سَبِيلٌ
1.
A way, road, or path; (S, M, Msb, K;) and what is open, or conspicuous, thereof; (M, K;) and Er-Rághib adds, wherein is easiness: (TA:) and
سَبِيلَةٌ signifies the same: (Ibn- 'Abbád, K:) the former is masculine and feminine; (S, M, Mgh, Msb, K;) like زُقَاقٌ; (Msb;) made feminine by the people of El-Hijáz, and masculine by Temeem; (Akh, S voce زُقَاقٌ;) but mostly feminine; (IAth, TA;) in the Qur'an it is made masculine in vii. 143, and feminine in xii. 108: (S, M, TA:) plural سُبُلٌ, (M, K,) or, according to ISk, it has this plural when masculine, and سُبُولٌ, like عُنُوقٌ when feminine, (Msb, [but this distinction and the latter plural are both strange,]) and it has also as a plural [of pauc.] أَسْبِلَةٌ. (TA.) In the saying, وَ عَلَى اللّٰهِ قَصْدُ السَّبِيلِ [And upon God it rests to show the right way (see article قصد)], (M, K,) in the Qur'an, 16:9, (M,) it is used as a gen. n., because it is added, وَ مِنْهَا جَايءِرٌ. (M, K.)
2.
اِبْنُ السَّبِيلِ means (assumed tropical:) The son of the road; (M, K;) he whom the road has brought, or [as it were] brought forth; (IB;) the wayfarer, or traveller: (Mgh, Msb:) or he who travels much or often: (TA:) or the traveller who is far from his place of abode: (Er-Rághib:) as used in the verse of the Qur'an, (M, Mgh, Msb,) ix, 60, (M,) it means the person to whom the way has become cut short [so that he is unable to continue his journey]; (M, K;) to which has been added, who desires to return to his country, or town, and finds not what will suffice him: (TA:) or the traveller who is cut off from his property: (Mgh, Msb:) or the person who desires to go to a country, or town, other than his own, for a necessary affair: or, according to Ibn-'Arafeh, the guest who has become disabled from proceeding in his journey, his means having failed him: to such should be given as much as will suffice him to his home. (TA.)
3.
تَقْطَعُونَ السَّبِيلَ, in the Qur'an, 29:28, means (assumed tropical:) [And ye cut off] the way of offspring [by your unnatural practices]: or and ye oppose yourselves to men in the roads [or road] for the purpose of that which is excessively, or enormously, foul or abominable. (TA.)
4.
[سَبِيلُ
اللّٰهِ means (assumed tropical:) The way, or cause, of God, or of religion; or the way whereby one seeks approach to God, or advancement in his favour.] It is said in the Qur'an, 2:191, وَ أَنْفِقُوا فِى سَبِيلِ اللّٰهِ, meaning (assumed tropical:) And expend ye in warring against unbelievers and the like, and in every good work commanded by God; (M, K;) such being of the ways [that lead] to God: (M:) mostly used in relation to warring against unbelievers and the like. (M, K.) And in the same, iii. 163, الَّذِينَ قُتِلُوا
فِى سَبِيلِ اللّٰهِ, meaning [Who have been slain in the cause of God, or of his religion, i. e.,] for the sake of the religion of God. (Jel.) And you say, جَعَلَ ضَيْعَتَهُ فِى سَبِيلِ اللّٰهِ (assumed tropical:) [He made his estate to have its profit, or revenue, or usufruct, employed in the cause of God, or of religion]. (S.)
5.
سَبِيلٌ also signifies (assumed tropical:) A means of access; a connexion, or a tie: so in the saying, in the Qur'an, 25:29, يَا لَيْتَنِى اتَّخَذْتُ مَعَ الرَّسُولِ سَبِيلًا (assumed tropical:) [O would that I had obtained, with the Apostle, a means of access to Paradise]: (S, Msb, TA:) thus it has been explained: (TA:) or the meaning is, [O would that I had taken, with the Apostle,] a way to safety: or one way, the way of truth. (Bd.)
6.
[Also, in the present day, applied to A public drinking-fountain.]