Dunya and akhira word count in the Qur'an: Difference between revisions

This article lists all occurrences of the words ad-dunya (ٱلدُّنْيَا) and al-akhira (الآخرة) in the Qur'an. These words do not appear in the dual or plural forms, so this word count will be easier than others.

To make it clear for non-speakers of arabic:

• The al- prefix represents the definite article, like the "the" in English
• The letter د (d) in dunya is from a group of letters called sun letters. If a word starts with a sun letter, then the "l" in the al- prefix is replaced with the first letter of the word in pronunciation. So Al-Dunya is read as Ad-Dunya. Just like Al-Salam (peace) is read as As-Salam. The "s" here takes double time in pronunciation.

Ad-Dunya (ٱلدُّنْيَا)

The word dunya is derived from the trilateral root دنو (d-n-w). Just like from the root سلم (s-l-m) we can derive different words, like submission (al-islam, الإسلام) and peace (as-salam, السلم), from the root دنو we can also derive different words. The first word in the Qur'an with this root is adna (أَدْنَىٰ), meaning "worse":

• Qur'an 2:61 "...exchange that which is better for that which is worse (أَدْنَىٰ, adna)..."

Words derived from this root can also have a meaning of "nearer" or "lower" or "lesser".

Here is the list of occurrences of the word dunya:

• As we can see, there are two occurrences, where the word does not mean "this world" or "worldly life":
  • Verse 8:42 "When you were on the nearer side (بِٱلْعُدْوَةِ ٱلدُّنْيَا, bilAAudwati addunya) and they were on the farthest side"
  • Verse 67:5 "And certainly We have adorned this lower heaven (ٱلسَّمَآءَ ٱلدُّنْيَا, assamaa addunya) with lamps and We have made these missiles for the Shaitans..."

• 7:169 lower life adna

Al-Akhira (الآخرة)

Conclusions

• First

References