Root · 25 in the Quran · 100 in 17 texts of the library
بسطextension of a thing, in breadth or otherwise. (root bst)
الباء والسين والطاء أصل واحد وهو امتداد الشيء في عرض أو غير عرض فالبساط ما يبسط والبساط الأرض وهي البسيطة
Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-lugha · English rendering AI
The family of the root
Patterns computed · our dataThe words of ب س ط that our sources attest: the root's letters in green, the added letters in gold.
36 words6 verbs8 verbal nouns4 participles1 place or instrument4 intensives and elatives7 other nouns5 plurals1 relative or abstract
- بَسَطَhe spread, spread out, expanded, or unfolded, the garment, or piece of cloth
- بَسْطspreading; extension
- بِسَاطthing that is spread or spread out or forth
- بَاسِط—
- مَبْسُوطcheerful
The whole family8 groups, by pattern; tap a pattern to see what it does
Verbs6بَسَطَ · اِنْبَسَطَ · بَسَّطَ
The root as an action: the bare Form I, and the Forms made by adding letters before, inside or after the root.grammar →
Form I vowels: فَعَلَ يَفْعُلُ (a – u; the imperfect from Lane's “aor.”)
- بَسَطَhe spread, spread out, expanded, or unfolded, the garment, or piece of clothLaneForm IQurʾān ×16library ×2LaneIbn Fāris
- اِنْبَسَطَthe thing became spread or spread out, , upon the groundLaneForm VIIlibrary ×1Lane
- بَسَّطَLane: see Form IForm IILaneIbn Fāris
- بَاسَطَhe conversed, or acted, with him without shyness, or aversionLaneForm IIILane
Verbal nouns8بَسْط · بِسَاط · بَسْط
The action itself, named as a noun (maṣdar).grammar →
- بَسْطspreading; extensionautoForm I · Lane: inf. n.library ×22LaneIbn Fāris
- بِسَاطthing that is spread or spread out or forthLaneForm III · Lane: inf. n.Qurʾān ×1library ×8LaneIbn Fāris
- بَسْطForm I · Lane: inf. n.Qurʾān ×1LaneIbn Fāris
- اِنْبِساطcheerfulnessautoForm VIIlibrary ×3
Participles4بَاسِط · مَبْسُوط · مُنْبَسِط
The one who does it, and the one it is done to.grammar →
- بَاسِطactive, Form IQurʾān ×4Lane
- مَبْسُوطcheerfulautopassive, Form Ilibrary ×6Lane
- مُنْبَسِطcheerfulautoactive, Form VIIlibrary ×2Lane
- مَبْسُوطَتَانpassive, Form IQurʾān ×1
Place, time and instrument1مَبْسَط
Where or when it happens, and what it is done with: the m- nouns.grammar →
- مَبْسَطwidth, or extentLanenoun of place or timeLane
Intensives, qualities and the elative4بَسِيط · أَبْسَط · بَسْطَان
The quality carried far, held as a trait, or compared.grammar →
- بَسِيطsimple; plainautoquality (faʿīl)library ×6LaneIbn Fāris
- أَبْسَطsimpler; simplestautoelative or colour adjective (afʿal)library ×1
- بَسْطَانintensive (faʿlān)Lane
- بُسْطَانintensive (faʿlān)Lane
Other nouns7بَسْطَة · بَسَاط · بَسِيطَة
Nouns on other patterns; their meaning is learned word by word.grammar →
Plurals5بُسُط · بَاسِطُو · بِسَاط
Broken plurals rebuild the word on a new pattern; sound plurals add an ending.grammar →
Reference
Why this shape?What each of the 19 patterns does
What each pattern does. The pattern gives a tendency, not a rule: many words have drifted into meanings of their own.
The pattern machinePour the root into a pattern; see whether the word exists
Choose a pattern; the root's letters pour into it. Then see whether the word exists in our sources. The machine makes shapes; only usage makes words.
Not in our sources. A possible shape, not a word we can show: the Quran, the library and Lane do not have it for this root.
Place noun with -a. The place noun with the feminine -a. Sometimes it is only a variant of mafʿal; often it names the place where a thing is found in abundance (maʾsada, 'a place full of lions'). So maktab is the place of writing, and maktaba, where writings are gathered: a library, a bookshop. Our summary AI
But: maktaba is not in our classical dictionaries for k-t-b: Lane and al-Jawharī give maktab ('a school'), none gives maktaba. Its sense of 'library, bookshop' fits the pattern of abundance, but that is our reading of the pattern, not a classical entry. Many mafʿala words are single items of usage (maqbara 'cemetery'), which the grammarians call heard, not formed by rule.
The grammarians on this pattern (4)
ما يكون مفعلة لازمة لها الهاء والفتحة … وذلك إذا أردت أن تكثر الشيء بالمكان، وذلك قولك: أرض مسبعة، ومأسدة
Chapter on what is mafʿala, with the -a and the a-vowel always: that is when you mean that a thing abounds in a place, as you say 'a land of many beasts of prey (masbaʿa), of many lions (maʾsada)' AI
Sībawayh (d. c. 180/796), al-Kitāb, ed. ʿAbd al-Salām Hārūn, 3rd ed. (Cairo: al-Khānjī, 1988), 4:94 · OpenITI line 21027–21028 ↗ · on this site · OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
و نحو المظنة و المقبرة فتحا و ضما ليس بقياس
and words like maẓinna and maqbara (with a or u) are not by rule AI
Ibn al-Ḥājib (d. 646/1249), al-Shāfiya fī ʿilm al-taṣrīf, ed. Ḥasan Aḥmad al-ʿUthmān (Mecca: al-Maktaba al-Makkiyya, 1995), 1:30 · OpenITI line 223 ↗ · on this site · OpenITI RELEASE v2025.1.9, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
- “designate the place where the object signified by the noun from which they are formed, is found in large numbers or quantities” Wright, Grammar I, §247, p. 148 ↗ · on nouns of abundance, maf'ala · 3rd ed. (Cambridge, 1896) · public domain
- “Nouns of time and place not unfrequently take the feminine form” Wright, Grammar I, §225, p. 128 ↗ · on maf'ala as a variant of maf'al · 3rd ed. (Cambridge, 1896) · public domain
About thisWhat “attested” means here; the sources
Attested means found in our data: the Quranic Arabic Corpus (lemmas, verb Forms, participles, verbal nouns, plurals), the library's words (automatic analysis), Lane's Lexicon (his headwords, the Forms he numbers, the verbal nouns and plurals he names) and Ibn Fāris's entry. Nothing is generated for this list. Meanings are Lane's first gloss in his entry, or else the analyser's gloss (“auto”). Vowelling follows the corpus, then Lane, then the analyser; verbs are given in the regular perfect. Lane's Lexicon thins out after qāf, and a few of his entries cover several roots at once: those roots show no Lane. The patterns, written with ف ع ل, are computed by us.
The dictionaries
English: AI translation AIal-Khalīl · 170Al-basṭ (البسط) is the opposite of al-qabḍ (constriction/grasping).
al-Khalīl b. Aḥmad (d. c. 170/786), Kitāb al-ʿAyn. The first Arabic dictionary, arranged by permutations of the root letters.
AI AI translation of the Arabic belowal-Jawharī · 393Basaṭa (بسط) the thing: he spread it out, also spelled with ṣād.
al-Jawharī (d. c. 393/1003), al-Ṣiḥāḥ. Admits only usage he judged sound.
AI AI translation of the Arabic belowIbn Fāris · 395The bāʾ, sīn, and ṭāʾ have one root meaning: the extension of a thing in width or otherwise.
Ibn Fāris (d. 395/1004), Maqāyīs al-Lugha. Seeks each root's original sense (aṣl).
AI AI translation of the Arabic belowal-Rāghib · 502Basṭ al-shayʾ (بسط الشيء): spreading and widening a thing;
al-Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī (d. c. 502/1108), al-Mufradāt. Quranic vocabulary, from core sense to Quranic usage.
AI AI translation of the Arabic belowLisān · 711Among the names of God Almighty: al-Bāsiṭ (الباسط), He who extends provision to His servants and widens it upon them through His bounty and mercy, and who spreads the spirits into bodies at the time of life [i.e., animat
Ibn Manẓūr (d. 711/1311), Lisān al-ʿArab. The great compendium of the earlier dictionaries (entry shortened).
AI AI translation of the Arabic below
Technical definitions4 · Ibn ʿArabī’s Iṣṭilāḥ, al-Jurjānī’s Taʿrīfāt
البسط
هو عندنا من يسع الاشياء ولا يسعه شىء وقيل هو حال الرجا وقيل هو وارد توجبه اشارة الى قبول ورحمة وانس.
Al-basṭ (البسط): according to us, is [the description of] one who encompasses/accommodates all things while nothing encompasses him; and it is said to be the state of hope (rajāʾ); and it is said to be an arrival (wārid) necessitated by an indication pointing toward acceptance, mercy, and intimacy. AI
البسيط
ثلاثة أقسام: بسيط حقيقي، وهو ما لا جزء له أصلا؛ كالبارئ تعالى، وعرفي؛ وهو ما لا يكون مركبا من الأجسام المختلفة الطبائع، وإضافي؛ وهو ما تكون أجزاؤه أقل بالنسبة إلى الآخر، والبسيط، أيضا: روحاني، وجسماني، فالروحاني كالعقول، والنفوس المجردة، والجسماني كالعناصر.
Al-basīṭ (البسيط) is of three kinds: the truly simple (basīṭ ḥaqīqī), which has no parts at all, such as the Creator, Exalted is He; the conventionally simple (ʿurfī), which is that which is not composed of bodies of differing natures; and the relatively simple (iḍāfī), which is that whose parts are fewer in relation to another thing. Al-basīṭ is also [divided into] spiritual (rūḥānī) and corporeal (jismānī): the spiritual, such as the [separate] intellects and immaterial souls; the corporeal, such as the elements. AI
القضية البسيطة
هي التي حقيقتها ومعناها، إما إيجاب فقط، كقولنا، كل إنسان حيوان بالضرورة، فإن معناه ليس إلا إيجاب الحيوانية للإنسان. وإما سلب فقط، كقولنا: لا شيء من الإنسان بحجر بالضرورة، فإن حقيقته ليست إلا سلب الحجرية عن الإنسان.
Al-qaḍiyyah al-basīṭah (the simple proposition) is that whose reality and meaning consist either purely in affirmation, as in our saying 'every human is necessarily an animal,' for its meaning is nothing but the affirmation of animality for the human; or purely in negation, as in our saying 'no human is necessarily a stone,' for its reality is nothing but the negation of stoneness from the human. AI
القضية البسيطة
هي التي حكم فيها على ما يصدق عليه في نفس الأمر الكلي الواقع عنوانا في الخارج، محققا أو مقدرا، أو لا يكون موجودا فيه أصلا.
Al-qaḍiyyah al-basīṭah (the simple proposition) is that in which judgment is made concerning that which, in reality, truly applies to the universal subject as it occurs as a heading in the external world — whether actually realized or [merely] posited/estimated — or [judgment is made concerning] that which does not exist in it at all. AI
The same letters, turned
The same three letters in all six orders. Choose one.
ب س ط
الباء والسين والطاء أصل واحد وهو امتداد الشيء في عرض أو غير عرض فالبساط ما يبسط والبساط الأرض وهي البسيطة
The letters b-s-ṭ are one root, which is the extension of a thing in width or otherwise. Al-bisāṭ is what is spread out, and al-basāṭ is the earth, which is al-basīṭa. AI
an entry in Ibn Fārislater sources onlyin none of them
Do these six share one core meaning?
Reference
About thisal-Khalīl, Ibn Jinnī, Ibn Fāris; the counts across the dictionary
al-Khalīl (d. c. 170/786), Kitāb al-ʿAyn, as transmitted by al-Layth: a two-letter word “turns in two ways”, a three-letter word “in six ways” (masdūsa), four letters in 24, five in 120; “its used forms are written down and its unused ones dropped” (line 975 ↗). The dictionary is built on this: each chapter takes a set of letters and names which orders are used (mustaʿmal) and which unused (muhmal). The ring shows that verdict, from the chapter heading as edited (documented in the text; how much of the book is al-Khalīl's own is disputed).
A reported total. al-Suyūṭī transmits, from Ḥamza al-Iṣfahānī, that al-Khalīl put the possible forms, used and unused, of two to five letters at 12,305,412 (al-Muzhir, line 1347 ↗). It is reported, not found in the ʿAyn. It equals exactly the arrangements of 2 to 5 different letters out of 28 (756 + 19,656 + 491,400 + 11,793,600); the breakdown printed beside it is corrupt, and al-Zubaydī's count, given next, differs (6,659,400).
Ibn Jinnī (d. 392/1002), al-Khaṣāʾiṣ, names the greater derivation (al-ishtiqāq al-akbar): bind a three-letter root and its six orders to one meaning, and bring stray members back “by the subtlety of the craft and interpretation” (line 7536 ↗). He says himself that it does not hold for every root (line 167 ↗; line 7603 ↗).
Ibn Fāris (d. 395/1004) gives each root its own aṣl and treats a rearranged word as maqlūb, “turned round”, and so not a root of its own: “j-b-dh is not a root, because it is a single word, turned round” (Maqāyīs, line 6147 ↗). The ring sets his aṣl for each order side by side; whether they meet is the question.
Neighbours on the ring differ by one swap of two letters.
The critique. A source quoted by al-Suyūṭī calls the greater derivation Ibn Jinnī's innovation, “not relied on in the language” (al-Muzhir, line 6159 ↗).
The other axis. The root's letters also go into patterns that keep their order and change the frame: the patterns (awzān) and the verb Forms I–X.
Across Ibn Fāris's dictionary. Of the 2,300 possible sets of three different sound letters (no hamza, w or y), 1,021 have at least one order as an entry. How many of their six orders are entries:
- 1 of 6319
- 2 of 6218
- 3 of 6164
- 4 of 6155
- 5 of 6107
- 6 of 658
- 1 of 6148
- 2 of 6108
- 3 of 6157
- 4 of 6179
- 5 of 6111
- 6 of 643
Of the orders al-Khalīl calls used, 2,097 are entries in Ibn Fāris and 267 are not; 17 that he calls unused are entries in Ibn Fāris.
Attested here means found in our digital texts (Ibn Fāris, Lisān al-ʿArab, Lane, the Quranic Arabic Corpus), with w and y kept apart and hamza spellings merged; it is our data, not a classical verdict. English beside the Arabic is AI translation. Sources and grades: docs/research/root-permutations.md.
Letters & sound
- بbāʾbetween the lips · voiced, stopSīb. · I. Jinnī
- سsīntongue-tip, by the front teeth · voiceless, continuantSīb. · I. Jinnī
- طṭāʾtongue-tip, roots of the teeth · voiced, stop, velarisedSīb. · I. Jinnī
How each letter is made, in brief, from Sībawayh's and Ibn Jinnī's own sentences (linked); their words are under Reference.
Sharing two of its three letters (computed; kinship of form, not of meaning)
Reference
How it is madeSībawayh and Ibn Jinnī · phonetics
English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic AI
ب
ومما بين الشفتين مخرج الباء، والميم، والواو
From between the two lips is the place of the bāʾ, the mīm and the wāw. Sībawayh, line 26563 ↗
ومما بين الشفتين مخرج الباء والميم والواو
From between the two lips is the place of the bāʾ, the mīm and the wāw. Ibn Jinnī, line 986 ↗
س
ومما بين طرف اللسان وفويق الثنايا مخرج الزاي، والسين، والصاد
From between the tip of the tongue and just above the front teeth is the place of the zāy, the sīn and the ṣād. Sībawayh, line 26560 ↗
ومما بين الثنايا وطرف اللسان، مخرج الصاد والزاي والسين
From between the front teeth and the tip of the tongue is the place of the ṣād, the zāy and the sīn. Ibn Jinnī, line 983 ↗
ط
ومما بين طرف اللسان وأصول الثنايا مخرج الطاء، والدال، والتاء
From between the tip of the tongue and the roots of the front teeth is the place of the ṭāʾ, the dāl and the tāʾ. Sībawayh, line 26559 ↗
ومما بين طرف اللسان وأصول الثنايا، مخرج الطاء والدال والتاء
From between the tip of the tongue and the roots of the front teeth is the place of the ṭāʾ, the dāl and the tāʾ. Ibn Jinnī, line 982 ↗
Sībawayh, al-Kitāb (ed. Hārūn) and Ibn Jinnī, Sirr ṣināʿat al-iʿrāb; OpenITI digital texts (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). Full credits on each letter's page.
In the Breath of the All-MercifulIbn ʿArabī · metaphysics
English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic AI
ب
Level of existence: الجن · the jinn
Divine Name: اللطيف · al-Laṭīf, the Subtle
Lunar mansion: الفرع المقدم · al-Farʿ al-Muqaddam
Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 62118Spheres of its simples (ch. 2): 10 line 2573 ↗
Nature (ch. 2)
المرتبة العشرية فحروفها حارة يابسة
The tenfold rank: its letters are hot and dry.
Ibn ʿArabī, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, line 2582س
Level of existence: ما ظهر في الماء · what appears in water
Divine Name: المحيي · al-Muḥyī, the Life-Giver
Lunar mansion: النعائم · al-Naʿāʾim
Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 62110Spheres of its simples (ch. 2): 9 line 2572 ↗
Nature (ch. 2)
السين والشين فطبعهما الحرارة واليبوسة
Sīn and shīn: their nature is heat and dryness.
Ibn ʿArabī, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, line 2581ط
Level of existence: السماء السادسة · the sixth heaven
Divine Name: المحصي · the Enumerator (al-Muḥṣī)
Lunar mansion: الزبانا · al-Zubānā
Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 64680Spheres of its simples (ch. 2): 10 line 2573 ↗
Nature (ch. 2)
المرتبة العشرية فحروفها حارة يابسة
The tenfold rank: its letters are hot and dry.
Ibn ʿArabī, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, line 2582Meaning by vowelal-Dabbāgh · a visionary claim about a primordial “Syriac”, not historical Syriac
English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic AI
ب
With fatḥa ـَ
فهي إشارة إلى الشيء الذي هو في غاية العز أو في غاية الذل.
It is an indication of the thing that is at the utmost of might or at the utmost of abasement.
With ḍamma ـُ
فهي إشارة معها قبض.
It is an indication accompanied by contraction (qabḍ).
With kasra ـِ
فهي إشارة إلى ما دخل أو هو داخل على الذات.
It is an indication of what has entered, or is entering, upon the self.
س
With fatḥa ـَ
فهي إشارة إلى الشيء المليح الذي من طبعه الرقة.
It is an indication of the comely thing whose nature is delicacy.
With ḍamma ـُ
فهي إشارة إلى الشيء القبيح الخشن، أو إشارة إلى سواد حسا ومعنى.
It is an indication of the ugly, rough thing, or of blackness, sensible and figurative.
With kasra ـِ
وبالكسر إشارة إلى الشيء الطابع وتكون الإشارة منه.
With kasra it is an indication of the impressing/stamping thing, and the indication proceeds from it.
ط
With fatḥa ـَ
فهي إشارة إلى الشيء الذي جنسه طاهر وصاف إلى النهاية، وهو في ذاته أيضا طاهر صاف إلى النهاية.
It is an indication of the thing whose genus is pure and clear to the utmost, and which is also, in itself, pure and clear to the utmost.
With ḍamma ـُ
فهي إشارة إلى الخبيث إلى النهاية عكس الأول.
It is an indication of what is foul to the utmost, the reverse of the first.
With kasra ـِ
فهي إشارة إلى الشيء الذي من طبعه السكون أو أمر بالسكون.
It is an indication of the thing whose nature is stillness, or which has been commanded to be still.
In the sister scriptsHebrew ב ס/ש טSyriac ܒ ܣ/ܫ ܛ
| Arabic | ب س ط |
| Hebrew | ב ס/ש ט |
| Syriac | ܒ ܣ/ܫ ܛ |
| Ancient South Arabian (musnad) | 𐩨 𐩯/𐩦 𐩷 |
| Phoenician | 𐤁 𐤎/𐤔 𐤈 |
Letter for letter, by the regular sound correspondences of the Semitic languages (Arabic keeps several sounds the others merged). This shows how the root would be spelled; whether a related word exists is a separate question, answered in the Semitic lens. Where an Arabic sibilant (s, sh) continues two older sounds, both spellings are shown.
Lenses
AIClassical lexiconAl-Khalīl gives basaṭa as the opposite of qabḍ, names basīṭa 'the open land' by analogy with bisāṭ 'a spread-out furnishing,' and records bisṭa as 'superiority over another' (citing Q2:247, zādahu bisṭatan).well attested
The lexicographers in chronological order, from al-Khalīl to Lane.
Al-Khalīl gives basaṭa as the opposite of qabḍ, names basīṭa 'the open land' by analogy with bisāṭ 'a spread-out furnishing,' and records bisṭa as 'superiority over another' (citing Q2:247, zādahu bisṭatan). Al-Jawharī keeps the same core — nashara 'spread out,' with a variant spelling by ṣād — and adds the idiom of bisāṭ al-jism wa-l-bāʿ (breadth of body and reach) and basīṭ as a metrical foot. Ibn Fāris's maqāyīs states a single aṣl, imtidād al-shayʾ, 'extension in breadth or otherwise,' from which bisāṭ (spread land), yad basṭ (an open, generous hand), and bisṭa (scope, in body, reach, or knowledge, citing Q2:247) all derive; he also notes the term for a mare left unweaned with her foal, bisṭ, as within the same reach. Al-Rāghib distinguishes two components latent in the root — nashr (unfolding) and tawsīʿ (widening) — sometimes both present, sometimes only one, and extends bisāṭ metaphorically to anything without composite structure (Q71:19, the earth as bisāṭ). Ibn Manẓūr consolidates all this and adds al-Bāsiṭ as a divine name, 'the one who spreads sustenance and spreads the spirits into bodies at the moment of life.'
Draws on: cayn · sihah · Ibn Fāris · mufradat · lisan
- al-Khalīl, Kitāb al-ʿAyn, root b-s-ṭ
- al-Jawharī, al-Ṣiḥāḥ, root b-s-ṭ
- Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs, root b-s-ṭ
- al-Rāghib, al-Mufradāt, root b-s-ṭ
- Ibn Manẓūr, Lisān al-ʿArab, root b-s-ṭ
Letters & soundAl-Dabbāgh's fatḥa-values give bāʾ as extremity of might or abasement, sīn as the comely thing whose nature is delicacy, and ṭāʾ as the thing utterly pure and clear both in itself and in genus — a sequence one could read symbolically as extension (bāʾ) unfolding delicacy (sīn) into full clarity (ṭāʾ), loosely echoing basṭ as opening/widening toward clarity.speculative
What the theorists of sound symbolism would say of these letters. Speculative by nature.
Al-Dabbāgh's fatḥa-values give bāʾ as extremity of might or abasement, sīn as the comely thing whose nature is delicacy, and ṭāʾ as the thing utterly pure and clear both in itself and in genus — a sequence one could read symbolically as extension (bāʾ) unfolding delicacy (sīn) into full clarity (ṭāʾ), loosely echoing basṭ as opening/widening toward clarity. Ibn ʿArabī's cosmological letter-table assigns bāʾ to the jinn, sīn to 'what appears in water,' and ṭāʾ to the sixth heaven, without an evident thematic convergence on 'spreading.' As with all such schemes, this is speculative sound-symbolism outside the consensus of historical linguistics, offered as juxtaposition only.
Draws on: dabbagh_fatha · akbari198
- al-Dabbāgh, letter-meanings (fatḥa series)
- Ibn ʿArabī, letter-cosmology table (akbari198)
Root structureIbn Fāris places s-b-ṭ (5 attestations) beside b-s-ṭ as a near-neighbor sharing the sense of extension (imtidād), explicitly noting the two roots are 'close to one another' — a genuine structural kinship offered by the lexicographer himself, not an outside inference.plausible
The two-letter nucleus (Ibn Fāris's own chapters) and the permutations of the letters (Ibn Jinnī).
Ibn Fāris places s-b-ṭ (5 attestations) beside b-s-ṭ as a near-neighbor sharing the sense of extension (imtidād), explicitly noting the two roots are 'close to one another' — a genuine structural kinship offered by the lexicographer himself, not an outside inference. By contrast he dismisses ṭ-b-s outright as 'not a thing' (laysa bi-shayʾ), a bare place-name (al-Ṭabasān) that should not be read for meaning — a useful caution against over-extending letter-permutation method. The remaining orders (b-ṭ-s, s-ṭ-b, ṭ-s-b) are unattested. So the material here supports one real juxtaposition (b-s-ṭ / s-b-ṭ) and one explicit lexicographer's warning against a false one (ṭ-b-s).
Draws on: Ibn Fāris · permutations
- Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs, roots b-s-ṭ and s-b-ṭ and ṭ-b-s
- Wiktionary, Arabic root appendix ب س ط ↗
Semitic kin & loanwordsHebrew/Aramaic p-š-ṭ (Hebrew pāšaṭ, 'to strip, spread out';uncertain
Cognates in the sister languages, and whether the word was borrowed.
Hebrew/Aramaic p-š-ṭ (Hebrew pāšaṭ, 'to strip, spread out'; Aramaic/Syriac pšaṭ, 'to stretch, extend,' whence pəšāṭ, 'plain sense') is semantically close to Arabic basaṭa, but the initial consonant correspondence (Semitic p vs. Arabic b) is not the regular one expected for a direct cognate, so this should be treated as a possible but unconfirmed relation rather than an established cognate. No confident Akkadian, Gəʿəz, or South Arabian cognate is available from the material at hand. There is no basis for treating basaṭa as a loanword; it functions as a native root within the productive b-s-ṭ / s-b-ṭ pairing noted above.
Draws on: cognate-uncertain
- CAL, Aramaic pšṭ (link not verified)
Quranic exegesisQ2:245, 'Allāhu yaqbiḍu wa-yabṣuṭu' (Quranic orthography with ṣād), is read by al-Ṭabarī and al-Zamakhsharī as God's constricting and expanding of sustenance/provision, paired as complementary divine acts, with al-Rāzī noting the pairing became a locus for discussing divine names al-Qābiḍ/al-Bāsiṭ despite their absence from the canonical ninety-nine.well attested
How the classical exegetes read the word in the Quran.
Q2:245, 'Allāhu yaqbiḍu wa-yabṣuṭu' (Quranic orthography with ṣād), is read by al-Ṭabarī and al-Zamakhsharī as God's constricting and expanding of sustenance/provision, paired as complementary divine acts, with al-Rāzī noting the pairing became a locus for discussing divine names al-Qābiḍ/al-Bāsiṭ despite their absence from the canonical ninety-nine. Q2:247 ('wazādahu basṭatan fī al-ʿilmi wa-l-jismi,' of Ṭālūt/Saul) is glossed by the exegetes as an increase in both intellectual capacity and physical stature/strength, qualifying him for kingship despite Israelite objections based on lineage or wealth. Q5:11 and 5:28 use basaṭa yadahu for a hand stretched out in aggression — in 5:28 (the sons of Adam) Abel's refusal to stretch his own hand back at Cain is read by al-Ṭabarī and al-Rāzī as restraint from violence, not passivity from cowardice. Q6:93 depicts the angels bāsiṭū aydīhim, 'stretching out their hands,' at the moment of death, read by the exegetes as a scene of forceful extraction of the soul from the wrongdoer.
Draws on: quran · sampleVerses
Philosophy & kalāmAl-Qābiḍ/al-Bāsiṭ as a divine pairing (from Q2:245) is discussed by the mutakallimūn as denoting God's acts (afʿāl) of constricting and expanding provision, not competing essential attributes, in line with the general kalām treatment of paired action-names;uncertain
The word as a technical term in falsafa and theology.
Al-Qābiḍ/al-Bāsiṭ as a divine pairing (from Q2:245) is discussed by the mutakallimūn as denoting God's acts (afʿāl) of constricting and expanding provision, not competing essential attributes, in line with the general kalām treatment of paired action-names; this keeps the pair from implying multiplicity in the divine essence. Basṭ is not, however, a load-bearing technical term in falsafa proper (unlike wujūd or ʿayn), so this remains a marginal, theological rather than philosophical usage.
Draws on: mufradat · quran
- al-Rāghib, al-Mufradāt, root b-s-ṭ
Akbarian readingIn Ibn ʿArabī's own terminology (Iṣṭilāḥ), basṭ is defined technically as belonging to 'one who contains all things and is contained by nothing' — that is, basṭ as a station or state characterizes the one whose capacity has become all-encompassing rather than one whose scope is merely enlarged.plausible
The word in Ibn ʿArabī's text and terminology.
In Ibn ʿArabī's own terminology (Iṣṭilāḥ), basṭ is defined technically as belonging to 'one who contains all things and is contained by nothing' — that is, basṭ as a station or state characterizes the one whose capacity has become all-encompassing rather than one whose scope is merely enlarged. A second definition offered in the same entry makes basṭ the condition of rajāʾ (hope), and a third describes it as a 'descending' (wārid) that brings an indication of acceptance, mercy, and intimacy (uns) — paired, as usual in Sufi technical vocabulary, against qabḍ as its contracting counterpart. No occurrence in Faṣṣ Ādam is supplied in the material at hand, so this lens rests on the Iṣṭilāḥ definitions alone.
Draws on: ibnArabiDefinitions
- Ibn ʿArabī, Iṣṭilāḥāt al-Ṣūfiyya, entry basṭ
Reference