Arabic vocabulary
بَلَاءtrials in Arabic
بَلَاء is how you say “trials” in Arabic. Hear it pronounced and see it used in real example sentences from classical texts below.
Root ب ل و (b-l-w)noun (verbal noun / maṣdar, from Form I بَلَا, or treated as an independent substantive)Pronounced balāʾ
Meaning of trials in Arabic
- trial, test, probation — classically a testing sent by God, either through a blessing (to test gratitude) or through hardship (to test patience)
- affliction, tribulation — an extension of the testing sense, since the trial in question is so often a painful one
- wearing out, decay — a secondary sense shared with the overlapping root بلي, said of a garment (or, by extension, a plant, a corpse, or a reputation) growing old and worn
Balāʾ describes a test God puts a person through — by a benefit, to see if they are grateful, or by a calamity, to see if they are patient (cf. Qur'an 21:36, on testing by good and evil, and 2:118, on Abraham being tried by commands). Because the harder trials are painful, the word came to carry the sense of 'affliction' even on its own. It shares its root letters with the separate sense 'to wear out, grow old,' seen in a worn garment.
Words from the same root
- بَلَاhe tried, proved, or tested him (of God: he tried him by good or by evil)
- ابتلىhe tried, proved, or tested him — a synonym of balā, the form used of divine testing
- أبلىhe tried, or tested, him; some restrict this form to testing by way of a favor or benefit
- مُبَالَاةcaring, heeding, minding — mostly used negated, 'lā ubālī' = 'I do not care'
- بَلِيَit became old and worn out (said of a garment; also of a plant, a corpse, a bone, or a reputation)
- بَلِيَّةa she-camel or mare tied at her dead master's grave, left without food or water until she died — an old funerary custom
Common questions
- How do you say "trials" in Arabic?
- بَلَاء (balāʾ).
- Does balāʾ always mean something bad, like a calamity?
- Not necessarily — classically it is any test from God, delivered either through a blessing (testing gratitude) or through hardship (testing patience), though in practice it very often refers to the painful kind.
Definitions synthesised from Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon (E. W. Lane, 1863–1893).
Example sentences
وسيصيب آخرها بلاء وأمور تنكرونها،
and its end will face trials and matters you will deny.
بَلَاءٌ — trials. This indefinite noun, 'an affliction', is the subject doing the striking, placed after its verb as Arabic commonly orders things. Its indefinite ending presents it as something new entering the picture.
From: A Prophet Warns His People →وَأَنْزَلَهُ إِلَى دَارِ الْذُّلِّ وَالْهَوانِ وَالْبَلَاءِ وَالْاِمْتِحَانِ
And He sent him down to the abode of humiliation, abasement, affliction, and trial.
وَالْبَلَاء — and affliction. The 'wa-' adds 'affliction' as a further item to the running list of the abode's qualities, again sharing the chain's genitive ending. The repeated connector strings the parallel nouns into one sweeping description of the place.
From: The Four Inner Guards →
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