Meaning: our forefathers · Also translated as: their forefathers, your fathers, Your parents, their fathers
Forms in the Quran
ءَابَآءَنَآ×10
ءَابَآؤُنَا×7
ءَابَآؤُكُمْ×5
وَءَابَآؤُكُم×5
ءَابَآؤُهُمْ×4
ءَابَآءَهُمُ×4
ءَابَآئِكُمْ×4
ءَابَآءَكُمْ×3
Its root in the classical dictionaries
الأب: الوالد، ويسمى كل من كان سببا في إيجاد شيء أو صلاحه أو ظهوره أبا، ولذلك يسمى النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم أبا المؤمنين، قال الله تعالى:
الهمزة والباء والواو يدل على التربية والغذو. أبوت الشيء آبوه أبوا: إذا غذوته. وبذلك سمي الأب أبا. ويقال في النسبة إلى أب: أبوي. وعنز أبواء: إذا أصابها وجع عن شم أبوال الأروى. قال الخليل: الأب معروف، والجمع آباء وأبوة. قال:
"And I follow the ways
Of my fathers,—Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob; and never
Could we attribute any partners
Whatever to God: that (comes)
Of the grace of God to us
And to mankind: yet
Most men are not grateful
"If not Him, ye worship nothing
But names which ye have named,—
Ye and your fathers,—
For which God hath sent down
No authority: the Command
Is for none but God: He
Hath commanded that ye worship
None but Him: that is
The right religion, but
Most men understand not…
Gardens of perpetual bliss:
They shall enter there,
As well as the righteous
Among their fathers, their spouses,
And their offspring:
And angels shall enter unto them
From every gate (with the salutation):
Their apostles said: "Is there
A doubt about God,
The Creator of the heavens
And the earth? It is He
Who invites you, in order
That He may forgive you
Your sins and give you
Respite for a term appointed!"
They said: "Ah! ye are
No more than human,
Like ourselves! Ye wish
To turn us away from
The (gods) our fathers
Used to worship: then
Bring us some clear authority."
The worshippers of false gods
Say: "If God had so willed,
We should not have worshipped
Aught but Him—neither we
Nor our fathers,—nor should
We have prescribed prohibitions
Other than His." So did those
Who went before them.
But what is the mission
Of apostles but to preach
The Clear Message?
No knowledge have they
Of such a thing, nor
Had their fathers. It is
A grievous thing that issues
From their mouths as a saying.
What they say is nothing
But falsehood!
Nay, We gave the good things
Of this life to these men
And their fathers until
The period grew long for them;
See they not that We
Gradually reduce the land
(In their control) from
Its outlying borders? Is it
Then they who will win?
The chiefs of the Unbelievers
Among his people said:
"He is no more than a man
Like yourselves: his wish is
To assert his superiority
Over you: if God had wished
(To send messengers),
He could have sent down
Angels: never did we hear
Such a thing (as he says),
Among our ancestors of old."
And say to the believing women
That they should lower
Their gaze and guard
Their modesty; that they
Should not display their
Beauty and ornaments except
What (must ordinarily) appear
Thereof; that they should
Draw their veils over
Their bosoms and not display
Their beauty except
To their husbands, their fathers,
Their husbands’ fathers, their sons,
Their husbands’ sons,
Their brothers or their brothers’ sons,
Or their sisters’ sons,
Or their women, or the slaves
Whom their right hands
Possess, or male servants
Free of physical needs,
Or small children who
Have no sense of the shame
Of sex; and that they
Should not strike their feet
In order to draw attention
To their hidden ornaments.
And O ye Believers!
Turn ye all together
Towards God, that ye
May attain Bliss.
It is no fault in the blind
Nor in one born lame, nor
In one afflicted with illness,
Nor in yourselves, that ye
Should eat in your own houses,
Or those of your fathers,
Or your mothers, or your brothers,
Or your sisters, or your father's brothers
Or your father's sisters,
Or your mother's brothers,
Or your mother's sisters,
Or in houses of which
The keys are in your possession,
Or in the house of a sincere
Friend of yours: there is
No blame on you, whether
Ye eat in company or
Separately. But if ye
Enter houses, salute each other—
A greeting of blessing
And purity as from God.
Thus does God make clear
The Signs to you: that ye
May understand.
They will say: "Glory to Thee!
Not meet was it for us
That we should take
For protectors others besides Thee:
But Thou didst bestow,
On them and their fathers,
Good things (in life), until
They forgot the Message:
For they were a people
(Worthless and) lost."