Quranic root
سلح
s · l · ḥ
The root centers on a weapon or other means by which one fights, repels an enemy, or protects oneself.
Alongside the weapon branch, the lexicon preserves a protective image in الإِسْلِيح: a plant associated with fattening camels and improving their condition, as though this gave them a weapon against slaughter. The root also developed several homonymous branches concerning excretion, plants, and military settings.
- Maqāyīs · row 2467
- Mufradāt · row 714
- 1
- Quran-attested forms
- 1
- Quran senses
- 4
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
سِلَاحٌ
silāḥun
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 4 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 weapon or implement used for fighting, repelling an enemy, or defending oneself; weapons or arms.
The Quranic plural أَسْلِحَةٌ in 4:102 refers to the arms or defensive equipment carried by the fighting party. The term can include different implements of war rather than one particular weapon.
- Lane · entry 41797
- Mufradāt · row 714
Selected Quran examples
Quran 4:102word 12
“their arms”
Quran 4:102word 34
“your arms”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 4:102أَسْلِحَتَهُمْtheir arms
- 4:102وَأَسْلِحَتَهُمْ ۗand their arms
- 4:102أَسْلِحَتِكُمْyour arms
- 4:102أَسْلِحَتَكُمْ ۖyour arms
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
سَلَحَ
To void excrement or dung.
Used of a person, bird, or other animal; the excrement may be described as thin.
- Lane · entry 41785
سَلَّحَ
To arm someone with a weapon or weapons.
The object may be armed with a particular implement such as a sword or bow.
- Lane · entry 41786
سَلَّحَ
To cause camels to void thin excrement; to purge them.
Used of the effect of a herb or similar food on camels.
- Lane · entry 41786
سَلَّحَ
To rub a clarified-butter skin with سُلْح, an inspissated juice used to season it.
This is a specialized preparation involving a skin or container for clarified butter.
- Lane · entry 41786
- Lane · entry 41790
أَسْلَحَ
To cause someone to void thin excrement.
A causative excretion use, distinct in form from the Form II verb.
- Lane · entry 41787
تَسَلَّحَ
To arm oneself with, wear, or put on weapons.
Refers to taking weapons for one's own use.
- Lane · entry 41788
سَلْحٌ
Excrement, dung, or ordure, especially thin excrement.
The expression يَا سَلْحَ الغُرَابِ uses the term figuratively as an insult meaning a foul or filthy person.
- Lane · entry 41789
سُلْحٌ
Rob or inspissated juice used to rub or season a skin for clarified butter.
A specialized material use, not the weapon noun.
- Lane · entry 41790
- Lane · entry 41786
سَلَحٌ
Rainwater left in pools by torrents.
This meaning is reported as a regional or lightly attested lexical usage.
- Lane · entry 41792
سُلَحٌ
The young of the partridge.
A collective bird-term, with a corresponding singulative form reported in the lexical discussion.
- Lane · entry 41793
سُلَاحٌ
A loosening or flux of thin excrement; diarrhea.
A bodily-condition sense related to the excrement branch.
- Lane · entry 41796
سِلَاحٌ
The horns of a bull, figuratively regarded as its weapons.
A figurative conventional expression applied to the bull's horns.
- Lane · entry 41797
ذُو السِّلَاحِ
An appellation for Arcturus, the star also called السَّمَاكُ الرَّامِحُ.
A figurative astronomical epithet.
- Lane · entry 41797
سِلَاحٌ
The fat and goodly appearance of camels, conceived figuratively as their protective weapons.
In the expression أَخَذَتِ الإِبِلُ سِلَاحَهَا or بِأَسْلِحَتِهَا, the camels have become fat and thereby less vulnerable to slaughter.
- Lane · entry 41797
سَالِحٌ
A man who has or carries a weapon; an armed man.
A possessive adjective describing someone equipped with weapons.
- Lane · entry 41798
سَالِحٌ
A she-camel that has voided excrement after eating herbs or leguminous plants.
A specialized animal-descriptive use.
- Lane · entry 41798
إِسْلِيحٌ
A plant or herb associated with effects on camels, including increased milk, fattening, or thin excrement when eaten.
The name covers several reported botanical descriptions and is not tied to one securely identified modern species.
- Lane · entry 41800
- Maqāyīs · row 2467
- Mufradāt · row 714
مَسْلَحَةٌ
A frontier or fortified place of arms and observation where people watch for the enemy.
A military observation position, especially on the frontier of a hostile territory.
- Lane · entry 41801
مَسْلَحَةٌ
An armed party stationed to guard a frontier or to scout ahead of an army.
The party may explore the route, gather intelligence, prevent enemy entry, and warn of an approaching force.
- Lane · entry 41801
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The four Quranic occurrences are inflected forms of the plural أَسْلِحَةٌ; the public headword is the supported singular سِلَاحٌ.
The root contains several distinct vocalized lexical branches, including weapon, excrement, plant, and military-location usages; they should not be conflated solely because their consonantal root is the same.