Mashrabaمشربة

Root · 109 in the Quran · 80 in 20 texts of the library

حسبTo count or reckon; Ibn Fāris extends this to four related senses: counting, … (root hsb)

الحاء والسين والباء أصول أربعة

Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-lugha · English rendering

حسب

The family of the root

Patterns computed · our data

The words of ح س ب that our sources attest: the root's letters in green, the added letters in gold.

34 words7 verbs7 verbal nouns4 participles1 place or instrument4 intensives and elatives5 other nouns6 plurals

  • حَسِبَwho can count the sands, and number the pebbles?
  • حِسَابthe agent presented his reckoning
  • حَسَبnumbered, counted, reckoned, calculated, or computed
  • حَسْبsufficiency
  • حُسْبَانcalculation; consideration
The whole family7 groups, by pattern; tap a pattern to see what it does
Verbs7حَسِبَ · حَاسَبَ · اِحْتَسَبَ

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: فَعِلَ يَفْعُلُ (i – u; the imperfect from Lane's “aor.”)

Verbal nouns7حِسَاب · حَسْب · حِسْبَان

The action itself, named as a noun (maṣdar).grammar →

Participles4مُحَسَّب · حَاسِب · مَحْسُوب

The one who does it, and the one it is done to.grammar →

  • مُحَسَّبpassive, Form IILaneIbn Fāris
  • حَاسِبnumbering, countingLaneactive, Form ILane
  • مَحْسُوبpassive, Form ILane
  • مُحْتَسِبsuch a one is the inspector of the markets of the townLaneactive, Form VIIILane
Place, time and instrument1مِحْسَبَة

Where or when it happens, and what it is done with: the m- nouns.grammar →

  • مِحْسَبَةnoun of instrumentLane
Intensives, qualities and the elative4حُسْبَان · حَسِيب · أَحْسَب

The quality carried far, held as a trait, or compared.grammar →

  • حُسْبَانcalculation; considerationautointensive (faʿlān)Qurʾān ×3library ×3LaneIbn Fāris
  • حَسِيبreckoner, or taker of accountsLanequality (faʿīl)Qurʾān ×4Lane
  • أَحْسَبcamel of a colour in which are whiteness and redness and blacknessLaneelative or colour adjective (afʿal)LaneIbn Fāris
  • حَسَّابintensive (faʿʿāl)LaneIbn Fāris
Other nouns5حَسَب · حُسْبَانَة · حُسْبَة

Nouns on other patterns; their meaning is learned word by word.grammar →

Plurals6حَاسِبِين · حُسَّاب · حُسَّب

Broken plurals rebuild the word on a new pattern; sound plurals add an ending.grammar →

  • حَاسِبِينplural of numbering, countingfrom the singularsound plural of حَاسِبQurʾān ×2
  • حُسَّابplural of numbering, countingfrom the singularbroken plural of حَاسِبLaneIbn Fāris
  • حُسَّبplural of numbering, countingfrom the singularbroken plural of حَاسِبLaneIbn Fāris
  • حِسَبbroken plural of حِسْبَةLaneIbn Fāris

Reference

Why this shape?What each of the 21 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.

مَفْعَلَةح س بمَحْسَبَة

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

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)'

    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

    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
  • al-Khalīl · 170Al-ḥasab (الحسب): the noble standing established through one's forefathers.

    al-Khalīl b. Aḥmad (d. c. 170/786), Kitāb al-ʿAyn. The first Arabic dictionary, arranged by permutations of the root letters.

    Al-ḥasab (الحسب): the noble standing established through one's forefathers. A generous man is karīm al-ḥasab (كريم الحسب), ḥasīb (حسيب); a people [so described] are ḥusabā' (حسباء). In the ḥadīth: "Al-ḥasab (الحسب) is wealth, and karam (الكرم) is piety (al-taqwā)." You say: "al-ajru ʿalā ḥasabi dhālika" (الأجر على حسب ذلك), i.e. according to its measure. Khālid ibn Jaʿfar said to al-Ḥārith ibn Ẓālim: "Will you not thank me, since I made you chief of your people?" He said: "In proportion to that (ḥasab dhālika) I will thank you." As for ḥasb (حسب) [with jazm], its meaning is as in your saying "ḥasbuka hādhā" (حسبك هذا), i.e. this is enough for you; and "aḥsabanī mā aʿṭānī" (أحسبني ما أعطاني), i.e. what he gave me sufficed me. Al-ḥisāb (الحساب) is your counting of things. Al-ḥisābah (الحسابة) is the verbal noun of your saying "ḥasabtu ḥisābatan" (حسبت حسابة), "anā aḥsubuhu ḥisāban" (أنا أحسبه حسابا). Also ḥisbatan (حسبة); al-Nābighah said: "and it hastened in reckoning (ḥisbatan) in that number." His saying, Mighty and Exalted: "He provides for whom He wills without ḥisāb (بغير حساب)" has been variously interpreted: it is said [it means] without limit/measure, an increase without diminution; it is said, without being held to account — 'he fears no one calling him to account'; and it is said, without the giver having reckoned that he would give it — He gave him from where he did not reckon (yaḥtasib). "Iḥtasabtu" (احتسبت) is also from al-ḥisāb; al-ḥisbah (الحسبة) is the verbal noun of your seeking reward (iḥtisāb) with God. A man who reckons is ḥāsib (حاسب), a people [who reckon] are ḥussāb (حساب). Al-ḥusbān (الحسبان) is from ẓann (supposition); "ḥasiba yaḥsibu" (حسب يحسب), two dialectal forms, ḥusbānan (حسبانا). His saying, Mighty and Exalted: "the sun and the moon by ḥusbān (بحسبان)" — meaning a known reckoning has been ordained for them in their appointed times, which they do not exceed or transgress. His saying, Exalted is He: "and He sends upon it a ḥusbān (حسبانا) from the sky" — meaning a fire that burns it. Al-ḥusbān (الحسبان) [also means] short arrows shot from Persian bows, singular with tā' marbūṭah. Al-aḥsab (الأحسب) is one whose skin has turned white from a disease, so that his hair became corrupted and turned red and white — [said] of people and of camels — he is the leper (al-abraṣ). [The poet] said: "upon him his ʿaqīqah [birth-hair] is aḥsab (أحسبا)" — he criticized him thereby, meaning no sacrifice ('aqq) was made for him in infancy, until he grew up and his ʿaqīqah [hair] turned grey — meaning the hair he was born with. Al-ḥasb (الحسب) and al-taḥsīb (التحسيب): burying the dead among stones; [the poet] said: "at morning he lay dead in the sand, unburied/without shroud (ghayr muḥsab)" — i.e. without a shroud (kafan).

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    الحسب: الشرف الثابت في الآباء. رجل كريم الحسب حسيب، وقوم حسباء، وفي الحديث: الحسب المال، والكرم التقوى «4» . وتقول: الأجر على حسب ذلك أي على قدره، قال خالد بن جعفر للحارث بن ظالم: أما تشكر لي إذ جعلتك سيد قومك؟ قال: حسب ذلك أشكرك. وأما حسب (مجزوما) فمعناه كما تقول: حسبك هذا، أي: كفاك، وأحسبني ما أعطاني أي: كفاني. والحساب: عدك الأشياء. والحسابة مصدر قولك: حسبت حسابة، وأنا أحسبه حسابا. وحسبة أيضا «1» ، قال النابغة: وأسرعت حسبة في ذلك العدد «2» وقوله- عز وجل-: يرزق من يشاء بغير حساب* «3» اختلف فيه، يقال: بغير تقدير على أجر بالنقصان، ويقال: بغير محاسبة، ما إن يخاف أحدا يحاسبه «4» ، ويقال: بغير أن حسب المعطى أنه يعطيه: أعطاه من حيث لم يحتسب. واحتسبت أيضا من الحساب والحسبة مصدر احتسابك الأجر عند الله. ورجل حاسب وقوم حساب. والحسبان من الظن، حسب يحسب، لغتان، حسبانا، وقوله- عز وجل-: الشمس والقمر بحسبان «5» ، أي قدر لهما حساب معلوم في مواقيتهما لا يعدوانه ولا يجاوزانه. وقوله تعالى: ويرسل عليها حسبانا من السماء «6» أي نارا تحرقها. والحسبان: سهام قصار يرمى بها عن القسي الفارسية، الواحدة بالهاء. والأحسب: الذي ابيضت جلدته من داء ففسدت شعرته فصار أحمر وأبيض، من الناس والإبل وهو الأبرص، قال: «1» عليه عقيقته أحسبا عابه بذلك، أي لم يعق له في صغره حتى كبر فشابت عقيقته، يعني شعره الذي ولد معه «2» . والحسب والتحسيب: دفن الميت في الحجارة، قال: غداة ثوى في الرمل غير محسب «3» أي غير مكفن.

    al-Khalīl · 170 · OpenITIvowelled page on al-Maktaba al-Shāmila (print 3, p. 148) ↗
  • al-Jawharī · 393Ḥasabtuhu aḥsubuhu (حسبته أحسبه), with ḍammah, ḥasban (حسبا), ḥisāban (حسابا), ḥusbānan (حسبانا) and ḥisābatan (حسابة), when you counted it.

    al-Jawharī (d. c. 393/1003), al-Ṣiḥāḥ. Admits only usage he judged sound.

    Ḥasabtuhu aḥsubuhu (حسبته أحسبه), with ḍammah, ḥasban (حسبا), ḥisāban (حسابا), ḥusbānan (حسبانا) and ḥisābatan (حسابة), when you counted it. Ibn al-Aʿrābī cited: "O Jumal, may He who owns you give you drink without reckoning (bilā ḥisābah) — a drink from a sovereign of good manners — you have slain me with coquetry and flirtation," i.e. without counting or measure. In [the poem's] "ḥasan al-rabābah" the raf', naṣb, and jarr are all permissible. What is counted is maḥsūb (محسوب), and also ḥasb (حسب), which is [the pattern] faʿl in the sense of mafʿūl, like nafḍ in the sense of manfūḍ. From this is their saying "li-yakun ʿamaluka bi-ḥasabi dhālika" (ليكن عملك بحسب ذلك), i.e. according to its measure and count. Al-Kisā'ī said: "mā adrī mā ḥasabu ḥadīthika" (ما أدري ما حسب حديثك), i.e. I do not know its measure — and it may sometimes be vocalized with sukūn under poetic necessity. Al-ḥasab (الحسب) is also what a person counts among the glories of his forefathers. It is said "ḥasabuhu dīnuhu" (حسبه دينه) [his ḥasab is his religion], and it is said [his ḥasab is] his wealth. Such a man is ḥasīb (حسيب); the verb is ḥasuba (حسب), with ḍammah, ḥasābatan (حسابة), like khaṭuba khaṭābatan. Ibn al-Sikkīt said: al-ḥasab and al-karam may occur in a man even without forefathers of noble standing; he said: nobility (al-sharaf) and glory (al-majd) occur only through forefathers. "Ḥāsabtuhu" (حاسبته) is from muḥāsabah (reckoning of accounts). "Iḥtasabtu ʿalayhi kadhā" (احتسبت عليه كذا) means you disapproved of such-and-such in him — so said Ibn Durayd. "Iḥtasabtu bi-kadhā" (احتسبت بكذا) [means I sought] a reward with God; the noun is al-ḥisbah (الحسبة), with kasrah, meaning the reward, plural al-ḥusab (الحسب). So-and-so is "muḥtasib al-balad" (محتسب البلد) [inspector of the town]; do not say "muḥassib." "Iḥtasaba fulānun ibnan lahu aw bintan" (احتسب فلان ابنا له أو بنتا) — when [the child] died as an adult; if he died young it is said "iftaraṭahu" (افترطه). It is also said "innahu la-ḥasanu l-ḥisbati fī l-amr" (إنه لحسن الحسبة في الأمر) when he manages a matter well. Al-ḥisbah (الحسبة) is also from al-ḥisāb, like al-qaʿdah, al-rikbah, al-jilsah. Al-Nābighah said: "then it completed a hundred, its pair among them, and it hastened swiftly in the reckoning (ḥisbatan) of that number." "Aḥsabanī l-shay'" (أحسبني الشيء), i.e. it sufficed me. "Aḥsabtuhu" (أحسبته) and "ḥasabtuhu" (حسبته) with tashdīd carry the same meaning, i.e. I gave him what satisfies him. The poet said: "We feed the boy of the camp if he is hungry, and we satisfy him (naḥsubuhu) if he is not hungry" — meaning we give him until he says 'enough for me' (ḥasbī). "Ḥasbuka dirham" (حسبك درهم) means a dirham is enough for you, and it [ḥasb] is a noun. "Shay' ḥisāb" (شيء حساب) means sufficient — from this is His saying, Exalted is He: "ʿaṭā'an ḥisāban" (عطاء حسابا) [a sufficient gift]. You say "aʿṭā fa-aḥsaba" (أعطى فأحسب), meaning he gave abundantly. [You say] "hādhā rajulun ḥasbuka min rajulin" (هذا رجل حسبك من رجل), which is praise applied to an indefinite noun because it carries the sense of a verb, as though saying 'sufficient for you' — the singular, plural, and dual are treated alike in it, since it is a verbal noun (maṣdar). With a definite noun you say: "hādhā ʿAbdullāh ḥasbuka min rajulin" (هذا عبد الله حسبك من رجل), placing ḥasbuka in the accusative as a ḥāl. If you intend the verbal sense in ḥasbuka, you say 'marartu bi-raj...' [entry continues]

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    حسبته أحسبه بالضم حسبا وحسابا وحسبانا وحسابة، إذا عددته. وأنشد ابن الاعرابي (1) : يا جمل أسقاك (2) بلا حسابه * سقيا مليك حسن الربابه * قتلتنى بالدل والخلابه * أي بلا حساب ولا هنداز. ويجوز في حسن الرفع والنصب والجر. والمعدود محسوب وحسب أيضا، وهو فعل بمعنى مفعول، مثل نفض بمعنى منفوض. ومنه قولهم: ليكن عملك بحسب ذلك، أي على قدره وعدده. قال الكسائي: ما أدري ما حسب حديثك، أي ما قدره، وربما سكن في ضرورة الشعر. والحسب أيضا: ما يعده الإنسان من مفاخر آبائه. ويقال: حسبه دينه، ويقال ماله. والرجل حسيب، وقد حسب بالضم حسابة، مثل خطب خطابة. قال ابن السكيت: الحسب والكرم يكونان في الرجل وإن لم يكن له آباء لهم شرف. قال: والشرف والمجد لا يكونان إلا بالآباء. وحاسبته من المحاسبة واحتسبت عليه كذا، إذا أنكرته عليه. قاله ابن دريد. واحتسبت بكذا أجرا عند الله، والاسم الحسبة بالكسر وهي الأجر والجمع الحسب. وفلان محتسب البلد، ولا تقل محسب. واحتسب فلان ابنا له أو بنتا، إذا ما مات وهو كبير، فإن مات صغيرا قيل افترطه. ويقال أيضا إنه لحسن الحسبة في الأمر، إذا كان حسن التدبير له. والحسبة أيضا من الحساب مثل القعدة والركبة والجلسة. قال النابغة: فكملت مائة فيها حمامتها * وأسرعت حسبة في ذلك العدد وأحسبنى الشئ، أي كفانى. وأحسبته وحسبته بالتشديد بمعنى، أي أعطيته ما يرضيه. قال الشاعر (1) : ونقفي وليد الحي إن كان جائعا * ونحسبه إن كان ليس بجائع أي نعطيه حتى يقول حسبي. وحسبك درهم أي كفاك، وهو اسم. وشئ حساب، أي كاف. ومنه قوله تعالى: (عطاء حسابا) ، أي كافيا. وتقول: أعطى فأحسب، أي أكثر. وهذا رجل حسبك من رجل، وهو مدح للنكرة لأن، فيه تأويل فعل كأنه قال محسب لك، أي كاف لك من غيره، يستوي فيه الواحد والجمع والتثنية، لانه مصدر. وتقول في المعرفة: هذا عبد الله حسبك من رجل فتنصب حسبك على الحال. وإن أردت الفعل في حسبك قلت مررت برجل أحسبك من رجل وبرجلين أحسباك وبرجال أحسبوك. ولك أن تتكلم بحسب مفردة، تقول: رأيت زيدا حسب يا فتى، كأنك قلت: حسبى أو حسبك، فأضمرت هذا فلذلك لم تنون، لانك أردت الاضافة، كما تقول: جاءني زيد ليس غير، نريد ليس غيره عندي. وقولهم: حسيبك الله، أي انتقم الله منك. والحسبان بالضم: العذاب. وقال أبو زياد الكلابي: أصاب الأرض حسبان، أي جراد. والحسبان: الحساب، قال الله تعالى: (الشمس والقمر بحسبان) . قال الأخفش: الحسبان جماعة الحساب، مثل شهاب وشهبان. والحسبان أيضا: سهام قصار، الواحدة حسبانة. والحسبانة أيضا: الوسادة الصغيرة، تقول منه حسبته، إذا وسدته. قال نهيك الفزارى (1) : لتقيت بالوجعاء طعنة مرهف * حران (2) أو لثويت غير محسب أي غير موسد، يعنى غير مكرم ولا مكفن. وتحسبت الخبر. أي استخبرت. وقال رجل من بني الهجيم: تحسب هواس وأيقن أنني * بها مفتد من واحد (1) لا أغامره يقول: تشمم الأسد ناقتي وظن أني أتركها له ولا أقاتله. والأحسب من الإبل، هو الذي فيه بياض وحمرة. تقول منه: احسب البعير احسبابا (2) ، والاحسب من الناس: الذي في شعر رأسه شقرة. وقال امرؤ القيس (3) : أيا هند لا تنكحي بوهة * عليه عقيقته أحسبا يصفه باللؤم والشح. يقول: كأنه لم تحلق عقيقته في صغره حتى شاخ. وحسبته صالحا أحسبه بالفتح، محسبة ومحسبة وحسبانا بالكسر، أي ظننته. ويقال أحسبه، بالكسر، وهو شاذ لان كل فعل كان ماضيه مكسورا فإن مستقبله يأتي مفتوح العين، نحو علم يعلم، إلا أربعة أحرف جاءت نوارد، قالوا: حسب يحسب ويحسب، وبئس يبأس ويبئس، ويئس ييأس وييئس، ونعم ينعم وينعم، فإنها جاءت من السالم بالكسر والفتح. ومن المعتل ما جاء ماضيه ومستقبله جميعا ب …

    al-Jawharī · 393 · OpenITIvowelled page on al-Maktaba al-Shāmila (print 1, p. 109) ↗
  • Ibn Fāris · 395The letters ḥā', sīn, and bā' have four roots.

    Ibn Fāris (d. 395/1004), Maqāyīs al-Lugha. Seeks each root's original sense (aṣl).

    The letters ḥā', sīn, and bā' have four roots. The first is counting (al-ʿadd): you say ḥasabtu (حسبت) the thing, aḥsubuhu (أحسبه), ḥasban (حسبا) and ḥusbānan (حسبانا). God, Exalted is He, said: "The sun and the moon [move] by precise calculation (bi-ḥusbān)" (Qur'an, al-Raḥmān 55:5). Among what is analogous in this root is al-ḥusbān (الحسبان), meaning supposition (al-ẓann), for it is distinguished from counting only by a change of vocalization, morphological pattern, though the meaning is one, because when one says ḥasibtuhu (حسبته) such-and-such, it is as if he said: he is among the things I reckon as existing/occurring. From this root also is al-ḥasab (الحسب), which is what is counted/reckoned to a person's credit [i.e. his noble lineage]; the philologists say its meaning is that one's noble forefathers are counted/reckoned. From this root also is their saying "iḥtasaba fulānun ibnahu" (احتسب فلان ابنه) — so-and-so counted his son as a store [of reward with God] when he died as an adult, i.e. he reckons him among the things stored up for him with God, Exalted is He. Al-ḥisbah (الحسبة) is your seeking a reward [from God]. "Fulān ḥasan al-ḥisbah bi-l-amr" (فلان حسن الحسبة بالأمر) means he manages the matter well — this is not from seeking reward, but it too belongs to this root, because if he manages a matter well he has knowledge of the reckoning of everything and its proper place in judgment and correctness — the analogy throughout is one. The second root is sufficiency (al-kifāyah): you say "shay' ḥisāb" (شيء حساب), meaning sufficient. It is said "aḥsabtu fulānan" (أحسبت فلانا) when you gave him what satisfies him, and likewise "ḥasabtuhu" (حسبته). A woman said: "We feed the boy of the camp if he is hungry, and we satisfy him (naḥsubuhu) if he is not hungry." The third root is al-ḥusbān (الحسبان), plural of ḥusbānah (حسبانة), the small cushion/pillow; you say "ḥasabtu al-rajul" (حسبت الرجل), "aḥsubuhu" (أحسبه), when you seat him upon it and pillow him with it. From this is the poet's saying: "At morning he lay dead in the sand, without a pillow (ghayr muḥsab)." And another said: "O ʿĀmir, had our spears been able to reach you, and the racing camels going to Minā and al-Ghabghab, we would have struck you at al-Wakʿā' with the thrust of an avenger, enraged — or else you would have lain dead without a pillow." From this root also is al-ḥusbān (الحسبان), small arrows shot from Persian bows, singular ḥusbānah (حسبانة); the two senses are distinguished by the smallness of these [arrows] and the largeness of those [cushions]. From this too is their saying "aṣāba al-arḍa ḥusbān" (أصاب الأرض حسبان), meaning locusts struck the land; and His saying, Exalted is He: "or He sends upon it a ḥusbān (حسبانا) from the sky" (Qur'an, al-Kahf 18:40) has been explained as hail. The fourth root is al-aḥsab (الأحسب), one whose skin has turned white from a disease so that his hair became corrupted, as though he were a leper (abraṣ). [The poet] said: "O Hind, do not marry a foolish man whose birth-lock (ʿaqīqah) is aḥsab (أحسبا)." Such divergence as you see among these four roots sometimes occurs among the roots of [other] chapters [in this dictionary].

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    الحاء والسين والباء أصول أربعة فالأول العد تقول حسبت الشيء أحسبه حسبا وحسبانا قال الله تعالى : ( الشمس والقمر بحسبان الرحمان5 ) ومن قياس الباب الحسبان الظن وذلك أنه فرق بينه وبين العد بتغيير الحركة والتصريف والمعنى واحد لأنه إذا قال حسبته كذا فكأنه قال هو في الذي أعده من الأمور الكائنة ومن الباب الحسب الذي يعد من الإنسان قال أهل اللغة معناه أن يعد آباء أشرافا ومن هذا الباب قولهم احتسب فلان ابنه إذا مات كبيرا وذلك أن يعده في الأشياء المذخورة له عند الله تعالى والحسبة احتسابك الأجر وفلان حسن الحسبة بالأمر إذا كان حسن التدبير وليس من احتساب الأجر وهذا أيضا من الباب لأنه إذا كان حسن التدبير للأمر كان عالما بعداد كل شيء وموضعه من الرأي والصواب والقياس كله واحد والأصل الثاني الكفاية تقول شيء حساب أي كاف ويقال : أحسبت فلانا إذا أعطيته ما يرضيه وكذلك حسبته قالت امرأة : — ونقفي وليد الحي إن كان جائعا … ونحسبه إن كان ليس بجائع … والأصل الثالث الحسبان وهي جمع حسبانة وهي الوسادة الصغيرة وقد حسبت الرجل أحسبه إذا أجلسته عليها ووسدته إياها ومنه قول القائل : — غداة ثوى في الرمل غير محسب … وقال آخر : — يا عام لو قدرت عليك رماحنا … والراقصات إلى منى فالغبغب … للمست بالوكعاء طعنة ثائر … حران أو لثويت غير محسب … ومن هذا الأصل الحسبان سهام صغار يرمى بها عن القسي الفارسية الواحدة حسبانه وإنما فرق بينهما لصغر هذه و كبر تلك ومنه قولهم أصاب الأرض حسبان أي جراد وفسر قوله تعالى : ( أو يرسل عليها حسبانا من السماء الكهف40 ) بالبرد والأصل الرابع الأحسب الذي ابيضت جلدته من داء ففسدت شعرته كأنه أبرص قال : — يا هند لا تنكحي بوهة … عليه عقيقته أحسبا … وقد يتفق في أصول الأبواب هذا التفاوت الذي تراه في هذه الأصول الأربعة

    Ibn Fāris · 395 · OpenITIvowelled page on al-Maktaba al-Shāmila (print 2, p. 59) ↗
  • al-Rāghib · 502Al-ḥisāb (الحساب): the use of number/counting;

    al-Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī (d. c. 502/1108), al-Mufradāt. Quranic vocabulary, from core sense to Quranic usage.

    Al-ḥisāb (الحساب): the use of number/counting; you say "ḥasabtu aḥsubu ḥisāban wa-ḥusbānan" (حسبت أحسب حسابا وحسبانا). He, Exalted, said: "that you may know the number of years and the reckoning (al-ḥisāb)" (Qur'an, Yūnus 10:5). And He, Exalted, said: "and He made the night a repose, and the sun and the moon a [means of] reckoning (ḥusbānan)" (Qur'an, al-Anʿām 6:96); it is said no one knows its reckoning (ḥusbānahu) but God. And He, Mighty and Exalted, said: "and He sends upon it a ḥusbān (حسبانا) from the sky" (Qur'an, al-Kahf 18:40); it is said this means fire, or punishment — but in reality it refers to that for which one is called to account and rewarded accordingly. In the ḥadīth, he (peace be upon him) said concerning the wind: "O God, do not make it a punishment ('adhāban) nor a ḥusbān (حسبانا)." He, Exalted, said: "and We shall call it to a severe account (ḥisāban shadīdan)" (Qur'an, al-Ṭalāq 65:8), alluding to the report: "whoever is closely examined in the reckoning will be punished." And He, Exalted, said: "the reckoning of mankind (ḥisābuhum) has drawn near for them" (Qur'an, al-Anbiyā' 21:1), similar to "the Hour has drawn near" (Qur'an, al-Qamar 54:1); and "and We are sufficient reckoners (ḥāsibīn)" (Qur'an, al-Anbiyā' 21:47). And His saying, Mighty and Exalted: "and I did not know what my reckoning (ḥisābiyah) was" (Qur'an, al-Ḥāqqah 69:26), "indeed I thought that I would meet my reckoning (ḥisābiyah)" (Qur'an, al-Ḥāqqah 69:20) — the hā' in these is for the pause, like māliyah and sulṭāniyah. And He, Exalted, said: "indeed God is swift in reckoning (al-ḥisāb)" (Qur'an, Āl ʿImrān 3:199). And His saying, Mighty and Exalted: "a reward from your Lord, a sufficient gift (ʿaṭā'an ḥisāban)" (Qur'an, al-Nabaʾ 78:36) — it is said [ḥisāban here means] sufficient (kāfiyan); and it is said this alludes to His saying: "and that man shall have nothing but what he strove for" (Qur'an, al-Najm 53:39). And His saying: "He provides for whom He wills without reckoning (bi-ghayri ḥisāb)" (Qur'an, al-Baqarah 2:212) admits several interpretations: first, He gives him more than he deserves; second, He gives to him without taking [an account] from him; third, He gives him a gift which human beings cannot enumerate, as in the poet's saying: [entry continues]

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    الحساب: استعمال العدد، يقال: حسبت «5» أحسب حسابا وحسبانا، قال تعالى: لتعلموا عدد السنين والحساب [يونس/ 5] ، وقال تعالى: وجعل الليل سكنا والشمس والقمر حسبانا [الأنعام/ 96] ، وقيل: لا يعلم حسبانه إلا الله، وقال عز وجل: ويرسل عليها حسبانا من السماء [الكهف/ 40] ، قيل: معناه: نارا، وعذابا «6» ، وإنما هو في الحقيقة ما يحاسب عليه فيجازى بحسبه، وفي الحديث أنه قال صلى الله عليه وسلم في الريح: «اللهم لا تجعلها عذابا ولا حسبانا» «7» ، قال تعالى: فحاسبناها حسابا شديدا [الطلاق/ 8] ، إشارة إلى نحو ما روي: «من نوقش الحساب عذب» «8» ، وقال تعالى: اقترب للناس حسابهم [الأنبياء/ 1] ، نحو: اقتربت الساعة [القمر/ 1] ، وكفى بنا حاسبين [الأنبياء/ 47] ، وقوله عز وجل: ولم أدر ما حسابيه [الحاقة/ 26] ، إني ظننت أني ملاق حسابيه [الحاقة/ 20] ، فالهاء فيها للوقف، نحو: ماليه «1» وسلطانيه «2» ، وقال تعالى: إن الله سريع الحساب [آل عمران/ 199] ، وقوله عز وجل: جزاء من ربك عطاء حسابا [عم/ 36] ، فقد قيل: كافيا، وقيل: ذلك إشارة إلى ما قال: وأن ليس للإنسان إلا ما سعى [النجم/ 39] ، وقوله: يرزق من يشاء بغير حساب [البقرة/ 212] . ففيه أوجه: الأول: يعطيه أكثر مما يستحقه. والثاني: يعطيه ولا يأخذه منه. والثالث: يعطيه عطاء لا يمكن للبشر إحصاؤه، كقول الشاعر:

    al-Rāghib · 502 · OpenITIvowelled page on al-Maktaba al-Shāmila (print 1, p. 232) ↗
  • Lisān · 711Among the names of God, Exalted is He, is al-Ḥasīb (الحسيب): He is the Sufficient (al-kāfī), on the pattern faʿīl in the sense of mufʿil, from "aḥsabanī l-shay'" (أحسبني الشيء), meaning it sufficed me.

    Ibn Manẓūr (d. 711/1311), Lisān al-ʿArab. The great compendium of the earlier dictionaries (entry shortened).

    Among the names of God, Exalted is He, is al-Ḥasīb (الحسيب): He is the Sufficient (al-kāfī), on the pattern faʿīl in the sense of mufʿil, from "aḥsabanī l-shay'" (أحسبني الشيء), meaning it sufficed me. Al-ḥasab (الحسب) is nobility/generosity (al-karam). Al-ḥasab is the noble standing established through one's forefathers; and it is said it is nobility in [one's own] deeds, according to Ibn al-Aʿrābī. Al-ḥasab is what a person counts among the glories of his forefathers. Al-ḥasab is righteous conduct (al-fiʿāl al-ṣāliḥ), as related by Thaʿlab. [The saying] "mā lahu ḥasabun wa-lā nasabun" (ما له حسب ولا نسب): al-ḥasab here is righteous conduct, and al-nasab (النسب) is [one's] lineage/origin. The verb from all of this is "ḥasuba" (حسب), with ḍammah, ḥasaban (حسبا) and ḥasābatan (حسابة), like khaṭuba khaṭābatan, so the agent is ḥasīb (حسيب); Thaʿlab cited: "and many a man is noble in lineage (ḥasību l-aṣli) yet is not [himself] noble (ghayru ḥasībin)" — meaning he has forefathers who do good, but he himself does not do it; the plural is ḥusabā' (حسباء). "Rajulun karīmu l-ḥasab" (رجل كريم الحسب) [a man noble in ḥasab], and a people [so described] are ḥusabā'. In the ḥadīth: "Al-ḥasab is wealth, and karam is piety (al-taqwā)." He means: that which stands in the place of nobility and honorable standing is wealth. Al-ḥasab is also religion (al-dīn). Al-ḥasab is [also] one's state/condition (al-bāl), according to Kurāʿ, and there is no verb from these two senses. Ibn al-Sikkīt said: al-ḥasab and al-karam may occur in a man even without forefathers of noble standing; he said: nobility and glory occur only through forefathers — so he made wealth stand in the place of nobility of self or of forefathers; the meaning being that a poor man of [noble] ḥasab is not honored or attended to, while a wealthy man who has no ḥasab is honored and esteemed in people's eyes. In the ḥadīth: "The ḥasab of a man is his character (khuluquhu), and his karam is his religion (dīnuhu)." And another ḥadīth: "The ḥasab of a man is the cleanliness of his two garments," meaning he is honored for that, since it is evidence of prosperity and means. In the ḥadīth: "A woman is married for her wealth, her ḥasab, her comeliness (mīsamihā), and her religion — so seek out the one of religion, may your hands be dust-stained [i.e. may you prosper]." Ibn al-Athīr said: it is said that al-ḥasab here means good conduct (al-fiʿāl al-ḥasan). Al-Azharī said: jurists need to know [the meaning of] al-ḥasab, because it is among what is considered in [determining] a woman's appropriate dowry (mahr mithlihā) when a marriage contract is made with an invalid dowry. He said: Shamir said in his book compiled on rare expressions in ḥadīth: al-ḥasab is good conduct belonging to a man and to his forefathers, derived from al-ḥisāb, in that their merits (manāqib) are reckoned up; al-Mutalammis said: "and whoever has noble lineage (nasab) but has no ḥasab, he is the most blameworthy of the base." Thus he distinguished between al-ḥasab and al-nasab, making al-nasab the count of one's fathers and mothers, back to wherever it reaches. Al-ḥasab is conduct (al-fiʿāl), such as courage, generosity, good character, and faithfulness. Al-Azharī said: what Shamir said here is correct; the merits of a man and the noble deeds of his forefathers are called ḥasab only because, when people used to boast against one another, the boaster's merits and his forefathers' noble deeds and merits were counted (ʿudda) for him; so al-ḥasab is counting and reckoning, and al-ḥasab is what is counted; likewise al-ʿadd is the verbal noun of ʿadda-yaʿuddu, and what is counted is ʿadad. In the ḥadīth of ʿUmar, God be pleased with him... [entry continues]

    AI translation of the Arabic below

    في أسماء الله تعالى الحسيب: هو الكافي، فعيل بمعنى مفعل، من أحسبني الشيء إذا كفاني. والحسب: الكرم. والحسب: الشرف الثابت في الآباء، وقيل: هو الشرف في الفعل، عن ابن الأعرابي. والحسب: ما يعده الإنسان من مفاخر آبائه. والحسب: الفعال الصالح، حكاه ثعلب. وما له حسب ولا نسب، الحسب: الفعال الصالح، والنسب: الأصل؛ والفعل من كل ذلك: حسب، بالضم، حسبا وحسابة، مثل خطب خطابة، فهو حسيب؛ أنشد ثعلب: ورب حسيب الأصل غير حسيب أي له آباء يفعلون الخير ولا يفعله هو؛ والجمع حسباء. ورجل كريم الحسب، وقوم حسباء. وفي الحديث: الحسب: المال، والكرم: التقوى. يقول: الذي يقوم مقام الشرف والسراوة، إنما هو المال. والحسب: الدين. والحسب: البال، عن كراع، ولا فعل لهما. قال ابن السكيت: والحسب والكرم يكونان في الرجل، وإن لم يكن له آباء لهم شرف. قال: والشرف والمجد لا يكونان إلا بالآباء فجعل المال بمنزلة شرف النفس أو الآباء، والمعنى أن الفقير ذا الحسب لا يوقر، ولا يحتفل به، والغني الذي لا حسب له، يوقر ويجل في العيون. وفي الحديث: حسب الرجل خلقه، وكرمه دينه. والحديث الآخر: حسب الرجل نقاء ثوبيه أي إنه يوقر لذلك، حيث هو دليل الثروة والجدة. وفي الحديث: تنكح المرأة لمالها وحسبها وميسمها ودينها، فعليك بذات الدين، تربت يداك ؛ قال ابن الأثير: قيل الحسب هاهنا: الفعال الحسن. قال الأزهري: والفقهاء يحتاجون إلى معرفة الحسب، لأنه مما يعتبر به مهر مثل المرأة، إذا عقد النكاح على مهر فاسد، قال: وقال شمر في كتابه المؤلف في غريب الحديث: الحسب الفعال الحسن له ولآبائه، مأخوذ من الحساب إذا حسبوا مناقبهم؛ وقال المتلمس: ومن كان ذا نسب كريم، ولم يكن ... له حسب، كان اللئيم المذمما ففرق بين الحسب والنسب، فجعل النسب عدد الآباء والأمهات، إلى حيث انتهى. والحسب: الفعال، مثل الشجاعة والجود، وحسن الخلق والوفاء قال الأزهري: وهذا الذي قاله شمر صحيح، وإنما سميت مساعي الرجل ومآثر آبائه حسبا، لأنهم كانوا إذا تفاخروا عد المفاخر منهم مناقبه ومآثر آبائه وحسبها؛ فالحسب: العد والإحصاء؛ والحسب ما عد؛ وكذلك العد، مصدر عد يعد، والمعدود عدد. وفي حديث عمر، رضي الله عنه، أنه قال: حسب المرء دينه، ومروءته خلقه، وأصله عقله. وفي الحديث: أن النبي، صلى الله عليه وسلم، قال: كرم المرء دينه، ومروءته عقله، وحسبه خلقه ؛ ورجل شريف ورجل ماجد: له آباء متقدمون في الشرف؛ ورجل حسيب، ورجل كريم بنفسه. قال الأزهري: أراد أن الحسب يحصل للرجل بكرم أخلاقه، وإن لم يكن له نسب، وإذا كان حسيب الآباء، فهو أكرم له. وفي حديث وفد هوازن: قال لهم: اختاروا إحدى الطائفتين: إما المال، وإما السبي. فقالوا: أما إذ خيرتنا بين المال والحسب، فإنا نختار الحسب، فاختاروا أبناءهم ونساءهم ؛ أرادوا أن فكاك الأسرى وإيثاره على استرجاع المال حسب وفعال حسن، فهو بالاختيار أجدر؛ وقيل: المراد بالحسب هاهنا عدد ذوي القرابات، مأخوذ من الحساب، وذلك أنهم إذا تفاخروا عدوا مناقبهم ومآثرهم، فالحسب العد والمعدود، والحسب والحسب قدر الشيء، كقولك: الأجر بحسب ما عملت وحسبه أي قدره؛ وكقولك: على حسب ما أسديت إلي شكري لك، تقول أشكرك على حسب بلائك عندي أي على قدر ذلك. وحسب، مجزوم: بمعنى كفى؛ قال سيبويه: وأما حسب، فمعناها الاكتفاء. وحسبك درهم أي كفاك، وهو اسم، وتقول: حسبك ذلك أي كفاك ذلك؛ وأنشد ابن السكيت: ولم يكن ملك للقوم ينزلهم، ... إلا صلاصل لا تلوى على حسب وقوله: لا تلوى على حسب، أي يقسم بينهم بالسوية، لا يؤثر به أحد؛ وقيل: لا تلوى على حسب أي لا تلوى على الكفاية، لعوز الماء وقلته. ويقال: أحسبني ما أعطاني أي كفاني. ومررت برجل حسبك من رجل أي كافيك، لا يثنى ولا يجمع لأنه موضوع موضع المصدر؛ وقالوا: هذا عربي حسبة، انتصب لأنه حال وقع فيه الأمر، كما انتصب دنيا، في قولك: هو ابن عمي دنيا، كأنك قلت: هذا عربي اكتفاء، وإن لم يتكلم بذلك؛ وتقول: هذا رجل حسبك من رجل، وهو مدح للنكرة، لأن فيه تأويل فعل، كأنه قال: محسب لك أي كاف لك من غيره، يستوي فيه الواحد والجمع والتثنية، لأنه مصدر؛ وتقول في المعرفة: هذا عبد الله حسبك من رجل، فتنصب حسبك على الحال، وإن أردت الفعل في حسبك، قلت: مررت برجل أحسبك من رجل، وبرجلين أحسباك، وبرجال أحسبوك، ولك أن تتكلم بحسب مفردة، تقول: رأيت زيدا حسب يا فتى، كأنك قلت: حسبي أو حسبك، فأضمرت هذا فلذلك لم تنون، لأنك أردت الإضافة، كما تقول: جاءني زيد ليس غير، تريد ليس غيره عندي. وأحسبني الشيء: كفاني؛ قالت امرأة من بني قشير: ونقفي وليد الحي، إن كان جائعا، ... ونحسبه، إن كان ليس بجائع أي نعطيه حتى يقول حسبي. وقولها: نقفيه أي نؤثره بالقفية، ويقال لها القفاوة أيضا، وهي ما يؤثر به الضيف والصبي. وتقول: أعطى فأحسب أي أكثر حتى قال حسبي. أبو زيد: أحسبت الرجل: أعطيته ما يرضى؛ وقال غيره: حتى قال حس …

    Lisān · 711 · OpenITIvowelled page on al-Maktaba al-Shāmila (print 1, p. 310) ↗
  • Lane · 1876English, synthesising the classical dictionaries.

    E. W. Lane (d. 1876), An Arabic-English Lexicon. English, synthesising the classical dictionaries.

    حَسَبَهُ

    1. حَسَبَهُ, (S, A, Mgh, &c.,) aor. حَسُبَ , (S, Mgh, Msb, &c.,) inf. n. حَسْبٌ (S, A, Mgh, Msb, K) and حُسْبَانٌ (S, Mgh, Msb, K) and حِسْبَانٌ (K) and حِسَابٌ (S, K,) which is generally an inf. n. of this verb, but sometimes of حَاسَبَ, (TA,) and حِسَابَةٌ (S, K) and حِسْبَةٌ, (Msb, K,) or this is like قِعْدَةٌ and رِكْبَةٌ, [denoting a mode, or manner,] as in a verse of En-Nábighah cited below, (S,) and حَسْبَةٌ, which is of rare occurrence, (MF, TA,) He numbered, counted, reckoned, calculated, or computed, it; (S, A, Mgh, Msb, K;) namely, property [&c.]. (A, Mgh, Msb.) You say, مَنْ يَقْدِرُ عَلَى عَدِّ الرَّمْلِ وَحَسْبِ الحَصَى [Who can count the sands, and number the pebbles?]. (A.) And أَلْقِ هٰذَا فِى الحَسْبِ [Throw thou this into the reckoning]; i. e., into what thou hast reckoned. (A.) وَالشَّمْسُ وَالقَمَرُ بِحُسْبَانٍ, in the Kur [lv. 4], means And the sun and the moon [run their courses] according to a [certain] reckoning; or through a series of mansions [or constellations], the bounds of which they do not transgress: (TA:) or بحسبان alludes to the numbers of the months and years and all other times: [but properly speaking,] حسبان is here an inf. n.: (Zj, TA:) or, accord. to Akh, a pl. of حِسَابٌ; (S, TA;) and so says AHeyth: or, accord. to some, it is here a proper subst., signifying the firmament. (TA.) حُسْبَانًا in the Kur vi. 96 is held by Akh to be for بِحُسْبَانٍ, meaning بِحِسَابٍ [as in the phrase quoted above, from the Kur lv. 4, accord. to the first explanation]. (TA.) And حُسْبَانُكَ عَلَى ٱللّٰه signifies حِسَابُكَ على اللّٰه [On God be it to reckon with thee: see also حَسِيبُكَ ٱللّٰهُ]. (TA.) Az says that the reckoning in buying and selling is termed حِسَابٌ because one knows thereby what is sufficient. (TA.) وَٱللّٰهُ سَرِيعُ الحِسَابِ, in the Kur [ii. 198, &c., God is quick in reckoning], signifies that his reckoning is necessary, or of necessity, and that his reckoning with one person does not divert Him from reckoning with another. (TA.) And يَرْزُقُ مَنْ يَشَآءُ بَغَيْرِ حِسَابٍ, in the Kur [ii. 208, &c., He supplieth whom He willeth, without reckoning], means without sparing, or scanting; as when a man expends without reckoning: but the phrase is variously explained, as meaning without appointing for any one what is deficient: or without fearing that any one will call Him to account for it: or without the receiver's thinking that He will bestow upon him, or without his reckoning upon the supply; so that it may be from حَسِبَ “ he thought, ” or from حَسَبَ “ he reckoned. ” (L, TA.) The saying, cited by IAar, as related by J [in the S], but correctly أُسْقيت, (TA,) means [O Juml, mayest thou be given rain] without reckoning, and without measure. (S.) An instance of حِسْبَةٌ as similar to قِعْدَةٌ and رِكْبَةٌ occurs in the saying of En-Nábighah, [And she completed a hundred, in which was her pigeon; and she was quick in the mode of computing that number]. (S.) حَسِبَهُ كَذَا, [a verb of the kind termed أَفْعَالُ القُلُوبِ, having two objective complements, the former of which is called its noun, and the latter its enunciative,] aor. حَسَبَ and حَسِبَ ; (S, Msb, K;) the former the more approved, (TA,) of the dialects of all the Arabs except Benoo-Kináneh; the latter aor. being peculiar to the dial. of this tribe, (Msb,) and contr. to analogy, (S, Msb,) for by rule it should be حَسَبَ [only]; and حَسِبَ is the only verb of the measure فَعِلَ having both يَفْعَلُ and يَفْعِلُ as the measures of its aor. except نَعِمَ and يَئِسَ and يَبِسَ [and وَعِر َ and وَحِرَ and بَئِسَ and وَلِهَ and وَهِلَ mentioned by Ibn-Málik (with the preceding) cited in the TA voce وَرِثَ]; but eight verbs having an unsound letter for the first radical have kesreh to the medial radical in the pret. and aor., viz., وَثِقَ and وَرِثَ and وَرِعَ and وَرِمَ and وَرِيَ and وَفِقَ and وَلِىَ and وَمِقَ; (S;) inf. n. حِسْبَانٌ (S, Mgh, Msb, K) and مَحْسَبَةٌ and مَحْسِبَةٌ (S, K) and حِسَابٌ; (TA; [but see what follows;]) He [counted, accounted, reckoned, or esteemed, meaning] thought, or supposed, him, or it, to be so. (S, Mgh, Msb, K.) You say, حَسِبْتُهُ صَالِحًا [I counted him, or thought him, good, or righteous]. (S.) And حَسِبْتُ زَيْدًا قَائِمًا [I thought Zeyd to be standing]. (Msb.) And مَا كَانَ فِى حِسْبَانِى كَذَا [Such a thing was not in my thought]: you should not say فى حِسَابِى, (K,) unless you mean thereby it was not included in my reckoning, or, by amplification of the sense, I did not think it. (MF.) حَسُبَ, aor. حَسُبَ , (S, Msb, K,) inf. n. حَسَابَةٌ (S, K) and حَسَبٌ, (Msb, K,) He was, or became, characterized, or distinguished, by what is termed حَسَبٌ as explained below [i. e. grounds of pretension to respect or honour; &c.]. (S, Msb, K.)

    حسّبهُ

    2. حسّبهُ, inf. n. تَحْسِيبٌ: see 4. Also He placed a pillow for him; supported him with a pillow; (S, K;) seated him upon a حُسْبَانَة, or مَحْسَبَة. (TA.) And hence, He honoured him. (L.) He buried him: (TA:) or buried him in stones: [see حَسْبٌ:] or buried him wrapped in grave-clothing: namely, a dead person. (K, TA.) Nuheyk El-Fezáree says, (S, TA,) addressing 'Ámir Ibn-Et-Tufeyl, (TA,) (S, TA) Thou wouldst have avoided, by turning thy hinder part, the thrust [of a thin, thirsty weapon], or thou wouldst have taken thy restingplace (TA) not honoured, or not shrouded, (S, TA,) or not pillowed: غير محسّب being variously rendered: one person prefers the meaning not buried: Az says that the signification of burial in stones and that of wrapping in grave-clothes, assigned to the verb, were unknown to him; and that غير محسّب signifies not supported with a pillow. (TA.)

    حاسبهُ

    3. حاسبهُ, inf. n. مُحَاسَبَةٌ (S, TA) and sometimes حِسَابٌ, which is also an inf. n. of حَسَبَ, or, accord. to Th, it seems to be a quasi-inf. n., (TA,) [He reckoned with him.] And حاسبهُ عَلَيْهِ [He called him to account for it]. (TA.)

    احسبهُ

    4. احسبهُ, (Th, S, K,) inf. n. إِحْسَابٌ, (TA,) He gave him what sufficed, or satisfied, him, مِنْ كُلِّ شَىْءٍ of everything: (Th, TA:) he contented him: (K:) or he gave him what contented him; as also حسّبهُ: (S:) and both verbs, inf. n. of the latter تَحْسِيبٌ, he gave him to eat and drink until he was satisfied: (K:) and the former, [or both,] he gave him until he said حَسْبِى [It is sufficient for me]. (AZ, S.) You say also, أَعْطَى فَأَحْسَبَ He gave, and (assumed tropical:) gave much: (S:) and اِحْتَسَبْتُهُ, [if not a mistranscription for أَحْسَبْتُهُ,] (tropical:) I gave him much. (A, TA.) Also It (a thing, S, Msb,) sufficed him: (S, A, Msb:) he sufficed him. (TA.) You say, مَرَرْتُ بِرَجُلٍ أَحْسَبَكَ مِنْ رَجُلٍ, and [مِنْ رَجُلَيْنِ] بِرَجُلَيْنِ أَحْسَبَاكَ, and [مِنْ رِجَالٍ] بِرِجَالٍ أَحْسَبُوكَ, I passed by a man sufficient for thee as a man, i. e., supplying to thee the place of any other [by his excellent qualities], and by two men &c., and by men &c. (S.) [The verb here is rendered, in grammatical analysis, by its act. part. n. See also حَسْبُ.]

    تحسَب

    5. تحسَب (tropical:) He sought, or sought leisurely and repeatedly, to learn news: (A, K, * TA:) he sought after news: (K, * TA:) he inquired, or asked, respecting news; (S, K, * TA; [in the CK, اسْتَخْيَرَ is erroneously put for اِسْتَخْبَرَ;]) of the dial. of El-Hijáz: (TA:) he searched after news as a spy. (A 'Obeyd, TA.) It is said in a trad., accord. to one reading, كَانُوا يَجْتَمِعُونَ فَيَتَحَسَّبُونَ الصَّلَاةَ (tropical:) They used to assemble, and endeavour to ascertain the time of prayer: but the common reading is يَتَحَيَّنُونَ. (TA.) Also He reclined upon a pillow. (K.)

    احتسب

    8. احتسب [for احتسب أَجْرًا He reckoned upon a reward: or] he sought a reward [from God in the world to come]. (TA.) وَيَرْزُقُهُ مِنْ حَيْثُ لَا يَحْتَسِبُ, in the Kur lxv. 2, means [And He will supply him with the means of subsistence] whence he does not reckon, or expect; whence does not occur to his mind. (Bd, Jel.) And مَنْ صَامَ رَمَضانَ إِيمَانًا وَٱحْتِسَابًا, in a trad., Whoso fasteth during Ramadán, believing in God and his Apostle, and [reckoning upon a reward, or] seeking a reward from God. (Mgh, * TA.) You say also, احتسب بِكَذَا أَجْرًا عِنْدَ ٱللّٰهِ (S, K) He reckoned upon obtaining, [or he sought,] by such a thing, or such an action, a reward from God: (PS:) or he prepared, or provided, such a thing, seeking thereby a reward from God. (K.) And احتسب عِنْدَ ٱللّٰهِ خَيْرًا He prepared, or provided, in store for himself, good, [i. e. a reward,] with God. (A, Mgh.) And احتسب الأَجْرَ عَلَى ٱللّٰهِ He laid up for himself, in store, the reward, with God, not hoping for the reward of the present life; اِحْتِسَابُ الأَجْرِ relating only to an action done for the sake of God. (Msb.) [Hence,] احتسب وَلَدَهُ, (A, Mgh,) or ٱبْنَهُ, (Msb,) or ٱبْنًا, or بنْتًا, (S, K, *) is said when one has lost by death an adult child or son or daughter; (S, A, Mgh, Msb, K;) meaning He prepared, or provided, in store for himself, a reward, by his patience on the occasion of his being afflicted and tried by the death of his adult child: (Mgh, * TA:) when a man has lost by death a child not arrived at the age of puberty, you say of him, اِفْتَرَطَهُ. (S, A, Msb, K.) [Hence also,] احتسب عَمَلَهُ [He reckoned upon, or prepared for himself, a reward by his deed: or] he did his deed seeking a reward from God in the world to come. (L, TA.) اِحْتَسَبْتُ بَالشَّىْءِ I included the thing in a numbering, or reckoning; or made account of it; accounted it a matter of importance. (Msb.) And فُلَانٌ لَا يُحْتَسَبُ [for لا يحتسب بَهِ] Such a one is made no account of; is not esteemed, or regarded, as of any account, or importance. (A, TA.) اِحْتَسَبْتُ عِنْدَهُ means اِكْتَفَيْتُ [I was, or became, sufficed, or contented, thereat, or with him, or at his abode]. (A, TA.) [And IbrD thinks that the verb has the same signification in the phrase اِحْتَسَبْتُ عَلَيْهِ بِالمَالِ, quoted in the TA from the A; holding عليه to be here used in the sense of عَنْهُ; so that the meaning is I was, or became, sufficed, so as to have no need of him, or it, by the property: but I doubt whether this phrase be correctly transcribed.] احتسب also signifies اِنْتَهَى [He abstained, or desisted; app. as one sufficed, or contented]. (K.) And احتسب عَلَيْهِ كَذَا He disapproved and disallowed his doing, or having done, such a thing; (S, K; *) namely, a foul deed: (TA:) whence the appellation مُحْتَسِبٌ. (K.) And accord. to some, احتسب ٱللّٰهَ عَلَيْهِ means He said, May God take, or execute, vengeance upon him; or punish him; for his evil deeds. (Har p. 371. [See حَسِيبٌ.]) [In the present day, احتسب عَلَيْهِ is used as meaning He prayed for aid against him by saying, حَسْبُنَا ٱللّٰهُ God is, or will be, sufficient for us.] You say also, احتسب فُلَانًا, (K,) or احتسب مَا عِنْدَهُ, (A,) meaning (tropical:) He endeavoured to learn what such a one had [in his mind, or in his possession]. (A, K, * TA.) See also 4.

    احسبّ

    9. احسبّ He (a camel) was, or became, of a white colour intermixed with red (S, TA) and with black. (TA.)

    حَسْبٌ

    حَسْبٌ Sufficiency. (K voce هَسْبٌ.) حَسْبُ is a [prefixed] noun (S) [syn. with كَفْىُ, as is implied in the K voce قَطْ; or] syn. with كَافِى; (Msb;) or [virtually] meaning كَفَى [as a pret. in the sense of an emphatic aor.]; (S, K;) or يَكْفِى: (TA:) Sb says that it is used to denote the being sufficed, or content. (TA.) You say, حَسْبُكَ دِرْهَمٌ [and بِحَسْبِكَ دِرْهَمٌ, in which latter the ب is redundant; meaning Thy sufficiency, or a thing sufficing thee, is a dirhem; a phrase which may be used in two ways; as predicating of what is sufficient, that it is a dirhem; and as predicating of a dirhem, that it is sufficient; in which latter case, بحسبك is an enunciative put before its inchoative, (as also حَسْبُكَ,) so that the meaning is, a dirhem is a thing sufficing thee, i. e. a dirhem is sufficient for thee; as is shown in a marginal note in my copy of the Mughnee, in art. بِ; or, accord. to the S and K, a dirhem suffices thee: accord. to Bd (iii. 167), بحسبك means مُحْسِبُكَ, and كَافِيكَ, from أَحْسَبَهُ meaning كَفَاهُ; and is shown to have this meaning by its not importing a determinate signification in consequence of its being a prefixed noun with its complement in the saying, هٰذَا رَجُلٌ حَسْبُكَ This is a man sufficing thee]. (S, Msb, K.) You say also, حَسْبُكَ ذٰلِكَ That is, or will be, [or let that be,] sufficient for thee. (TA.) And حَسْبُكَ ٱللّٰهُ, in the Kur viii. 65, God is, or will be, sufficient for thee. (Fr, TA. See also حَسِيبُكَ ٱللّٰهُ.) And حَسْبُكَ بِصَدِيقِنَا [A person sufficing thee is our friend]; in which the ب is added to denote emphatic praise. (Fr, TA in art. بِ.) In the saying, هٰذَا رَجُلٌ حَسْبُكَ مِنْ رَجُلٍ This is a man sufficing thee as a man, i. e. supplying to thee the place of any other [by his excellent qualities], (S, K,) and مَرَرْتُ بِرَجُلٍ حَسْبِكَ مِنْ رَجُلٍ I passed by a man sufficing thee as a man, (TA,) حسبك is an expression of praise, referring to the indeterminate noun [رجل]; because, in its case, [what is originally (see below)] an inf. n. (فِعْلٌ [under which term lexicologists, but not grammarians, include the مَصْدَر]) is rendered, in grammatical analysis, by another word, [i. e., by an act. part. n.,] as though one said مُحْسِبٌ لَكَ, or كَافٍ لَكَ. (S. [Thus حسبك in these two instances is a صِفَة, i. e. an epithetic phrase; and من رجل is a تَمْيِيز, i. e. a specificative phrase.]) When the noun to which حسبك refers is determinate, you put حسب in the accus. case, as a حال, i. e. a denotative of state; as in the saying, هٰذَا عَبْدُ ٱللّٰهِ حَسْبَكَ مِنْ رَجُلٍ This is 'Abd-Allah; being one sufficing thee as a man. (S. [Here من رجل is, as before, a specificative phrase.]) [See also 4, the corresponding verb.]) حسب, in this manner, is used alike as sing. and dual and pl.; (S, K;) being [originally] an inf. n. (S.) It is also used alone, [as a prefixed noun of which the complement is understood,] as in the phrase زَيْدٌ حَسْبُ, without tenween, for حَسْبِى or حَسْبُكَ [&c., meaning Zeyd is sufficient for me or for thee &c.]; like as one says, جَآءَنِى زَيْدٌ لَيْسَ غَيْرُ, for لَيْسَ غَيْرُهُ عِنْدِى. (S. [That is, حَسْبُ, when thus used, is subject to the same rules as غَيْرُ and قَبْلُ, and بَعْدُ &c. when so used.]) See also حَسَبٌ, in three places. Also, (TA,) and حِسْبَةٌ, (K,) Burial of the dead: (TA:) or burial of the dead in stones [app. meaning in a grave cased with stones]: or burial of the dead wrapped in grave-clothes: like تَحْسِيبٌ. (K. [See 2.])

    حَسَبٌ

    حَسَبٌ i. q. مَحْسُوبٌ; (S, K;) of the measure فَعَلٌ in the sense of the measure مَفْعُولٌ, like نَفَضٌ in the sense of مَنْفُوضٌ; (S;) Numbered, counted, reckoned, calculated, or computed. (S, K.) A number counted. (L.) Amount, quantity, or value. (L.) Sometimes, (S, L, K,) by poetic license, (S,) and in prose, (L,) حَسْبٌ. (S, L, K.) You say, الأَجْرُ بِحَسَبِ مَا عَمِلْتَ, and بِحَسْبِ, The recompense is, or shall be, according to the amount, or quantity, or value, of thy work. (L.) And يُجْزَى المَرْءُ عَلَى حَسَبِ عَمَلِهِ The man is, or shall be, paid according to the amount, or quantity, of his work. (Msb.) And عَلَى حَسَبِ مَا أَسْدَيْتَ إِلَىَّ شُكْرِى لَكَ [and حَسْبَمَا (for عَلَى حَسَبِ مَا)] According to the amount, or value, of the benefit, or benefits, that thou hast conferred upon me are my thanks to thee. (L.) And لِيَكُنْ عَمَلُكَ بِحَسَبِ ذٰلِكَ Let thy deed, or work, be correspondent to the quantity, or number, of that: or adequate, or equivalent, to that. (S.) And هٰذَا بِحَسَبِ ذَا This is equal in number or quantity, or is equivalent, to that. (K.) And مَا أَدْرِى مَا حَسَبُ حَدِيثِكَ, i. e. ما قَدْرُهُ [app. I know not what is the value of thy story]. (Ks, S.) And أَحْسَنْتُ إِلَيْهِ حَسَبَ الطَّاقَةِ and عَلَى حَسَبِ الطَّاقَةِ I benefited him according to the measure of ability. (Mgh.) Also [Grounds of pretension to respect or honour, consisting in any qualities (either of oneself or of one's ancestors) which are enumerated, or recounted, as causes of glorying: and hence signifying nobility; rank or quality; honourableness, or estimableness, from whatever source derived:] originally, (MF,) what one enumerates, or recounts, of the deeds, or qualities, in which his ancestors have gloried: (S, A, Mgh, * K, MF:) secondly, what one enumerates, or recounts, of his own deeds, or qualities, in which he glories: thirdly, what one enumerates, or recounts, of any deeds, or qualities, that are causes of his glorying, of whatever kind they be: (MF:) or the memorable deeds, or qualities, of one's ancestors; and one's own deeds, or qualities, in which he glories; because they were enumerated, or recounted, by the Arabs in contending, or disputing, for glory; (T, Msb, * TA;) the latter consisting in such qualities as courage, and good disposition, and liberality: (Msb:) or what are enumerated, or recounted, of generous actions, or qualities: (Msb:) or good actions, or conduct, of oneself, and of one's ancestors: (Sh, Mgh:) or generosity, or nobility, of actions or conduct: (IAar, K:) or righteous, virtuous, or good, actions or conduct: (K:) or good disposition: (TA:) or religion; (S, Msb, K;) piety; because true nobility consists in religion or piety: (MF:) or wealth; (S, K;) because it serves in lieu of true nobility: (TA:) in this sense, and in the sense next preceding, it has no corresponding verb: (TA:) or state, or condition; [i. e. good state or condition;] syn. بَالٌ [i. q. حَالٌ]: (K:) or intellect, or understanding: (MF:) and a man's relations, consisting of his children and others: pl. أَحْسَابٌ. (Az, Mgh.) Accord. to ISk, (S, Msb,) حَسَبٌ and كَرَمٌ may pertain to him who has not noble ancestors; but not شَرَفٌ nor مَجْدٌ. (S, Msb, * K.) حَسَبٌ is also used elliptically, (Mgh, TA,) [in the sense of حَسِيبٌ, q. v.,] for ذُو حَسَبٍ, (TA,) and for ذَوُو حَسَبٍ. (Mgh.) اِشْتَرَى بِالحَسَبِ He bought a thing in an honourable manner with respect to himself and the seller: حسب, here, is said to be from حَسَّبَهُ “ he honoured him; ” or from حُسْبَانَةٌ “ a small pillow ” [because him for whom you put a pillow you honour: see 2]. (TA.)

    حُسْبَةٌ

    حُسْبَةٌ, in a camel, A colour in which are whiteness and redness (K, TA) and blackness: (TA:) in a man, [a reddish colour such as is termed] شُقْرَة in the hair of the head: (K:) and also in a man, (K, TA,) and in a camel, (TA,) whiteness and redness produced by a whiteness of the skin arising from disease and infecting the hair [so as to turn it red]: (K, TA:) accord. to IAar, blackness inclining to redness. (TA.) Also Leprosy. (K.)

    حِسْبَةٌ

    حِسْبَةٌ [originally The act of numbering, counting, &c.: or a mode, or manner, of numbering, &c.: see 1. ] A subst. from اِحْتَسَبَ أَجْرًا; (S, Msb, K;) syn. with اِحْتِسَابٌ (A) [as meaning A reckoning upon, or seeking, or preparing or providing, or laying up for oneself in store, a reward in the world to come]. You say, فَعَلَهُ حِسْبَةً [He did it reckoning upon, or seeking, &c., a reward in the world to come]. (A, TA.) هُوَ حَسَنُ الحِسْبَةِ He is good in respect of managing, conducting, ordering, or regulating, (S, A, Msb, K,) and examining, or judging, (Msb,) and sufficing, (A,) فِى الأَمْرِ in the affair. (S, A, Msb.) This is not from اِحْتِسَابُ الأَجْرِ; for احتساب الاجر relates only to an action done for the sake of God. (Msb.) A reward, or recompense: pl. حِسَبٌ. (S, K.) [The office of the مُحْتَسِب.] See also حَسْبٌ, last sentence.

    حُسْبَانٌ

    حُسْبَانٌ: see حِسَابٌ. Also A punishment. (S, K.) A calamity; an affliction with which a man is tried. (Aboo-Ziyád, K.) Evil; mischief. (Aboo-Ziyád, K.) Locusts. (Aboo-Ziyád, S, K.) Dust: or smoke: syn. عَجَاجٌ. (K.) Fire. (TA.) This, and each of the five significations next preceding, and that next following, have been assigned to the word as used in the Kur xviii. 38. (TA.) See also حُسْبَانَةٌ. Small arrows, (Mgh, Msb, K,) or short arrows, (S,) which are shot from Persian bows: (Mgh, Msb:) said by IDrd to be, in this sense, postclassical: (TA:) or arrows which a man shoots in the hollow of a reed, or cane; drawing the bow, he discharges twenty of them at once, and they pass by nothing without wounding it, whether it be an armed man or another object; they come forth like rain, and scatter among the people: (ISh, TA:) or small arrows, with slender heads, in the hollow of a reed, or cane, which, when discharged, come forth like a shower of rain, and scatter, and pass by nothing without wounding it: (Az, Msb:) or iron-headed arrows, like large needles, slender, but somewhat long, and without edges [to the heads]: (Th, TA:) n. un. with ة. (S, Mgh, Msb, K.) It is also said to signify The circumference of a mill-stone: and hence, in the Kur lv. 4, [see 1, above,] to mean The [revolving] firmament. (El-Khafájee, MF.)

    Lane, Arabic-English Lexiconread Lane's entry online ↗
Technical definitions1 · Ibn ʿArabī’s Iṣṭilāḥ, al-Jurjānī’s Taʿrīfāt

  • الحسب

    ما يعده المرء من مفاخر نفسه وآبائه.

    Al-ḥasab (الحسب): what a person counts among the glories of himself and his forefathers.

    al-Jurjānī, al-Taʿrīfāt, line 1759 ↗

Look this root up elsewhere:Doha Historical Dictionary ↗Quranic Arabic Corpus ↗Arabic Almanac ↗Hawramani Arabic Lexicon ↗

The same letters, turned

The same three letters in all six orders. Choose one.

ح س ب

الحاء والسين والباء أصول أربعة

ḥ-s-b has four roots.

Ibn Fāris ↗Lisān ↗Lane ↗al-Khalīl: used ↗Quran ×109

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:

Ibn Fāris, entries found (1,021 letter-sets)
  1. 1 of 6319
  2. 2 of 6218
  3. 3 of 6164
  4. 4 of 6155
  5. 5 of 6107
  6. 6 of 658
al-Khalīl, orders his headings call used (746 letter-sets)
  1. 1 of 6148
  2. 2 of 6108
  3. 3 of 6157
  4. 4 of 6179
  5. 5 of 6111
  6. 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.

Our computation from the OpenITI texts; heading detection can miss entries

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

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)

16 more

Reference

How it is madeSībawayh and Ibn Jinnī · phonetics

English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic

ح

ومن أوسط الحلق مخرج العين والحاء

From the middle of the throat is the place of the ʿayn and the ḥāʾ. Sībawayh, lines 26548–26549 ↗

ومن وسط الحلق مخرج العين والحاء

From the middle of the throat is the place of the ʿayn and the ḥāʾ. Ibn Jinnī, line 970 ↗

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 ↗

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 ↗

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

ح

Level of existence: الجوهر الهبابي · the dust-like substance (spelled الهبابي in the text)

Divine Name: الآخر · al-Ākhir, the Last

Lunar mansion: الدبران · al-Dabarān

Futūḥāt ch. 198, line 62076

Spheres of its simples (ch. 2): 10 line 2573 ↗

س

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 62110

Spheres 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 2581

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 62118

Spheres 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 2582
Meaning by vowelal-Dabbāgh · a visionary claim about a primordial “Syriac”, not historical Syriac

English throughout: AI translation of the Arabic

ح

With fatḥa ـَ

فهي تدل على الإحاطة والشمول للجميع.

It denotes encompassing and inclusion of everything.

With ḍamma ـُ

فهي العدد الكثير الخارج عن بني آدم كالنجوم.

It is a great number external to the children of Adam, such as the stars.

With kasra ـِ

فهي العدد الداخل في الذات أو للذات عليه ولاية كملكية العبيد والدنانير والدراهم وغير ذلك.

It is a number contained within the self, or over which the self has authority, such as ownership of slaves, dinars, dirhams and the like.

al-Dabbāgh (d. 1132/1719), al-Ibrīz, ch. 2 §15, compiled by al-Lamaṭī

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.

al-Dabbāgh (d. 1132/1719), al-Ibrīz, ch. 2 §15, compiled by al-Lamaṭī

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.

al-Dabbāgh (d. 1132/1719), al-Ibrīz, ch. 2 §15, compiled by al-Lamaṭī
Two-letter nucleus6 roots in Ibn Fāris’s chapterح س

Ibn Fāris groups his roots under two-letter chapters (“the X and the Y and what makes them three”). These are the roots of this root's chapter with the core sense he gives each. Setting them side by side is our juxtaposition; he does not himself draw a shared meaning. His chapter heading, line 6961 ↗

  • حسفالحاء والسين والفاء أصل واحد وهو شيء يتقشر عن شيء ويسقط فمن ذلك الحسافة وهو ما سقط من التمر والثمر ويقال انحسف الشيء إذا تفتت في يدك وأما الحسيفة وهي L6962
  • حسكالحاء والسين والكاف من خشونة الشيء لا يخرج مسائلة عنه فمن ذلك الحسك وهو حسك السعدان وسمي بذلك لخشونته وما عليه من شوك ومن ذلك الحسيكة وهي العداوة وما L6966
  • حسلالحاء والسين واللام أصل واحد قليل الكلم وهو ولد الضبL6970
  • حسبالحاء والسين والباء أصول أربعةQ 109 · L7006
  • حسدالحاء والسين والدال أصل واحد وهو الحسدQ 5 · L7031
  • حسرالحاء والسين والراء أصل واحد وهو من كشف الشيءQ 12 · L7032
In the sister scriptsHebrew ח ס/ש בSyriac ܚ ܣ/ܫ ܒ
Arabicح س ب
Hebrewח ס/ש ב
Syriacܚ ܣ/ܫ ܒ
Ancient South Arabian (musnad)𐩢 𐩯/𐩦 𐩨
Phoenician𐤇 𐤎/𐤔 𐤁

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

  • Classical lexiconAl-Khalīl (al-ʿAyn) defines ḥasab as fixed nobility inherited from one's forefathers, citing the hadith 'al-ḥasab al-māl wa-l-karam al-taqwā' (true ḥasab is wealth, true karam is piety) as a redefinition of the term, and notes ḥasb dhālika, 'in proportion to that.' Al-Jawharī (Ṣiḥāḥ) supplies the core verbal paradigm ḥasabahu yaḥsubuhu ḥasban/ḥisāban/ḥusbānan/ḥisābatan 'he counted it,' with maḥsūb and ḥasb (fiʿl in the sense of mafʿūl) for 'the thing counted,' and bi-ḥasabi dhālika 'according to its measure.' Ibn Fāris (Maqāyīs) unifies four senses under the nucleus ح-س-ب: counting proper;well attested

    The lexicographers in chronological order, from al-Khalīl to Lane.

    Al-Khalīl (al-ʿAyn) defines ḥasab as fixed nobility inherited from one's forefathers, citing the hadith 'al-ḥasab al-māl wa-l-karam al-taqwā' (true ḥasab is wealth, true karam is piety) as a redefinition of the term, and notes ḥasb dhālika, 'in proportion to that.' Al-Jawharī (Ṣiḥāḥ) supplies the core verbal paradigm ḥasabahu yaḥsubuhu ḥasban/ḥisāban/ḥusbānan/ḥisābatan 'he counted it,' with maḥsūb and ḥasb (fiʿl in the sense of mafʿūl) for 'the thing counted,' and bi-ḥasabi dhālika 'according to its measure.' Ibn Fāris (Maqāyīs) unifies four senses under the nucleus ح-س-ب: counting proper; ẓann (supposition, as a shift from exact counting to estimation); inherited ḥasab (nobility reckoned through one's fathers); and iḥtisāb (reckoning something, such as a dead child, among what is stored up for one with God) together with ḥusn al-ḥisba, good management of an affair. Al-Rāghib (Mufradāt) grounds ḥisāb in 'the use of number,' citing 10:5 (to know the number of years and the reckoning) and 6:96 (sun and moon as ḥusbān, instruments by which time is reckoned), and explains ḥusbān in 18:40 and the hadith 'Allāhumma lā tajʿalhā ʿadhāban wa-lā ḥusbānan' as properly meaning 'that for which one is held to account and repaid accordingly.' Ibn Manẓūr (Lisān) adds that al-Ḥasīb, as a divine name, is glossed as al-kāfī 'the Sufficient,' from aḥsabanī l-shayʾ 'the thing sufficed me,' alongside ḥasīb 'a man of counted merit'; Lane confirms the same verbal paradigm and the primary sense 'he counted, reckoned, computed.'

    Draws on: cayn · sihah · Ibn Fāris · mufradat · lisan · Lane

    • Ibn Fāris, Maqāyīs al-Lugha, s.v. حسب
    • al-Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī, al-Mufradāt, s.v. حسب
    • Lane, Arabic-English Lexicon, s.v. حسب
  • Letters & soundIn the Futūḥāt ch. 198 correspondences, ḥāʾ is matched to 'the dust-like substance' (al-jawhar al-hababī, the primordial mote-substance), sīn to 'what appears in water,' and bāʾ to 'the jinn.' Al-Dabbāgh's letter-values (fatḥa forms) read ḥāʾ as an indication of encompassing and inclusion of everything, sīn as the comely thing whose nature is delicacy, and bāʾ as an indication of the utmost of might or the utmost of abasement — a range that could be read as fitting a root whose senses run from all-encompassing 'reckoning' to the fine calibration of ẓann.speculative

    What the theorists of sound symbolism would say of these letters. Speculative by nature.

    In the Futūḥāt ch. 198 correspondences, ḥāʾ is matched to 'the dust-like substance' (al-jawhar al-hababī, the primordial mote-substance), sīn to 'what appears in water,' and bāʾ to 'the jinn.' Al-Dabbāgh's letter-values (fatḥa forms) read ḥāʾ as an indication of encompassing and inclusion of everything, sīn as the comely thing whose nature is delicacy, and bāʾ as an indication of the utmost of might or the utmost of abasement — a range that could be read as fitting a root whose senses run from all-encompassing 'reckoning' to the fine calibration of ẓann. This remains suggestive symbolism only; mainstream linguistics gives it no evidentiary weight for etymology or meaning.

    Draws on: akbari198 · dabbagh

    • Ibn ʿArabī, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya, ch. 198 (letter-cosmology)
    • al-Dabbāgh, letter meanings (ḥarakat al-fatḥa)
  • Root structureThe nucleus ح-س, per Ibn Fāris's chapter siblings, covers ḥasaf (flaking/shedding off a thing), ḥasak (roughness — the burr of the saʿdān plant, and metaphorically ḥasīka 'rancour'), ḥasal (the young of the ḍabb-lizard), ḥasab (our root, with its four senses), ḥasad (envy), and ḥasar (uncovering a thing) — a cluster united only loosely, if at all, by a sense of friction or exposure.uncertain

    The two-letter nucleus (Ibn Fāris's own chapters) and the permutations of the letters (Ibn Jinnī).

    The nucleus ح-س, per Ibn Fāris's chapter siblings, covers ḥasaf (flaking/shedding off a thing), ḥasak (roughness — the burr of the saʿdān plant, and metaphorically ḥasīka 'rancour'), ḥasal (the young of the ḍabb-lizard), ḥasab (our root, with its four senses), ḥasad (envy), and ḥasar (uncovering a thing) — a cluster united only loosely, if at all, by a sense of friction or exposure. Among the letter-permutations of ḥ-s-b: ḥabs, 'restraining, confining,' is a well-attested separate root (2 Qurʾānic occurrences, its own Maqāyīs chapter); saḥb, 'dragging a spread thing along the ground,' whence saḥāb 'cloud,' by resemblance to something trailed across the sky (11 occurrences); and sabḥ, covering both tasbīḥ 'glorification' and sibāḥa 'swimming/exertion,' is extremely frequent (92 occurrences). Ibn Jinnī's greater-derivation method would set these four anagrams of the same three radicals side by side as a matter of interest, but Ibn Fāris himself gives each its own independent chapter with no shared meaning asserted; the juxtaposition (counting / confining / dragging / glorifying-swimming) is offered here only as data, not as etymology.

    Draws on: maqayis-nucleus · permutations

  • Semitic kin & loanwordsHebrew ḥāšab (חָשַׁב) 'to think, devise, reckon, compute' and its derived noun ḥešbôn 'account, reckoning' are a well-recognized cognate set to Arabic ḥasaba/ḥisāb, sharing the same three root consonants and closely parallel semantic range (thought, calculation, account).plausible

    Cognates in the sister languages, and whether the word was borrowed.

    Hebrew ḥāšab (חָשַׁב) 'to think, devise, reckon, compute' and its derived noun ḥešbôn 'account, reckoning' are a well-recognized cognate set to Arabic ḥasaba/ḥisāb, sharing the same three root consonants and closely parallel semantic range (thought, calculation, account). Aramaic/Syriac ḥšab (ḥšaḇ) 'to think, reckon, calculate, plan' is likewise attested as the same root across Northwest Semitic. No confident Akkadian cognate for this specific 'to count/reckon' sense is evident (Akkadian typically uses manû for counting), so the root's spread appears to be a Northwest-Semitic-and-Arabic phenomenon rather than pan-Semitic; the Arabic word is not a loanword but shares common Semitic ancestry with these cognates.

    Draws on: comparative

    • Brown–Driver–Briggs, s.v. חָשַׁב
    • Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon, s.v. חשב (V)
  • Quranic exegesisAt 2:202, 'Allāh is swift in reckoning' (sarīʿu l-ḥisāb) is read by al-Ṭabarī as God's rapid, exhaustive accounting of every deed at once, without the delay a human reckoner would need.well attested

    How the classical exegetes read the word in the Quran.

    At 2:202, 'Allāh is swift in reckoning' (sarīʿu l-ḥisāb) is read by al-Ṭabarī as God's rapid, exhaustive accounting of every deed at once, without the delay a human reckoner would need. At 2:206, fa-ḥasbuhu jahannam ('hell is sufficient for him') uses the distinct sense of ḥasb as 'sufficiency' (from aḥsaba, 'to suffice'), which Ibn Manẓūr and al-Rāghib separate from the counting-sense proper. At 2:212, 2:214, and 2:273 the formula bi-ghayri ḥisāb ('without reckoning/measure') is discussed by al-Zamakhsharī and al-Rāzī as denoting divine provision given without a calculated limit — read either as 'unstintingly, beyond measure' or, in one exegetical strand, as 'without the recipient being called to account for it.' On 6:96, sun and moon as ḥusbān are glossed, following al-Rāghib, as instruments by which the reckoning of time (calendar, seasons) is made possible.

    Draws on: quran-samples

  • Philosophy & kalāmḤisāb functions as a technical eschatological term in kalām, denoting yawm al-ḥisāb, the Day of Reckoning, at which every deed is weighed and requited;plausible

    The word as a technical term in falsafa and theology.

    Ḥisāb functions as a technical eschatological term in kalām, denoting yawm al-ḥisāb, the Day of Reckoning, at which every deed is weighed and requited; the mutakallimūn discuss this in connection with divine justice (ʿadl) and the register of deeds. The divine name al-Ḥasīb (Qurʾān 4:6, 4:86) is treated by theologians in two overlapping ways: as al-Kāfī, 'the One who suffices' (from aḥsaba 'to suffice'), and as al-Muḥṣī/al-Muḥāsib, 'the One who reckons/enumerates all things,' the two readings tracking the two verbal paradigms (aḥsaba vs. ḥasaba) that Ibn Manẓūr keeps distinct. This is theological rather than a strictly falsafī technical term like wujūd or ʿayn, but it carries real weight in kalām treatments of divine knowledge and judgment.

    Draws on: kalam-eschatology

    • al-Ghazālī, discussions of the divine names (al-Ḥasīb)
  • Akbarian readingIn Faṣṣ Ādam, Ibn ʿArabī writes that a universal judgment reverting to the particular existents does so bi-ḥasabi mā taṭlubuhu ḥaqāʾiq tilka l-mawjūdāt al-ʿayniyya — 'in proportion to what the realities of those concrete existent things demand.' Here bi-ḥasabi carries its ordinary adverbial sense, 'according to, commensurate with,' but is put to properly Akbarian technical use: each existent receives the universal self-disclosure strictly in the measure and manner its own fixed reality (ḥaqīqa) or receptivity (istiʿdād) calls for, never uniformly.plausible

    The word in Ibn ʿArabī's text and terminology.

    In Faṣṣ Ādam, Ibn ʿArabī writes that a universal judgment reverting to the particular existents does so bi-ḥasabi mā taṭlubuhu ḥaqāʾiq tilka l-mawjūdāt al-ʿayniyya — 'in proportion to what the realities of those concrete existent things demand.' Here bi-ḥasabi carries its ordinary adverbial sense, 'according to, commensurate with,' but is put to properly Akbarian technical use: each existent receives the universal self-disclosure strictly in the measure and manner its own fixed reality (ḥaqīqa) or receptivity (istiʿdād) calls for, never uniformly. No separate Iṣṭilāḥ entry for ḥasab is given in Ibn ʿArabī's own glossary, so the claim rests on this usage alone: 'reckoning' here is not arithmetic but the precise proportioning of manifestation to receiver, a recurring Akbarian principle (tanawwuʿ al-tajallī bi-ḥasab al-istiʿdād).

    Draws on: fassAdam

    • Ibn ʿArabī, Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam, Faṣṣ Ādam

Reference

Neighbouring rootsThe roots that share letters with this one, as a map you can open out