Quranic root
فعل
f · ʿ · l
The root denotes bringing something about through an act or other form of doing.
Its lexical range extends from performing or producing an act to the act itself, its agent, its habitual performer, and what has been effected by an agent.
- Maqāyīs · row 3614
- Mufradāt · row 1124
- 6
- Quran-attested forms
- 6
- Quran senses
- 108
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
فَعَلَ
faʿala
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- Quran occurrences
- 88 occurrences
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 do, perform, or bring about an act or matter.
A general Form I verb whose tense, voice, and subject are supplied by the inflection; Quranic contexts include ordinary performance, carrying out an act, and bringing something about.
- Lane · entry 34544
- Mufradāt · row 1124
Selected Quran examples
فَاعِلٌ
fāʿilun
- Part of speech
- Active participle
- Quran occurrences
- 9 occurrences
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 does, performs, or is able to accomplish something; a doer.
In the Quranic construction فَاعِلُونَ لِلزَّكَاةِ, it is interpreted as performing or giving zakat; in وَكُنَّا فَاعِلِينَ, it denotes being able to do what was intended. These are constructional applications of the active-participle meaning.
- Lane · entry 34561
Selected Quran examples
فَعْلَةٌ
faʿlahun
- 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.
A single deed or action.
Refers to one particular act, including an act characterized as good or bad; the Quranic occurrence refers to one deed previously done.
- Lane · entry 34551
Selected Quran examples
Quran 26:19word 2
“your deed”
فَعَّالٌ
faʿʿālun
- Part of speech
- Intensive active participle
- Quran occurrences
- 2 occurrences
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 habitually, unfailingly, or intensively does or accomplishes what is willed.
An intensive active-participle pattern; the Quranic usage applies it to an agent characterized by persistent or unfailing accomplishment, including the phrase doing what He wills.
- Lane · entry 34560
Selected Quran examples
Quran 11:107word 13
“(is) All-Accomplisher”
Quran 85:16word 1
“Doer”
فِعْلٌ
fiʿlun
- 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.
An act, deed, or doing.
The Quranic occurrence is in فِعْلَ الْخَيْرَاتِ, the doing or performance of good works.
- Lane · entry 34550
- Mufradāt · row 1124
Selected Quran examples
Quran 21:73word 7
“(the) doing”
مَفْعُولٌ
mafʿūlun
- Part of speech
- Passive participle
- Quran occurrences
- 7 occurrences
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
Done, effected, or brought about by an agent.
As a passive participle, it presents an act or result with reference to its agent. In Quranic contexts this can be rendered as fulfilled, accomplished, or destined, without requiring separate lexical senses.
- Mufradāt · row 1124
Selected Quran examples
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:24تَفْعَلُوا۟you do
- 2:24تَفْعَلُوا۟will you do
- 2:68فَٱفْعَلُوا۟so do
- 2:71يَفْعَلُونَ(to) doing (it)
- 2:85يَفْعَلُdoes
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 17 Classical meanings
فَعَلَ بِهِ
To do something to someone; to treat or deal with someone in a specified way.
In فَعَلَ اللهُ بِهِ, it occurs as an imprecatory formula meaning, in effect, may God do to him what He will.
- Lane · entry 34544
فَعَلَ بِالْمَرْأَةِ
To approach sexually or have sexual intercourse.
A conventional construction with بِـ; the lexical evidence supports the sexual-action meaning without making the source example's gender a general restriction.
- Lane · entry 34544
تَفْعِيلٌ
The scanning or metrical analysis of a verse.
A technical metonym in prosody, based on the occurrence of the root letters in the names of metrical feet.
- Lane · entry 34545
فَاعَلَ
To do something together or reciprocally with another agent.
The evidence presents the construction as involving two agents acting jointly.
- Lane · entry 34546
اِنْفَعَلَ
To become affected or undergo the effect of an act; to be done in a quasi-passive sense.
The derived verb can describe receiving an effect whether or not the agent intended that result; it is also used technically for passion or undergoing.
- Lane · entry 34547
اِفْتَعَلَ عَلَيْهِ كَذِبًا
To fabricate or forge a lie against someone.
The construction takes the person against whom the fabrication is made and the falsehood as its object.
- Lane · entry 34548
مُفْتَعَلٌ
A forged or falsified writing.
A substantivized passive-participial use, also extended to things described as falsified.
- Lane · entry 34548
- Lane · entry 34562
مُفْتَعَلٌ
An original composition, especially a poem or song, not imitated from a model.
A conventional use for independently composed artistic work.
- Lane · entry 34548
- Lane · entry 34562
فَعْلٌ
The vulva of a she-camel or of a female animal.
An anatomical noun distinct from the verbal-noun meaning.
- Lane · entry 34549
فَعِلَةٌ
A custom, manner, habit, or habitual practice.
A nominal pattern denoting an established mode of conduct.
- Lane · entry 34553
فَعَالٌ
An imperative-like expression meaning “Do!”
An archaic command form, comparable to other nouns used as imperatives.
- Lane · entry 34556
فَعَالٌ
Good or bad conduct or acts, especially the conduct of a single person; it may include generosity or bounty.
Used in commendation or blame and specifically associated in the evidence with one agent.
- Lane · entry 34557
فِعَالٌ
A doing or action between two agents.
A reciprocal or jointly performed action, distinct from فَعَالٌ as conduct of one agent.
- Lane · entry 34558
فِعَالٌ
The handle or wooden shaft inserted into the eye of an axe, adze, or hoe.
A concrete tool noun with plural فُعُلٌ.
- Lane · entry 34558
فُعَالَةٌ
A metonymic name for Khuzāʿa, the well-known tribe.
An onomastic and metonymic use, not a productive ordinary meaning of the root.
- Lane · entry 34559
فَاعِلٌ
A worker, especially one who works with clay, building, plastering, or digging foundations.
A substantivized active participle with a specialized occupational use; the plural فَعَلَةٌ is likewise used for such workers.
- Lane · entry 34561
مُفْتَعَلٌ
A grievous, distressing, or unprecedented effect.
Occurs in the idiomatic phrase جَاءَ بِالْمُفْتَعَلِ, said of an effect or experience beyond what was previously known.
- Lane · entry 34562
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Quranic renderings “fulfilled,” “accomplished,” and “destined” under مَفْعُولٌ are contextual realizations of the broader passive-participial meaning “done or effected,” not separate lexical senses.
The interpretation of فَاعِلُونَ لِلزَّكَاةِ as those who give or perform zakat is construction-specific and does not restrict the active participle generally to zakat.