وَٱلَّذِينَ هُمْ عَنِ ٱللَّغْوِ مُعْرِضُونَ
The root was worked out in detail at al-Wāqiʿa 56/25 (lā yasmaʿūna fīhā laghwan wa lā taʾthīmā). I do not repeat it here. The description given there is this:
The description the lexicographers give: speech or action that is not reckoned, that goes for nothing. Laghwa'l-shayʾu — it became worthless, it did not count.
And in al-Wāqiʿa this very verse was cited to show the place of the word within the Qurʾān. I rely on that treatment. The links of the word across this series are the following, and the fifth is here:
| Place | Use | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| al-Wāqiʿa 56/25 | lā yasmaʿūna fīhā laghwan | Absent in the garden — removed |
| Fuṣṣilat 41/26 | wa'lghaw fīhi | A tactic — the other side makes noise |
| al-Qaṣaṣ 28/55 | wa idhā samiʿū'l-laghwa aʿraḍū ʿanh | A reaction — turning away on hearing it |
| al-Furqān 25/72 | idhā marrū bi'l-laghwi marrū kirāmā | An attribute — passing it by with dignity |
| al-Muʾminūn 23/3 | ʿani'l-laghwi muʿriḍūn | An attribute — a standing state |
The difference between al-Qaṣaṣ 28/55 and this verse is worth recording, since both use the same verb (أعرض):
| al-Qaṣaṣ 28/55 | al-Muʾminūn 23/3 | |
|---|---|---|
| Pattern | idhā samiʿū … aʿraḍū — perfect, tied to a condition | muʿriḍūn — active participle, unconditioned |
| What it reports | A reaction given in the face of an event | A settled state |
| Trigger | samiʿū — when they hear | None — no conditional clause is framed |
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the difference between the two patterns: al-Qaṣaṣ describes an answer given to speech that is heard; al-Muʾminūn reports an orientation. The active participle records not the recurrence of an event but the stance of the person.
The concrete sense of the root: to show the ʿarḍ of a thing, that is, its breadth, its side. Aʿraḍa ʿanhu — he turned away from it; the picture in the word is turning not the face but the side.
And this verb will occur once more in the sūra — but on the other side: in the seventy-first verse, fa-hum ʿan dhikrihim muʿriḍūn — "turning away from their own reminder". The same active participle, in the same pattern, over two different objects.
| Verse | What is turned away from | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | al-laghw — idle speech | An attribute — included in deliverance |
| 71 | dhikruhum — the reminder that comes to them | A fault — the name of refusal |
This is a repetition that can be verified within the sūra. And I record this as my own reading: the verb is neither good nor bad in itself; what settles the verdict is what is being turned away from. Something like the same distinction was recorded for the verb fariḥa at Ghāfir (al-Muʾmin) 40/75.