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سبح

Root entry · 13 derived lemmas

The root سبح primarily relates to glorifying God, particularly through prayer and voluntary acts of worship. It also extends to meanings of swimming, sleeping, stillness, and movement or spreading out.

Derived headwords

السُّبْحَةnoun
  1. 1.
    voluntary prayerboth

    Voluntary prayer, supererogatory prayer, and supererogatory acts of worship. It is said, 'So-and-so finished his subḥah,' meaning his voluntary prayer.

  2. 2.
    glorificationclassical

    The prayer is called tasbīḥ because tasbīḥ is the glorification and sanctification of God from all evil.

  3. 3.
    voluntary remembranceclassical

    Voluntary acts of remembrance and prayer.

  4. 4.
    garment of skinsclassical

    A garment made of skins. Its plural is sibāḥ.

  5. 5.
    piece of cottonclassical

    A piece of cotton.

سَبَّحَverb
  1. 1.
    to glorify Godboth

    To glorify God, to declare His perfection and transcendence.

  2. 2.
    to swimboth

    To swim.

  3. 3.
    to prayclassical

    To perform voluntary prayer.

التَّسْبِيحnoun
  1. 1.
    glorification of Godboth

    The act of glorifying God, declaring His perfection and transcendence.

  2. 2.
    swimmingboth

    The act of swimming.

  3. 3.
    voluntary prayerclassical

    Voluntary prayer, as it is a form of glorification.

سُبْحَةُ اللهِnoun
  1. 1.
    God's majestyclassical

    God's majesty and glory.

سَبْحًاnoun
  1. 1.
    long period of timeclassical

    A long period of time, often for rest or sleep.

  2. 2.
    sleepclassical

    Sleep itself.

  3. 3.
    stillnessclassical

    Stillness or tranquility.

  4. 4.
    movement and activityclassical

    Movement, spreading out on earth, and engaging in livelihood, which can be seen as an opposite meaning.

السَّبَّاحَةnoun
  1. 1.
    index fingerclassical

    The finger next to the thumb, so named because it is used for pointing during tasbīḥ (glorification).

المُسَبِّحَةnoun
  1. 1.
    index fingerclassical

    The finger next to the thumb, used for pointing during tasbīḥ.

سَبَّاحnoun
  1. 1.
    garments of skinsclassical

    Garments made for children from skins.

سُبُوحadjective
  1. 1.
    gloriousclassical

    Glorious, perfect, transcendent (used for God).

سُبُوحَةnoun
  1. 1.
    the Sacred Precinctclassical

    The Sacred Precinct (of Mecca).

  2. 2.
    a valley in Arafatclassical

    A valley in Arafat.

مُسَبَّحadjective
  1. 1.
    strong and intenseclassical

    Strong and intense (referring to a cloak).

  2. 2.
    exposedclassical

    Exposed or open.

سَبَجَةnoun
  1. 1.
    black cloakclassical

    A black cloak.

سِبَاحnoun
  1. 1.
    garments of skinsclassical

    Garments made of skins.

Parallel reading

والسبحة: الدعاء وصلاة التطوع والنافلة
And the subḥah: supplication, voluntary prayer, and supererogatory prayer.
يقال: فرغ فلان من سبحته أي من صلاته النافلة
It is said: 'So-and-so finished his subḥah,' meaning his voluntary prayer.
سميت الصلاة تسبيحا لأن التسبيح تعظيم الله وتنزيهه من كل سوء
The prayer is called tasbīḥ because tasbīḥ is the glorification of God and His sanctification from all evil.
وإنما خصت النافلة بالسبحة، وإن شاركتها الفريضة في معنى التسبيح، لأن التسبيحات في الفرائض نوافل، فقيل لصلاة النافلة سبحة لأنها نافلة كالتسبيحات والأذكار في أنها غير واجبة
And only the supererogatory prayer is specifically called subḥah, even though the obligatory prayer shares the meaning of tasbīḥ, because the tasbīḥāt in the obligatory prayers are supererogatory. Thus, the supererogatory prayer is called subḥah because it is supererogatory, like tasbīḥāt and dhikr, in that it is not obligatory.
اجعلوا صلاتكم معهم سبحة أي نافلة
'Make your prayer with them a subḥah,' meaning a supererogatory prayer.
كنا إذا نزلنا منزلا لا نسبح حتى نحل الرحال ؛ أراد صلاة الضحى
When we would descend to a place, we would not perform salutation (tasbīḥ) until we had unloaded the baggage; it referred to the Duḥā prayer.
وقد يطلق التسبيح على غيره من أنواع الذكر مجازا كالتحميد والتمجيد وغيرهما
And tasbīḥ may be metaphorically applied to other types of remembrance, such as taḥmīd (praise) and tamjīd (magnification), and others.
سبحة الله: جلاله
Subḥat Allāh: His majesty.
إن لك في النهار سبحا طويلا أي فراغا للنوم، وقد يكون السبح بالليل
'Indeed, for you by day is a long sabḥan,' meaning a period of rest for sleep, and sabḥan may occur at night.
فسبح باسم ربك العظيم* أي سبحه بأسمائه ونزهه عن التسمية بغير ما سمى به نفسه
'So glorify the name of your Lord, the Most Great,' meaning glorify Him by His names and sanctify Him from being named with other than what He named Himself.
ومن سمى الله تعالى بغير ما سمى به نفسه، فهو ملحد في أسمائه، وكل من دعاه بأسمائه فمسبح له بها إذ كانت أسماؤه مدائح له وأوصافا
And whoever names God with other than what He named Himself is an atheist regarding His names. And whoever calls upon Him by His names is glorifying Him by them, as His names are praises and descriptions of Him.
فأدخل إصبعيه السباحتين في أذنيه
So he inserted his two index fingers into his ears.
السباحة والمسبحة: الإصبع التي تلي الإبهام، سميت بذلك لأنها يشار بها عند التسبيح
Al-sibāḥah and al-misbaḥah: the finger next to the thumb, so named because it is used for pointing during tasbīḥ.
والسبحة، بفتح السين: ثوب من جلود، وجمعها سباح
And al-subḥah, with fatḥah on the sīn: a garment of skins, and its plural is sibāḥ.
إذا عاد المسارح كالسباح
When the grazing lands return like tanned hides.
والسبجة، بالجيم وضم السين، كساء أسود
And al-sabjah, with jīm and ḍammah on the sīn, is a black cloak.
والمسبح، بالباء أيضا، المعرض
And al-musabbaḥ, also with bāʾ, means exposed.
وإنما السبجة كساء أسود
Indeed, al-sabjah is a black cloak.
خوارج من نعمان، أو من سبوحة إلى البيت، أو يخرجن من نجد كبكب
Emerging from Nuʿmān, or from Subūḥah towards the Kaʿbah, or emerging from Najd Kabkab.