Arabic vocabulary
خِذْلَانletting down in Arabic
خِذْلَان is how you say “letting down” in Arabic. Hear it pronounced and see it used in real example sentences from classical texts below.
Root خ ذ ل (kh-dh-l)noun (verbal noun / maṣdar of form I خَذَلَ)Pronounced khidhlān
Meaning of letting down in Arabic
- failure to aid or support someone; abandonment — the act of holding back from helping, forsaking, or deserting a person who needed assistance
- God's withholding of aid or preservation from a person — a theological extension, applied to divine failure to preserve someone from an evil action or its consequences
Khidhlān names the act of leaving someone without help at the moment they need it most — the opposite of aiding or supporting them. Lane also records a theological sense: God's khidhlān is His withdrawal of support from a person, letting him fall into error; a verb from this same root appears in this sense in Qur'an 3:154, warning that if God withholds His aid, no one else can help.
Words from the same root
- خَذَلَhe failed to aid him, held back from helping, or forsook/deserted him
- خذّلhe induced someone to withhold aid, or discouraged him from fighting/helping
- تخاذلواthey abandoned one another, each failing to aid the other
- إِنْخَذَلَto be left without aid, forsaken
- خَذُولٌone who habitually fails to give aid; applied to Satan in the Qur'an
- خَاذِلٌone who withholds aid; a deserter
- مَخْذُولٌforsaken, left with no helper
Common questions
- How do you say "letting down" in Arabic?
- خِذْلَان (khidhlān) — failing to give someone the aid or support they needed.
- What is the root of خِذْلَان and what other words come from it?
- It comes from the root خ ذ ل (kh-dh-l), meaning to abandon or withhold aid. Related words include خَذَلَ (to forsake/fail to aid), خَذُولٌ (one who habitually deserts), and مَخْذُولٌ (forsaken, helpless).
Definitions synthesised from Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon (E. W. Lane, 1863–1893).
Example sentences
وَإِن عمل سيّئة رَآهَا من تخلّيه عَنهُ وخذلانه لَهُ،
And if he commits a bad deed, he sees it as resulting from His abandonment of him and His forsaking him,
وَخِذْلَانِهِ — and His letting him down. wa- = 'and'; khidhlan means 'forsaking, failing to help'; the ending '-hi' adds 'His' — 'His forsaking'.
From: Returning to God →ومَن شرد عنه بخذلانه فإنما شرد بها
And whoever strays from Him by His forsaking, only truly strays through them.
بِخِذْلَانِهِ — by His abandonment. bi- = 'by, with'; khidhlan means 'forsaking, failing to help'; the ending '-hi' adds 'His' — 'by His forsaking'.
From: Knowledge, Reverence, Obedience →
Related words
Learn Arabic vocabulary in context
OpenArabic teaches words like خِذْلَان through real bilingual reading with native audio and spaced-repetition practice.
Get the app