Quranic root
رهب
r · h · b
The root has two principal semantic orientations: fear or apprehension, and thinness or lightness.
The fear branch extends from guarded fear to causing fear in others and to religious withdrawal or monastic austerity. A separate branch describes lean or fatigued camels, slender arrowheads, and a bone or cartilage in the chest.
- Maqāyīs · row 2164
- 8
- Quran-attested forms
- 9
- Quran senses
- 12
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
رَهِبَ
rahiba
- 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 fear; to experience fear with caution, apprehension, or awe.
An intransitive fear verb; the Quranic uses include direct exhortations to fear God and descriptions of people who are fearful.
- Lane · entry 24666
- Mufradāt · row 590
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:40word 13
“fear [Me]”
Quran 7:154word 15
“(are) fearful”
أَرْهَبَ
ʾarhaba
- 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 frighten, terrify, or cause someone to fear.
A transitive causative use, with the feared party expressed as the object or understood from context.
- Lane · entry 24668
- Mufradāt · row 590
Selected Quran examples
Quran 8:60word 10
“(to) terrify”
اِسْتَرْهَبَ
āistarhaba
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form X
- Form
- X
- 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 call forth fear in others, causing them to become afraid.
A causative construction in which the subject produces fear and the object is made to fear.
- Lane · entry 24670
- Mufradāt · row 590
Selected Quran examples
Quran 7:116word 8
“and terrified them”
رَهَبٌ
rahabun
- 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.
Fear or apprehensive dread.
A fear noun that can be coordinated with رغبة, desire or hope, as in the Quranic expression involving both desire and fear.
- Lane · entry 24666
- Mufradāt · row 590
Selected Quran examples
Quran 21:90word 16
“and fear”
رَهْبَانِيَّةٌ
rahbāniyyahun
- 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.
Monasticism or ascetic religious withdrawal; a life of religious austerity and detachment.
In the Quranic context, the term is associated with excessive religious discipline and withdrawal from ordinary human society, described as an innovation adopted by some people.
- Lane · entry 24683
- Mufradāt · row 590
Selected Quran examples
Quran 57:27word 19
“But monasticism”
رَهْبَةٌ
rahbahun
- 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.
Fear or apprehension, especially fear accompanied by caution.
A noun of emotional state; the Quranic use denotes fear in which the feared consequence is kept in view.
- Lane · entry 24666
- Lane · entry 24675
- Mufradāt · row 590
Selected Quran examples
Quran 59:13word 3
“(in) fear”
رُهْبَانٌ
ruhbānun
- Part of speech
- 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.
Monks or Christian religious recluses and devotees.
The form may function as a singular or plural in Classical Arabic; the Quranic occurrences refer to Christian religious figures as a group or class.
- Lane · entry 24687
- Mufradāt · row 590
Selected Quran examples
رَهْبٌ
rahbun
- 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.
Fear, panic, or apprehensive dread.
In 28:32 this is one established interpretation of the word, treating it as a fear noun related to رَهِبَ.
- Lane · entry 24673
- Mufradāt · row 590
Selected Quran examples
Quran 28:32word 14
“fear”
A sleeve.
In 28:32 this is an alternative lexical interpretation of the expression; the passage has competing transmitted readings and explanations, including the fear meaning.
- Lane · entry 24673
- Mufradāt · row 590
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:40فَٱرْهَبُونِfear [Me]
- 5:82وَرُهْبَانًۭاand monks
- 7:116وَٱسْتَرْهَبُوهُمْand terrified them
- 7:154يَرْهَبُونَ(are) fearful
- 8:60تُرْهِبُونَ(to) terrify
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
رَهَّبَ
To deter someone from a thing, making him relinquish it or abstain from it.
A transitive Form II use, contrasted with encouraging someone toward a thing.
- Lane · entry 24667
رَهَّبَ
To make someone a monk.
Reported as a later or possibly post-Classical use.
- Lane · entry 24667
رَهَّبَ / مُرَهِّبٌ
To become fatigued or jaded; of a camel, to falter or lie down from weakness, especially weakness in the back.
Applied to a person or camel; the participial form is specifically used of a fatigued she-camel.
- Lane · entry 24667
- Lane · entry 24690
رُهِّبَ
To be rubbed, apparently so as to be made thin, said of an iron arrowhead or blade.
A specialized description of an arrow or similar blade.
- Lane · entry 24667
أَرْهَبَ
To drive away, repel, or withhold camels from a watering place.
A specialized transitive use with camels as the object.
- Lane · entry 24668
أَرْهَبَ
To ride a camel of the kind called رَهْب.
A conventional use referring to a particular camel description.
- Lane · entry 24668
تَرَهَّبَ
To become a monk or ascetic and devote oneself to religious exercises, often by withdrawing from the world.
The practice may involve residence in a monastic cell and detachment from ordinary social life.
- Lane · entry 24669
تَرَهَّبَ
To threaten someone.
A transitive conventional use distinct from becoming a monk or ascetic.
- Lane · entry 24669
رَهْبٌ
A camel that is lean, emaciated, or fatigued from travel; also, a tall or broad-made male camel.
The descriptions vary by sex and authority and belong to specialized camel vocabulary.
- Lane · entry 24671
رَهْبٌ
A slender or large arrow, especially its thin iron head or blade.
The plural is رِهَابٌ.
- Lane · entry 24671
رَهْبَانُ
Excessively fearful.
Applied adjectivally, including of a person.
- Lane · entry 24679
رَهَبُوتٌ
Fearful or fearsome.
Applied to a man; the form also occurs in proverbial expressions concerning being feared rather than pitied.
- Lane · entry 24681
رَهَابَةٌ
The ensiform cartilage or lower extremity of the sternum, a small tongue-shaped bone or cartilage projecting over the abdomen.
An anatomical term; some authorities identify it with the extremity of the stomach.
- Lane · entry 24685
رَاهِبٌ
One who fears, especially one who fears God with reverence or guarded awe.
An active participial description of a person characterized by fear.
- Lane · entry 24687
رَاهِبٌ
A Christian monk, ascetic, religious recluse, or devotee.
The ordinary plural is رُهْبَانٌ, with other plural forms also attested.
- Lane · entry 24687
رَاهِبَةٌ
A state or condition that frightens.
A noun describing a frightening condition rather than a person who fears.
- Lane · entry 24688
أَرْهَابٌ
Birds that are not rapacious and do not prey.
The lexical explanation is preserved although the proposed connection with timidity is only reported as an interpretation.
- Lane · entry 24689
مَرْهُوبٌ
Feared, or regarded with guarded fear and awe.
Applied especially to God in the cited devotional expression.
- Lane · entry 24691
المَرْهُوبُ
The lion.
A conventional transferred designation based on being feared.
- Lane · entry 24691
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Quranic word in 28:32 has competing transmitted interpretations: fear or panic, and sleeve; both are preserved here without treating the historical citation notation as a modern location.
رُهْبَانٌ can be singular or plural in Classical Arabic, although its supplied Quranic occurrences refer to monks as a group or class.