ضل
Ḍalla
To err and stray from the straight path of God revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
What it means
Ḍalla means to lose the way, and so to err and stray. Faruqi uses it for straying from the straight path of God that was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). The related noun is ḍalāl and the participle is ḍāll. The Quran uses the verb in both literal and moral senses. It says that whoever follows guidance does so for his own good, and whoever goes astray does so to his own loss (17:15). The verse adds that no soul bears the burden of another. The word thus sets individual responsibility next to guidance: each person chooses whether to follow or to stray.
Often misunderstood as
That it names a permanent state, when the Quran treats going astray as something a person can turn from.
Term and Arabic as listed in Ismail al Faruqi, Toward Islamic English (International Institute of Islamic Thought, 1995), p. 36, listed as ḌALLA. The definition is restated here.