Quranic root
رسل
r · s · l
The root centers on being sent forth and extending outward, especially in an easy, unforced manner.
From easy movement and gradual extension develop the ideas of release, dispatch, successive company, communication, and the messenger who conveys a message.
- Maqāyīs · row 2029
- Mufradāt · row 552
- 6
- Quran-attested forms
- 10
- Quran senses
- 513
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
أَرْسَلَ
ʾarsala
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form IV
- Form
- IV
- Quran occurrences
- 130 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 send, dispatch, or cause someone or something to go or arrive.
Used for sending prophets, messengers, people, angels, forces, rain, wind, and other things; the construction may express sending down, upon, against, or with a message. Active, passive, and imperative forms occur in the Quran.
- Lane · entry 23236
- Mufradāt · row 552
Selected Quran examples
Quran 11:25word 2
“We sent”
Quran 30:46word 4
“He sends”
To release, let loose, or leave unrestrained; hence, to set or turn something against others.
A distinct Quranic use in which sending involves releasing or appointing something with power over others, especially in the passage about the devils sent against the unbelievers.
- Lane · entry 23236
- Mufradāt · row 552
Selected Quran examples
Quran 19:83word 4
“[We] have sent”
مُرْسَلَة
mursalah
- Part of speech
- Passive 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.
Those sent forth: winds sent forth.
One interpretation of the feminine plural passive participle in 77:1; the form is used substantively and occurs only in this Quranic expression.
- Lane · entry 23255
- Mufradāt · row 552
Selected Quran examples
Quran 77:1word 1
“By the ones sent forth”
Those sent forth: angels sent forth.
An alternative interpretation of the same Quranic expression in 77:1.
- Lane · entry 23255
Selected Quran examples
Quran 77:1word 1
“By the ones sent forth”
Those sent forth: horses started successively in a race.
An alternative interpretation of the same Quranic expression, emphasizing successive release in the racecourse.
- Lane · entry 23255
Selected Quran examples
Quran 77:1word 1
“By the ones sent forth”
مُرْسِل
mursil
- Part of speech
- Active participle
- 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.
One who sends, dispatches, or releases.
An active participle of أَرْسَلَ, used substantively for a sender and in contexts where sending has the sense of releasing or setting something forth.
- Lane · entry 23236
- Mufradāt · row 552
Selected Quran examples
مُرْسَل
mursal
- Part of speech
- Passive participle
- Quran occurrences
- 35 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.
One sent; a messenger or emissary dispatched by a sender.
The passive participle is frequently substantivized in the Quran for messengers, including divinely sent human messengers and other dispatched beings; voice and number are grammatical variants of the same lexical use.
- Lane · entry 23247
- Mufradāt · row 552
Selected Quran examples
Quran 6:48word 3
“the Messengers”
Quran 7:75word 15
“(is the) one sent”
Quran 36:14word 11
“(are) Messengers”
رَسُول
rasūl
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 332 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.
A message or communication conveyed from one party to another.
In a Quranic construction, especially one discussed in connection with 26:16, رسول may denote the conveyed message rather than its human or angelic bearer.
- Lane · entry 23247
- Mufradāt · row 552
Selected Quran examples
Quran 26:16word 5
“(are the) Messenger”
A messenger: one sent with a message, especially a divinely commissioned prophet or emissary.
The noun is used for human prophets and for angels or other emissaries; it can be applied with flexible number and gender according to the construction, without creating a separate lexical sense.
- Lane · entry 23247
- Mufradāt · row 552
Selected Quran examples
Quran 7:37word 19
“Our messengers (Angels)”
Quran 16:113word 3
“a Messenger”
رِسَالَة
risālah
- 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.
A message or communication, especially a divinely entrusted message.
The singular and plural forms denote a message or messages associated with a messenger or divine commission; number and possessive constructions account for the Quranic variation.
- Lane · entry 23250
- Mufradāt · row 552
Selected Quran examples
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:87بِٱلرُّسُلِ ۖwith [the] Messengers
- 2:87رَسُولٌۢa Messenger
- 2:98وَرُسُلِهِۦand His Messengers
- 2:101رَسُولٌۭa Messenger
- 2:108رَسُولَكُمْyour Messenger
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 64 Classical meanings
رَسِلَ
To be or become easy in pace, especially of a camel.
- Lane · entry 23233
رَسِلَ
To become lank, long, or pendent, especially of hair.
- Lane · entry 23233
رَسِلَ
To bring or deliver a message.
A reported interpretation of the Form I verb.
- Lane · entry 23233
تَرْسِيل
Leisurely, measured, and composed utterance or recitation.
Especially used of reading, reciting, or speech without haste.
- Lane · entry 23234
تَرْسِيل
To give milk to young camels.
A causative use referring to providing رِسْل, milk.
- Lane · entry 23234
رَاسَلَ
To exchange messages or letters with someone.
The reciprocal construction may concern correspondence about a matter or marriage negotiations.
- Lane · entry 23235
رَاسَلَ
To relieve, assist, follow, or alternate with another in an activity.
Used of shooting, singing, work, or reading and recitation.
- Lane · entry 23235
إِرْسَال
The act of sending or dispatching a person, message, letter, or messenger.
Verbal noun of Form IV.
- Lane · entry 23236
إِرْسَال
The act of sending forth, releasing, letting loose, or allowing something to take its course.
Includes releasing an animal, bird, arrow, water, ship, or other confined thing.
- Lane · entry 23236
إِرْسَال
The act of uttering letters, singing, or chanting.
A figurative extension of letting something proceed freely.
- Lane · entry 23236
إِرْسَال
The act of making speech, property, or a legacy unrestricted or absolute.
Figurative and legal uses.
- Lane · entry 23236
إِرْسَال
The act of letting hair down, lowering it, or making it hang.
- Lane · entry 23236
إِرْسَال
Leaving, forsaking, neglecting, or ceasing to assist someone.
A figurative use of letting someone go.
- Lane · entry 23236
إِرْسَال
The granting of dominion, authority, or superior power over others.
A derived-noun use associated with appointing or setting something over others.
- Lane · entry 23236
أَرْسَلَ
To have abundant milk, or for milk and drink to become plentiful.
Used of people or animals possessing milk-producing herds.
- Lane · entry 23236
أَرْسَلَ
To become possessors of herds or flocks.
- Lane · entry 23236
تَرَسَّلَ
To act gently, deliberately, leisurely, and with calm gravity.
Used of conduct and of proceeding in affairs.
- Lane · entry 23237
تَرَسَّلَ
To extend the legs and let one's clothing hang loosely.
A specialized use in riding or sitting.
- Lane · entry 23237
تَرَسَّلَ
To act as a messenger between people.
A reciprocal or intermediary construction.
- Lane · entry 23237
تَرَاسَلَ
To send messages or messengers to one another.
Reciprocal communication.
- Lane · entry 23238
تَرَاسَلَ
To alternate with or follow one another in an activity.
Especially used of singing, the call to prayer, or another performance in which participants take turns.
- Lane · entry 23238
اِسْتَرْسَلَ
To become loose, slack, or pendent.
Used of things generally and of hair in particular.
- Lane · entry 23239
اِسْتَرْسَلَ
To proceed at a gentle, deliberate, or leisurely pace.
Especially used of a beast's pace.
- Lane · entry 23239
اِسْتَرْسَلَ
To remain still and steady.
- Lane · entry 23239
اِسْتَرْسَلَ
To behave freely, familiarly, boldly, or presumptuously toward someone, and to confide in him.
A figurative interpersonal use.
- Lane · entry 23239
اِسْتَرْسَلَ
For fate or time to make free with people and destroy them.
An idiomatic figurative construction.
- Lane · entry 23239
اِسْتَرْسَلَ
To send camels in successive droves.
The camels are brought to water in groups rather than all at once.
- Lane · entry 23239
رَسْل
Easy, soft, or gentle in pace.
Applied especially to camels; it may also describe light or freely yielding she-camels.
- Lane · entry 23240
رَسْل
Soft, lax, or flaccid, especially in the joints or legs.
Used of a camel or she-camel.
- Lane · entry 23240
رَسْل
Lank, long, or pendent, especially of hair.
- Lane · entry 23240
رَسْل
Having much or long hair on the shanks, of a she-camel.
A specialized epithet for a she-camel.
- Lane · entry 23240
رَسْل
The legs of a camel.
A plural-related anatomical usage associated with their length.
- Lane · entry 23240
رِسْل
Gentleness and an easy, deliberate, or leisurely manner of acting.
The phrase على رِسْلِكَ means to act at one's ease or gently.
- Lane · entry 23241
رِسْل
A company or group proceeding successively after another.
Used of people arriving company by company.
- Lane · entry 23241
رِسْل
A soft or gentle saying or speech.
- Lane · entry 23241
رِسْل
Milk, especially fresh or abundant milk.
The word may denote milk generally; some lexical discussions distinguish fresh milk.
- Lane · entry 23241
رِسْل
Plenty, ease, or abundance of provision.
Used in the expression contrasting hardship with ease or abundance; the expression is also explained by reference to milk.
- Lane · entry 23241
رِسْل
The extremities of a horse's two forelimbs or associated shoulder anatomy.
A specialized anatomical plural.
- Lane · entry 23241
رَسَل
A drove, herd, distinct company, or collection, especially of camels, sheep, goats, horses, horsemen, people, or things.
The group may proceed successively; the plural is أَرْسَال.
- Lane · entry 23242
رَسَل
Animals that have milk.
- Lane · entry 23242
رُسُل
A young girl who has not yet worn the veil called خِمَار.
A distinct lexical use, not the ordinary plural of رسول.
- Lane · entry 23243
رَسْلَة
A soft or delicate condition of life.
- Lane · entry 23244
رَسْلَة
Heaviness, sluggishness, laziness, or indolence.
Used of a person characterized by such heaviness.
- Lane · entry 23244
رَسُول
A means or instrument conveying something, as arrows conceived as messengers of death.
Figurative usage.
- Lane · entry 23247
رَسِيل
A stallion-camel sent among she-camels for breeding.
A specialized animal term.
- Lane · entry 23248
رَسِيل
A horse started together with another in a race.
A specialized racing term.
- Lane · entry 23248
رَسِيل
A companion who stands with, follows, or alternates with another in competition, singing, or work.
Especially one who relieves another by taking up the activity in turn.
- Lane · entry 23248
رَسِيل
Wide or ample.
- Lane · entry 23248
رَسِيل
Little in quantity or incomplete.
A lexicographical correction concerning the description of a thing.
- Lane · entry 23248
رَسِيل
Sweet water.
- Lane · entry 23248
رَسِيل
Easy.
A lexical use describing ease of conduct or proceeding.
- Lane · entry 23248
رِسَالَة
A letter or ordinary written communication.
Distinct from the Quranic use for a divinely entrusted message.
- Lane · entry 23250
رِسَالَة
A short treatise, discourse, or written work on a subject.
A small work containing questions, inquiries, or problems of one kind.
- Lane · entry 23250
رِسَالَة
Apostleship or the apostolic office and function.
- Lane · entry 23250
أُمُّ رِسَالَة
A name for the female vulture percnopterus.
A fixed epithet or surname.
- Lane · entry 23250
الرُّسَيْلَى
A certain small beast, reptile, or insect.
- Lane · entry 23251
رُسَيْلَات
A manner of treating speech as light, slight, or contemptible.
Used in the idiom ألقى الكلام على رُسَيْلاته.
- Lane · entry 23252
الرَّاسِلَان
The two shoulder-blades or the veins associated with them.
A specialized anatomical term with variant lexical explanations.
- Lane · entry 23253
مُرْسَل
A transmitted report whose chain of attribution is interrupted, especially one related from a Successor directly from the Prophet without naming the Companion.
Technical terminology in hadith and transmission criticism.
- Lane · entry 23254
مُرْسَلَة
A necklace, especially a long necklace falling upon the bosom.
May be a necklace with beads or similar ornaments.
- Lane · entry 23255
مِرْسَال
One who sends a morsel into his mouth or throws a branch from his hand.
A specialized agent noun.
- Lane · entry 23256
مِرْسَال
A short or small arrow.
- Lane · entry 23256
مُرَاسِل
A woman who exchanges messages with men seeking marriage, especially a woman separated from her husband or advanced in age but retaining some youth.
A specialized social and marriage-related usage.
- Lane · entry 23257
مُسْتَرْسِل
One who seeks, courts, or resigns himself to death or slaughter.
Used in the idiom مُسْتَرْسِلٌ لِلْمَوْتِ.
- Lane · entry 23258
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Quranic expression المُرْسَلَاتِ in 77:1 has several transmitted lexical interpretations—winds, angels, or horses sent successively—and these are kept as distinct senses rather than collapsed.
رَسُول can denote either the bearer of a message or, in a specifically discussed Quranic construction, the conveyed message itself.
Several Classical Arabic entries distinguish ordinary message, written letter, treatise, and apostolic office; only the message sense supported for the Quranic رِسَالَة forms is placed in the Quranic form entry.
The active-participle occurrence count is five because the masculine and feminine QAC groups are merged under the masculine citation form.
Unassigned or ambiguous evidence
The interpretation of the Form I verb رَسِلَ as 'to bring a message' is reported in Lane as an attributed lexicographical inference and is retained as a qualified Classical meaning.
The expression involving رِسْل and نَجْدَة is explained both through milk and through abundance or ease; both materially distinct readings are retained under Classical meanings.
A Lane note concerning رَسِيل as a scout or emissary is explicitly reported as a corrupt reading and is not assigned as stable lexical evidence.