What does « To spread / To scatter » mean in the Quran?
Discover the meaning of the word To spread / To scatter (بث) in the Quran, with 6 verses in which it appears, and a detailed explanation from Al-Raghib al-Asfahani's Mufradat fi gharib al-Qur'an.
بث
To spread / To scatter
Root: ب - ث
Quranic language 6 verses
Updated on 29 May 2026 at 7:00 AM
📖 2 min read
Definition of To spread / To scatter
Al-bathth: originally, to scatter and stir up something, like the wind scattering dust.
Also: to spread what the soul contains of grief or secrets.
Allah says: 'I only complain of my suffering (baththî) to Allah' (Yûsuf: 86), and: 'He has scattered (baththa) creatures of every kind' (Al-Baqara: 164).
Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and earth, and the alternation of the night and the day, and the [great] ships which sail through the sea with that which benefits people, and what Allah has sent down from the heavens of rain, giving life thereby to the earth after its lifelessness and dispersing therein every [kind of] moving creature, and [His] directing of the winds and the clouds controlled between the heaven and the earth are signs for a people who use reason.
O mankind, fear your Lord, who created you from one soul and created from it its mate and dispersed from both of them many men and women. And fear Allah, through whom you ask one another, and the wombs. Indeed Allah is ever, over you, an Observer.
He created the heavens without pillars that you see and has cast into the earth firmly set mountains, lest it should shift with you, and dispersed therein from every creature. And We sent down rain from the sky and made grow therein [plants] of every noble kind.
And of his signs is the creation of the heavens and earth and what He has dispersed throughout them of creatures. And He, for gathering them when He wills, is competent.