Quranic root
نزع
n · z · ʿ
The root centers on pulling or drawing something out of its place, extending to removal, deprivation, reciprocal contention, and inclination.
The basic image of extracting or displacing develops into removing tangible or abstract things, stripping away authority or possessions, and forcibly drawing out people or souls. Related branches use the image for yearning or inherited inclination, while reciprocal forms express contending or exchanging with one another.
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- Lane · entry 32160
- 5
- Quran-attested forms
- 7
- Quran senses
- 20
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
نَزَعَ
nazaʿa
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- 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.
To pull, draw, pluck, or remove something from its place; to draw something or someone out, including by force.
The object may be tangible or abstract. Quranic uses include removing what is within the heart, withdrawing a condition, drawing people out of their place, and interpretations involving the extraction of souls.
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Selected Quran examples
To strip or deprive someone or something of a possession, authority, or other attribute; to take it away.
This sense includes the direct taking away of الملك or other possessed authority or endowment.
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Selected Quran examples
Quran 3:26word 9
“and You take away”
نَازَعَ
nāzaʿa
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form III
- Form
- III
- 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 contend or dispute with someone over a matter; to contest or litigate with someone.
The construction may take a person as the opposing party and use فِي for the matter at issue.
- Lane · entry 32161
Selected Quran examples
Quran 22:67word 8
“So let them not dispute with you”
تَنَازَعَ
tanāzaʿa
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form VI
- Form
- VI
- Quran occurrences
- 7 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 contend or dispute with one another; to disagree, quarrel, or litigate mutually.
The reciprocal form presents the parties as engaged with one another in contention or disagreement.
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Selected Quran examples
Quran 4:59word 12
“you disagree”
Quran 8:46word 5
“dispute”
To exchange mutually with one another, including words, discourse, or recitation.
This reciprocal branch can describe mutual discourse or recitation; in a Quranic context it may also describe something being passed or exchanged among the participants.
- Lane · entry 32162
Selected Quran examples
Quran 52:23word 1
“They will pass to one another”
نَزَّاعَة
nazzāʿah
- Part of speech
- Intensive 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.
A forceful remover or dragger; one that pulls something away intensely.
An intensive agentive noun; the Quranic form is feminine and occurs in a description of forceful removal.
- Lane · entry 32168
Selected Quran examples
Quran 70:16word 1
“A remover”
نَازِع
nāziʿ
- 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 pulls or extracts something; in the Quranic oath, those who extract.
The Quranic plural is interpreted as agents extracting souls; the active-participle form itself identifies the extracting agent without settling the precise referent.
- Mufradāt · row 1429
- Lane · entry 32160
- Lane · entry 32167
Selected Quran examples
Quran 79:1word 1
“By those who extract”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 3:26وَتَنزِعُand You take away
- 3:152وَتَنَـٰزَعْتُمْand you fell into dispute
- 4:59تَنَـٰزَعْتُمْyou disagree
- 7:27يَنزِعُstripping
- 7:43وَنَزَعْنَاAnd We will remove
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 19 Classical meanings
نَزَعَ إِلَى
To yearn, long, desire, or incline toward a person, place, or thing.
The construction commonly uses إِلَى. It may describe a person’s longing, an inward desire, or an animal’s yearning toward its pasture or homeland.
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نَزَعَ إِلَى أَبِيهِ
To take after, resemble, or incline toward an ancestor in inherited or hereditary qualities.
The expression may refer to resemblance to a father or to an ancestral quality returning in a descendant.
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نَزَعَ
To be in the agony of death or to give up the spirit.
This is an intransitive conventional use describing the soul as being drawn out at death.
- Lane · entry 32160
نَزَعَ فِي الْقَوْسِ
To draw a bow or pull its string, including with an arrow.
A specialized construction used with the bow and its string.
- Lane · entry 32160
نَزَعَ عَنِ الْأَمْرِ
To desist from or leave a matter; to refrain from it.
The construction uses عَنْ to mark the matter abandoned.
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نَازَعَ الْحَبْلَ
To contend with someone in pulling a rope.
This is the concrete pulling construction underlying the reciprocal sense of contention.
- Lane · entry 32161
نَازَعَتْنِي نَفْسِي
For one’s soul or inner desire to strive against one in order to incline one toward what it desires.
A figurative Form III construction describing inward struggle or pressure toward a desired object.
- Lane · entry 32161
اِنْتَزَعَ مِنْهُ حَقَّهُ
To wrest or forcibly take a right or due from someone.
The object is a right, due, or entitlement taken away from its holder.
- Lane · entry 32163
اِنْتَزَعَ
To extract or cite a passage, especially a Quranic verse, for a particular point.
The extracted passage is selected as evidence or support for the matter under discussion.
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نَزَعٌ / نَزْعَةٌ
Baldness or a bald patch at either side of the forehead.
The related adjective أَنْزَعُ describes a person whose hair has receded from both sides of the forehead.
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نَزُوعٌ
A well from which water is drawn by hand; a well whose water can be reached by drawing.
The term is applied to a well in relation to drawing its water, with lexicographical descriptions emphasizing its accessible or drawable depth.
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مَنْزَعُ بِئْرٍ
The bottom of a well, or the place from which its water is drawn.
A locative expression referring to the drawing-place within a well.
- Lane · entry 32170
مِنْزَعٌ
A drawing utensil, such as the spoon-like tool used by a honey collector.
A concrete instrument associated with extracting or drawing out honey.
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مَنْزَعَةُ الشَّرَابِ
The finish, cut, or manner in which a drink goes down; hence a drink with a pleasant finish.
A conventional nominal expression describing the point or quality of drinking rather than the act of extraction itself.
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النَّزَعَةُ
A return of a matter to the truth or proper course.
An idiomatic figurative use describing the matter as coming back to what is right.
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مَنْزَعَةٌ
An aspiration, aim, or level of ambition.
In the expression قَرِيبُ الْمَنْزَعَةِ, it refers to nearness in aspiration or ambition.
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مَنْزَعَةُ الرَّجُلِ
A person’s view, tendency, or opinion.
A nominal use for the direction of a person’s judgment or thought.
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النَّزَائِعُ مِنَ الْخَيْلِ
Horses associated with an inherited strain or taken from another stock.
The lexical tradition records both an inherited-traits interpretation and an interpretation referring to horses transferred from another people.
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نَزِيعٌ / نَزَائِعُ
A person separated from their own tribe or community; specifically, a woman married outside her clan, or more generally a stranger.
The feminine plural may refer to women married into other clans; نَزِيعٌ can be used more broadly for an outsider or stranger.
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Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The interpretation of نَّازِعَات in 79:1 is not fixed by the active-participle form alone; the evidence records the interpretation of agents extracting souls.
The historical Quran citation attached to نَزَّاعٌ is preserved as lexical evidence; the modern example location 70:16 is used because that location is independently supplied by QAC.