b-y-'

Description

The Arabic root بيع (b-y-') carries the core meaning of exchange, transaction, and commercial trade. In the Quran, this root appears in contexts related to both literal commerce and metaphorical spiritual transactions, including the buying and selling of goods, the exchange of worldly life for the hereafter, and the idea of believers "selling" themselves to God in return for Paradise. The root's significance lies in how the Quran uses commercial language familiar to the trading society of 7th-century Arabia to convey spiritual concepts of divine covenant, sacrifice, and the weighing of temporal gains against eternal rewards.