أَهْلٌ

[The people of a house or dwelling, and of a town or village, and of a country: and the family of a man:] a man's cohabitants of one dwelling or place of abode, (Er-Rághib, Kull p. 84,) and of one town or country: (Er-Rághib:) afterwards applied to a man's fellow-members of one family or race, and of one religion, and of one craft or art or the like: (Er-Rághib, Kull:) or, as some say, relations, whether they have followers or dependents, or not; whereas الٌ signifies relations with their followers or dependents: (Kull:) or it originally signifies relations: and sometimes is applied to followers or dependents: and signifies also the أَهْل [i. e. people, or inhabitants, or family,] of a house or tent: (Msb:) or a man's nearer, or nearest, relations by descent from the same father or ancestor; or his kinsfolk; his relations: (K:) or, according to [the Imám] Mohammad, a man's wife [or wives] and his children and household who are the objects of his expenditure; and thus, any brother and sister, or paternal uncle and son of a paternal uncle, or strange or distantly-related child, whom a man feeds or sustains in his abode: the most particular, or most special, dependents, or the like, of a man: on the authority of El-Ghooree: (Mgh:) [J indicates some of these meanings merely by saying that it signifies] the أَهْل of a man, and the أَهْل of a house; as also ↓ أَهْلَةٌ: (S:) [see also الٌ; in the explanations of which, certain distinctions between it and أَهْلٌ will be found mentioned:] the plural is أَهْلُونَ, [like أَرْضُونَ, a form sometimes used for أَرَضُونَ] (Mgh, Msb, K,) and أَهَالٍ, (S, Mgh, Msb, K,) with an additional ى [implied by the tenween, and expressed in the accusative case, and when the word is determinate, as in الأَهَالِى,] (S,) contr. to rule, (S, Mgh,) like لَيَالٍ, plural of لَيْلٌ, (S,) [and like أَرَاض, respecting which and ليَالٍ and أَهَالٍ, see أَرْضٌ,] and اهَالٌ, (S, K,) a plural [of pauc.] sometimes occurring in poetry, (S,) [like ارَاضٌ,] and أَهْلَاتٌ and أَهَلَاتٌ [as though pls. of أَهْلَةٌ]. (S, K.)

أَهْلُ البَيْتِ The [people or] inhabitants [or family] of the house or tent. (Mgh, K.) But أَوْصَى لأَهْلِ بَيْتِهِ means the same as اوصى لِجِنْسِهِ, i. e. He left by will, of his property, to the children of his father, [or his kindred by the father's side,] exclusively of all relations of the mother. (Mgh in article جنس.) [See also أَهْلُ الرَّجُلِ, below.]

أَهْلَ القُرَى The [people or] inhabitants of the towns or villages. (TA.) And أَهْلُ البَلَدِ The settled, or constant, inhabitants of the country or town. (Msb.) And أَهْلُ الحَضَرِ The people of the region, or regions, of cities, towns, or villages, and of cultivated land. (A in article حضر.) And أَهْلُ المَدَرِ وَ الوَبَرِ (S in article مدر, &c.) [The people of the towns or villages, or] the inhabitants of the buildings, and of the tents, (Kull,) or deserts. (TA in article وبر)

[أَهْلُ القُبُورِ, and المَقَابِرِ, The people of the graces, and of the places of graves; i. e., those buried therein.]

[أَهْلُ الجَنَّةِ The people of Paradise.]

[أَهْلُ النَّارِ The people of the fire, i. e., of Hell.]

See also أَهِلَةٌ.

The following is an example of اهل as explained above in the first sentence on the authority of the K: الأَهْلُ إِلَى الأَهْلِ أَسْرَعُ مِنَ السِّيلِ إِلَى السَّهْلِ a prov. [meaning Kinsfolk are quicker of tendency to kinsfolk than the torrent to the plain]. (TA.) So, too, a saying of a poet cited voce خَفْضٌ. (TA.) [And] أَهْلَكَ وَاللَّيْلَ a prov. meaning بَادِر أَهْلَكَ وَاحْذَرِ اللَّيْلَ وَ ظُلْمَتَهُ [Betake thyself early to thy family, and beware of the night and its darkness]. (Har p. 175.) [And] مَرْحَبًا وَأَهْلًا (S, K) a saying meaning Thou hast come to an ample, or a spacious, or roomy, place, and to [people like thine own] kinsfolk; therefore be cheerful, or sociable, not sad, or shy: (S:) or thou hast found, or met with, [an ample, or a spacious, or roomy, place, and] kinsfolk, not strangers. (K.) [And] أَهْلًا وَ سَهْلًا وَمَرْحَبًا Thou hast come to a people who are [like] kinsfolk, and to a place that is plain, even, not rugged, and that is ample, spacious, or roomy; therefore rejoice thyself, and be not sad, or shy. (Msb.)

أَهْلُ النَّبِىِّ The [family or] wives and daughters of the Prophet, and his son-in-law 'Alee: or his women; and (as some say, TA) the men who are his ال; (K, TA;) comprising the grandchildren (أَحْفَاد) and [other] progeny: and so أَهْلُ البَيْتِ as used in the Qur'an, 33:33, occurring also [in a like sense] in xi. 76: (TA:) and الأَهْلُ is conventionally applied to the nearer, or nearest, kinsfolk of the Prophet. (Er-Rághib.)

أَهْلُ كُلِّ نَبِىٍّ also means The people to whom any prophet is sent; (K, TA;) and those who are of his religion. (TA.)

In the phrase الٌ اللّٰهِ وَرَسُولِهِ, meaning The friends, or the like, (أَوْلِيَاء K, TA,) and the assistants, (TA,) of God and of his apostle, the first word is originally أَهْل. (K, TA.)

أَهْلُ اللّٰهِ is also an appellation which used to be applied to The readers or reciters [of the Qur'an]. (TA.)

أَهْلُ الرَّجُلِ also signifies (tropical:) The man's wife; (Mgh, * Msb, * K;) as well as his wife and children; (TA;) [so, too, in the present day, أَهْلُ بَيْتِ الرَّجُلِ;] and so, too, ↓ أَهْلَتُهُ. (K.) Hence the phrase بَنَى عَلَي أَهْلِهِ [see article بنىِ]: (Kull:) and دَخَلَ بِأَهْلِهِ and دَخَلَ عَلَى أَهْلِهِ [see article دخل]. (Har p. 502; &c.)

أَهْلُ مَذْهَبٍ [The people of, or] those who follow, (K, TA,) and believe, (TA,) a certain persuasion, or body of tenets. (K, TA.) [Hence,] أَهْلُ السُّنَةِ [Those who conform to the institutes of Mohammad]. (TA.) [And] أَهْلُ الأَهْوَاءِ [The people of erroneous opinions;] those whose belief is not that of the class termed أَهْلُ السُّنَّةِ, but who hare the same قِبْلَة. (TA.) [And] أَهْلُ الإِسْلَامِ Those who follow the religion of El-Islám. (Mgh.) [And] أَهْلُ القُرْانِ Those who read, or recite, the Qur'an, and perform the duties enjoined thereby. (Mgh.) [And] أَهْلُ الكِتَابِ [The people of the Scripture, or Bible: and] the readers, or reciters, of the Mosaic Law, and of the Gospel. (TA.)

أَهْلُ العِلْمِ [The people of knowledge, or science;] those who are characterized by knowledge, or science. (Msb.)

أَهْلُ الأَمْرِ [The possessors of command: or] those who superintend the affairs [of others]; (K, TA;) like أُلُوالأَمرِ, q. v. (TA.)

أَهْلُ المَرَاتِبِ [The people of exalted stations, posts of honour, or dignities]. (TA in article رتب.)

أَهْلُ الذِّمَّةِ (Mgh in article ذم) and أَهْلُ العَهْدِ (TA in article عهد) Those persons, (Mgh, TA,) of the unbelievers, (Mgh,) [namely, Christians, Jews, and Sabians, but no others,] who have a compact, or covenant, with the Muslims, (Mgh, TA,) paying a poll-tax, whereby they are secure of their property and blood, (Mgh,) or whereby the Muslims are responsible for their security [and freedom and toleration] as long as they act agreeably to the compact. (TA.)

أَهْلٌ also signifies The possessors, or owners, of property: as in the Qur'an, 4:61. (TA.)

أَهْلٌ لِكَذَا A person, (S, K,) and persons, for it is used as a singular and as a plural, (K,) having a right, or just title, to such a thing; entitled thereto; worthy, or deserving, thereof; meet, or fit, for it: (S, K:) the vulgar say ↓ مُسْتَأْهِلٌ, which is not allowable: (S:) or this assertion of J's is of no account. (K: see 10.) You say, هُو أَهْلٌ لِإِكْرَامِ He is entitled to be, or worthy of being, treated with honour. (Msb.) And لِكُّلِ ↓ هُوَ أَهْلَةٌ خَيْر [He is entitled to, or worthy of, all that is good]. (Ibn- 'Abbád.) And وُدٍّ ↓ أَهلَةٌ He who is, or they who are, entitled to, or worthy of, love, or affection. (S, Sgh.) And hence, in the Qur'an, 74, last verse, هُوَ أَهْلُ التَّقْوَى وَأَهْلُ المَغْفِرَةِ (TA) He is the Being entitled to be regarded with pious fear, and the Being entitled to forgive those who so regard Him. (Jel.) In the phrase أهْلَ الثَنَاءِ وَالمَجْدِ [0 Thou who art the Being entitled to praise and glory], occurring in a form of prayer, the first word is mansoob as a vocative: and it may be marfooa, as the enunciative of an inchoative suppressed; i. e. أَنْتَ أَهْلُ [Thou art the Being entitled &c.]. (Msb.)

[Frequently, also, أَهْلٌ signifies The author, or, more commonly, authors, of a thing; like صَاحِبٌ and أَصْحَابٌ; as in أَهْلُ البِدَعِ The author, or authors, of innovations; and أَهْلُ الظُّلْمِ The author, or authors, of wrong.]