خَلْقٌ creation in Arabic
خَلْقٌ is how you say “creation” in Arabic.
Root خ ل ق kh-l-q. noun (verbal noun / maṣdar, form I). khalq.
Arabic
English
The audio uses AI voices.
Meaning of creation in Arabic
- creation; the bringing of something into existence Especially of God: originating a thing with no pre-existing pattern or model — e.g. Qur'anic ʿabudū rabbakumu llaḏī khalaqakum, 'serve your Lord who brought you into being.'
- measuring, proportioning The word's primary, original sense (syn. taqdīr) — determining the measure of a hide or material and cutting it to that measure, e.g. before making a water-skin or sandal.
- fabricating or forging (a saying, tale, or lie) A tropical extension — used of invented stories or a fabricated falsehood.
- making smooth or even Said e.g. of an arrow or a piece of wood worked down to an even, uniform surface.
Example sentence
وخمول الذّكر وإضاعة الْوَقْت ونفرة الْخلق
Fading of reputation, waste of time, and people's aversion.
الْخَلْقِ of creation
al- = 'the'; al-khalq literally means 'creation' but here means 'people', so 'of people'.
The English is machine-translated.
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How it is used
Originally a craftsman's term for measuring and proportioning material (e.g. a hide) before cutting it to shape. From this developed its central theological sense — God's khalq is bringing creation into existence according to no pre-existing pattern, i.e. creating out of nothing. The same root gives a tropical sense of 'fabricating' or 'forging' a story or lie, since fabrication is a kind of false 'creating.'
Words from the same root
- خُلُقٌ innate nature, disposition, character one is created with
- خَلَقٌ old, worn out (of a garment)
- أَخْلَقَ to become old and worn out (of a garment)
- خَلِقٌ smooth, even
- خَلَاقَةٌ being well-made, goodly in body or form
- خُلُوقَةٌ the state of being worn out (of a garment)
More example sentences
وهكذا الصائم صومُه مستورٌ عن مشاهدةِ الخلق، لا تدركه حواسُّهم
and so is the fasting person; their fast is hidden from the view of creation, it cannot be perceived by their senses.
الْخَلْقِ creation
The owner completing 'the sight of creation', genitive, definite — all created beings. Their observation is what the fast escapes.
أي على رجعه إليه يوم القيامة كما هو قادر على خلقه من ماء هذا شأنه
Meaning, bringing him back to Him on the Day of Resurrection, as He is able to create him from water of this nature.
خَلْقِهِ create him
This pairs the noun 'creation/creating' with an attached 'his', genitive after the preposition. It is a verbal noun naming the act of creating; the attached pronoun is the one created, 'his creation'.
إنه ربوبيته الكاملة لخلقة تأبى أن يتركهم سدى
Indeed, His complete lordship over His creation refuses to leave them neglected.
لِخَلْقِهِ over His creation
The preposition 'li-' fixes the following noun in the genitive and sets up a 'toward/over' relationship, framing the creation as what the lordship extends over. The owner is attached at the end of the noun as a suffix, so this one short word bundles a preposition, its noun, and a possessor that English would spread across three words.
وأظهر في الأرض الفساد والجور والكذب وخالف الخلق
And spread corruption, oppression, and falsehood on earth, and contradicted creation.
الْخَلْقَ creation
This noun, creation, is the accusative object of the opposing verb and definite by 'al-'. It names what is contradicted, rounding off the catalogue of the fabricator's deeds.
إن الله تعالى خلق الخلق ليعبدوه، وجعل الدنيا دار ابتلاء واختبار
Indeed, Allah the Exalted created the creation to worship Him, and made the world a place of trial and test.
الخَلْقَ the creation
The thing created, 'creation / created beings', taking the object ending as the receiver of the act. Its 'the' makes it the definite whole of what was made.
فالمؤمن مكلف بأن يقوم بحق الله، وحق نفسه، وحق الخلق
So, the believer is tasked with fulfilling the rights of Allah, his self, and the creation.
الخَلْقِ the creation
The owner closing 'the right of creation', set right after the head-noun and so taking the genitive ending. Its 'the' makes it the definite whole of created people, the duties one owes others.
والثوب الجديد والخلق والتدريس،
and the new garment, the creation, and the teaching.
الْخَلْقُ the creation
A definite noun continuing the list of glorifiers, in the plain subject ending matching the earlier items. The 'the' marks it as a known category, added as another joint subject in the chain.
فلما قيل اسجد واضرب الشرس الخلق إلا شريس،
Then when it was said, "Prostrate," he struck the stubborn creation — none but the stubbornly defiant.
الْخَلْقَ the creation
This definite noun stands in the object ending as a further specification of what is struck, agreeing with the previous word in being definite and in the object ending. The matching shapes tie the two together as the single thing acted upon.
أبرم القضاء قبل خلق إنفاذا،
He decreed the judgment before creation as enforcement.
خَلْقِ creation
This noun is governed by the time word 'before', so it sits in the possessor slot with the -i ending, giving 'before creation'. Arabic pairs the time word and its noun directly, with no separate word linking them.
Common questions
- How do you say "creation" in Arabic?
- خَلْقٌ (khalq).
- What did خَلْقٌ originally mean before it came to mean 'creation'?
- It originally meant to measure or proportion something — e.g. measuring a hide to its intended shape before cutting it. The sense of 'creation' (especially God bringing something into being from nothing) developed from this idea of shaping something to a determined measure.
Related words
Definitions summarised from Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon (E. W. Lane, 1863–1893).