Quranic root
فتن
f · t · n
The root centers on testing and examination, especially an ordeal that reveals what is sound or unsound.
The concrete image is assaying gold by fire. From this developed the senses of testing, affliction and punishment, and then related uses involving persecution, misguidance, conflict, and deviation.
- Maqāyīs · row 3510
- Mufradāt · row 1087
- 5
- Quran-attested forms
- 13
- Quran senses
- 60
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
فَتَنَ
fatana
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- Quran occurrences
- 23 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 burn someone with fire.
In Quranic usage, the passive may describe being burned in the fire; the verb can also describe those who inflict such burning.
- Lane · entry 33197
Selected Quran examples
Quran 85:10word 3
“persecuted”
To try, test, or subject someone to an ordeal.
The ordeal may involve hardship, punishment, or circumstances through which a person's condition is revealed. Active and passive uses express causing or undergoing the test.
- Lane · entry 33197
- Mufradāt · row 1087
Selected Quran examples
Quran 20:40word 23
“and We tried you”
To turn someone away from the right course or revealed truth; to tempt or lead someone astray.
The Quranic construction may express an attempt to divert someone from what was revealed, or to induce deviation from the right way.
- Lane · entry 33197
- Mufradāt · row 1087
Selected Quran examples
Quran 17:73word 3
“tempt you away”
To subject people to persecution, affliction, or killing.
This is a Quranic use in which the affliction imposed by opponents is understood as persecution or, in certain cited interpretations, killing.
- Lane · entry 33197
- Mufradāt · row 1087
Selected Quran examples
Quran 85:10word 3
“persecuted”
Quran 4:101word 15
“(may) harm you”
فَاتِنٌ
fātinun
- 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 causes another to err or go astray from the truth.
In the Quranic construction بِفَاتِنِينَ عَلَيْهِ, the participle denotes those unable to lead the designated person astray except by the decree described in the verse.
- Lane · entry 33211
- Mufradāt · row 1087
Selected Quran examples
Quran 37:162word 4
“can tempt away (anyone)”
فِتْنَةٌ
fitnahun
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 34 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.
A trial, test, or ordeal by which a person's condition is revealed.
The trial may come through hardship or prosperity, including circumstances involving wealth, children, or other worldly conditions; it is especially prominent in severe circumstances.
- Lane · entry 33205
- Mufradāt · row 1087
Selected Quran examples
Quran 21:35word 8
“(as) a trial”
Punishing affliction, torment, or chastisement.
The noun may name the painful consequence or punishment produced by the ordeal, including punishment associated with fire.
- Lane · entry 33205
- Mufradāt · row 1087
Selected Quran examples
Quran 37:63word 3
“a trial”
Persecution, oppression, or slaughter inflicted on people.
This use describes affliction imposed by human opponents, especially when believers are persecuted or prevented from practicing their faith.
- Lane · entry 33205
- Mufradāt · row 1087
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:193word 5
“oppression”
Quran 2:191word 8
“and [the] oppression”
Conflict, civil strife, factional discord, or dissension.
The noun can denote a condition in which people form opposing factions or fall into violent communal conflict.
- Lane · entry 33205
Selected Quran examples
Quran 9:47word 11
“dissension”
Unbelief or deviation from the right way.
In Quranic explanations of certain constructions, the noun denotes a state of religious deviation or unbelief rather than merely an external hardship.
- Lane · entry 33205
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:191word 8
“and [the] oppression”
فُتُونٌ
futūnun
- 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.
Testing, trial, or a severe course of trying.
The form can convey a thorough or manifold process of testing rather than a single isolated test.
- Lane · entry 33197
- Lane · entry 33207
- Mufradāt · row 1087
Selected Quran examples
Quran 20:40word 24
“(with) a trial”
مَفْتُونٌ
maftūnun
- 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.
Afflicted, tried, or overwhelmed by a trial.
In the Quranic occurrence, the form is interpreted as a person afflicted or tested by fitna; it is a passive-participial use.
- Lane · entry 33215
- Mufradāt · row 1087
Selected Quran examples
Quran 68:6word 2
“(is) the afflicted one”
Madness or insanity; alternatively, one afflicted by madness.
This is a competing interpretation of the Quranic expression in which the form may be understood substantivally as the state of madness rather than simply as an afflicted person.
- Lane · entry 33215
- Mufradāt · row 1087
Selected Quran examples
Quran 68:6word 2
“(is) the afflicted one”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:102فِتْنَةٌۭ(are) a trial
- 2:191وَٱلْفِتْنَةُand [the] oppression
- 2:193فِتْنَةٌۭoppression
- 2:217وَٱلْفِتْنَةُAnd [the] oppression
- 3:7ٱلْفِتْنَةِ[the] discord
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 30 Classical meanings
فَتَنَ
To melt or place gold or silver in fire in order to assay it and distinguish the good from the defective.
A concrete technical use associated with testing metal by fire.
- Lane · entry 33197
فَتَنَ
To captivate, enamour, or induce admiration and pleasure.
Used of an influence that takes away a person's composure or reason and causes attachment.
- Lane · entry 33197
فَتَنَ
To desire sexual intercourse or fornication.
A specialized intransitive construction, including فَتَنَ إِلَى النِّسَاءِ and its passive counterpart.
- Lane · entry 33197
مُفَاتَنَةٌ
The mutual or reciprocal causing of fitna, conflict, or discord with another.
A Form III verbal noun referring to the occasioning of fitna between parties.
- Lane · entry 33199
تَفَتَّنَ
To contend or wage war against one another.
Attested in the expression describing a group that continually quarrels in war.
- Lane · entry 33201
فَتْنٌ
A kind, sort, state, or condition; in the dual, the two end portions of the day.
The dual may refer to early morning and late evening because they are two distinct states or portions.
- Lane · entry 33203
فِتْنَةٌ
Burning with fire.
A concrete noun use referring to the act or condition of being burned.
- Lane · entry 33205
فِتْنَةٌ
The melting or assaying of gold and silver to separate the sound from the defective.
A technical use based on testing precious metal by fire.
- Lane · entry 33205
فِتْنَةٌ
Temptation, seduction, or a cause of being led astray.
May refer to worldly display, desire, or another influence that attracts a person and exposes or endangers his condition.
- Lane · entry 33205
فِتْنَةٌ
Madness, insanity, or diabolical possession.
A specialized state-of-affliction meaning distinct from ordinary testing or punishment.
- Lane · entry 33205
فِتْنَةٌ
A sin, crime, or act of disobedience deserving punishment.
A moral-legal extension of the noun's meaning.
- Lane · entry 33205
فِتْنَةٌ
Disgrace, shame, or ignominy.
A result or condition of being exposed to dishonor.
- Lane · entry 33205
فِتْنَةٌ
A cause of pleasure or satisfaction in another person, especially by giving that person grounds to feel superior.
A contextual and relational use, not a general synonym for every kind of trial.
- Lane · entry 33205
فِتْنَةٌ
In specialized expressions, the noun can designate whispering, being turned from the right road, questioning in the grave, a sword, or women.
These are fixed or conventional collocations whose interpretation depends on the accompanying qualifier.
- Lane · entry 33205
فِتْنَةٌ
The mimosa farnesiana plant.
A botanical homonym or specialized later usage.
- Lane · entry 33205
فِتَانٌ
A leather covering for a camel saddle.
Its plural is given as فُتُنٌ.
- Lane · entry 33206
فَتِينٌ
Burnt; also, by comparison, black stones or a black stony tract resembling burned stone.
The stone and terrain uses are figurative extensions from the appearance of burning.
- Lane · entry 33208
فَتِينٌ
Short or small.
A dialectal Yemeni use.
- Lane · entry 33208
فَتَّانٌ
An intensive epithet for one who tests or tempts repeatedly or intensely.
The intensive form may function adjectivally or as a substantivized epithet.
- Lane · entry 33210
فَتَّانٌ
A persistent tempter, specifically the devil.
A substantivized epithet for one who deceives people and embellishes disobedience.
- Lane · entry 33210
فَتَّانٌ
A goldsmith or silversmith.
Named for the craftsman's melting and testing of precious metals.
- Lane · entry 33210
فَتَّانَةٌ
A touchstone used to test gold and silver.
A feminine derivative referring to the testing stone.
- Lane · entry 33210
فَتَّانٌ
Either of the two angels said to examine and question the dead in the grave.
Usually used in the dual expression فَتَّانَا الْقَبْرِ.
- Lane · entry 33210
فَتَّانٌ
A dirham and a dinar, regarded as things that test or tempt people.
Used in the dual as a figurative designation of the two kinds of money.
- Lane · entry 33210
فَتَّانٌ
A thief or robber who intercepts travelers on the road.
A specialized occupational or descriptive use.
- Lane · entry 33210
فَاتِنٌ
Of a heart, fallen into a state of trial or affliction.
This is the active-participle form derived from the intransitive use of فَتَنَ, not the Quranic transitive sense ‘causing another to err.’
- Lane · entry 33211
فَيْتَنٌ
A carpenter.
A specialized lexical form with an irregular-looking pattern.
- Lane · entry 33212
مَفْتُونٌ
Burned or burnt.
A passive-participial use distinct from the Quranic interpretation of the occurrence as afflicted or mad.
- Lane · entry 33215
مَفْتُونٌ
Applied to gold or silver put into fire for assaying.
A specialized description of tested precious metal.
- Lane · entry 33215
مَفْتُونَةٌ
A group of black camels collected together.
The designation is based on their resemblance in blackness to a burned or black stony tract.
- Lane · entry 33216
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Quranic interpretation of مَفْتُونٌ in 68:6 is disputed: it may denote an afflicted or tested person, or madness/one afflicted by madness.
Several Lane citation references use historical notation; no such notation has been converted into an unsupported modern verse location.