Quranic root
كفل
k · f · l
The root centers on taking one thing into the responsibility, support, or sufficiency of another.
The semantic development is associated with a cloth or support wrapped around a camel's hump or rump to carry a rider. From this image arise the branches of undertaking responsibility, guardianship, suretyship, an apportioned share, and a carried or burdensome consequence.
- Maqāyīs · row 4015
- 5
- Quran-attested forms
- 6
- Quran senses
- 10
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
كَفَلَ
kafala
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- Quran occurrences
- 3 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 undertake responsibility for a person and provide care or guardianship.
The supplied Quran occurrences are person-directed and present the undertaking as taking charge of, nursing, or rearing the dependent.
- Lane · entry 32897
- Mufradāt · row 1258
Selected Quran examples
Quran 3:44word 14
“takes charge (of)”
Quran 20:40word 9
“will nurse and rear him”
Quran 28:12word 12
“who will rear him”
كَفَّلَ
kaffala
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form II
- Form
- II
- 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 place or assign a person under another's care by making that other person responsible for them.
In the Quranic passage concerning Mary, the doubled reading presents Zakariya as made responsible for her; the reported alternative reading has Zakariya himself undertaking her care. These reading differences are kept as a constructional nuance rather than separate lexical senses.
- Mufradāt · row 1258
Selected Quran examples
Quran 3:37word 8
“and put her in (the) care”
أَكْفَلَ
ʾakfala
- 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 make someone a responsible party for another person; hence, to entrust that person to them.
In the Quranic appeal, the speaker asks to be made her kafil, that is, to be entrusted with her care or responsibility.
- Mufradāt · row 1258
Selected Quran examples
Quran 38:23word 12
“Entrust her to me”
كَفِيل
kafīl
- Part of speech
- 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 guarantor, surety, or sponsor who assumes responsibility for another.
The Quranic occurrence uses the noun in the construction of making God a guarantor or surety over a covenant.
- Lane · entry 32899
- Mufradāt · row 1258
Selected Quran examples
Quran 16:91word 15
“a surety”
كِفْل
kifl
- 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.
A share or portion allotted from an act, bounty, or recompense.
In 57:28, كِفْلَيْنِ is explained as two portions of mercy or bounty, associated with this world and the next, or as a continuing blessing sufficient for one's needs. The share accruing from beneficial intercession in 4:85 is included in this branch.
- Mufradāt · row 1258
Selected Quran examples
Quran 4:85word 15
“a portion”
Quran 57:28word 9
“double portion”
A burdensome or adverse consequence incurred through joining another in a wrongful act or intercession.
In 4:85, this is treated as a figurative extension distinct from the ordinary share sense: supporting a bad act brings the participant a corresponding hardship or liability.
- Mufradāt · row 1258
Selected Quran examples
Quran 4:85word 15
“a portion”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 3:37وَكَفَّلَهَاand put her in (the) care
- 3:44يَكْفُلُtakes charge (of)
- 4:85كِفْلٌۭa portion
- 16:91كَفِيلًا ۚa surety
- 20:40يَكْفُلُهُۥ ۖwill nurse and rear him
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 9 Classical meanings
كَفَلَ
To assume legal responsibility for property, or to stand surety for a person's appearance or answerability in a suit.
This is the legal guarantee construction, including responsibility for what another person owes or for that person's presence before a claimant.
- Lane · entry 32897
كَفَالَة
Suretyship: the joining of one's liability to another person's liability so that one becomes answerable for what the other owes.
A formal responsibility or guarantee relation, equivalent to ضَمَان in the cited lexical discussion.
- Lane · entry 32900
كَفَل
The hinder part of the body: the buttocks, rump, or rear portion.
A bodily noun distinct from the responsibility and suretyship branch.
- Lane · entry 32898
مِكْفَال
A woman with a large hinder part or buttocks.
This specialized descriptive noun is explicitly associated with the كَفَل, the rear portion of the body.
- Lane · entry 32901
مَكْفُول
Guaranteed, pledged, or secured through an acknowledged assumption of responsibility.
A passive description of property or an obligation for which responsibility has been undertaken.
- Lane · entry 32902
كِفْل
A cloth or riding support wrapped around a camel's hump or rump, with its ends tied so that a rider may be carried.
This concrete support image is part of the root's classical lexical development and is not asserted as the direct sense of the Quranic common-noun occurrences.
- Maqāyīs · row 4015
كِفْل
A cowardly man who remains at the rear of battle, chiefly intent on withdrawal.
A figurative usage likening the man to a carried or immobilizing support that cannot advance freely.
- Maqāyīs · row 4015
كِفْل
In some usages, a double share of reward, or a corresponding double share of sin.
Reported as a usage in some linguistic varieties; it is broader than the specifically Quranic contexts represented above.
- Maqāyīs · row 4015
كَافِل
One who abstains from eating, or one who joins or continues fasting.
A recognized but etymologically uncertain lexical usage, explicitly reported as valid in speech.
- Maqāyīs · row 4015
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The reading of 3:37 varies: one reading presents Zakariya as made responsible for Mary, while another presents him as undertaking her care; this is reflected in the Form II usage conditions.
كِفْلَيْنِ in 57:28 is interpreted either as two portions of mercy or as a continuing, sufficient blessing; both interpretations are covered by the Quranic share sense.
Unassigned or ambiguous evidence
The QAC occurrences at 21:85 and 38:48 occur in the expression Dhul-Kifl. The supplied lexical evidence does not establish whether كِفْل there retains one of the common-noun senses or functions only as an unresolved proper-name element.