Quranic root
جهل
j · h · l
The root has two principal orientations: being contrary to knowledge, and being light, unsettled, or lacking composure.
The first orientation extends from lack of knowledge to mistaken belief and conduct contrary to what is right; the second yields senses of agitation, stirring, and places or circumstances lacking guidance.
- Maqāyīs · row 1246
- Mufradāt · row 275
- 5
- Quran-attested forms
- 7
- Quran senses
- 24
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
جَهِلَ
jahila
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- 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.
To be ignorant of something; not to know it.
A knowledge-related use, including predicative statements about people who lack understanding of a matter.
- Lane · entry 47641
Selected Quran examples
Quran 6:111word 22
“(are) ignorant”
To act ignorantly, foolishly, or wrongly.
Describes conduct contrary to sound judgment or to what ought to be done, rather than merely an absence of information.
- Lane · entry 47641
Selected Quran examples
Quran 27:55word 11
“ignorant”
جَاهِلٌ
jāhilun
- Part of speech
- Active participle
- Quran occurrences
- 10 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.
An ignorant or unaware person; one who does not know.
This use can be non-pejorative, as when referring simply to someone unaware of another person's condition.
- Lane · entry 47648
- Mufradāt · row 275
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:273word 13
“the ignorant one”
A foolish or wrong-conducting person, characterized by blameworthy ignorance.
Usually dispraising; it can denote conduct contrary to what ought to be done, not only lack of information.
- Lane · entry 47648
- Mufradāt · row 275
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:67word 20
“the ignorant”
جَاهِلِيَّة
jāhiliyyah
- Part of speech
- Noun · state or period
- Quran occurrences
- 4 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 state or period of pagan and ignorant custom, judgment, or conduct.
The term can denote an age or a condition; Quranic uses apply it to the characteristic judgments, zealotry, and public behavior of pagan ignorance.
- Lane · entry 47652
Selected Quran examples
Quran 3:154word 21
“(of) [the] ignorance”
Quran 48:26word 9
“(of the time of) ignorance”
جَهَالَة
jahālah
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 4 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.
Ignorance expressed in wrongful action or in acting without due understanding.
In the construction بِجَهَالَةٍ, it describes the circumstance in which someone commits harm or another wrong; it need not mean total absence of knowledge.
- Lane · entry 47646
- Mufradāt · row 275
Selected Quran examples
Quran 49:6word 12
“in ignorance”
Quran 16:119word 7
“in ignorance”
جَهُول
jahūl
- Part of speech
- Adjective
- 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.
Very or intensely ignorant; strongly characterized by ignorance.
An intensive adjective related to جَاهِلٌ.
- Lane · entry 47648
Selected Quran examples
Quran 33:72word 18
“ignorant”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:67ٱلْجَـٰهِلِينَthe ignorant
- 2:273ٱلْجَاهِلُthe ignorant one
- 3:154ٱلْجَـٰهِلِيَّةِ ۖ(of) [the] ignorance
- 4:17بِجَهَـٰلَةٍۢin ignorance
- 5:50ٱلْجَـٰهِلِيَّةِ(of the time of) ignorance
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 20 Classical meanings
جَهِلَ
To neglect or ignore the truth, right, or what is due.
A transitive use with truth or right as the object.
- Lane · entry 47641
جَهِلَ
Of a cooking pot, to boil vehemently.
A specialized figurative or tropical use, contrasted with becoming calm or restrained.
- Lane · entry 47641
جَهَّلَ
To attribute ignorance to someone or cause someone to fall into ignorance.
Form II causative or ascriptive use.
- Lane · entry 47642
مُجَاهَلَة
Acting with someone in a frivolous, foolish, or ignorant manner.
A reciprocal or interpersonal construction involving conduct toward another person.
- Lane · entry 47643
تَجَاهَلَ
To feign ignorance or make a false show of ignorance.
It may occur with عَلَيْهِ, meaning to feign ignorance toward someone.
- Lane · entry 47644
اِسْتَجْهَلَ
To reckon or esteem someone ignorant.
A Form X evaluative use in which a person is judged to be جاهل.
- Lane · entry 47645
اِسْتَجْهَلَ
To excite someone to levity, unsteadiness, or agitation; to put something into commotion.
The object may be a person or, in a tropical use, a branch agitated by the wind.
- Lane · entry 47645
جَهْل
Ignorance: lack of knowledge, mistaken belief, or conduct contrary to what ought to be done.
Classical analyses distinguish simple ignorance, false conviction about reality, and wrong action; the noun can also describe misdirected learning or affected knowledge.
- Lane · entry 47646
جَاهِل
A lion unaware of its prey.
A specialized lexical use of the active-participle form.
- Lane · entry 47648
جَيْهَل
A great or imposing epithet applied to a smooth rock.
A specialized nominal epithet.
- Lane · entry 47649
جَيْهَلَة
A stick used to stir live coals or, in some accounts, wine.
A regional or specialized noun for an implement.
- Lane · entry 47650
جَاهِلِيّ
Pagan or belonging to the pre-Islamic Arabs; specifically, a poet of the earliest pre-Islamic class.
Used as an ethnic, religious, historical, or literary designation.
- Lane · entry 47651
مَجْهَل
An affair, circumstance, quality, practice, or action that leads a person to believe something contrary to reality.
A causative noun for a situation that produces mistaken understanding.
- Lane · entry 47653
مَجْهَل
A trackless desert or land lacking signs by which the way can be recognized.
Its plural is مَجَاهِل; the sense is the opposite of a place marked by guiding signs.
- Lane · entry 47653
مَجْهَلَة
A cause or incitement to ignorant, foolish, or wrong conduct.
A thing that prompts someone to act improperly; children are given as an illustrative example.
- Lane · entry 47655
مِجْهَال
A light, brisk, or agile she-camel in her pace.
A specialized tropical or dialectal noun.
- Lane · entry 47657
مَجْهُول
Unknown or of unknown identity, origin, or authorship.
Applies to an unknown thing, a person of unknown origin, or a work of unknown authorship.
- Lane · entry 47658
مَجْهُول
A she-camel that has never been milked, is unbranded, or has never conceived.
A specialized tropical description of an untouched or unhandled she-camel.
- Lane · entry 47658
مُسْتَجْهِل
One who makes himself appear ignorant or feigns ignorance.
An active-participle use describing self-presentation as جاهل.
- Lane · entry 47659
مُسْتَجْهِل
One who reckons or esteems another to be ignorant.
An active-participle use describing the judgment that someone is جاهل.
- Lane · entry 47659
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The two QAC جَاهِلِيَّة groupings differ in grammatical tagging, including a proper-noun tag, but are presented as one normalized lexical entry.
Lane's جَاهِلِيّ entry contains an unclear additional statement about possible relation to the plural of شَاهِدٌ; that grammatical or textual issue is not treated as a core meaning of this root.
Unassigned or ambiguous evidence
The wording in Lane entry 47651 concerning جَاهِلِيّ as 'sometimes' a plural of شَاهِدٌ is unclear in the supplied transcription and cannot be confidently assigned as a root-derived lexical sense.