Exploring Time in the Arabic Dictionary: “the Future”

اللّامَعْنى

root: ع-ن-ي / compound abstract noun / definition: meaninglessness

The clocks went back the day before yesterday and, like every year, it feels like someone somewhere switched off the warming daylight and left us in a cold, dark wintertime.

I think about how a shift of just an hour changes so much, and I wonder whether that speaks to the significance or meaninglessness of counting time.

And with that seed planted, we circle back to our Exploring Time series. This time, we’ll look ahead to the future, المستقبل.

مُسْتَقبَل

root: ق-ب-ل

The Arabic noun for future, مُستَقبَل, comes from a sound root (ق-ب-ل) associated with receiving, accepting, and approaching.

We’re likely familiar with the temporal preposition that comes from the same root, قَبْلَ, meaning “before” or “prior to”.

(There’s already a lot to reflect on when we know that this preposition and its adverbial form (قَبْلُ), “previously”, derive from the same root as “future”…)

مُستَقبَل itself is a form X passive participle, derived from the verb اِستَقبَلَ / يَستَقبِلُ which carries meanings like:

to go to meet someone
to face something
to receive a guest

Therefore, as the passive participle of this verb, مستقبل means:

that which is met
that which is faced
that which is received and welcomed like a guest

It’s this last idea—viewing the future as a guest to welcome—that I’ve always found interesting; especially when we think about the importance of hospitality in Arab culture.

I think about how we prepare our surroundings when we know a guest is due to arrive, and draw parallels between preparing our present in anticipation of what is to come.

I also think of the anxiety of welcoming guests for introverts like myself, but perhaps I’m straying from the point. Or perhaps this is part of it.

And what about the root connection between the past (via قبل) and the future (مستقبل)? What is the dictionary telling us about the entanglements between the past, present, and future in this culturo-linguistic space?

Do we face our past every time the future comes?

Are we simply moving towards the consequences of the past as we move forward in time?

Then: is our future a guest we gladly receive or one that shows up unwelcomed at our doorstep?

Food for thought.

Let me know your own reflections on المستقبل in the comments below!

!مع السلامة