Quranic root
رجس
r · j · s
The root centers on commotion or admixture, extending to resonant noise and to defiling impurity.
Classical usage connects mixing and tumult with thunderous or reverberant sound, while the impurity branch treats filth as a polluting mixture; Quranic usage develops this into physical, legal, and moral abomination.
- Maqāyīs · row 1974
- Mufradāt · row 533
- 1
- Quran-attested forms
- 3
- 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.
رِجْسٌ
rijsun
- Part of speech
- Noun
- 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.
Filth or polluting abomination: something regarded as unclean or prohibited.
This branch concerns impurity recognized through physical or normative grounds, including legally forbidden substances or practices; it is not limited to a literal physical substance.
- Lane · entry 22579
- Mufradāt · row 533
Selected Quran examples
Quran 5:90word 9
“(are an) abomination”
Quran 6:145word 23
“(is) filth”
Moral or religious corruption: a sinful or forbidden act, unbelief, doubt, or another spiritually repugnant state.
Used of blameworthy acts or conditions, including shirk, unbelief, doubt, and an increase of such corruption; the sense may be rendered as evil, impurity, or abomination according to construction.
- Lane · entry 22579
- Mufradāt · row 533
Selected Quran examples
Quran 9:125word 9
“their evil”
Quran 33:33word 21
“the impurity”
Punishment or divine anger inflicted as the consequence of evil.
A Quran-attested interpretive branch, especially reported for the construction in 10:100; it should not be generalized to occurrences where the noun denotes filth or moral corruption.
- Lane · entry 22579
- Mufradāt · row 533
Selected Quran examples
Quran 10:100word 10
“the wrath”
Quran 7:71word 7
“punishment”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 5:90رِجْسٌۭ(are an) abomination
- 6:125ٱلرِّجْسَthe filth
- 6:145رِجْسٌ(is) filth
- 7:71رِجْسٌۭpunishment
- 9:95رِجْسٌۭ ۖ(are) impure
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 14 Classical meanings
رَجَسَ
To thunder vehemently or make a loud, confused noise.
Said of the sky, a camel, or a great confused thing such as an army or torrent.
- Lane · entry 22576
رَجَسَ
To measure the water or depth of a well with a مِرْجَاس.
- Lane · entry 22576
رَجَسَ
To hinder, withhold, or prevent someone from doing something.
- Lane · entry 22576
رَجِسَ / رَجُسَ
To be or become unclean, dirty, filthy, stinking, or disliked because of uncleanness.
This is the verbal state or change-of-state usage, distinct from the Quranic noun.
- Lane · entry 22576
رَجِسَ / رَجُسَ
To commit a bad, evil, abominable, or foul action.
- Lane · entry 22576
اِرْتَجَسَ
To become agitated or commotional so as to make a sound or noise.
Said of a building.
- Lane · entry 22578
رِجْسٌ
Malediction or execration.
A further Classical Arabic use, distinct from the Quran-attested punishment-and-anger interpretation.
- Lane · entry 22579
رِجْسٌ
A light or slight motion.
- Lane · entry 22579
رِجْسٌ
A suggestion of the devil.
- Lane · entry 22579
رَاجِسٌ
A loud-thundering or vehemently noisy thing.
Applied to a cloud or thunder, to a camel that brays vehemently, and to the sea because of the sound or commotion of its waves.
- Lane · entry 22584
رَاجِسٌ
The thrower of a مِرْجَاس.
- Lane · entry 22584
مِرْجَاسٌ
A stone attached to a rope and lowered or thrown into a well.
It may be used to stir up mud so the well can be cleaned, or to determine the well's depth or whether it contains water by the sound of the stone.
- Lane · entry 22588
مَرْجُوسَةٌ
A state of confusion and perturbation.
Used with reference to a person's affair or circumstances.
- Lane · entry 22590
نَرْجِسٌ
Narcissus, a sweet-smelling flower.
A borrowed botanical noun whose etymological relationship to the root is not established by the lexical meaning itself.
- Lane · entry 22593
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The punishment-and-anger branch is a specifically attested Quranic interpretation, especially for 10:100, and should not be imposed on every occurrence of رِجْسٌ.
The botanical noun نَرْجِسٌ is included as a lexical entry, but its borrowed origin means it should not be treated as evidence for the root's semantic development.