بَلْهَ

is an indecl. word with fet-h for its termination, like كَيْفَ, and means دَعْ [Let alone, or say nothing of]; (S;) [i. e.] it is a noun for دَعْ; indecl.; (Mughnee, K;) a verbal noun, meaning دَعْ and أُتْرُكْ; (IAth, TA;) and the noun that follows it, when it is thus used, is in the accusative case; (Mughnee, K;) i. e. it is indecl., with fet-h for its termination, when the noun following it is in the accusative case; so that you say, بَلْهَ زَيْدًا [Let alone Zeyd, or say nothing of Zeyd]; like as you say, رُوَيْدَ زَيْدًا: (IB, TA:) and it is also a verbal noun in the sense of التَّرْكُ; likewise with fet-h for its termination, but decl.; and when it is thus used, the noun that follows it is in the gen. case; (Mughnee, K;) or it is put in the place of a verbal noun, meaning تَرْكَ [which is virtually the same as اُتْرُكْ and دَعْ], and is prefixed to a noun in the gen. case; so that you say, بَلْهَ زَيْدٍ, i. e. تَرْكَ زَيْدٍ [which is virtually the same as بَلْهَ زَيْدًا explained above; for تَرْكَ زَيْدٍ is originally اُتْرُكْ زَيْدًا تَرْكًا, like as فَضَرْبَ الرِّقَابِ in the Qur'an, 47:4 is originally فاضْرِبُوا الرِّقَابَ ضَرْبًا]; (IAth, TA;) for in this case it cannot be regarded as a verbal noun, since verbal nouns are not prefixed to other nouns, governed by them in the gen. case: (IB, TA:) and it is also a noun synonym with كَيْفَ [How?]; likewise with fet-h for its termination, indecl.; and when it is thus used, the noun that follows it is in the nom. case. (Mughnee, K.) A poet says, describing swords, (S, Mughnee,) namely, Kaab Ibn-Málik, (S,)

تَذَرُ الجَمَاجِمَ ضَاحِيًا هَامَتُهَا

بَلْهَ الأَكُفَّ كَأَنَّهَا لَمْ تُخْلَقِ

[They leave the skulls with their crowns lying open to the sun (let alone, or say nothing of, the hands) as though they had not been created]: (S, Mughnee:) he says, when they cut, or cut off, the crowns, then let alone, or say nothing of, the hands (فَدَعِ الأَكُفَّ): i. e., they are more fit for cutting off the hands: (TA:) Akh says that بله is here in the place of a verbal noun; that it is as when you say, ضَرْبَ زَيْدٍ: but الاكفّ may be in the accusative case; so that the meaning may be دَعِ الأَكُفَّ: (S:) the verse is thus recited in two different ways: and also بَلْهَ الأَكُفُّ [how then must be the case of the hands?]. (Mughnee.) And hence the prov., تُحْرِقُكَ النَّارُ إِنْ تَرَاهَا بَلْهَ أَنْ تَصْلَاهَا, i. e. The fire will burn thee if thou see it from a distance: then let alone, or say nothing of, (فَدَعْ,) thy entering into it. (TA.) A strange instance occurs in the Saheeh of El-Bukháree, in the explanation of the الم of the chapter of السَّجْدَة [the 32nd ch. of the Qur'an]: he says, God says [by these three letters], أَعْدَدْتُ لِعِبَادِي الصَّالِحِينَ مَا لَا عَيْنٌ رَأَتْ وَلَا أُذُنٌ سَمِعَتْ وَ لَا خَطَرِ عَلَى قَلْبِ بَشَرٍ ذُخْرًا مِنْ بَلْهِ مَا اطَّلَعْتُمْ عَلَيْهِ: (Mughnee, K: *) or ما أَطَلَعْتُهُمْ عَلَيْهِ: (so in some copies of the K:) thus بله is used as a decl. word, governed in the gen. case by من, and deviating from the three meanings [explained above]: (Mughnee, K:) but the reading commonly known is, على قلب بشر بَلْهَ مَ أَطْلَعْتُهُمْ عليه; and this is the reading in the work of J, [the S,] and in the Nh, and other lexicological works: (TA:) it has been explained by غَيْر; [so that the meaning of the sentence as first related above is, I have prepared for my righteous servants what eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it occurred to the mind of man, as a treasure for the future, (obviously taken from Isaiah lxiv. 4, quoted by St. Paul in 1 Cor. ii. 9,) save, or except, that with which ye have become acquainted, or that with which I have acquainted them; and the same, with the omission of “ as a treasure for the future, “ is the meaning of the sentence as related in the S and Nh &c.;] (Mughnee, K;) i. e. سِوَى, as in the S; (TA;) and this corroborates, (Mughnee,) or is agreeable with, (K,) the opinion of those who reckon بله as an exceptive word: (Mughnee, K:) and as meaning أَجَلْ [apparently a mistranscription for أَجْل; i. e., it has been explained also as meaning I have done all this because of my promise to them; (مِنْ أَجْلِ مَا أَطْلَعْتُهُمْ عَلَيْهِ because of that with which I have acquainted them;) and thus it may have been read by SM, for he has written اجل without any syll. signs; and has given no other example of بله in the sense here intended except one commencing with the words, بَلْهَ انِّى لَمْ أَخُنْ عَهْدًا, which may mean because I have not broken a covenant, or yea, verily I have not &c., accord. as we read أَنِّى or إِنِّى]: or as meaning كُفَّ [or rather كُفَّ عَنْ] and دَعْ [let alone, or say nothing of; but this explanation must relate to the sentence as given in the S and Nh]: (K, but omitted in an excellent copy of that work:) or, according to El-Ahmar, it means, in this tradition [as commonly known], كَيُفَ [how? which seems to be the least suitable of all these explanations]. (TA.) IAmb relates, on the authority of others, that بَلْهَ is also synonym with عَلَى: [but I think that this is a mistake, arising from a misunderstanding of what here follows:] Fr says that he who makes it to govern a gen. case regards it as used in the manner of عَلَى, and similar particles governing the gen. case. (TA.)

مَا بَلْهَكَ means مَا بَالُكَ [What is thy state, or condition, or case?]: (K, TA:) or مَا لَكَ [which often has this meaning: see the letter ل]. (So in some copies of the K.)