Here, I intend to go through some words that were translated to ‘barren’ in the Quran, but which weren’t used to describe someone’s barrenness in the Quran. What this does is help us understand other types of barrenness that may afflict the human condition, and perhaps help us in finding a way to heal them either through the insights we find in the Quran, or the light it has shed on the symptoms.
Juruz, is the first word I want us to look at. The root alphabets of the word are jim, ra and zain, 1 form of the word occurred twice in the Quran, juruz. It is said to mean barren land as seen in Q18 V8; land afflicted by drought, famine; to eat up, to devour, to cut off, to kill and the likes are also part of its meaning.
So what do all these words have in common? You see, classically, juruz is said when a piece of land is without herbage, and this can be either because they’ve all been cut off, or the said barren land requires something that it doesn’t have yet, in terms of resources, like water, fertilizers, and the likes, and so it is barren.
We see in Q32 V27 where Allah said, “Have they not seen that We drive the water [rain] to juruz (barren) land and bring forth thereby crops from which their livestock eat and [they] themselves? Then do they not see?”
So, we see that the cure to this kind of juruz ‘barrenness’ has to do with getting whatever it is wet, extremely wet, like the wetness of the earth after it has rained. Though the non-sterile sperm can seek the egg on its own once it has been let loose, the vagina being wet can also help to speed up the process. We will go into more details about ‘vagina wetness’ in a later book in this series, titled ‘Cliteracy in Islam’. 🤞🏿
Another way to look at this is that the sperm may be getting delivered regularly, but it may not be virile enough, it may be sterile, talk of low sperm count, think – low rainfall, or even no rain fall at all – thereby depriving a land of herbage despite its capability to grow a forest if the right amount of rain falls on it.
Talking of drought and famine, how sunny it gets, and the dryness continues with no end in sight. I’m thinking the woman has to continue to keep hydrated. Reduced estrogen levels can cause dryness, and with men, drinking more water can help increase blood volume, thereby helping with erectile dysfunction amidst others.
So, we see with juruz that increased estrogen levels, and increased sperm count are some of the ways that juruz can be healed vis-à-vis knowing that the mention of juruz in Q32 V27 was cured by rain, and the wetness of the earth.
Sofsof is our next word; in Q20 V105 to 107 wherein Allah in describing the state the mountains will be on the day of judgment, said, “And they ask you about the mountains, so say, ‘My Lord will blow them away with a blast. And He will leave the earth a level sofsofan (plain); You will not see therein a i’wajan (depression) or an amtan (elevation).’”
The root alphabets of sofsof are sod, faf, sod, and faf, and it only occurred this once in the entire Quran, despite its appearance under sod, faf and faf in some classical dictionaries, and even sod and faf.
As we’ve seen in the 3 verses above, we were left with a couple of words that can help us understand the sofsof on a deeper level. Sofsof is said to mean being empty, deserted or vacant; a smooth, level, even tract of land with no herbage or water, thus, barren.
So, the future of the mountains we see its ups and downs will be that they will be blasted into smithereens, and will become a smooth and leveled plain. In further describing that fate, Allah said in V107 that there won’t be i’wajan (depression) or amtan (elevation). In fact, one can argue that the noun that sofsof was qualifying is also a pointer to the barrenness issue at hand; Qa-an.
Qa-an here was translated to ‘level’, but in Q24 V39, it was translated to ‘desert’; “But those who disbelieved – their deeds are like a mirage in a desert (qi-a’tin) which a thirsty one thinks is water until, when he comes to it, he finds it is nothing…”. With the use of qa-an which draws our attention to the desert, and its dry and bareness, what sofsof adds to it is how ‘smooth’ it will look, since not all deserts are without herbage. And it is in further describing this smoothness that i’wajan and amtan were mentioned in the verse that followed it.
I’wajan’s root alphabets are ain, waw and jim, and it occurred a total of 9 times in the Quran. It is said to mean ivory, to be crooked, to be curved/twisted around, to bend up, contorted, distorted, to twist, to lean to; to divert.
Amtan’s root alphabets are alif, mim and ta, and it only appeared this one time in the Quran. It is said to mean elevated places; hillocks, crookedness, weakness; measurement; to guess; doubt; to bend.
I feel that understanding amtan will help us in seeing the difference between it and i’wajan. You see, with amtan, its classical meaning is conjecture, or guessing the measurement or state of a thing or distance. So that, when you throw figures at a thing, you’ll be said to be doing amtan. It is in its capacity to guess the quantity or quality of a thing that it is used here; so that when Allah said “You will not see therein a depression or an amtan (elevation).” What the amtan bit means is that if someone for instance could not see that day, and had to guess the state of the mountain based on whatever observational skill they would have that day, they’d still guess that it is a smooth desert (qa-a’n sofsofan), with no crookedness (i’wajan).
Thus, i’waja is the real word for crookedness, being bent, twisted and likes, and amtan just came to be interpreted to mean those too because of the uncertainty and the unknowns that is inherent in it. So, whether the crookedness is vertical or horizontal in nature, it is i’waja; and amtan is used after i’waj when its lack of crookedness is so certain that even anyone that tries to guess its state submits to its smoothness.
As to how all of these relates to the biology of the human barrenness, I’m thinking the uterus, the fallopian tube, the ovaries, all of which are lined with roughness, and continuous life and rebirth; perhaps, there’s a time in its cycle where all of that pauses – menopause? – they or some of them become so smooth without crookedness, and this would be a symptom of being barren, and obviously, the solution to this would be to get whatever organ is affected back to life, to unpause it, however possible that is, more estrogen related wetness?
Hamd is our next word, and it’s one of those words that only appeared once in the Quran; Q22 V5, wherein Allah, in talking about the womb, and creation, states that, “O People, if you should be in doubt about the Resurrection, then [consider that] indeed, We created you from dust, then from a sperm-drop, then from a clinging clot, and then from a lump of flesh, formed and unformed – that We may show you. And We settle in the wombs whom We will for a specified term, then We bring you out as a child, and then [We develop you] that you may reach your [time of] maturity. And among you is he who is taken in [early] death, and among you is he who is returned to the most decrepit [old] age so that he knows, after [once having] knowledge, nothing. And you see the earth barren (Hamidatan), but when We send down upon it rain, it quivers and swells and grows [something] of every beautiful kind.”
The root alphabets of Hamd are Hao, mim and dal, and it is said to mean silence, death, to die away, to die down, to abate; (of land) to be barren, to be lifeless, (of a garment) to fall to shreds. A garment, or piece of cloth, is said to be Hamd if it is worn-out by being long folded, so that when touched, it falls to pieces. Think, when fire is extinguished, and the ashes are still holding form, but falls apart on contact.
Thus, Hamd is said when death, lifelessness or barrenness occurs when fiery toil has happened. And it is interesting that Allah started the conversation in Q22 V5 above with ‘dust’, how lifelessly looking that is. Something that basically scatters if one’s breath reaches it with one not even trying to disturb it, and yet, here stands a human, from that perceived lifelessness. Fragility, due to being worn out, and burnt out, this is Hamd.
Perhaps, biologically, this means that some barrenness are caused by over use of some kind, of something, that makes the said thing fragile enough to be considered dead, and incapable of being able to bring forth life. As to what can heal this fragile state of one’s organ, Allah says we send down rain, and this fragile thing quivers (iHtazat) and swells (robat) which then makes it grow something of every beautiful kind. We will be looking at these words while discussing Khashia’t, our next word.
Khashia’t is next word that was translated to barren in the Quran, as seen in Q41 V39 wherein Allah said, “And of His signs is that you see the earth stilled (khashia’t), but when We send down upon it rain, it quivers (iHtazat) and grows (robat). Indeed, He who has given it life is the Giver of Life to the dead. Indeed, He is over all things competent.”
I feel that to understand khashia’t deeply, one must understand iHtazat and robat since they are both what happens when rain falls on the khashia’t land.
First, let’s see how much of khashia’t we can understand before doing that; its root alphabets are kha, shin and ain, and 7 forms of the word appeared a total of 17 times in the Quran. And it is said to mean barren dead land, low land with dry vegetation, a low hillock; to be eclipsed; to be humble, to humble oneself, to show respect, to be quiet, to be submissive.
As for iHtazat, its root alphabets are Hao, zain and zain, and 2 forms of the word occurred a total of 5 times in the Quran. And it is said to mean shaking, vibrating, to swing; to walk briskly, (of God) to bring forth plants, (of barren land) to become alive; rumbling, quivering, trembling, commotion, movement etc.
Q19 V25 reinforces the idea that iHtazat means to ‘shake’ wherein Mary, mother of Jesus was told to “shake (Huzzi) the trunk of the palm tree towards you, it will drop ripe dates upon you.” So, we can tell from this that khashia’t means for something to be still, since being still is the opposite of shaking. Huzzi, thus means to move something either by pulling, by pushing, or by moving to the right or left.
With respect to robat, its root alphabets are ra, ba and waw, and 8 forms of the word were used 20 times in the Quran. Robat is said to mean hill, elevated part of the land, to go on the top of a hill; growth, to increase, to swell, to exceed, to be more; usury; to be out of breath, to have asthma; to raise, to grow under someone’s care, to educate, to cultivate; a group of ten thousand people.
Let’s start with the imagery of asthma, to help us understand robat. You see, during an asthma attack, the sides of the airways in one’s lungs swells, and the airways shrink. And because of that, less air is able to go in and out of one’s lungs, and sometimes, mucus can add to the ordeal by clogging up the airways even more. So, we see how robat came to be used for asthma due to the act of swelling that happens during an asthma episode. Other examples can be the size of pasta before and after cooking it; robat has happened at its cooked state, since it has now increased in size, not necessarily ’multiplied’.
And what I mean by that is the fine line between robat, which is also the word for riba (usury), and doi’f (multiplied, doubled, increased etc). Both words tend to be used interchangeably in Arabic and in translations, and Q3 V130 made sure to mention them separately to emphasize that they aren’t the same word. The simple way to differentiate them is to know that riba is for something to swell, it’s still one thing, a grain of rice; but doi’f is for something to double in count, and with the addition of mim as prefix to it, it accentuates that it is one that continues to double, so that it is now multiplied over and over. But I don’t want us to digress too much right now into it, InshaAllah, at a later piece, we’ll look into riba squarely. How a capital can increase without doubling; how a capital can increase by it doubling, and continues to double ad infinitum.
So, now, we know that with Hamd and Khashia’t, rain pouring on it, will make it shake and swell, and then growth will happen. So that we know that the state of both Hamd and Khashia’t involves being still. Again, the specifics of which organ of either the male or the female is going through this stillness can vary, but it seems that a form of hormonal-induced lubrication can bring them back to life, and Allah knows best.
All of these talks about barrenness bring forth the thought of why we should want kids in the first place, right? In the religious realm, we know we’ve been created to worship God as we see in Q51 V56; so that the only reason we should really want kids or more kids is so that more people can be brought to the world to worship God. So that as one keeps trying to have kids, the daily struggles, one should have it at the back of one’s mind that it is for worship. If the God that one wants to serve by bringing the child to the world is refusing to give one the said child, it shouldn’t be too heartbreaking.
I’m reminded of Q34 V37 where Allah said, “And it is not your wealth or your children that bring you nearer to Us in position, but it is [by being] one who has believed and done righteousness. For them there will be the double reward for what they did, and they will be in the upper chambers [of Paradise], safe [and secure].”
I’m enthused to look into modern issues like whether or not a wife can use the sperm of her husband, whether he is deceased or they are divorced; but to address such an issue, one will need to look into dowry in islam, divorce in islam, the waiting period, and the treatment of a spouse one is married or not married to; all of these and more, are the subjects I’ll be looking into in the next book titled dowry, divorce, child sustenance, and the case for alimony in islam.
May Allah ease our struggles, and grant our heart desires. Ameen. 🤲🏿
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