سبل

سَبِيلٌ ذ A way, road, or path; (S, M, Msb, K;) and what is open, or conspicuous, thereof; (M, K;) and Er-Rághib adds, wherein is easiness: (TA:) and ↓ سَبِيلَةٌ signifies the same: (Ibn- 'Abbád, K:) the former is masc. and fem.; (S, M, Mgh, Msb, K;) like زُقَاقٌ; (Msb;) made fem. by the people of El-Hijáz, and masc. by Temeem; (Akh, S voce زُقَاقٌ;) but mostly fem.; (IAth, TA;) in the Kur it is made masc. in vii. 143, and fem. in xii. 108: (S, M, TA:) pl. سُبُلٌ, (M, K,) or, accord. to ISk, it has this pl. when masc., and سُبُولٌ, like عُنُوقٌ when fem., (Msb, [but this distinction and the latter pl. are both strange,]) and it has also as a pl. [of pauc.] أَسْبِلَةٌ. (TA.) In the saying, وَ عَلَى ا@للّٰهِ قَصْدُ السَّبِيلِ [ And upon God it rests to show the right way (see art. قصد)], (M, K,) in the Kur [xvi. 9], (M,) it is used as a gen. n., because it is added, وَ مِنْهَا جَائِرٌ. (M, K.) ― -b2- اِبْنُ السَّبِيلِ means (assumed tropical:) The son of the road; (M, K;) he whom the road has brought, or [ as it were ] brought forth; (IB;) the wayfarer, or traveller: (Mgh, Msb:) or he who travels much or often: (TA:) or the traveller who is far from his place of abode: (Er-Rághib:) as used in the verse of the Kur, (M, Mgh, Msb,) ix, 60, (M,) it means the person to whom the way has become cut short [ so that he is unable to continue his journey ]; (M, K;) to which has been added, who desires to return to his country, or town, and finds not what will suffice him: (TA:) or the traveller who is cut off from his property: (Mgh, Msb:) or the person who desires to go to a country, or town, other than his own, for a necessary affair: or, accord. to Ibn-'Arafeh, the guest who has become disabled from proceeding in his journey, his means having failed him: to such should be given as much as will suffice him to his home. (TA.) ― -b3- تَقْطَعُونَ السَّبِيلَ, in the Kur [xxix. 28], means (assumed tropical:) [ And ye cut off ] the way of offspring [by your unnatural practices]: or and ye oppose yourselves to men in the roads [or road ] for the purpose of that which is excessively, or enormously, foul or abominable. (TA.) ― -b4- [سَبِيلُ ا@للّٰهِ means (assumed tropical:) The way, or cause, of God, or of religion; or the way whereby one seeks approach to God, or advancement in his favour. ] It is said in the Kur [ii. 191], وَ أَنْفِقُوا فِى سَبِيلِ ا@للّٰهِ, meaning (assumed tropical:) And expend ye in warring against unbelievers and the like, and in every good work commanded by God; (M, K;) such being of the ways [that lead] to God: (M:) mostly used in relation to warring against unbelievers and the like. (M, K.) And in the same, iii. 163, ا@لَّذِينَ قُتِلُوا فِى سَبِيلِ ا@للّٰهِ, meaning [ Who have been slain in the cause of God, or of his religion, i. e.,] for the sake of the religion of God. (Jel.) And you say, جَعَلَ ضَيْعَتَهُ فِى سَبِيلِ ا@للّٰهِ (assumed tropical:) [ He made his estate to have its profit, or revenue, or usufruct, employed in the cause of God, or of religion ]. (S.) ― -b5- سَبِيلٌ also signifies (assumed tropical:) A means of access; a connexion, or a tie: so in the saying, in the Kur [xxv. 29], يَا لَيْتَنِى ا@تَّخَذْتُ مَعَ ا@لرَّسُولِ سَبِيلًا (assumed tropical:) [ O would that I had obtained, with the Apostle, a means of access to Paradise]: (S, Msb, TA:) thus it has been explained: (TA:) or the meaning is, [ O would that I had taken, with the Apostle, ] a way to safety: or one way, the way of truth. (Bd.) ― -b6- [Also, in the present day, applied to A public drinking-fountain. ]