فتن

From the root ف ت ن (f t n). Cognate with Mehri (fetōn), Ge'ez ፈተነ (fatana, “try, test”).

فَتَنَ • (fatana) I (non-past يَفْتِنُ (yaftinu), verbal noun فَتْن (fatn) or فِتْنَة (fitna) or فُتُون (futūn))

1. (transitive) to draw into temptation, to lead astray

   Synonyms: أَغْرَى (ʔaḡrā, “to tempt; to allure, to entice; to seduce”), أَغْوَى (ʔaḡwā, “to mislead”), مَنَّى (mannā, “to promise, to delude with promises; to tempt”), أَضَلَّ (ʔaḍalla, “to mislead, to misguide; to deceive”)

   • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 7:27:

     يَا بَنِي آدَمَ لَا يَفْتِنَنَّكُمُ الشَّيْطَانُ

     yā banī ʔādama lā yaftinannakumu aš-šayṭānu

     O children of Adam, let not Satan tempt you

   1. (transitive) to enchant, to captivate, to charm, to bewitch; to seduce

      Synonym: سَحَرَ (saḥara)

2. (transitive) to afflict, to test, to try

   Synonyms: اِمْتَحَنَ (imtaḥana, “to examine; to test”), اِبْتَلَى (ibtalā, “to try, to test”)

   • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 9:126:

     أَوَلَا يَرَوْنَ أَنَّهُمْ يُفْتَنُونَ فِي كُلِّ عَامٍ مَّرَّةً أَوْ مَرَّتَيْنِ ثُمَّ لَا يَتُوبُونَ وَلَا هُمْ يَذَّكَّرُونَ

     ʔawa-lā yarawna ʔannahum yuftanūna fī kulli ʕāmin marratan ʔaw marratayni ṯumma lā yatūbūna wa-lā hum yaḏḏakkarūna

     Do they not see that they are tried every year once or twice but then they do not repent nor do they remember?

   • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 38:34:

     وَلَقَدْ فَتَنَّا سُلَيْمَانَ وَأَلْقَيْنَا عَلَى كُرْسِيِّهِ جَسَدًا ثُمَّ أَنَابَ

     wa-laqad fatannā sulaymāna wa-ʔalqaynā ʕalā kursiyyihi jasadan ṯumma ʔanāba

     And We certainly tried Solomon and placed on his throne a body; then he returned.

3. (transitive) to persecute, to victimize, to oppress; to torture (in order to forcibly convert or impose a particular ideology, for example)
   • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 10:83:

     فَمَا آمَنَ لِمُوسَى إِلَّا ذُرِّيَّةٌ مِّن قَوْمِهِ عَلَى خَوْفٍ مِّن فِرْعَوْنَ وَمَلَئِهِمْ أَن يَفْتِنَهُمْ وَإِنَّ فِرْعَوْنَ لَعَالٍ فِي الْأَرْضِ وَإِنَّهُ لَمِنَ الْمُسْرِفِينَ

     fa-mā ʔāmana li-mūsā ʔillā ḏurriyyatun min qawmihi ʕalā ḵawfin min firʕawna wa-malaʔihim ʔan yaftinahum wa-ʔinna firʕawna laʕālin fī l-ʔarḍi wa-ʔinnahu lamina l-musrifīna

     But no one believed Moses, except youths among his people, for fear of the Pharaoh and his establishment that they would persecute them. And indeed, the Pharaoh was high within the land, and indeed, he was of the transgressors.

   • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 85:10:

     إِنَّ الَّذِينَ فَتَنُوا الْمُؤْمِنِينَ وَالْمُؤْمِنَاتِ ثُمَّ لَمْ يَتُوبُوا فَلَهُمْ عَذَابُ جَهَنَّمَ وَلَهُمْ عَذَابُ الْحَرِيقِ

     ʔinna llaḏīna fatanū al-muʔminīna wa-l-muʔmināti ṯumma lam yatūbū fa-lahum ʕaḏābu jahannama wa-lahum ʕaḏābu l-ḥarīqi

     Indeed, those who have tortured the believing men and women and then have not repented will have the punishment of Hell, and they will have the punishment of the Burning Fire.

4. (transitive, rare) to burn, to roast

   Synonym: أَحْرَقَ (ʔaḥraqa)

   • 609–632 CE, Qur'an, 51:14:

     يَوْمَ هُمْ عَلَى النَّارِ يُفْتَنُونَ / ذُوقُوا فِتْنَتَكُمْ هَٰذَا الَّذِي كُنتُم بِهِ تَسْتَعْجِلُونَ

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   1. (transitive) to melt, to smelt

      Synonym: صَهَرَ (ṣahara)

• In the sense "to persecute; to torture", the word almost always refers to condemned judgment. This is because the dominant sense is that of misleading, hence "to oppress or torture in order to mislead". If the persecution is deemed rightful, justified, or deserved, other, oftentimes overtly emotive, terms are used instead, which are connotationally closer to "punish" than "persecute". Fairly neutral synonymous terms with like denotations include حَاكَمَ (ḥākama) and قَاضَى (qāḍā).

فِتَن • (fitan) f pl

1. plural of فِتْنَة (fitna)