أَفَحَسِبْتُمْ أَنَّمَا خَلَقْنَٰكُمْ عَبَثًا وَأَنَّكُمْ إِلَيْنَا لَا تُرْجَعُونَ
Quran glossary · draft
عبث
act pointlessly
Undertake or construe activity without a worthy end to which its effort is answerable.
Lexical scope
Scope: semantic unit · Occurrences: 2
Roots: عبث
Lemmas: عبث · تعبث
Forms: عَبَثًا · تَعْبَثُ
Occurrence examples (2 of 2)
Scoped occurrences shown in Quran order: 2.
أَتَبْنُونَ بِكُلِّ رِيعٍ ءَايَةً تَعْبَثُونَ
Where other meanings fail
for amusement
23:115
أَفَحَسِبْتُمْ أَنَّمَا خَلَقْنَٰكُمْ عَبَثًا وَأَنَّكُمْ إِلَيْنَا لَا تُرْجَعُونَ
Alternative: did you suppose that We created you for amusement and that you would not return to Us?
Research rendering: did you suppose that We created you without purpose and that you would not return to Us?
The coordinated no-return clause tests absence of accountable purpose; a specific amusement purpose would add an activity not present and paradoxically supply a purpose.
you build
26:128
أَتَبْنُونَ بِكُلِّ رِيعٍ ءَايَةً تَعْبَثُونَ
Alternative: do you build a sign on every height, you build?
Research rendering: do you build a sign on every height, acting pointlessly?
Building is already expressed by the preceding verb; the target evaluates that activity rather than redundantly naming it.