Quranic root
سلف
s · l · f
The root centers on going ahead, preceding, or being in front of what follows.
From precedence and temporal priority develop meanings for those who went before, acts or payments sent ahead, first portions or extracts, and things that lead or arrive first. Several specialized homonymous branches are separately attested in Classical Arabic.
- Maqāyīs · row 2473
- 3
- Quran-attested forms
- 4
- Quran senses
- 8
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
سَلَفَ
salafa
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- 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.
To go before, pass before, or be past and over; to have passed away or come to an end.
In the Quran, the form describes what has preceded or become past, including prior conduct that is treated as belonging to the past.
- Lane · entry 41885
- Mufradāt · row 717
Selected Quran examples
أَسْلَفَ
ʾaslafa
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form IV
- Form
- IV
- Quran occurrences
- 2 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 put or send forward beforehand; to do or send ahead.
The Quranic uses concern an action or provision performed beforehand and thereby counted as sent ahead; the separate commercial and lending constructions are Classical extensions listed below.
- Lane · entry 41888
Selected Quran examples
Quran 10:30word 6
“it did previously”
Quran 69:24word 5
“you sent before you”
سَلَف
salaf
- 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.
A predecessor or preceding one; one who or that which has gone before.
The Quranic expression refers to those made to stand before later people as something preceding them.
- Mufradāt · row 717
- Lane · entry 41896
Selected Quran examples
Quran 43:56word 2
“a precedent”
A precedent or preceding example held up for later people.
In the Quranic construction, the preceding group is presented as an example or precedent for those who come afterward.
- Mufradāt · row 717
Selected Quran examples
Quran 43:56word 2
“a precedent”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:275سَلَفَ(has) passed
- 4:22سَلَفَ ۚpassed before
- 4:23سَلَفَ ۗpassed before
- 5:95سَلَفَ ۚ(has) passed
- 8:38سَلَفَ(is) past
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 47 Classical meanings
تَسْلِيفٌ
The making of a thing to go before or precede.
A Form II verbal noun.
- Lane · entry 41886
سَلَفَ
For a good or righteous deed to precede someone as preparation for a future reward.
Used in the construction سَلَفَ لَهُ عَمَلٌ صَالِحٌ.
- Lane · entry 41885
سَلَفَ / سَلُوفٌ
To be foremost or to precede others in reaching the watering place, especially of a camel.
The descriptive Form I and adjectival usage apply to an animal that arrives ahead of others.
- Lane · entry 41885
- Lane · entry 41903
سَلَفَ
To turn over or level land for sowing.
Used transitively with land as its object.
- Lane · entry 41885
سَلَفَ
To oil or grease a leather water-bag.
A specialized transitive use with a leather water-bag as object.
- Lane · entry 41885
تَسْلِيفٌ
To give someone an early portion of food called a سُلْفَة.
The recipient may be a man, a group, or a party.
- Lane · entry 41886
تَسْلِيفٌ / تَسَلَّفَ
To eat an early portion of food called a سُلْفَة.
A food-related Form II or Form V usage.
- Lane · entry 41886
- Lane · entry 41889
سَالَفَ
To keep pace or run with another, or to vie and compete with him in going.
A Form III reciprocal construction.
- Lane · entry 41887
سَالَفَ
To equal another in an affair.
A Form III construction expressing equivalence in a matter.
- Lane · entry 41887
أَسْلَفَ
To pay in advance for a described commodity to be delivered at a specified future time.
A commercial Form IV construction, including payment for a measured or weighed commodity for which the seller is responsible.
- Lane · entry 41888
أَسْلَفَ
To lend property, with no profit to the lender, for return in kind.
Used with property as the object of the loan.
- Lane · entry 41888
أَسْلَفَ
To do a good or evil action with the expectation that it will be requited.
A figurative extension of advancing something for later recompense.
- Lane · entry 41888
تَسَلَّفَ
To receive payment in advance or to take what is called a سَلَف.
A Form V usage concerning an advance or advance payment.
- Lane · entry 41889
تَسَلَّفَ
To receive a loan from someone.
Used with مِنْهُ and a borrowed thing or amount.
- Lane · entry 41889
تَسَالَفَ
For two men to marry two sisters, one man marrying one sister and the other the other sister.
A reciprocal Form VI kinship usage.
- Lane · entry 41890
اِسْتَسْلَفَ
To seek or demand money or property from someone as a loan.
A Form X request for a loan, including a request for a young camel as a loan.
- Lane · entry 41892
اِسْتَسْلَفَ
To seek or demand the price of something in advance.
A Form X commercial construction equivalent to seeking a loan of the price.
- Lane · entry 41892
اِسْتَسْلَفَ
To take as one's wife the wife of one's deceased brother.
A specialized Form X usage reported in connection with a levirate marriage.
- Lane · entry 41892
سَلْفٌ
A travelling-provisions bag, especially a large leather bag; also a hide that has not been thoroughly tanned.
The word has variant descriptions in the lexical evidence, including a large جِرَاب and an incompletely tanned hide.
- Lane · entry 41893
سَلَفٌ
Preceding ancestors or relations older than and superior to a person in age or excellence.
A Classical application of سَلَفٌ to a person's forebears and earlier relations.
- Lane · entry 41896
السَّلَفُ
The early leading Muslims or earlier generations regarded as models; by extension, their doctrines or tenets.
A conventional historical and religious application, including expressions such as السلف الصالح and مذاهب السلف.
- Lane · entry 41896
سَلَفٌ
A people or party going before others in a journey.
A collective Classical use referring to a group preceding another group in travel.
- Lane · entry 41896
سَلَفٌ
A company or group of men.
A general collective noun use, not necessarily emphasizing temporal precedence.
- Lane · entry 41896
سَلَفٌ
A good or righteous deed performed beforehand as a preparation for future reward, or a cause of reward that goes before a person.
A nominal use for an act or other cause of recompense sent ahead.
- Lane · entry 41896
سَلَفٌ
Payment made in advance for a commodity to be delivered later according to its description.
A commercial sale in which the price is paid beforehand and delivery is deferred to a specified period.
- Lane · entry 41896
سَلَفٌ
A loan returned in kind and without profit to the lender.
The lender's expected recompense is thanks or reward rather than financial profit.
- Lane · entry 41896
سَلَفٌ
A stallion-camel.
A specialized animal noun.
- Lane · entry 41896
سَلَفٌ
The prepuce of a boy.
An anatomical usage reported alongside variant vocalizations.
- Lane · entry 41896
سَلِفٌ
The husband of one's wife's sister; in the dual, the two husbands of two sisters, with related terms for the corresponding female relationship.
Kinship terminology varies by number, gender, and dialectal usage.
- Lane · entry 41897
سَلَفٌ
The young of a partridge or of the قَطَاة.
The lexical authorities differ on the particular bird intended.
- Lane · entry 41898
سُلْفَةٌ
One after another, in successive order.
Used in the expression جَاؤُوا سُلْفَةً سُلْفَةً for arrivals following closely upon one another.
- Lane · entry 41899
سُلْفَةٌ
An early or light portion of food taken before the main meal, especially food provided for a guest before the meal.
A portion used to allay hunger or to receive a visitor before the customary midday meal.
- Lane · entry 41899
سُلْفَةٌ
A piece or portion of seed-producing land that has been made even.
A specialized agricultural noun.
- Lane · entry 41899
سُلْفَةٌ
A thin skin used as a lining for boots.
The lining may be red or yellow.
- Lane · entry 41899
أَرْضٌ سَلِفَةٌ
Land containing few trees.
An adjectival description of sparsely wooded land.
- Lane · entry 41901
سُلَافٌ
The first, clearest, or purest liquid that flows from grapes, dates, raisins, or similar produce, especially before pressing or dilution.
The word may also be applied to wine generally or to the first extract of anything.
- Lane · entry 41902
سَلُوفٌ
A swift or fleet horse.
An adjectival animal description.
- Lane · entry 41903
سَلُوفٌ
An arrow having a long head, or a long arrowhead.
A specialized hunting or weapon term.
- Lane · entry 41903
سَلِيفٌ
A road or way.
A nominal use distinct from the participial sense of passing or preceding.
- Lane · entry 41904
سَالِفٌ
Passing, passing away, coming to an end, or going before; as a collective military noun, the van of an army.
The participial form is also used of preceding peoples and generations.
- Lane · entry 41906
سَالِفَةٌ
The side or upper part of the front of the neck, from the earring's suspension to the hollow of the collarbone.
An anatomical noun, with سَوَالِفُ as a plural.
- Lane · entry 41907
سَالِفَةٌ
Locks of hair hanging down along the side of the front of the neck.
A metonymic extension from the anatomical location.
- Lane · entry 41907
سَالِفَةٌ
The front part of a horse's neck.
An animal-anatomical application.
- Lane · entry 41907
أُسْلُوفَةٌ
Affinity by marriage between two people, especially through their having married sisters.
Used in the expression بَيْنَهُمَا أُسْلُوفَةٌ.
- Lane · entry 41908
مُسْلِفٌ
A woman who has reached middle age, traditionally about forty-five years old.
An epithet specially applied to a female.
- Lane · entry 41909
مِسْلَفَةٌ
An instrument for making land even, such as a stone roller.
A tool used to level prepared land; in later usage it may refer to a harrow.
- Lane · entry 41910
مَسْلُوفَةٌ
Made even, or smooth and soft, of ground.
A dialectal or specialized description of level ground, including the traditional phrase for the ground of Paradise.
- Lane · entry 41911
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
Two Lane units remain unresolved rather than being treated as settled meanings: the disputed transitive Form I report and the possibly mistranscribed bird entry under سُلْفٌ.
Unassigned or ambiguous evidence
lane-unit:slf:41885:g1:sub4 reports a transitive Form I meaning equivalent to making a thing pass or precede, but the editor notes that the cited K source does not support it; it is therefore not presented as a settled Classical meaning.
lane-unit:slf:41894:g1:main gives a bird sense for سُلْفٌ while explicitly suggesting that the form may be a mistranscription for سُلَفٌ; the uncertain assignment is retained in the ledger rather than silently merged with the separate young-bird sense.