مَفَازَةٌ

A place of safety, security, or escape. (S, A, O, K.) So in the Qur'an, 3:185, فَلَا تَحْسِبَنَّهُمْ بِمَفَازَةٍ مِنَ العَذَابِ [Do thou by no means reckon them to be in a place of security from punishment]: (S, A, * O:) or, according to Fr, the meaning here is, far from punishment. (TA.)

A cause, or means, of prosperity, or success, or of the attainment or acquisition of that which one desires or seeks, or of what is good, or of that whereby one becomes in a happy or good state; synonym مَفْلَحَةٌ. (A.)

(tropical:) [The state of temporary safety which is between the present life and that which is to come. See 1, last signification.]

-A2- (tropical:) A place of perdition, or destruction: (Msb, K: *) or i. q. فَلَاةٌ: (A:) [i. e.] a desert; synonym بَرِّيَّةٌ; any [desert such as is called] قَفْرٌ: (TA:) or a desert in which is no water: (ISh, O, K:) and a desert in which is no water for the space of a journey of two nights or more: when there is none for the space of a journey of a night and a day, it is not thus called. (ISh, O, TA:) or a tract in which two wateringplaces are so far apart that camels are kept from drinking two days, with a portion of the day preceding them and of the day following them, [according to that which is generally preferred of the explanations of the term رِبْعٌ which is here employed,] and other animals [that journey quicker] drink on alternate days; as also فَلَاةٌ: or such as is between that in which camels are kept from drinking two days &c. as above, and that in which other animals drink on alternate days; as also فَيْفَاةٌ: (TA:) so called to prognosticate good fortune, and safety. (As, IF, S, A, O, Msb,) as meaning a place of safety, (A,) from فَازَ signifying “ he became safe: ” (Msb:) or from فَوَّزَ, (IAar, S, O, * Msb,) or فَازَ. (AHei, TA.) signifying “ he perished, ” (IAar, S, O, * AHei,) or “ he died: ” (Msb, TA:) AHei condemns the former of these assertions; but Az and ISd say that it is the more commonly approved, though the latter is the more agreeable with analogy: (TA:) or it is so called because he who comes forth from it, having traversed it, is safe: (IAar, TA:) the plural is مَفَاوِزُ: (S:) and ↓ مَفَازٌ signifies the same as مَفَازَةٌ. so in a tradition of Kaab Ibn-Málik; فَاسْتَقْبَلَ سَفَرًا بَعِيدًا وَمَفَازًا [And he saw before him, or looked forward to, a far journey and a desert, or a waterless desert, &c.]. (TA.)