سَعَى
Root: سعو
Form: 1
Full Definition
2 He ran; syn. عَدَا; or جَرَى: by the former of which is meant [he went] a pace below what is termed الشَّدُّ and above what is termed المَشْىُ.
3 I. q. قَصَدَ [as meaning He repaired, or betook himself]. The saying, in the Kur [lxii. 9], فَأْسْعَوْا إِلَى ذِكْرِ ٱْللّٰهِ is expl. as meaning فَاقْصِدُوا [Then repair ye to prayer to God]: or then go ye (فَأْمْضُوا) to prayer [to God]: and Ibn-Mes'ood read فَأْمْضُوا. Or سَعَى إِلَى الصَّلَاةِ means He went to prayer, in any manner [i. e. whether quickly or not].
4 He was active, or busy and bustling, in procuring the means of subsistence: he strove, laboured, or exerted himself; employed himself vigorously, strenuously, or with energy; in any affair, whether good or evil; but mostly used in relation to what is praiseworthy, or praised: he occupied himself according to his own judgment or discretion or free will, in any work, or deed: he worked, or wrought, or did, any work, or deed, good or evil: he earned, or gained. One says, هُوَ يَسْعَى عَلَى قَوْمِهِ He manages, conducts, orders, regulates, or superintends, the affairs of his people, or party. And سَعَى لَهُمْ and عَلَيْهِمْ He worked, or wrought, and earned, or gained, for them. And المَرْءُ يَسْعَى لِغَارَيْهِ, a prove., meaning The man earns for his belly and his pudendum. And سَعَى المُكَاتِبُ فِى عِتْقِ رَقَبَتِهِ, or فِى فَكِ رَقَبَتِهِ, i. e. [The slave who had made a contract with his master to pay him a certain sum for his emancipation] laboured to earn the means of releasing himself: the Verbal.Noun of the verb thus used is سعَايَةٌ: and this term is employed when a slave emancipated in part, and in part retained in slavery, labours and earns for the completion of his release. The saying, in the Kur [liii. 40], لَيْسَ لِلْإِنْسَانِ إِلَّا مَا سَعَى means [There is nothing imputable to the man] but what he hath wrought, or done. And فَلَمَّا بَلَغَ مَعَهُ أْلسَّعْىَ, in the same [xxxvii. 100], means And when he attained to working with him: or and when he was able to assist him in his working.
5 Also He superintended, managed, or conducted, in his own person, the collection of the poor-rates; he went to exact them, and received them; and the Verbal.Noun in this case also is سِعَايَةٌ: or سَعَى عَلَى الصَّدَقَةِ, Present.T يَسْعَى, Verbal.Noun سَعْىٌ, he officiated in the exacting, or receiving, or collecting, of the poor-rate. [And سَعَى is trans. without a prep. as meaning He exacted the poor-rate:] a poet says,
[He exacted the poor-rate of a year, and left not to us camels' fur, or goats' hair: then how would be the case if 'Amr had exacted the poor-rate of two years?].سَعَى عِقَالًا فَلَمْ يَتْرُكْ لَنَا سَبَدًا فَكَيْفَ لَوْ قَدْ سَعَى عَمْرٌو عِقَالَيْنِ
6 سَعَيْتُ فِى أَمْرِ فُلَانٍ is said when one rectifies, redresses, or reforms, the affair of such a one, or mars, vitiates, or perverts it, by his سَعْى [or striving, or labouring; and may be rendered I strove, or laboured, in respect of the affair of such a one, either to rectify, redress, or reform, it, or to mar, vitiate, or pervert, it]: and وَٱلَّذِينَ سَعَوْا فِى آيَاتِنَا, in the Kur xxii. 50 [and xxxiv. 5], means And they who strive, or labour, in respect of our signs, to mar, or vitiate, or pervert, their meaning, by impugning their character; seeing that they called them enchantment, and poetry, and tales, or legends, or fictions: or these words of the Kur mean and they who strive, or labour, to falsify, or nullify, our signs; i. e. the Kur-án.
7 سَعَى بَيْنَهُمْ means He created, or excited, disorder, or discord, between them, or among them; made, or did, mischief between them, or among them; as also سَأَا, which is app., in this case, a dial. var. of سَعَى. (TA in art. سأو.) [Hence,] سَعَى بَيْنَ النَّاسِ بِالنَّمَائِمِ [He created, or excited, disorder, &c., among the people by calumnies, or slanders: or it may be well rendered he busied himself among the people with propagating calumnies, or slanders]. (S and O in art. اكل; &c.)
8 And سَعَى
9 سَعَتْ, said of a female slave, Present.T تَسْعَى, Verbal.Noun سَعْىٌ, She committed fornication, or prostituted herself. [See also 3.]
def.2 سَاعَانِى فُلَانٌ فَسَعَيْتُهُ: see 3.
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