Greetings Eshai,
You asked a question regarding the meanings of
thaalim (th like “the”). I offer the following in the hope that it may help you in this, and indeed, in how to understand the Qur'an in it's original Arabic, in general.
I believe you mentioned in your introductory thread that you have studied some Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). (smile) This makes things a little easier. You have probably been introduced to the Hans-Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic. I use the Compact Fourth Edition myself.
If you can find the
root of whichever word you are interested in understanding, then you can use this dictionary. If you have trouble with the roots, you can find them by looking on this site:
http://corpus.quran.com With this site, you can get the words translated word-by-word, and if you click on a particular word, you'll be given the root letters.There are also apps for your smartphone that can do this, like Bayan Quran on the iphone.
I find this dictionary is curiously deficient in certain key words needed to fully understand the Qur'an. Nevertheless, it can be very useful for many words. If you come across words that seem deficient in meaning (or you can't find them at all), you could try this site:
http://lanelexicon.com/2013/02/27/lane-an-arabic-english-lexicon/ You can get Lane's Lexicon. Personally, I find it a nuisance (and time-consuming) to search through, but when necessary, it is interesting. The link to the actual Lexicon is at the top of the page. It takes a while to open.
If you look up
ظ-
ل-
م (in the Hans Wehr), you will find first the meanings of the
verbs in the I-X form patterns (not all forms exist for all roots).
Form I
ظلم (thalama): to do wrong or evil; to wrong, treat unjustly, ill-treat, oppress, beset, harm, suppress, tyrannize (someone), commit outrage (upon someone); to act the tyrant, act tyrannically (toward or against someone).
Form I (thalima) and form IV
أظلم (athlama): to be or grow dark, dusky, gloomy, murky, tenebrous, darken, darkle.
Form V
تَظَلََّمَ (tathallama): to complain (of, about); to lodge a complaint.
Form VII and VIII
إظّلَمَ (iththalama): to suffer injustice, be wronged.
Looking at the various meanings of the verbs gives often gives a good feel of the deeper meanings of a root. But I like to read the entire entry, including whatever derived nouns, adjectives, adverbs or whatever there may be linked to the root. Then it is useful to “step back” and consider the entire entry and try to see how the word “feels” with all it's symbolic meanings. Sometimes the connections between the different shades of meaning are clear, but other times they require a little meditation and imagination.
Thalim, though, is pretty straight forward, I find.
(smile) For your delectation, here are the other entries under
ظلم:
Thulm: wrong; iniquity; injustice, inequity, unfairness; oppression, repression, suppression, tyranny.
Thulman: unjustly, wrongly
Thulma: darkness, duskiness, gloom, murkiness.
Thalmaa': darkness
Thalaam: darkness, duskiness, gloom, murkiness.
Thallaam: evildoer, villain, malefactor, oppressor, rogue, scoundrel, tyrant, oppressor.
Thulaama: misdeed, wrong, iniquity, injustice, outrage.
Athlam: darker, duskier, gloomier, murkier; a viler, more infamous, more heinous villain.
Mathlima: misdeed, wrong, iniquity, act of injustice, outrage.
Ithlaam: darkness, gloom.
Tathallum: complaint.
Thaalim: unjust, unfair, iniquitous, tyrannical, oppressing; tyrant, oppressor,; offender, transgressor, sinner.
Mathluum: wronged, ill-treated, unjustly treated, tyrannized.
Muthlim: dark, dusky, gloomy, tenebrous, murky.
It is also useful to fit the words into the Qur'anic worldview. When the Qur'an says, for example, that a person “wrongs” himself, it fits in with the idea that he is darkening his heart, he is sliding towards increasingly more corrupted levels of bad behaviour (of various kinds), he is inflicting damage on his own Self, he is suppressing the good in himself, he is covering over his connection with God.
It is outside the scope of this post to look at all the ways in which the various ideas in the Qur'an interlock and create arguments with perfect internal logic, but I invite you to try to look at the Qur'an as a
whole. If you snip bits out and translate them, you may go astray. It is necessary to read the whole Qur'an, thoughtfully, and
then start analyzing it more closely. If you are sincerely trying to understand God's Will, you
will find it (He Has Promised so).
In order to understand the Qur'an, it seems to me, it is
not necessary to have a perfect mastery of Qur'anic Arabic. Indeed, I would argue, it is possible that a person could have perfect mastery, but fail to understand the Qur'an. What is really needed is a
desire to find God.
Imagine you are in a regularly lit room with a one-way window. The way this works, is that whichever side has
more light can be seen by someone on the other side. If I activate a light switch on
my side of the window, this switches on a really bright light which illuminates the
other room, and I can see what is there. If I
don't activate the light switch, the window looks like a mirror, and all I can see is myself.
A person who approaches the Qur'an with
no interest in finding God, will only see a reflection of
themselves. Depending on the sort of person they are, they will see something more or less beautiful (or ugly, if you prefer). But if they open their hearts and call out to God (like activating the switch),
thirsting to find Him, God Shines His Light, and the message in the Qur'an is then visible. And the
more you seek God, the brighter the Light He Gifts you with, and the more you can see.
(smile) Anyway, I hope this post may help you, Eshai, in your quest to find God/understanding the Qur'an.
May Allah, the Light that banishes all forms of darkness, Guide us all in our quests.
