The Qur‘an: an Encyclopedia
Ilhad is a verbal noun, derived from the Arabic verb lahada, meaning to deviate, to digress.
The word admits of various different translations, including heresy, apostasy and even atheism. The 
use of the verb and its derivatives favours a definition closer to something you might find in a modern dictionary, for it talks of people who ‘deviate in His Names’ (7.80), which presumably connotes some kind of wilful misrepresentation by unbelievers of God’s nature. Elsewhere we read of those who ‘pervert the truth in Our Signs’ (41.40), which, given the dual meaning of ayat, may mean either the corruption or misuse of scripture, or the tendency to ignore or misrepresent the signs of God in creation.
COLIN TURNER
This is the complete article, containing 119 words
(approx. 1 page at 300 words per page).
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