Meaning: evil · Also translated as: it grieves them, it may distress you, it distresses them, he was distressed
Forms in the Quran
سَآءَ×11
فَسَآءَ×4
وَسَآءَتْ×4
وَسَآءَ×3
تَسُؤْهُمْ×2
سِىٓءَ×2
تَسُؤْكُمْ×1
لِيَسُۥٓـُٔوا۟×1
Its root in the classical dictionaries
السوء: كل ما يغم الإنسان من الأمور الدنيوية، والأخروية، ومن الأحوال النفسية، والبدنية، والخارجة، من فوات مال، وجاه، وفقد حميم، وقوله: بيضاء من غير سوء
فأما السين والواو والهمزة فليست من ذلك، إنما هي من باب القبح. تقول رجل أسوأ، أي قبيح، وامرأة سوآء، أي قبيحة. قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم: «سوآء ولود خير من حسناء عقيم». ولذلك سميت السيئة سيئة. وسميت النار سوأى، لقبح منظرها. قال الله تعالى: ﴿ثم كان عاقبة الذين أساءوا السوءى﴾ [الروم: 10]. وقال أبو زبيد:
And when Our Messengers
Came to Lūṭ, he was
Grieved on their account,
And felt himself powerless
(To protect) them: but they said:
"Fear thou not, nor grieve:
We are (here) to save thee
And thy following, except
Thy wife: she is
Of those who lag behind.
What! do those who
Seek after evil ways
Think that We shall
Hold them equal with
Those who believe and
Do righteous deeds,—that
Equal will be their
Life and their death?
Ill is the judgment
That they make.
And that He may punish
The Hypocrites, men and
Women, and the Polytheists,
Men and women, who imagine
An evil opinion of God.
On them is a round
Of Evil: the Wrath of God
Is on them: He has cursed
Them and got Hell ready
For them: and evil
Is it for a destination.
At length, when they
See it close at hand,
Grieved will be the faces
Of the Unbelievers,
And it will be said
(To them): "This is
(The promise fulfilled),
Which ye were calling for!"