حَيَاةٌ

Root: حى

Full Definition

حَيَاةٌ , or , written with و in the Kur, to show that و follows ى in the pl. [حَيَوَاتٌ, like صَلَوَاتٌ], or because the sound of the ا is inclined towards that of و, and , with sukoon to the و, which is substituted for the ا of حَيَاةٌ, as is done by the people of El-Yemen in the case of every ا that is changed from و, as in صَلَاةٌ and زَكَاةٌ, though the final radical letter of the verb of حَيَاةٌ is ى, an Verbal.Noun of حَيِىَ in the first of the senses explained in this art.; Life; contr. of مَوْتٌ; as also حَيَوَانٌ and حِىٌّ , or this last is asserted to be a pl. of حَيٰوةٌ, and as also مَحْيًا , of which the pl. is مَحَاىٍ: حَيَاةٌ signifies the faculty of growth, as in an animal, and in a plant: and the faculty of sensation: and the faculty of intellect: and freedom from grief or sorrow: and everlasting life in the world to come; to which one attains by that حياة which is intelligence and knowledge: and the حياة that is an attribute of God. يَا لَيْتَنِى قَدَّمْتُ لِحَيَاتِى, in the Kur [lxxxix. 25], means [O, would that I had prepared, or laid up in store,] for my everlasting state of existence. And فَإِنَّ الدَّارَ الآخِرَةَ لَهِىَ , in the Kur [xxix. 64], means [And verily the last abode is] the abode of everlasting life: or الحيوان here means the life that will not be followed by death: or much life; like as مَوَتَانٌ signifies much death: and it is also the name of a certain fountain in Paradise, [the water of] which touches nothing but it lives, by permission of God. الحَيٰوةُ الطَّيِّبَةُ, accord. to I'Ab, explaining xvi. 99 of the Kur, means Lawful means of subsistence in the present world: or Paradise.
2 Also Advantage, or profit; or a cause, or means, thereof: whence the saying, لَيْسَ لِفُلَانٍ حَيَاةٌ There is not, in such a one, profit, nor good: and so it is said to mean in the Kur [ii. 175], وَلَكُمْ فِى القِصَاصِ حَيٰوةٌ [And there is to you, in retaliation, an advantage]: or this means that the knowledge of the law of retaliation restrains from slaughter, and so is a cause of life to two persons; and because they used to slay one who was not the slayer, retaliation upon the slayer is a cause of saving the lives of the rest: or the meaning is life in the world to come; for when the slayer has suffered retaliation in the present world, he is not punished for his act in the world to come.
3 حَيَاةُ الشَّمْسِ means The remaining of the light and whiteness of the sun: or the remaining of its heat and power: but the former of these two meanings is the more probable. (Mgh. [See الشَّمْسُ حَيَّةٌ, voce حَىٌّ.])

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