سَبِيلٌ

Full Definition

سَبِيلٌ A way, road, or path; and what is open, or conspicuous, thereof; and Er-Rághib adds, wherein is easiness: and سَبِيلَةٌ signifies the same: the former is masc. and fem.; like زُقَاقٌ; made fem. by the people of El-Hijáz, and masc. by Temeem; (Akh, S voce زُقَاقٌ;) but mostly fem.; in the Kur it is made masc. in vii. 143, and fem. in xii. 108: pl. سُبُلٌ, or, accord. to ISk, it has this pl. when masc., and سُبُولٌ, like عُنُوقٌ when fem., and it has also as a pl. [of pauc.] أَسْبِلَةٌ. In the saying, وَ عَلَى ٱللّٰهِ قَصْدُ السَّبِيلِ [And upon God it rests to show the right way (see art. قصد)], in the Kur [xvi. 9], it is used as a gen. n., because it is added, وَ مِنْهَا جَائِرٌ.
2 اِبْنُ السَّبِيلِ means The son of the road; he whom the road has brought, or [as it were] brought forth; the wayfarer, or traveller: or he who travels much or often: or the traveller who is far from his place of abode: as used in the verse of the Kur, ix, 60, it means the person to whom the way has become cut short [so that he is unable to continue his journey]; to which has been added, who desires to return to his country, or town, and finds not what will suffice him: or the traveller who is cut off from his property: 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.
3 تَقْطَعُونَ السَّبِيلَ, in the Kur [xxix. 28], means [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.
4 [سَبِيلُ ٱللّٰهِ means 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 ٱللّٰهِ, meaning And expend ye in warring against unbelievers and the like, and in every good work commanded by God; such being of the ways [that lead] to God: mostly used in relation to warring against unbelievers and the like. And in the same, iii. 163, ٱلَّذِينَ قُتِلُوا فِى سَبِيلِ ٱللّٰهِ, meaning [Who have been slain in the cause of God, or of his religion, i. e.,] for the sake of the religion of God. And you say, جَعَلَ ضَيْعَتَهُ فِى سَبِيلِ ٱللّٰهِ [He made his estate to have its profit, or revenue, or usufruct, employed in the cause of God, or of religion].
5 سَبِيلٌ also signifies A means of access; a connexion, or a tie: so in the saying, in the Kur [xxv. 29], يَا لَيْتَنِى ٱتَّخَذْتُ مَعَ ٱلرَّسُولِ سَبِيلًا [O would that I had obtained, with the Apostle, a means of access to Paradise]: thus it has been explained: or the meaning is, [O would that I had taken, with the Apostle,] a way to safety: or one way, the way of truth.
6 [Also, in the present day, applied to A public drinking-fountain.]

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