Quranic root
طلب
ṭ · l · b
Directed seeking: turning attention or effort toward finding, obtaining, or attaining something, whether concrete or abstract.
From the basic notion of seeking arise the seeker and the sought object, requests and demands, assistance in fulfilling a request, and derived descriptions of things made remote or difficult to reach and therefore requiring pursuit.
- Maqāyīs · row 3045
- Mufradāt · row 904
- 4
- Quran-attested forms
- 4
- Quran senses
- 4
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
طَلَبَ
ṭalaba
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- Quran occurrences
- 1 occurrence
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
To seek or search for something in order to find, obtain, or take it.
An active Form I verb; the Quranic occurrence expresses pursuit of an object, here represented by an object pronoun. The object may be concrete or abstract.
- Lane · entry 11521
- Mufradāt · row 904
Selected Quran examples
Quran 7:54word 18
“seeking it”
طَلَبٌ
ṭalabun
- Part of speech
- Verbal noun
- Quran occurrences
- 1 occurrence
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
Seeking or searching for something, including examining whether it exists, in order to find or obtain it.
A verbal noun covering the search for a concrete or abstract object; the Quranic usage concerns seeking something that may have become inaccessible.
- Lane · entry 11521
- Mufradāt · row 904
Selected Quran examples
Quran 18:41word 8
“to find it”
طَالِبٌ
ṭālibun
- Part of speech
- Active participle
- Quran occurrences
- 1 occurrence
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
One who seeks, pursues, or desires something; a seeker.
An active participle used substantively for the participant engaged in seeking, and capable of standing in contrast with the sought object.
- Lane · entry 11537
- Mufradāt · row 904
Selected Quran examples
Quran 22:73word 27
“(are) the seeker”
مَطْلُوبٌ
maṭlūbun
- Part of speech
- Passive participle
- Quran occurrences
- 1 occurrence
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
That which is sought, desired, or demanded; the sought object or person.
A passive participle used substantively for the goal or object of seeking, in contrast with the seeker.
- Lane · entry 11540
- Mufradāt · row 904
Selected Quran examples
Quran 22:73word 28
“and the one who is sought”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 7:54يَطْلُبُهُۥseeking it
- 18:41طَلَبًۭاto find it
- 22:73ٱلطَّالِبُ(are) the seeker
- 22:73وَٱلْمَطْلُوبُand the one who is sought
Broader Classical Arabic meanings
Recorded for this root in the Classical lexicons beyond its Quran usage. These are secondary to the Quran senses above.
Show 21 Classical meanings
طَلَبَ
To ask for, petition for, or demand something from someone; with بِحَقٍّ, to pursue a right, due, or blood-revenge.
The request or demand may be construed with مِنْ or إِلَى; the latter can express petitioning or asking someone. This is a constructional extension of seeking and demanding.
- Lane · entry 11521
طَلَبَ
Of a lamp or lighted wick, to be near or about to go out.
A tropical construction in which the subject is an inanimate light.
- Lane · entry 11521
طَلِبَ
To be or become distant or remote.
A separate Form I vocalization and lexical use from the ordinary seeking verb.
- Lane · entry 11521
أَطْلَبَ
To fulfill, provide, or accomplish for someone what they sought or demanded.
A Form IV causative use directed toward the requested or desired object.
- Lane · entry 11524
أَطْلَبَ
To help or assist someone in seeking a thing.
A Form IV causative use in which the subject facilitates another person's search.
- Lane · entry 11524
أَطْلَبَ
To make someone need to seek or demand something; to necessitate seeking.
This Form IV use has a causative sense opposite in direction to the use meaning to fulfill a request.
- Lane · entry 11524
أَطْلَبَ
Of water, pasture, or herbage, to become distant or remote so that it must be sought.
An intransitive Form IV use describing something made difficult to reach by its remoteness.
- Lane · entry 11524
تَطَلَّبَ
To seek or demand repeatedly, diligently, or earnestly, making successive efforts to obtain something.
Form V intensification of seeking; the effort may also be described as deliberate or sustained rather than necessarily hurried.
- Lane · entry 11525
اِنْطَلَبَ
To be suitable, fitting, meet, or proper for someone.
A quasi-passive Form VII use, as though the thing were sought, desired, or desirable; it is also reported in a Quranic interpretive explanation, though no corresponding QAC Form VII group is supplied here.
- Lane · entry 11526
طُلْبَةٌ
A far-extending journey.
A specialized nominal use, synonymous with an extended journey.
- Lane · entry 11530
طِلْبَةٌ
A mode or manner of seeking or demanding.
A deverbal noun of modality rather than the ordinary verbal noun for seeking.
- Lane · entry 11531
أُمُّ طِلْبَةَ
The eagle.
A fixed lexical expression.
- Lane · entry 11531
طَلِبَةٌ
A thing sought, desired, demanded, or requested; an object of quest, need, love, or a right or due to be claimed.
A nominal object of seeking or demand, including a needed thing or an entitlement pursued from another.
- Lane · entry 11532
طَلِبَةٌ
A company or assembly of men.
A separately reported lexical use attributed to one authority.
- Lane · entry 11532
طَلُوبٌ
One who seeks, desires, or demands much or often; an intensive description of a seeker.
An intensive adjective, with related intensive forms recorded alongside it.
- Lane · entry 11534
طَلُوبٌ
A well whose water is remote and must be sought.
An adjectival use applied to a well according to the remoteness of its water.
- Lane · entry 11534
طَالِبٌ
A student or seeker of knowledge or science.
A substantivized use, especially in the expression طَالِبُ عِلْمٍ.
- Lane · entry 11537
مَطْلَبٌ
A place or time of seeking; especially a place where something buried, remarkable, or sought in a book is located.
A nominal designation of the setting or occasion in which a search is made.
- Lane · entry 11538
مَطْلَبٌ
By extension, a person from whom one seeks a thing or the fulfillment of a desire.
An assumed-tropical extension from a place or occasion of seeking to a sought source of fulfillment.
- Lane · entry 11538
مُطْلِبٌ
Distant or remote, especially of water, pasture, or herbage that can be reached only after seeking; also applied to other remote things.
An adjectival description of remoteness that makes the object sought or difficult to attain.
- Lane · entry 11539
طَالَبَ
To demand or prosecute someone for a thing due to one; to claim a right, debt, or blood-revenge from someone.
A Form III construction in which a person is pursued for a due, claim, debt, or other thing demanded from him; the demand does not necessarily imply that the claim is just.
- Lane · entry 11523
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Form VII suitability sense is explicitly connected in the lexical evidence with an interpretation of a Quranic passage, but no corresponding Form VII QAC form group is supplied; it is therefore retained under broader Classical meanings rather than attached to a Quranic form.
The historical Quran citation associated with that Form VII discussion is not converted into a modern verse example because the corresponding QAC location is absent from this packet.