The Meaning of Islam: Difference between revisions

The noun إسلام "Islam" is the masdar (literally "source", but in Arabic grammar "verbal noun") of the verb أسلم "aslama" meaning "to give up, to submit, to surrender, to give into, or to hand over." "Islam" in its literal sense thus means "submission", "surrender" or "giving up" though of course it is also the name of the religion to which this Wiki is devoted. "Aslama" is the verbal form IV, in Arabic grammar وزن أفعل "wazn afa'ala", from the root s-l-m س-ل-م. The root س-ل-م s-l-m is also the root of the word سلام "salaam" meaning "peace." As with all Arabic words and roots, it should be remembered that the root doesn't have a particular meaning but rather a swarm of semantic relations often produced by history and analogy, and thus words derived from the same root came have very d1ifferent meanings despite a common linguistic heritage.