Ehillet, aayet 2:189

[Aladin_Azra]

Word ehillet أَهِلَّة is used only in 2189 and it's understood that it means "new moons" and that it's a plural of hilaal. Since it's the only occurance of this word I'll try to examine its meaning by following

1. How and why it's used?

2. What is its weight/form?

3. What is its root?

4. What is its gender and number?

5. How and why it's used?

If we look at 2189 it's clear that somebody asked about it يَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ الْأَهِلَّةِ "They are (continuosly) asking about el-ehillet". Here is an answer to the second of people's askings mentioned in the Qur'an, just after asking about Allah in "rameDaan aayaat" (2186), so this should be a very important topic to ask/answer about, especially cuz asking is in an imperfect tense, it lasts.

This question rose somehow and if we go back in surah el-Beqara we can see that a passive verb uhille أُهِلَّ was mentioned before in 2173, and we can conclude that this rose a question about ehillet. This verb is mentioned 4 times, and this first occurance is different in word order then others (ref. 2173, 53, 6145, 16115), but that could be another topic.

Anyway, I could conclude that a verb from the same root is mentioned and that rose a question about el-ehillet. In a verb usage a phrase li-gayri-llah لِغَيْرِ اللَّهِ was used and it should mean word-by-word "for without Allah". Verb is understood as "(what) dedicated (by, with)" مَا أُهِلَّ بِهِ or as a whole "by what is dedicated for without Allah". This sentence has no sense, even if we consider that languages are different we can't make it have sense, unless we change the meaning of the words, as translators did, or rethink.

2. What is its weight/form?

Its form is understood as eFi''et and I've found only words in 3123, 554, 625, 912, 1746, 1857, 2173, 2734, 2737, 285, 2841, 3224, 3319, 415 and 5332. This words are understood as a plural of fi'aa', which should be a verbal noun in form III, as, for example a word "kitaab" is. I couldn't find that a verbal noun in form III gets its plural as eFi'Let or anything similar, since, for example, a plural of kitaab is taken as kutub, of Fu'uL form. We may discuss that it's due doubled L in its root, but then we have a word qiSaaS which Arabs don't use in plural, and we could check other words as well to find all form III verbal nouns with doubled last letter and their plurals.

Of words in listed aayaat, only word imaam is actually used in the Qur'an with e'immet, which corresponds to ehillet in a form. If translators are right then e'immet should be a plural of imaam, meaning imaams, whatever imaam means. But then we have a problem, because in 2574 was said "... and make US for mutteqoon AN IMAAM", where this potential plural wasn't used, but singular imaam without prefix el-. This means that word imaam, whatever it means, doesn't have a plural, and, over that, e'immet is not a plural of imaam, so this cannot be used as a proof that ehillet is a plural of hilaal (which is not used in the Qur'an).

So, we should look out of the box and try to examine if there's a possibility that ehillet has some other form. The only possibility is that its last letter was doubled because it's in a form IX, and it weight/form is Fe'iLLet.

3. What is its root?

After examining word's form, we can continue with two possibilities either form is eFi''et so its root is ha-lam-lam, or form is Fe'iLLet and its root is hemze-ha-lam (as in word "ehl", for example "ehl-ul-kitaab", "ehl-ul-beyt&quot.

We can go back to first part and see that a verb uhille is mentioned which caused people to ask about ehillet. If ehillet is a plural of hilaal then uhille is not related, I can't see how "dedicated" can cause people to ask about "new moons", and what can be important to know about them.

This is why I understand that both, uhille and ehillet, are from the root hemze-ha-lam and they're in verbal form IX, which describes some permanent properties, as getting colors or some defects. Doubled letter can be caused by words intensity also, for which are many examples in the Qur'an (qahhaar, wehhaab, qayyoom, keffaar, etc.), and I could argue also that word "jennet" (garden/paradise) comes from jeem-noon-waw not from jeem-noon-noon, but all of these are other topics.

We can examine this in an example from the Qur'an, in known word ejinnet used in 5332 as "fetuses". This word's root is accepted as jeem-noon-noon (as jennet) and it's understood as something hidden inside mothers' wombs. We know today that fetuses are not hidden, because we can see them by modern machines, so this understanding doesn't stand.

On the other hand, there's root hemze-jeem-noon which Arabs use for a water altered in taste and color, not drinkable. If we think we can see that the fetuses are really in some special liquid inside the wombs, so I understand this as a real root for this word. Moreover, if we take it in verbal form IX as this word has permanent state, then we can understand that the fetuses are the fetuses only within this liquid, otherwise they cannot be called fetuses.

I think that all other words in listed aayaat have same weight/form and they come from roots with starting hemze and in verbal form IX. I could examine all of them in another topic.

4. What is its gender and number?

Word ehillet is obviously feminine, and with a prefix el- it's a plural (a collective noun). It describes "things", because a pronoun "hiye" ("she&quot is used and a plural noun mewaaqeet مَوَاقِيتُ.

CONCLUSION This word is very important. It comes from hemze-ha-lam and it describes some permanent state of things. It's taken as a collective noun in the Qur'an with el-, but other words without el- can be singular, for exactly one, as a word khaleefet (khalifa) was used, when they can potentionally be used as masculine in meaning.

Since it has nothing with "new moons" (hilaal is literally a quarter, of the Moon) we could get some info about the Hajj, other then its presumed "timing".

The root hemze-ha-lam describes being social, friendly, familiar, glad, etc. with somebody or something. One of Allah's descriptions in 7456 is Huwe Ehl-ul-taqwaa we-l-magfiret, which is opposite of meheel used in 7314 in sense of "unsteady" (roots hemze-ha-lam and ha-(yay-)lam have opposite, negative to each other meanings). Root's main meaning should be "to settle".

So, a verb uhille in "maa uhille bi-hi li-gayri-llah" can mean "by which was permanently settled for without Allah", which can mean anything what people agreed by, which doesn't include Allah('s words).

If we check the only occurance of a verb uqqitet in 7711 we can see that it describes gathering for appointed meeting, and meeqaat was used for both time and place for appointment. So, ehillet should be some ideas on which people can settle, agree about, and they are the tool for people to gather, to meet, to appoint the meeting. Also, ideas are the tool for the Hajj on which topics are discussed. If there's no ehillet there would be no reason for the people to gather and there would be no reason for the Hajj.

Now, if we think of why people were asking about uhillet it should be clear that it was strange to them that "maa uhille bi-hi" is Haraam to them, since they agreed on something, but we cannot remove Allah from that equation. Moreover, we, as the people, should not gather on anything without Allah, and there's no Hajj without Allah.