Arabic root

ح-ي-ي

Ha-Ya-Ya

3 words from this root family

About this root

Ha-Ya-Ya (ح-ي-ي) has 3 words in the Fahm dictionary: al-Ḥayy (The Ever-Living (divine name)), ḥayāh (life), ḥayawān (animal).

In the Quran, words built on this root occur 189 times in 166 verses, across 50 of the 114 suras. The first is in 2:26. The form حَيَاةٌ (life) accounts for 76 of them.

Themes: Quranic, Nature Weather

Words from this root

Word	Meaning	Type	In the Quran	Taught in
الْحَيُّ al-Ḥayy	The Ever-Living (divine name)	noun, A2		Divine Names and Attributes
حَيَاةٌ ḥayāh	life	noun, A1	76×	Life, Death, and the Hereafter, Ideas & Opinions
حَيَوَان ḥayawān	animal	noun, B1	1×	Flora & Fauna

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

In the Quran

كَيْفَ تَكْفُرُونَ بِٱللَّهِ وَكُنتُمْ أَمْوَٰتًا فَأَحْيَـٰكُمْ ۖ ثُمَّ يُمِيتُكُمْ ثُمَّ يُحْيِيكُمْ ثُمَّ إِلَيْهِ تُرْجَعُونَ

How disbelieve ye in Allah when ye were dead and He gave life to you! Then He will give you death, then life again, and then unto Him ye will return.

Quran 2:28

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

أُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱشْتَرَوُا۟ ٱلْحَيَوٰةَ ٱلدُّنْيَا بِٱلْـَٔاخِرَةِ ۖ فَلَا يُخَفَّفُ عَنْهُمُ ٱلْعَذَابُ وَلَا هُمْ يُنصَرُونَ

Such are those who buy the life of the world at the price of the Hereafter. Their punishment will not be lightened, neither will they have support.

Quran 2:86

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

الْحَيُّ

al-Ḥayy

The Ever-Living (divine name)

Example

اللَّهُ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ الْحَيُّ الْقَيُّومُ

Allāhu lā ilāha illā huwa al-Ḥayyu al-Qayyūm

Allah - there is no deity except Him, the Ever-Living, the Sustainer of existence (2:255)

Root: ح-ي-ي Quranic

Grammar

Adjective (faʿʿ pattern with doubled final radical). Noun: حَيَاةٌ (life). Often paired with الْقَيُّومُ (the Self-Sustaining).

Culture

Āyat al-Kursī (2:255), the Throne Verse, is considered the greatest verse in the Quran. الحَيّ القَيُّوم opens its description of God.

A1noun

حَيَاةٌ

ḥayāh

life

Example

وَمَا الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا إِلَّا مَتَاعُ الْغُرُورِ

wa-mā al-ḥayātu ad-dunyā illā matāʿu al-ghurūr

And the life of this world is nothing but the enjoyment of delusion (3:185)

Root: ح-ي-ي Quranic

Grammar

Feminine noun. No broken plural - الحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا (worldly life) vs. الحَيَاةُ الآخِرَة (the afterlife). From حَيَّ (to live). Related: الحَيُّ (q186).

Culture

The Quran consistently contrasts the fleeting worldly life (dunyā) with the eternal afterlife (ākhirah), urging investment in the permanent over the temporary.

B1noun

حَيَوَان

ḥayawān