لا تبدیل لخلق الله

Persian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Arabic لَا تَبْدِيلَ لِ‍خَلْقِ ٱللَّٰهِ (lā tabdīla li‍ḵalqi llāhi, literally there is no altering for God's creation), a Quranic phrase in the so-called "verse of Fitrat" (30:24).

Pronunciation

 
  • (Dari, formal) IPA(key): [lɑː t̪ʰäb.d̪iː.lä lɪ.xäl.qɪ llɑːʱ]
    • (Kabuli) IPA(key): [lɑː t̪ʰäb.d̪iː.lä lɪ.xäl.qɪ llɑː]
    • (Hazaragi) IPA(key): [lɔː t̪ʰäb.d̪i.lä li.xäl.qi llɔː]
  • (Iran, formal) IPA(key): [lɒː t̪ʰæb.d̪iː.le le.xæl.ɢe llɒːʱ]
  • (Tajik, formal) IPA(key): [lɔ t̪ʰäb.d̪i.lä li.χäl.qi llɔʱ]

Readings
Classical reading? lā tabdīla lixalqi llāh
Dari reading? lā tabdīla lixalqi llāh
Iranian reading? lâ tabdile lexalġe llâh
Tajik reading? lo tabdila lixalqi lloh

Phrase

لا تبدیل لخلق الله • (lā tabdīl lixalq-i l-lāh / lâ tabdil lexalġ-e l-lâh)

  1. (Classical Persian, rare) a leopard cannot change its spots
    • 11th c., Abul-Fazl Bayhaqi, Tarikh-e Beyhaqi, volume 6, The hanging of Hasanak, part one (section 26):
      این بو سهل‌ مردی امام‌زاده و محتشم و فاضل و ادیب بود، امّا شرارت و زعارتی‌ در طبع وی مؤکّد شده - و لا تبدیل لخلق الله - و با آن شرارت دلسوزی نداشت []
      īn bū sahl mardē imām-zāda wa muhtašam wa fāzil wa adīb būd, ammā šarārat wa za'āratē dar tab'-i way mu'akkad šuda - wa lā tabdīl lixalq-i l-lāh - wa bā ān šarārat dilsūzī nadāšt []
      This Bu Sahl was an Imamzadeh and magnificent and noble and knowledgeable man but there was a [kind of] villainy and bad temper fixated in his nature—and there is no altering for God's creation—and with that villainy, he had no mercy []