ط ل بseeking

طلب · ṭalab · seeking

• Met in: V1 p9 ¶1b: «طلب العلم فريضة على كل مسلم», "seeking knowledge is an obligation on every Muslim"; and V1 p9 ¶8a: «طلب العلم أفضل من النافلة», "seeking knowledge is better than voluntary worship".
• Dictionary form: طَلَب, the verbal noun of طَلَبَ. Lane on the verb: "He sought it, desired it, demanded it, or asked for it". The seeker is طَالِب, which Lane notes is "used for TaAlibu EilomK a student of science or knowledge".
• Pattern: فَعَل (faʿal), a verbal noun. From it: طَالِب (ṭālib), the one who seeks, and مَطْلُوب (maṭlūb), the one sought: the pair in Ibn ʿAbbās's saying, «ذللت طالبا فعززت مطلوبا» (V1 p9 ¶1g).
• Meaning here: Seeking: «طلب العلم», "seeking knowledge" (¶1b, ¶8a, ¶10a); its verb, يطلب, "he seeks", runs through the rest of the page (¶1f, ¶3a, ¶3b).

Ibn Faris, Maqāyīs al-Lugha, root طلب, vol 3, p 417

الطاء واللام والباء أصل واحد يدل على ابتغاء الشيء

One origin: it points to wanting to find a thing. He goes on: «يقال: طلبت الشيء أطلبه طلبا», "one says: I sought the thing, I seek it, a seeking".

Urdu bridge

طلب (demand, a craving), طالب علم (a student), طلبہ (students), مطلوب (wanted, required) and مطلب (meaning, purpose: what is sought) are all Urdu. (to be confirmed)

Quran

4 words from this root (Quranic Arabic Corpus), each once: يَطْلُبُ (it pursues), طَلَب (seeking), طَّالِب (the pursuer), مَطْلُوب (the pursued).

يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّاسُ ضُرِبَ مَثَلٌ فَٱسْتَمِعُوا۟ لَهُۥٓ إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ تَدْعُونَ مِن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ لَن يَخْلُقُوا۟ ذُبَابًا وَلَوِ ٱجْتَمَعُوا۟ لَهُۥ وَإِن يَسْلُبْهُمُ ٱلذُّبَابُ شَيْـًٔا لَّا يَسْتَنقِذُوهُ مِنْهُ ضَعُفَ ٱلطَّالِبُ وَٱلْمَطْلُوبُ

O people, an example is presented, so listen to it. Indeed, those you invoke besides Allah will never create [as much as] a fly, even if they gathered together for that purpose. And if the fly should steal away from them a [tiny] thing, they could not recover it from him. Weak are the pursuer and pursued.

Surah Al-Hajj (22), ayah 73 · Saheeh International

Why this ayah: «ضَعُفَ ٱلطَّالِبُ وَٱلْمَطْلُوبُ», "Weak are the pursuer and pursued": the same two words, ṭālib and maṭlūb, that Ibn ʿAbbās uses of himself.

In the Ihya

طلب: 387 times in the Ihya.