residence. From this comes the word ma‘din (mine), with an i-vowel on the d, because people remain there in summer and winter. The central seat of anything is its ma‘din. Al-‘ādin is a she-camel that remains in its pasture.”

The seventh name: the Abode of Life. Allah Most High says:

29:64 “Indeed, the home of the Hereafter—that is the true life.”

According to the Quran commentators, Paradise is meant here. They explain: “The Hereafter,” meaning Paradise, “is the true life”—the abode of life in which there is no death.

Al-Kalbī said: “It is life without death.” Al-Zajjāj said: “It is the abode of everlasting life.” The linguists hold that hayawān means “life.”

Abū ‘Ubaydah and Ibn Qutaybah said: “Hayāh means hayawān.” Abū ‘Ubaydah mentioned hayāh, hayawān, and hiyy—with an i-vowel on the h. Abū ‘Alī said: “He means that they are verbal nouns.”

Thus, hayāh follows the pattern fa‘alah, like jalabah (clamor); hayawān follows the pattern of nazawān (leaping) and ghalayān (boiling); and hiyy follows the pattern of ‘iyy (inarticulateness). Al-‘Ajjāj said:

“We were there when life was life.”

That is, when life was hiyy, meaning “life.” Abū Zayd, however, disagreed with them, saying: “Hayawān applies to whatever has a soul, while mawatān—mawt (death)—applies to that which has no soul.”

The correct view is that hayawān has two uses:

The first is that reported by Abū ‘Ubaydah.

The second is as a descriptive term, as reported by Abū Zayd.

According to Abū Zayd’s explanation, hayawān is like hayy (living), the opposite of mayyit (dead).

The first view has been preferred on the grounds that the pattern fa‘alān normally occurs in verbal nouns, such as nazawān and ghalayān, whereas adjectives normally follow the pattern fa‘lān, as in sakrān (drunk) and ghadbān (angry).

Those who preferred the second view replied that the pattern fa‘alān also occurs in adjectives. They cited rajul damayān, meaning a swift, nimble man, and zafayān. In al-Sihāh, he says: “A she-camel