بَلَاءٌ (affliction/test). Different from فَتَنَ - ابتلى emphasizes purposeful divine testing.

Culture

Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son is the supreme example of passing divine tests - commemorated annually during Eid al-Aḍḥā.