غَيْبٌ

Whatever is absent, or hidden, from one; (S, A, Msb, K, TA;) as though it were a verbal noun used in the sense of the act. particle n. [in which the meaning of a subst. is predominant]; (TA;) and so غَايءِبٌ, which [in this sense] is a subst., like كَاهِلٌ, (K, TA,) or an act. particle n. used in the sense of a subst.: (MF:) anything that is absent, or hidden, from the eyes; invisible, unseen, or unapparent; whether it be, or be not, perceived in the heart, or mind: (IAar, TA:) [or anything unperceivable; absent from the range, or beyond the reach, of perception by sense, or of mental perception; or undiscoverable unless by means of divine revelation; a mystery, or secret, such as an event of futurity;] a thing that has been hidden from men, and with which the Prophet has acquainted them, of the events of the resurrection and of Paradise and of Hell &c.; thus in the Qur'an, 2:2; (Zj, TA;) and [hence] Zj explains الغَيْب as meaning, in the Qur'an, 81:24, that which has been revealed: (TA in article ضن:) plural غُيُوبٌ. (Msb.) [See also the Ksh and Bd in ii. 2.] [Hence, عَالَمُ الغَيْبِ The world of the unseen; the invisible world.] And [hence also] one says, رَجَمَ بِالغَيْبِ [and قَذَفَ بِالغَيْبِ (see article قذف)] He spoke of that which he did not know: (Ham p. 494:) and قَالَ رَجْمًا بِالغَيْبِ He said conjecturally, [or speaking of that which was hidden from him or unknown by him,] without evidence, and without proof. (Msb in article رجم, q. v.)

And (assumed tropical:) Doubt, or a doubting: (K:) but some disapprove this: some regard it as tropical: and some pronounce it correct: (MF, TA:) plural غِيَابٌ and غُيُوبٌ. (K.) A poet says,

أَنْتَ نَبِىٌّ تَعْلَمُ الغِيَابَا

لَا قَايءِلًا إِفْكًا وَلَا مُرْتَابَا

[Thou art a prophet, knowing doubts, or things doubted; not saying a lie, nor a thing suspected: or, more probably, the meaning is, the things unseen]. (TA.)

Also A place, in the ground, that hides, or conceals, one: (TA:) a low, or depressed, place in the ground, or in a tract of land: (S, K, TA:) or any place such that one knows not what is in it: and a place such that one knows not what is behind it: (Sh, TA:) plural غُيُوبٌ. (TA.) Hence the phrase عَنْ ظَهْرِ غَيْبٍ in a verse of Lebeed cited voce ظَهْرٌ, q. v. (TA.) [Hence also] one says, سَمِعْتُ صَوْتًا مِنْ وَرَاءِ الغَيْبِ i. e. [I heard a sound, or voice,] from [behind] a place that I saw not. (A, TA.) And تَنَاوَلَهُ بِظَهْرِ الغَيْبِ بِمَا يَسُووءُهُ: see 8. And تَكَلَّمَ بِهِ عَنْ ظَهْرِ غَيْبٍ (A) or عَنْ ظَهْرِ الغَيْبِ (TA, and A and O in article ظهر) [apparently He spoke of it by memory; in the absence of a book or the like; as one says in modern Arabic, عَلَى الغَايءِب. See also ظَهْرٌ.]

Also The خَمْصَة [i. e. pit, or depression, as is shown by what here follows, (thus in the A, and in the Ksh in ii. 2, in the TA حُفْرَة, which has a similar meaning,)] that is in the place where the kidney is situate, (Ksh, A, TA,) and which swells up when the beast becomes big in the belly: so says ISh: (Ksh ubi suprà:) or the خَمْصَة that is next to the kidney: (Bd in ii. 2: [De Sacy doubted respecting its meaning, but conjectured that it might be thus: see his Anthol. Gramm. Arabe p. 55:]) plural غُيُوبٌ: one says, شَرِبَتِ الدَّابَّةُ حَتَّى وَارَتْ غُيُوبَ كُلَاهَا, (ISh, Ksh ubi suprà, A, TA,) meaning هُزُومَهَا [i. e. The beast drank until it concealed the pits of its kidneys]. (A, TA.)

And Fat: (K, TA:) i. e. the fat of the ثَرْب [q. v.] of a sheep or goat: so called because it is hidden from the eye. (TA.)