Level 4 · Most common Quran words

What Does Law (لَوْ) Mean in the Quran?

لَوْ
law
if, if only
Word type
conditional word

This page studies لَوْ as the written form shown in the mushaf. Attached letters and related inflections are studied separately so the examples stay precise.

In the Quran
79 times

Counted from Barakah’s bundled word-by-word Quran data for this exact written form after vowel marks are removed. Forms with attached letters or pronouns may have their own separate count.

Inside the Quran

لَوْ (law) means if, if only. It introduces an imagined, unreal, or regretful condition.

Read it inside the complete ayat below. The surrounding words decide the most natural English rendering, so the translation may use more than one English phrase for the same Arabic form.

See it in real ayat
وَدُّوا۟ لَوْ تُدْهِنُ فَيُدْهِنُونَ

They wish that you would soften [in your position], so they would soften [toward you].

كَلَّا لَوْ تَعْلَمُونَ عِلْمَ ٱلْيَقِينِ

No! If you only knew with knowledge of certainty...

وَإِنَّهُۥ لَقَسَمٌۭ لَّوْ تَعْلَمُونَ عَظِيمٌ

And indeed, it is an oath - if you could know - [most] great.

Arabic quoted letter for letter from the Uthmani text of our Quran reader. Translation: Saheeh International.

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