Quranic root
غفل
gh · f · l
The root centers on leaving something unattended, usually through inattention and sometimes deliberately, and hence on absent awareness or heedlessness.
From neglecting a matter, the root extends to being unaware or heedless of it. It also describes things left without identifying marks, signs, brands, or known distinction, yielding senses such as trackless land, unmarked animals, and inexperienced or unknown persons.
- Maqāyīs · row 3441
- Mufradāt · row 1059
- Lane · entry 29593
- Lane · entry 29600
- 4
- Quran-attested forms
- 5
- Quran senses
- 35
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
غَفَلَ
ghafala
- 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 be unmindful, unaware, heedless, or neglectful of something; to fail to attend to it.
The Quranic occurrence uses the construction غَفَلَ عَنْ and concerns neglect or inattention to something, including neglect that may occur despite remembering the matter or may be deliberate.
- Lane · entry 29593
- Mufradāt · row 1059
Selected Quran examples
Quran 4:102word 32
“you neglect”
أَغْفَلَ
ʾaghfala
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form IV
- Form
- IV
- 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 cause someone to be heedless, unaware, forgetful, or neglectful of something.
A causative construction; it may take the object of heedlessness with عَنْ. The Quranic usage concerns making or leaving a person heedless of remembrance or truth.
- Lane · entry 29596
- Mufradāt · row 1059
Selected Quran examples
Quran 18:28word 22
“We have made heedless”
To leave a heart without faith inscribed in it, or thereby render it heedless of divine remembrance.
A Quran-specific interpretive construction in أَغْفَلْنَا قَلْبَهُ عَنْ ذِكْرِنَا; this is a more specific formulation of the causative sense, expressed through the imagery of writing faith in the heart.
- Mufradāt · row 1059
Selected Quran examples
Quran 18:28word 22
“We have made heedless”
غَافِلٌ
ghāfilun
- Part of speech
- Active participle
- Quran occurrences
- 28 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.
Unmindful, unaware, heedless, or neglectful; lacking attention or requisite cognizance of a matter.
Used predicatively or substantivally of one who is not attending to, aware of, or vigilant toward something. The Quranic forms include masculine and feminine inflections and do not impose a restriction on the kind of object or matter concerned.
- Lane · entry 29608
- Mufradāt · row 1059
Selected Quran examples
Quran 7:205word 16
“the heedless”
Quran 24:23word 5
“the unaware women”
غَفْلَةٌ
ghaflahun
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 5 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.
Heedlessness, inattention, or unawareness arising from insufficient vigilance or consideration.
Used for a state of being unaware or inattentive, including being in heedlessness, arriving or acting at an unawares moment, or neglecting something; the state may sometimes involve intentional neglect.
- Lane · entry 29603
- Mufradāt · row 1059
Selected Quran examples
Quran 21:1word 6
“heedlessness”
Quran 28:15word 5
“(of) inattention”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:74بِغَـٰفِلٍunaware
- 2:85بِغَـٰفِلٍunaware
- 2:140بِغَـٰفِلٍunaware
- 2:144بِغَـٰفِلٍunaware
- 2:149بِغَـٰفِلٍunaware
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 25 Classical meanings
غَفَّلَهُ
To make someone unmindful, forgetful, heedless, or inadvertent.
A Form II causative use distinct from the Quran-attested Form I and Form IV entries.
- Lane · entry 29594
غَفَّلَهُ
To suffice one's companion in an affair while the companion is unmindful or unoccupied by it.
A specialized Form II construction concerning taking care of an affair on behalf of an inattentive companion.
- Lane · entry 29594
غَفَّلَهُ
To conceal a thing.
A separate lexical use reported for the Form II headword.
- Lane · entry 29594
غَافَلَهُ
To act with someone in the manner of one who is unmindful, heedless, or inadvertent.
A Form III reciprocal or interactional construction.
- Lane · entry 29595
أَغْفَلَهُ
In the expression مَا أَغْفَلَهُ عَنْكَ شَيْئًا, to dismiss doubt concerning him about anything.
An idiomatic Form IV expression rather than the ordinary causative construction.
- Lane · entry 29596
أَغْفَلَهُ
To strike or light upon someone while he is unmindful.
A specialized Form IV use describing action occurring upon a heedless person.
- Lane · entry 29596
أَغْفَلَهُ
To call or name someone heedless, or to render him stupid or foolish.
A Form IV use involving designation or the attribution of deficient intelligence.
- Lane · entry 29596
أَغْفَلَهُ
To ask someone for or about a thing while he is occupied, without waiting until he is free.
A specialized transitive Form IV construction concerning the timing of a request.
- Lane · entry 29596
أَغْفَلَ الدَّابَّةَ
To leave a beast unbranded and not mark it.
A Form IV construction with an animal as object.
- Lane · entry 29596
تَغَفَّلَهُ
To watch for someone's unmindfulness, forgetfulness, negligence, or inadvertence.
A Form V construction, also used with عَنْ in this sense.
- Lane · entry 29597
تَغَافَلَ
To feign being unmindful, forgetful, neglectful, or heedless; to act intentionally as though unaware.
A Form VI reflexive or performative use in which the apparent heedlessness may be assumed rather than real.
- Lane · entry 29598
تَغَافَلَ
To be deceived or circumvented while in a state of unmindfulness.
A separate Form VI result or passive-like use reported alongside the feigned-heedlessness sense.
- Lane · entry 29598
غُفْلٌ
Land or a road without cultivation or waymarks; a trackless or waterless expanse in which no known sign or trace guides a person.
Used of places lacking identifying or guiding marks.
- Lane · entry 29600
غُفْلٌ
An unmarked gaming arrow with no distinguishing notch, assigned portion, or fine.
A technical term for a gaming arrow lacking the marks that determine its allotment or penalty.
- Lane · entry 29600
غُفْلٌ
An unbranded beast, especially an unbranded she-camel.
The term may also describe an animal left without a brand for fiscal or customary purposes.
- Lane · entry 29600
غُفْلٌ
A camel or other livestock animal that yields no milk.
A plural use is reported for camels or cattle with this condition.
- Lane · entry 29600
غُفْلٌ
A copy of the Qur'an lacking the sectional or other distinguishing signs customarily added to the script.
A technical description of an unmarked manuscript; it is not assigned to a supplied QAC form group.
- Lane · entry 29600
غُفْلٌ
An anonymous book or writing, unknown-authored poetry, or an unknown and unnamed poet.
Used when authorship or identity is not supplied or known.
- Lane · entry 29600
غُفْلٌ
An inexperienced or undistinguished man whose benefit, harm, claims to honor, or possessions are not known.
A social description of someone not established by experience, reputation, or identifiable distinction.
- Lane · entry 29600
غُفْلٌ
The soft or furry portions of a camel's hair.
A specialized anatomical or zoological use, reported especially in the plural.
- Lane · entry 29600
غَفَلٌ
Abundance and ample, high-quality means of subsistence.
Used in the expression فِي غَفَلٍ مِنْ عَيْشِهِ, describing a state of plentiful livelihood.
- Lane · entry 29601
غَفُولٌ
A she-camel that does not take fright or flee, does not hold back from her young, and does not mind who milks her.
A specialized description of a particularly docile, unresisting she-camel.
- Lane · entry 29607
مُغْفِلٌ
One possessing camels that are not branded.
An active-participial nominal referring to ownership of unmarked camels.
- Lane · entry 29609
مَغْفَلَةٌ
The tuft of hair beneath the lower lip.
A specialized anatomical noun, especially in the context of washing it during ritual ablution.
- Lane · entry 29610
مُغَفَّلٌ
One made unmindful; by extension, a simpleton or a person devoid of intelligence, sagacity, skill, or natural understanding.
The concrete characterization as a simpleton is a derived lexical extension of being made heedless.
- Lane · entry 29611
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Form I QAC occurrence is an inflected imperfect form, so the public headword is normalized to غَفَلَ; the Form IV occurrence is likewise normalized to أَغْفَلَ.
The interpretation of أَغْفَلْنَا قَلْبَهُ عَنْ ذِكْرِنَا as leaving faith unwritten in the heart is preserved as a distinct Quranic construction because it is explicitly supplied, alongside the broader causative interpretation.
The classical غُفْلٌ entry includes an unmarked Qur'an manuscript, but this remains a Classical Arabic meaning rather than a separate Quranic form because no corresponding QAC غُفْلٌ form group is supplied.