The three radicals of the Arabic word Rabb are the letters (r, b, b) and the basic meaning is to bring up. If we take into account the wider meaning of the root word and its various derivatives, we find that it has following connotations:

  1. One who brings up, rear, fosters or nourishes, or is responsible for doing all or one or more than one of these;
  2. Guardian, patron; one who supervises or is responsible for carrying out improvements;
  3. One who occupies a central or focal position, who himself gathers people round himself of his own or round whom people gather out themselves;
  4. Leader, head, chief, or lord; one whose word is obeyed, and whose supremacy or over lordship acknowledged, and who has authority to dispose of men or things;
  5. Owner ; master.