Quranic root
لزم
l · z · m
The root centers on continuous accompaniment: one thing remains with, adheres to, or is inseparable from another.
This orientation develops into remaining attached, imposing or becoming bound by an obligation, making something adhere as an assigned consequence, and requiring or entailing something necessarily.
- Maqāyīs · row 4152
- Mufradāt · row 1301
- Lane · entry 20603
- Lane · entry 20605
- 2
- Quran-attested forms
- 3
- Quran senses
- 5
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
أَلْزَمَ
ʾalzama
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form IV
- Form
- IV
- 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.
1. To compel or oblige someone to accept or comply with something.
A causative construction in which a person is brought under an obligation through command, judgment, or imposed necessity; the Quranic usage includes compelling acceptance of a matter.
- Lane · entry 20605
- Mufradāt · row 1301
Selected Quran examples
Quran 11:28word 16
“should We compel you (to accept) it”
2. To make a thing, condition, or consequence adhere to someone, or to make people adhere to something; to assign it as inseparably binding.
Used for causatively fastening or imposing something so that it remains attached or necessarily accompanies the person or group; this includes the attachment of a person's assigned condition or works and the imposition of adherence to a principle.
- Lane · entry 20605
- Mufradāt · row 1301
Selected Quran examples
Quran 17:13word 3
“We have fastened to him”
Quran 48:26word 17
“and made them adhere”
لِزَام
lizām
- Part of speech
- Noun
- 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.
1. Something binding or inevitable; an outcome or condition that necessarily remains incumbent or comes to pass.
In the Quranic occurrences, the noun presents binding necessity; context may render it as an obligation or as something inevitable. The contextual association with punishment does not create a separate lexical sense.
- Mufradāt · row 1301
Selected Quran examples
Quran 20:129word 7
“an obligation”
Quran 25:77word 12
“the inevitable (punishment)”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 11:28أَنُلْزِمُكُمُوهَاshould We compel you (to accept) it
- 17:13أَلْزَمْنَـٰهُWe have fastened to him
- 20:129لِزَامًۭاan obligation
- 25:77لِزَامًۢاthe inevitable (punishment)
- 48:26وَأَلْزَمَهُمْand made them adhere
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 12 Classical meanings
لَزِمَهُ
To belong or pertain inseparably to someone or something; to remain attached, keep close, stay with, or retain it.
Includes staying at a place without leaving it, adhering to a debtor, and preserving or keeping a thing.
- Lane · entry 20603
لَزِمَهُ
To be incumbent or obligatory upon someone.
Used of the management of an affair, the payment of money, or another responsibility that lies upon a person.
- Lane · entry 20603
لَازَمَهُ
To keep close to, confine oneself to, cling to, or continue with someone or something.
Form III expresses sustained or continual adherence to the object or activity.
- Lane · entry 20604
أَلْزَمَهُ
To impose an obligation on someone—to make him accept proof, perform an act, pay money, or undergo or endure something.
These are broader Classical applications of the Form IV causative beyond the specific Quranic contexts represented above.
- Lane · entry 20605
اِلْتَزَمَ
To take an affair upon oneself, assume responsibility for it, or bind oneself to its obligation.
Includes making oneself answerable or accountable for property, payment, or work.
- Lane · entry 20606
اِلْتَزَمَ
To restrict oneself to an action or usage, and thereby become bound or obligated to perform, pay, suffer, or endure it.
The construction concerns self-imposed adherence or obligation.
- Lane · entry 20606
اِلْتِزَامٌ
Embracing or holding someone close.
Attested in the cited idiomatic construction involving taking someone by the hand and embracing him.
- Lane · entry 20606
اِسْتَلْزَمَهُ
To necessarily require, entail, or involve something.
The object is presented as a necessary implication or concomitant of another matter.
- Lane · entry 20607
لَزُومٌ
One who keeps, cleaves, clings, or holds fast habitually to a thing.
An intensive or habitual description of persistent adherence.
- Lane · entry 20608
لُزُومُ مَا لَا يَلْزَمُ
Imposing upon oneself what is not indispensable; in rhetoric, adhering to a mode of construction that need not be followed.
A conventional technical expression concerning unnecessary self-imposition or formal adherence.
- Lane · entry 20609
لَازِمٌ
Adherent, tenacious, or inseparable; a necessary accompaniment, consequence, or result.
The adjective describes what remains closely attached; the plural لوازم denotes necessary adjuncts or consequences.
- Lane · entry 20610
أَلْزَمُ
More or most preservative; most conducive to preserving or safeguarding something.
Attested as a synonym of أَقْنَى in a proverb concerning what best preserves modesty.
- Lane · entry 20611
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Form IV Quranic usages distinguish compelling or obliging someone from making an item or consequence adhere to someone; translations may alternate between these patterns.
For لِزَام, “obligation” and “inevitable” represent the same binding-necessity notion in context; “punishment” is contextual rather than a separate lexical sense.
A Lane Quran citation associated with the attachment/decree discussion is not used here as an additional modern verse location; the examples use only secure QAC locations.