Arabic root

ج-ن-ن

Jim-Nun-Nun

2 words from this root family

About this root

Jim-Nun-Nun (ج-ن-ن) has 2 words in the Fahm dictionary: jannah (paradise / garden), jinn (jinn (invisible beings)).

In the Quran, words built on this root occur 201 times in 196 verses, across 70 of the 114 suras. The first is in 2:25. The form جَنَّةٌ (paradise / garden) accounts for 147 of them.

Themes: Quranic

Words from this root

Word	Meaning	Type	In the Quran	Taught in
جَنَّةٌ jannah	paradise / garden	noun, A1	147×	The Most Frequent Words (Part 5)
جِنٌّ jinn	jinn (invisible beings)	noun, B1	22×	Community and Society

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

In the Quran

وَقُلْنَا يَـٰٓـَٔادَمُ ٱسْكُنْ أَنتَ وَزَوْجُكَ ٱلْجَنَّةَ وَكُلَا مِنْهَا رَغَدًا حَيْثُ شِئْتُمَا وَلَا تَقْرَبَا هَـٰذِهِ ٱلشَّجَرَةَ فَتَكُونَا مِنَ ٱلظَّـٰلِمِينَ

And We said: O Adam! Dwell thou and thy wife in the Garden, and eat ye freely (of the fruits) thereof where ye will; but come not nigh this tree lest ye become wrong-doers.

Quran 2:35

فَلَمَّا جَنَّ عَلَيْهِ ٱلَّيْلُ رَءَا كَوْكَبًا ۖ قَالَ هَـٰذَا رَبِّى ۖ فَلَمَّآ أَفَلَ قَالَ لَآ أُحِبُّ ٱلْـَٔافِلِينَ

When the night grew dark upon him he beheld a star. He said: This is my Lord. But when it set, he said: I love not things that set.

Quran 6:76

وَجَعَلُوا۟ لِلَّهِ شُرَكَآءَ ٱلْجِنَّ وَخَلَقَهُمْ ۖ وَخَرَقُوا۟ لَهُۥ بَنِينَ وَبَنَـٰتٍۭ بِغَيْرِ عِلْمٍ ۚ سُبْحَـٰنَهُۥ وَتَعَـٰلَىٰ عَمَّا يَصِفُونَ

Yet they ascribe as partners unto Him the jinn, although He did create them, and impute falsely, without knowledge, sons and daughters unto Him. Glorified be He and High Exalted above (all) that they ascribe (unto Him).

Quran 6:100

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

A1noun

جَنَّةٌ

jannah

paradise / garden

Example

وَبَشِّرِ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ أَنَّ لَهُمْ جَنَّاتٍ

wa-bashshiri alladhīna āmanū wa-ʿamilū aṣ-ṣāliḥāti anna lahum jannāt

And give good tidings to those who believe and do righteous deeds that they will have gardens (2:25)

Root: ج-ن-ن Quranic

Grammar

Feminine noun. Plural: جَنَّاتٌ (jannāt). The root ج-ن-ن means 'to conceal/cover,' so jannah literally means 'a garden so lush it covers the ground.'

Culture

Jannah is described in the Quran with flowing rivers, eternal bliss, and the ultimate reward: seeing God's face. It has multiple levels, with Firdaws as the highest.

B1noun

جِنٌّ

jinn

jinn (invisible beings)

Example

قُلْ أُوحِيَ إِلَيَّ أَنَّهُ اسْتَمَعَ نَفَرٌ مِنَ الْجِنِّ

qul ūḥiya ilayya annahū istamaʿa nafarun mina al-jinn

Say: It has been revealed to me that a group of the jinn listened (72:1)

Root: ج-ن-ن Quranic

Grammar

Collective noun. From the root ج-ن-ن meaning 'to conceal/hide.' Same root as جَنَّةٌ (garden) and جُنُونٌ (madness). An entire surah is named Al-Jinn (72).

Culture

Jinn are a separate creation from humans and angels, made from smokeless fire. Like humans, they have free will and will be judged. Some are Muslim, others are not.