t-w-y

Description

The Arabic root ṭ-w-y (طوي) carries the core meaning of folding, rolling up, or concealing something by drawing it together. In the Quranic context, it appears most notably in reference to the sacred valley of Ṭuwa where Moses encountered God, and in the powerful eschatological imagery of the heavens being folded up like a scroll on the Day of Judgment. This root conveys both the physical act of compressing or gathering something into a compact form and the metaphysical concept of divine power over creation's expansion and contraction.