فَضْلٌ

[a verbal noun: (see 1, throughout:) and also a simple subst., signifying] An exceeding, a redundant, or a superfluous, quantum [of anything, good or evil]; an excess, a redundance, or a superfluity; synonym زِيَادَةٌ; (Mgh, Msb;) opposite of نَقْصٌ: (S, O, K:) [and often meaning superabundance, or exuberance; and surpassingness, superiority, or excellence. عَلَى غَيْرِهِ over another, or others, than him, or it: and preponderance:] the plural is فُضُولٌ (Mgh, Msb, K:) and this is sometimes used as a singular; (Er-Rághib, Msb;) and [thus used] relates to a thing [or quality] in which is no good; (Er-Rághib, Mgh, Msb;) by a predominant application; whence the saying فُضُولٌ بِلَا فَضْلٍ [excess without excellence]; (Mgh;) and hence the rel. n. ↓ فُضُولِىٌّ is formed from it: (Er-Rághib, Msb, TA;) [see this last word, one of the explanations of which shows that a particular meaning of فُضُولٌ is the quality of busying oneself with that which does not concern him:] according to Er-Rághib, فَضْلٌ signifies an excess [in respect of a property or quality, or of an acquisition,] above moderateness; and this is of two sorts; such as is commended, as the فضل of knowledge, or science ; and such as is discommended, as the فصل of anger at that whereat it is not necessary: but فَضَلٌ is more used in relation to that which is commended; and [the plural] فُضُولٌ, in relation to that which is discommended. when the former is used of an excess [in respect of some attribute, of our of two things above the other, it is of three sorts; فضل of kind, as of the animal kind above the vegetable kind; and of species, as of man above other animals; and of the individual, as of one man above another; the first and second of which three are essential attributes, such that he who is deficient in [either of] them cannot do away with his deficiency and acquire فضل, as, for instance, the horse, and the ass, which cannot acquire the excellence (فَضِيلَة) of the human being; but the third may be accidental, such that the way may be found to acquire it, and of this sort are ability, wealth, rank or station, and power: and it signifies also any gift whereof the giving to the recipient thereof is not obligatory: [i. e. a free gift, or gratuity; and an act of bounty or grace; a favour; a benefit; and bounty as an abstract term;] as in the saying [in the Qur'an, 4:36, وَاسْأَلُوا اللّٰهَ مِنْ فَضْلِهِ [And ask ye God of his free gift, or of his bounty, or (as explained in the Ksh and by Bd) of his exhaustless treasures]; and in the saying in the Qur'an, 5:59 and lvii. 21 and lxii. 4], ذٰلِكَ فَضْلُ اللّٰهِ يُوءْتِيهِ مَنْ يَشَاءُ [That is the free gift of God; He giveth it to whom He willeth]; which comprises the three sorts of excellences (فَضَايءِل) [mentioned above]: thus says Er-Rághib: El-Muná- wee says, [explaining one of its meanings,] in the “ Towkeef, ” that it is the commencing, or originating, of an act of beneficence without an efficient cause [i. e., apparently, not by reason of any obligation]. (TA.)

Also A portion remaining, (K, TA,) of a thing, such as food &c., and of water in the leathern water-bag, and of wine or beverage in the vessel; (TA;) and ↓ فَضْلَةٌ and ↓ فُضَالَةٌ signify the same, (K, TA,) or a redundant portion (S and O and Msb in explanation of these two words) of a thing: (S, O:) whence the saying of the vulgar, ↓ لِلْفَضِيلِ ↓ الفَضْلَةُ i. e. The remaining portion of the wine or beverage [is for the excel-lent]. (TA.) It is said in a tradition, لَا يُمْنَعُ فَضْلُ المَاءِ لِيُمْنَعَ بِهِ الكَلَأُ [The redundance of water shall not be denied that the herbage be thereby denied]: (TA, in the present article:) meaning that when there is a well in the desert, with herbage near it, and a person prevents others from drawing water, he thereby prevents the latter from availing themselves of the herbage; for when a man comes with his camels, and pastures them upon that herbage, and does not then water them, thirst kills them. (TA in art كلأ,) And it is said in another tradition, فَضْلُ الإِزَارِ فِى النَّارِ [The redundant portion of the waist-wrapper is in the fire of Hell]; meaning what one drags [thereof] upon the around, by reason of pride. (TA;) And one says, فِى يَدِهِ فَضْلُ الزِّمَامِ, meaning [In his hand is] the end of the زمام [or nose-rein of the camel]. (TA.) ذَاتُ الفُضُولِ and ↓ الفضُولِ, with damm and with fet-h, [The thing having redundant portions] is the name of the coat of mail of the Prophet, which was thus called because having redundance and ampleness. (TA.) فُضُولُ الغَنَايءِمِ means The remains of the spoils when they are divided (TA;) such as a single horse, or a single camel (KL.) And by the فُضُول of women are meant The remains of the menstrual discharge (Ham p. 107: see, there, explanations of a verse in which this occurs.) حِلْفُ الفُضُولِ [The confederacy, or covenant, of the فضول, a word which is here of uncertain meaning,] is thus explained: Háshim and Zuhrah and Teym [according to the CK Teymà] went in to 'Abd-Allah Ibn-Jud'án, and united in a confederacy to repel wrongdoing, and to exact the due from the wrongdoer; and it was thus called because they bound themselves by their confederacy not to leave in the possession of any one aught remaining [of property] whereof he aught despond any one, without their taking it for him [i. e. the latter] from him [i. e. the former] (O, K, TA: [in the CK, يَظْلِمُهُ أَحَدٌ is a mistake for يظلمه أَحَدًا:]) or it was thus called as being likened to a confederacy, or covenant, which was made of old, at Mekkeh, in the days of Jurhum, to act with mutual equity, and to take for the weak from the strong, and for the stranger from the resident, and in which three men, every one of whom was named El-Fadl, joined: and it was also called that of the مَطَيَّبُون. (TA. [See article طيب.])

The saying لَا يَمْلِكُ دِرْهَمًا فَضْلًا عَنْ دِينَارٍ, and the like may be said of other sayings similar to it, means He does not possess a dirhem nor a deenár [or rather much less a deenár]: it is as though one said, he does not possess a dirhem: how then should he possess a deenár? for the negation of that which is much is a necessary consequence of the negation of that which is little: فَضْلًا is here in the accus case as a verbal noun; the implied meaning being فَقَدَ مِلْكَ دِرْهَمٍ فَقْدًا يَفْضُلُ عَنْ فَقْدِ مِلْكِ دينَارٍ [or rather يَفْقِدُ &c., i. e. he lacks the possession of a dirhem with a lacking exceeding the lacking of the possession of a deenár]: (Msb:) Kutb-ed-Deen Esh-Sheerázee says, (Msb, TA,) in the Expos. of the “ Miftáh, ” (TA,) فَضْلًا is used in a case in which the inferior [of two things] is deemed a thing of which the existence is improbable, and the impossibility of the existence of a thing that is above it is meant thereby; wherefore it occurs between two phrases differing in meaning; and it is mostly used after a particle of negation: (Msb, TA:) AHei says that he had not found any authority for it in the [classical] language of the Arabs. (Msb. [See also بَلْهَ, which is used in a somewhat similar manner.])