بصرTo know or perceive a thing keenly; secondarily, thickness or the sewn joining of two … (root bsr)

Al-Baṣar (البصر): the eye, masculine. And al-baṣar: penetration in the heart. Al-baṣārah (البصارة) is the verbal noun of al-baṣīr (البصير). One says baṣura (بصر) [he became perceptive]. And abṣartu (أبصرت) the thing and tabaṣṣartu bihi (تبصرت به), and tabaṣṣartuhu (تبصرته) [mean]: I glanced at it as if watching it closely. And istabṣara (استبصر) in his affair and his religion means he had insight (baṣīrah). Al-baṣīrah (البصيرة) is a name for what is held firmly in the heart regarding religion and the true nature of a matter. It is said: raʾā fulānun lamḥan bāṣiran (رأى فلان لمحا باصرا) meaning a frightening/alarming matter. He said [in poetry]: 'Short of that matter is a startling glance (lamḥ bāṣir).' And baṣṣara l-jarra wa-tabṣīran (بصر الجر وتبصيرا) means he opened his eye. And al-baṣīrah (البصيرة): the coat of mail; it is said, whatever weaponry is worn is called baṣāʾir as-silāḥ (بصائر السلاح) [the mail-armors of weaponry]. [A true, discerning perception is called firāsah dhāt baṣīrah (فراسة ذات بصيرة). And al-baṣīrah (البصيرة): a lesson/warning-example; one says, 'Do you not have a baṣīrah in this?' meaning a lesson to take heed from. And he cited [in poetry]: 'In those who passed away before us, of past generations, are lessons (baṣāʾir) for us' — meaning lessons.] And baṣāʾir ad-dimāʾ (بصائر الدماء) are the streaks/trails of blood upon the body. And al-baṣr (البصر): the coarseness/thickness of a thing, such as baṣr al-jabal (بصر الجبل) [the thickness of a mountain], and baṣr as-samāʾ (بصر السماء) and of a wall and the like. And al-Baṣrah (البصرة): a land whose stones are of gypsum, and such is the land of al-Baṣrah. The Muslims settled it in the days of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, and they wrote to him: 'We have settled a land of baṣrah (بصرة) [soft white stone],' and so it was named Baṣrah. There are three dialectal pronunciations of it: Baṣrah, Buṣrah, and Biṣrah. The most common is al-Baṣrah. And baṣrah (بصرة) is a descriptive term, [applying to] any piece [of such stone].

Al-baṣrah (البصرة) [here meaning al-baṣar]: the faculty of sight. Abṣartu sh-shayʾ (أبصرت الشيء): I saw the thing. Al-baṣīr (البصير) is the opposite of aḍ-ḍarīr (الضرير) [the blind]. Bāṣartuhu (باصرته) means I watched him closely from afar. Al-baṣar (البصر): knowledge. Baṣurtu bi-sh-shayʾ (بصرت بالشيء): I came to know it. God Almighty said: 'You perceived (baṣurtu) what they did not perceive' [Q. 20:96]. Al-baṣīr (البصير) [also means]: the knower. One says baṣura, baṣārah (بصر، بصارة). At-tabaṣṣur (التبصر): reflection and recognition. At-tabṣīr (التبصير): explanation and clarification. And the poet's saying: 'I fitted three [feathers] to its haunches, and it did not swerve from its course, until it became marked (baṣṣartu) with dumām (دمام)' — meaning the arrow's feathers were smeared with al-baṣīrah (البصيرة), which is blood. Al-mubṣirah (المبصرة) [with ḍamma]: illuminating; from this comes His saying: 'But when Our signs came to them, visible/illuminating (mubṣiratan)' [Q. 27:13]. Al-Akhfash said: it means it makes them see, i.e. makes them possessors of sight. Al-mubṣirah (المبصرة), with fatḥa: the proof/argument. Al-Baṣrah (البصرة): soft, whitish stone — that is what it is, and by it al-Baṣrah [the city] was named. Dhū ar-Rummah said: 'They called out the name of grey hair amid a broken-off spot, its sides made of baṣrah (بصرة) and salām (سلام) stones.' When the hāʾ is dropped from it, you say baṣr (بصر) with kasra. ʿAbbās ibn Mirdās said: 'If I were a lump of baṣr-stone (jalmūd baṣr), I would not dampen it; kindle a fire upon it, and heat it, and it will split.' Al-Baṣratān (البصرتان): [refers to] al-Kūfah and al-Baṣrah [together]. Baṣṣara l-qawmu tabṣīran (بصر القوم تبصيرا): the people went to al-Baṣrah. Abū ʿAmr: al-baṣīrah (البصيرة) [means]: what is between the two halves of a tent [panels], and its plural is al-baṣāʾir (البصائر). Al-baṣīrah (البصيرة) [also]: proof and having insight/certainty in a matter. Concerning His saying: 'Rather, man is, against himself, a baṣīrah' [Q. 75:14], al-Akhfash said: He made him himself the baṣīrah, just as one man says to another, 'You are a witness/proof against yourself.' Abū Zayd: al-baṣīrah (البصيرة) of blood [means]: what was upon the ground [pooled blood], while al-judyah (الجدية) is what clings to the body. Al-Aṣmaʿī said: al-baṣīrah (البصيرة) is a quantity of blood by which one determines [the fate of] the game shot [i.e., tracks the wounded prey]. And the saying of al-Jaʿfī: 'They departed with their blood-marks (baṣāʾir) upon their shoulders, while my blood-mark (baṣīratī) is carried along by a strong, swift she-camel' — meaning they left their father's blood behind them, i.e. they did not avenge it, while I sought my vengeance. Abū ʿUbaydah used to say: al-baṣīrah (البصيرة) in this verse means the shield or the coat of mail. He used to transmit it as 'ḥamalū baṣāʾirahum' (حملوا بصائرهم) [they carried their blood-marks]. Al-baṣr (البصر): joining one hide to another so that they are stitched together as the two hems of a garment are sewn, one placed over the other — this is different from sewing a garment before it is hemmed. And their saying, araytuhu lamḥan bāṣiran (أريته لمحا باصرا), means a glance with intense staring. Its derivation is like that of 'rajulun lābinun wa-tāmirun' (رجل لابن وتامر) meaning one who possesses milk and dates. So the meaning of bāṣir (باصر) is 'possessor of sight' [entry continues].

Bāʾ, ṣād, and rāʾ [form] two roots. One of them is knowledge of a thing — one says huwa baṣīrun bihi (هو بصير به) [he is knowledgeable about it], and from this comes baṣīrah (البصيرة). And [it also denotes] a patch of blood which, when it falls on the ground, becomes round. Al-Asʿar said: 'They departed [leaving] their blood-marks (baṣāʾir) upon their shoulders... while my blood-mark (baṣīratī) is carried along by a strong, swift she-camel...' And al-baṣīrah is [said to mean] the shield, as it is said, and al-baṣīrah is [also] proof/evidence. The origin of all this is the clarity/distinctness of a thing. One says raʾaytuhu lamḥan bāṣiran (رأيته لمحا باصرا), meaning looking with intense staring. And one says baṣurtu bi-sh-shayʾ (بصرت بالشيء) when you become knowledgeable (baṣīr) and learned about it, while abṣartuhu (أبصرته) means you saw it. As for the other root, it is baṣr (بصر) of a thing meaning its thickness/coarseness. From this comes al-baṣr (البصر), which is joining one hide to another, the two being sewn together as the hem of a garment is sewn. And al-baṣīrah (البصيرة) is what lies between the two halves/panels of a tent, and this is closer to the first root. As for al-Baṣrah (البصرة), it is soft stone; and when the hāʾ is dropped, you say baṣr (بصر) with kasra on the bāʾ, and this belongs to this second root. (Chapter of bāʾ and ḍād and what triliteralizes with them)

Al-baṣar (البصر) is used for the perceiving organ [the eye], as in His saying: 'like the twinkling of an eye (ka-lamḥi l-baṣar)' [Q. 16:77], and 'when eyes (al-abṣār) grew wild [with fear]' [Q. 33:10]; and it is [also used] for the faculty within it. And [the term is used] for the perceiving power of the heart: baṣīrah (بصيرة) and baṣar (بصر), as in His saying: 'So We removed from you your cover, and your sight (baṣaruka) today is sharp' [Q. 50:22], and He said: 'The sight (al-baṣar) did not swerve, nor did it transgress' [Q. 53:17]. The plural of al-baṣar is al-abṣār (الأبصار), and the plural of al-baṣīrah is al-baṣāʾir (البصائر). He Almighty said: 'Neither their hearing nor their sight (abṣāruhum) availed them' [Q. 46:26]. The [physical] organ is scarcely ever called baṣīrah. From the first [meaning] one says abṣartu (أبصرت), and from the second one says abṣartuhu (أبصرته) and baṣurtu bihi (بصرت به). And it is rare to say baṣurtu (بصرت) concerning the sense [of sight] when it is not accompanied by the heart's perception. And He Almighty said regarding [physical] sight: 'that which does not hear and does not see (lā yubṣir)' [Q. 19:42], and He said: 'Our Lord, we have seen and heard (abṣarnā wa-samiʿnā)' [Q. 32:12], 'though they do not see (lā yubṣirūn)' [Q. 10:43], 'and see (abṣir), for they will [in time] see (yubṣirūn)' [Q. 37:179], 'you perceived (baṣurtu) what they did not perceive' [Q. 20:96]. From this: 'I call to God upon insight (baṣīrah), I and whoever follows me' [Q. 12:108], meaning upon knowledge and certainty. And His saying: 'Rather, man is, against himself, a baṣīrah' [Q. 75:14] means: [his own faculty of] insight perceives him and bears witness for or against him; that is, from his limbs there is a baṣīrah that perceives him and testifies for him and against him on the Day of Resurrection, just as He Almighty said: 'their tongues and their hands will testify against them' [Q. 24:24]. The blind person (aḍ-ḍarīr) is called baṣīr (بصير) by way of antiphrasis [reversal]; but it is more fitting that this be said because of the power of the heart's insight (baṣīrah) which he possesses, not for the reason [others] have given — and this is why he is not called mubṣir (مبصر) or bāṣir (باصر). His mighty saying: 'Vision perceives Him not, but He perceives [all] vision' [Q. 6:103] — many exegetes take this to refer to the [physical] organ [of sight]; and it is said that this is an allusion also to imaginings and understandings, as the Commander of the Faithful (may God be pleased with him) said: 'Monotheism (tawḥīd) means that you do not [try to] imagine Him,' and he said: 'Whatever you perceive [in your mind], that is other than Him.' Al-bāṣirah (الباصرة) is an expression for the perceiving organ [the eye]; one says raʾaytuhu lamḥan bāṣiran (رأيته لمحا باصرا), meaning a glance with intense staring. He Almighty said: 'But when Our signs came to them, illuminating (mubṣiratan)' [Q. 27:13], and 'We made the sign of the day illuminating (mubṣiratan)' [Q. 17:12], meaning: giving light for sight; and likewise His saying: 'And We gave Thamūd the she-camel as an illuminating sign (mubṣiratan)' [Q. 17:59]. And it is said its meaning is that its people became possessors of sight, similar to their saying rajulun mukhbithun (رجل مخبث) and muḍʿifun (مضعف), meaning his people are wicked/weak. 'And We certainly gave Moses the Scripture after We had destroyed the former generations, as insights (baṣāʾir) for mankind' [Q. 28:43], meaning: We made them a lesson for them. And His saying: 'and see (abṣir), for they will [in time] see (yubṣirūn)' [Q. 37:179] means: look [entry continues].

Ibn al-Athīr: Among the Names of God Almighty is al-Baṣīr (البصير), meaning He who perceives all things, their outward and their hidden aspects, without [need of a bodily] organ; and al-baṣar (البصر), applied to Him, is an expression for the attribute by which the perfection of the qualities of the perceived things is disclosed. Al-Layth: al-baṣar (البصر) is the eye, though it is masculine [in gender]; and it is [also] said that al-baṣar is the faculty of sight. Ibn Sīdah: al-baṣar is the perception of the eye, and its plural is abṣār (أبصار). One says baṣira bihi (بصر به), baṣaran (بصرا), baṣārah (بصارة) and baṣārah (بصارة) [with variant vocalization], and abṣarahu (أبصره) and tabaṣṣarahu (تبصره): he looked at it to see whether he could make it out. Sībawayh said: baṣira (بصر) means he became one who perceives (mubṣir); and abṣarahu (أبصره) means he reported what his eye had fallen upon. Al-Liḥyānī related baṣira bihi (بصر به), with kasra on the ṣād, meaning abṣarahu (أبصره) [he perceived it]. Abṣartu sh-shayʾ (أبصرت الشيء): I saw the thing. Bāṣarahu (باصره): he looked together with him at something, [to see] which of the two would perceive it before his companion. Bāṣarahu (باصره) also means: he saw it [perceived it]; Sukayn ibn Naṣrah al-Bajalī said: 'I spent the night upon my mount, and it spent the night in its place, while I watched my riding-companion at times, and kept perceiving him (ubāṣiruhu).' Al-Jawharī: bāṣartuhu (باصرته) means I gazed, looking at him from afar. Tabāṣara l-qawm (تباصر القوم): the people saw one another. A man who is baṣīr mubṣir (بصير مبصر) is the opposite of aḍ-ḍarīr (الضرير) [the blind]; [baṣīr is] the pattern faʿīl in the sense of fāʿil, and its plural is buṣarāʾ (بصراء). Al-Liḥyānī related: innahu la-baṣīrun bi-l-ʿaynayn (إنه لبصير بالعينين) [he indeed has sight in both eyes]. Al-baṣārah (البصارة) is a verbal noun like al-baṣar (البصر), and the verb is baṣira, yabṣuru (بصر يبصر). One says baṣartu (بصرت) and tabaṣṣartu (تبصرت) a thing, meaning: I glanced at it as if watching it closely. In the Noble Revelation: 'Vision perceives Him not, but He perceives [all] vision' [Q. 6:103]. Abū Isḥāq said: God informs [us] that He perceives [all] vision, and in this declaration is proof that His creatures do not perceive [all] vision — that is, they do not know the true reality of sight, nor what it is by which a human being comes to see from his two eyes and not from any other of his organs. So He informed [us] that there is a creature among His creatures whose essence created beings cannot perceive, nor comprehend with their knowledge — how much more so is this true of Him Almighty, whom vision cannot encompass, and He is the Subtle, the Aware. As for what has come down in the reports concerning the [Beatific] Vision, and what is authentically transmitted from the Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him, it is not to be denied, and there is nothing in this verse that constitutes proof for denying it, because the meaning of this verse is the comprehension of a thing and encompassing its true reality — and this is the doctrine of the People of the Sunnah and of [sound] knowledge of Hadith. And His saying, Almighty: 'There have come to you insights (baṣāʾir) from your Lord' [Q. 6:104], means: the Qur'an has come to you, in which is clear explanation and insights; so whoever perceives [rightly], the benefit of that is for himself, and whoever remains blind [to it], the harm of that is upon himself, for God, Mighty and Majestic, has no need of His creatures. Ibn al-Aʿrābī: abṣara r-rajul (أبصر الرجل) [means] the man emerged from disbelief into the insight (baṣīrah) of faith; and he cited [in poetry]: 'Qaḥṭān strikes the head of every crowned [chief], and upon its insights (baṣāʾiruhā), even though it does not perceive' — He said: baṣāʾiruhā (بصائرها) means its [prior state of] Islam, even though it does not perceive [it] amid its unbelief. Ibn Sīdah: arāhu lamḥan bāṣiran (أراه لمحا باصرا) means a glance with intense staring; he said: it is either that it be [entry continues].