In order to explain the meaning of the expression, first one must establish the meaning of the word daḥw. An analysis of the different usages of words derived from the root d-ḥ-w during the first centuries after the advent of Islam shows that it had several meanings: 1) to fix or fasten: although the lexicologists do not list this meaning, several examples clearly demonstrate its currency (see e.g. Naṣr b. Muzāḥim, 549; also al-Ṭabarī, Ta⁠ʾrīkh, 1/38, where the expression irsāʾ al-jibāl, lit. ‘anchoring the mountains’, is interpreted as being synonymous with daḥw al-arḍ); 2) to throw […