Quranic root
رجز
r · j · z
The root centers on agitation, convulsive movement, and successive or unsettled motion.
The physical notion of trembling develops into the camel disease called رَجَز, the metrical movement of rajaz verse, repeated or continuous sounds, and related objects named for their motion. In Quranic usage, رِجْز is chiefly punishment or torment, while the reading رُجْز in 74:5 has several reported moral and idolatrous interpretations.
- Maqāyīs · row 1973
- Mufradāt · row 532
- 1
- Quran-attested forms
- 4
- 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.
رِجْز / رُجْز
rijz / rujz
- 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.
Punishment, torment, or a painful affliction.
Used for divine punishment, including punishment sent down upon a people or from heaven. The lexical explanation connects this punishment with a violently agitating or convulsive affliction.
- Lane · entry 22567
- Mufradāt · row 532
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:59word 13
“a punishment”
Quran 7:162word 12
“torment”
Quran 29:34word 7
“a punishment”
Quran 34:5word 10
“foul nature”
The evil prompting or corrupting influence attributed to Satan.
In the construction رِجْزَ الشَّيْطَانِ, this includes Satanic suggestions and the impulses toward disbelief, falsehood, or فساد.
- Lane · entry 22567
- Mufradāt · row 532
Selected Quran examples
Quran 8:11word 15
“evil (suggestions)”
An idol or idolatrous worship.
One reported interpretation of الرُّجْزَ in 74:5; the interpretation may refer either to idol worship generally or to a particular idol.
- Lane · entry 22567
- Mufradāt · row 532
Selected Quran examples
Quran 74:5word 1
“And uncleanliness”
Sinful conduct, moral or spiritual uncleanness, or filth.
Reported for الرُّجْزَ in 74:5, including conduct that leads to punishment; the alternatives reflect the exegetical readings recorded for that verse.
- Lane · entry 22567
- Mufradāt · row 532
Selected Quran examples
Quran 74:5word 1
“And uncleanliness”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:59رِجْزًۭاa punishment
- 7:134ٱلرِّجْزُthe punishment
- 7:134ٱلرِّجْزَthe punishment
- 7:135ٱلرِّجْزَthe punishment
- 7:162رِجْزًۭاtorment
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 16 Classical meanings
رِجْز
Commotion, agitation, convulsion, or successive movement.
The basic lexical signification from which several physical, poetic, and figurative branches are explained.
- Lane · entry 22567
رَجَز
A disease of camels causing trembling or convulsive movement in the hindquarters when the animal rises or is roused.
A specialized animal-disease term; the affected animal may have trembling thighs followed by sudden extension.
- Lane · entry 22559
- Lane · entry 22568
أَرْجَز
A camel afflicted with رَجَز.
The feminine form رَجْزَاءُ is also used, including of a camel weak in the rump and unable to rise without vehement trembling.
- Lane · entry 22572
رَجَز
The rajaz metrical form of Arabic verse.
A verse meter characterized by successive patterned movements; it may be shortened and was also used in work songs and in driving camels.
- Lane · entry 22568
رَجَزَ
To recite, compose, or versify in the rajaz meter; also to sing rajaz in order to urge camels.
The verb takes the poetic or metrical sense, including reciting a rajaz poem to another person.
- Lane · entry 22559
رَاجَزَ
To recite rajaz verse with another person or vie with a companion in doing so.
A reciprocal or competitive poetic construction.
- Lane · entry 22561
تَرَاجَزَ
To recite rajaz verse with one another or compete in reciting it.
Used for mutual participation in rajaz recitation.
- Lane · entry 22564
رَجَزَ
Of wind, thunder, the sea, or clouds: to make continuous, consecutive, or murmuring sounds.
The usage is figurative or descriptive of sustained motion and sound; clouds may also move slowly because of the abundance of their water.
- Lane · entry 22559
تَرَاجَزَ
Of clouds: to thunder together or produce uninterrupted successive thunder.
A reciprocal cloud-sound construction.
- Lane · entry 22564
رَاجِز
A cloud that thunders much or continuously; rain accompanied by thunder.
A descriptive active-participial use applied to clouds or rain.
- Lane · entry 22571
رَجْزَاء
Of the wind: continuous or lasting.
A feminine adjectival form used in a figurative description of sustained wind.
- Lane · entry 22572
رِجْز
Plague or pestilence.
A specialized classical synonym for طَاعُونٌ.
- Lane · entry 22567
رِجَازَة
A small women's vehicle like a howdah, or a weighted, padded, or ornamental attachment hung from a howdah.
The attachment may contain stones, pillows, skins, hair, or wool: it is used to balance a tilting howdah or for ornament.
- Lane · entry 22569
رَاجِز
One who recites, composes, or frequently performs rajaz verse.
The intensive forms رَجَّاز and رَجَّازَة are cross-referred to this poetic-agent meaning.
- Lane · entry 22571
أُرْجُوزَة
A poem composed in the rajaz meter.
Its plural is أَرَاجِيزُ.
- Lane · entry 22573
رَجْزَاء
A great, heavy cooking pot.
A specialized expression in رَجْزَاءُ القِيَامِ.
- Lane · entry 22572
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The QAC data separates رِجْز and رُجْز as two nominal lemma groups; they are normalized here under one public noun entry, while the special interpretations associated with رُجْز in 74:5 remain explicit.
The interpretations of 74:5 are reported alternatives, including an idol or idolatry and sin or uncleanness; they should not be treated as a single uncontested gloss.