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Quranic root

رشد

r · sh · d

The root centers on taking a straight or rightly directed course, opposed to error and deviation.

From the straightness of a path, the root develops meanings of right guidance, rectitude, sound judgment, maturity, rightly directed persons, and destinations toward which roads lead.

  • Maqāyīs · row 2036
  • Mufradāt · row 553
7
Quran-attested forms
8
Quran senses
19
Quran occurrences

Forms in the Quran

The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.

رَشَدَ

rashada

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.

  1. To take or follow a right way, course, or direction; to be rightly guided.

    Used of a road, an affair, or a person's direction in life; the course may include steadfast adherence to what is right.

    • Lane · entry 23329
    • Mufradāt · row 553
    Selected Quran examples

    Quran 2:186word 17

    (be) led aright

مُرْشِد

murshid

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.

  1. One who directs or guides another to the right way.

    An active participle of Form IV, with a guiding or directing object understood from the construction.

    • Lane · entry 23331
    Selected Quran examples

    Quran 18:17word 34

    a guide

رَشَد

rashad

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.

  1. A right way, course, or direction; a right course in an affair.

    The noun denotes right direction or a right outcome without requiring a distinction between worldly and otherworldly affairs.

    • Lane · entry 23329
    • Mufradāt · row 553
    Selected Quran examples

    Quran 18:10word 16

    (in the) right way

رُشْد

rushd

Part of speech
Noun
Quran occurrences
6 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. Rectitude, right guidance, or the right way, opposed to error and deviation.

    Used for right direction in religious or general affairs, including a person's being shown or given the right way.

    • Lane · entry 23333
    • Mufradāt · row 553
    Selected Quran examples

    Quran 2:256word 7

    the right (path)

  2. Maturity of intellect, sound judgment, and capacity for proper management of affairs.

    In the Quranic property context, it concerns recognizing an orphan's maturity and discretion sufficient for responsible management.

    • Lane · entry 23333
    • Mufradāt · row 553
    Selected Quran examples

    Quran 4:6word 10

    sound judgement

رَشَاد

rashād

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. Right procedure or the adoption and pursuit of a right way, course, or direction.

    May describe right conduct in a road or an affair; the Quranic occurrences present it as the right course to which one guides another.

    • Lane · entry 23338
    Selected Quran examples

    Quran 40:38word 8

    the right

رَشِيد

rashīd

Part of speech
Adjective / Noun
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. Right-minded, rightly directed, or soundly conducted.

    May qualify a person as following a right course or an affair as soundly directed; the Quran applies it to both kinds of subject.

    • Lane · entry 23340
    • Mufradāt · row 553
    Selected Quran examples

    Quran 11:78word 26

    right-minded

    Quran 11:97word 10

    was right

رَاشِد

rāshid

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.

  1. One who takes or follows a right course; rightly guided.

    The supplied Quran occurrence is plural; the public headword is normalized to the singular active-participial citation form.

    • Lane · entry 23340
    • Mufradāt · row 553
    Selected Quran examples

    Quran 49:7word 28

    the guided ones

Occurrences in the Quran

Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.

  • 2:186يَرْشُدُونَ(be) led aright
  • 2:256ٱلرُّشْدُthe right (path)
  • 4:6رُشْدًۭاsound judgement
  • 7:146ٱلرُّشْدِ(of) the righteousness
  • 11:78رَّشِيدٌۭright-minded
View all 19 occurrences

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
  • رَشَدَ

    To hold a right belief or be orthodox.

    A religious application of taking the right course, contrasted with error or deviation.

    • Lane · entry 23329
  • رَشَاد

    Right belief or orthodoxy.

    A religious extension of right procedure, contrasted with error and deviation.

    • Lane · entry 23338
  • رَشَّدَ

    To pronounce or make someone rightly directed or right-minded.

    A causative Form II construction, including the use of a judge declaring someone to be rightly guided or orthodox.

    • Lane · entry 23330
  • أَرْشَدَ

    To cause someone to hold a right belief or become orthodox.

    The religious application of the Form IV causative construction.

    • Lane · entry 23331
  • اِسْتَرْشَدَ

    To seek or ask for direction to the right way.

    May mean seeking to follow a right course oneself or requesting direction to it from another person.

    • Lane · entry 23332
  • رِشْدَة

    A mode, manner, or act of right procedure.

    A nominal use related to right procedure or conduct.

    • Lane · entry 23335
  • رِشْدَة

    Legitimate or trueborn descent; an offspring of valid marriage.

    Used in idioms contrasting lawful birth with illegitimate birth, and in expressions about claiming a child as one's own.

    • Lane · entry 23335
  • حَبُّ الرَّشَاد

    A name for garden cress or its seed, and related cress plants.

    A botanical and dialectal use; in the cited Iraqi usage it is equated with الحُرْف.

    • Lane · entry 23338
  • الرَّشِيد

    The Director to the right way; one who appoints or ordains well and whose regulations reach their proper aims.

    A divine epithet, distinct from the ordinary human or situational adjective meaning rightly directed.

    • Lane · entry 23339
  • أُمُّ رَاشِد

    A surname for the female rat or mouse.

    A fixed lexical surname or epithet.

    • Lane · entry 23340
  • أَرْشَد

    More or most direct, especially of a road.

    Used in the expression الطريق الأرشد, the more or most direct road.

    • Lane · entry 23341
  • المَرَاشِد

    The right places toward which roads lead; destinations of roads.

    A plural form reported without a singular.

    • Lane · entry 23342

Cautions

Points that affect how this root should be read.

  • A reported attempt to restrict رَشَد to matters of the afterlife and رُشْد to worldly matters is not consistent with the recorded Arabic usage or Quranic readings.

  • The public verb headword is the classical perfect citation form رَشَدَ, although the supplied Quran occurrence is an imperfect plural form.