Qur’anic Root A SH R
Exuberance, conceit, and insolence: from unrestrained high spirits to the accusation of arrogance against Ṣāliḥ
Qur’anic and lexical forms
أَشِرٌ
(ashirun)
Qur’anic indefinite adjective in Thamūd’s accusation, Al-Qamar 54:25
الْأَشِرُ
(al-ashiru)
The same Qur’anic adjective with al-, in the divine reply, Al-Qamar 54:26
أَشِرَ / يَأْشَرُ
(ashira / yaʾsharu)
Lexical Form I citation forms; these verbs are absent from the Qur’an
أَشَر
(ashar)
Lexical verbal noun for proud exuberance; not Qur’anic
أَشُر
(ashur)
Lexical descriptive form; not Qur’anic
أَشْرَان / أَشَارَى / أُشَارَى
(ashrān / ashārā / ushārā)
Lexical adjective and its plurals; not Qur’anic
أَشْرَاء
(ashrāʾ)
Description of a conceited wish in Al-Ḥārith’s poem; not Qur’anic
مِئْشِير
(miʾshīr)
Lexical description of a spirited person or animal; not Qur’anic
أُشُر
(ushur)
Lexical noun for fine notches and edges of teeth; not Qur’anic
تَأْشِيرُ الْأَسْنَانِ
(taʾshīru al-asnāni)
Lexical verbal noun for notching teeth; not Qur’anic
أَشَرَ الْخَشَبَةَ
(ashara al-khashabata)
Lexical verb for sawing wood; not Qur’anic
مِئْشَار
(miʾshār)
Lexical instrument noun: a saw; not Qur’anic
The Arabic root A SH R concerns intense high spirits, exultation, conceit, and behavior that exceeds proper bounds. أَشِر (ashir) describes someone whose exuberance is accompanied by self-satisfaction, frivolity, or arrogance. In its condemnatory use, the word describes a person so carried away by himself and his desires that insolence and recklessness appear in his conduct and judgment.
The Qur’an uses this root only twice, in two consecutive ayahs of Al-Qamar. Both occur in the account of Ṣāliḥ and Thamūd. Thamūd call Ṣāliḥ كَذَّابٌ أَشِرٌ (kadhdhābun ashirun): a liar who speaks out of conceit and an inflated sense of his importance. The following ayah repeats the same descriptions in reply: سَيَعْلَمُونَ غَدًا مَنِ الْكَذَّابُ الْأَشِرُ (sa-yaʿlamūna ghadan mani al-kadhdhābu al-ashiru).
This repetition is significant. First Thamūd accuse Ṣāliḥ; then the divine reply turns that accusation into a question about the truth of their own conduct. In the first ayah, ashir is thus a description his opponents attribute to Ṣāliḥ, rather than the Qur’an’s judgment of his character.
Arabic also records other branches of this root. أُشُر (ushur) concerns the fine serrations along the edges of teeth, while أَشَرَ (ashara) concerns cutting or splitting with a toothed tool. Some older usages also apply the family to an animal’s high spirits or a plant’s vigorous growth. These branches should be recognized without deriving them all from one certain original image in the absence of historical evidence.
1. Qur’anic forms and semantic core
The root A SH R occurs twice in the Qur’an, in two forms of the same adjective:
أَشِرٌ (ashirun) in Al-Qamar 54:25 is indefinite and appears alongside كَذَّابٌ (kadhdhābun).
الْأَشِرُ (al-ashiru) in Al-Qamar 54:26 is the same adjective in its definite form, again alongside الْكَذَّابُ (al-kadhdhābu).
Both have the morphological pattern فَعِل (faʿil). The second is not a new derivative: the difference concerns definiteness and their positions in the sentences.
Arabic records the base verb أَشِرَ يَأْشَرُ (ashira / yaʾsharu), with the verbal noun أَشَر (ashar). Descriptive forms recorded in lexical sources include أَشِر (ashir), أَشُر (ashur), أَشْرَان (ashrān), and مِئْشِير (miʾshīr).
Applied to people, ashir and ashrān can describe someone exuberant, conceited, frivolous, or arrogant. Ashar concerns a state of proud exultation, sometimes accompanied by excessive high spirits.
Recorded plurals of أَشْرَان (ashrān) include أَشَارَى (ashārā) and أُشَارَى (ushārā).
The Qur’an, however, uses only the adjective أَشِر (ashir) from this family. Its verbs and forms such as ashrān, miʾshīr, and أُشُر (ushur) do not occur in the Qur’anic text.
The semantic core of the Qur’anic adjective may be expressed as follows:
Self-satisfied exuberance and excitement: a state accompanied, in condemnatory usage, by conceit, arrogance, insolence, rashness, and recklessness in conduct.
This definition does not mean that every instance of high spirits or happiness is blameworthy. What distinguishes the condemnatory human use of ashir from ordinary joy is conceit and exceeding proper bounds.
Nor does ashir itself mean a liar. In Al-Qamar 54:25, lying is expressed by كَذَّابٌ (kadhdhābun), while proud exuberance and arrogance are expressed by أَشِرٌ (ashirun).
2. Early Arabic: exuberance, conceit, and intensity
أَشِرَ الرَّجُلُ (ashira al-rajulu): high spirits accompanied by conceit
In early Arabic usage, أَشِرَ الرَّجُلُ (ashira al-rajulu) described someone becoming exuberant, intensely high-spirited, or self-satisfied.
The verb is sometimes explained through مَرِحَ (mariḥa), and sometimes through بَطِرَ (baṭira).
مَرَح (maraḥ) concerns exuberance and high spirits that can lead to frivolity or showy conduct. بَطَر (baṭar), in its condemnatory use, concerns being carried away by prosperity, conceit, arrogance, and refusal to accept proper limits of conduct.
These two fields approach one another in أَشَر (ashar). A person may become so carried away by power, position, or ability that he belittles others and acts or judges recklessly.
Some older explanations describe ashar as the most intense kind of baṭar. This conveys intensity, but should not become an absolute rule that ashar must always exceed baṭar by one fixed degree in every Arabic use.
Arabic also uses the expression أَشِرٌ أَفِرٌ (ashirun afirun) for someone exuberant and restless. Pairing the two descriptions highlights the person’s high spirits and agitation.
These usages show that ashir is not limited to having an inflated opinion of oneself. Unrestrained energy and movement also belong to its semantic field.
The word should not, however, be made the name of a particular psychological condition or illness. In early usage it describes a person’s conduct and state, rather than providing a medical diagnosis.
A pre-Islamic poetic witness: a conceited wish for confrontation
The Muʿallaqah attributed to Al-Ḥārith ibn Ḥillizah, a poet of the pre-Islamic period, contains the following line. The exact date of its composition is unknown:
إِذْ تَمَنَّوْنَهُمْ غُرُورًا فَسَاقَتْهُمْ
إِلَيْكُمْ أُمْنِيَةٌ أَشْرَاءُ
idh tamannawnahum ghurūran fa-sāqathum / ilaykum umniyatun ashrāʾu
“When, deceived by your own strength, you wished to face them, an exuberantly conceited wish brought them toward you.”
The line occurs in a setting of rivalry and confrontation between Arab groups.
أَشْرَاء (ashrāʾ) here describes أُمْنِيَة (umniyah), a wish: one accompanied by conceit and proud exuberance.
The poet is not describing an ordinary desire to obtain something. The wish to confront the opposing side is so mixed with excessive self-confidence and conceit that it prepares the way for collision and conflict.
This witness helps explain ashir: it shows the A SH R family being used in the field of conceit, exuberance, and recklessness in pre-Qur’anic poetry.
It also shows that the family is not confined to someone openly claiming superiority. Even a wish or desire can be described through this family as conceited and exuberant.
This does not mean that every wish or courageous act is ashar. The line criticizes the conceit and self-deception accompanying the wish.
مِئْشِير (miʾshīr): an animal’s high spirits
Arabic records مِئْشِير (miʾshīr) for people and animals alike.
The description can apply to a camel or horse that is lively, agile, exuberant, or full of energy.
In verse transmitted from Aws ibn Ḥajar, a poet of the pre-Islamic period, the word describes a strong, spirited she-camel. The exact date of the line is unknown:
حَرْفٌ أَخُوهَا أَبُوهَا مِنْ مُهَجَّنَةٍ
وَعَمُّهَا خَالُهَا وَجْنَاءُ مِئْشِيرُ
ḥarfun akhūhā abūhā min muhajjanatin / wa-ʿammuhā khāluhā wajnāʾu miʾshīru
“A lean she-camel, born of a dam bred young: her brother is her father and her paternal uncle her maternal uncle; stout-cheeked and high-spirited.”
“Bred young” is one recorded explanation of مُهَجَّنة (muhajjanah); first-bearing or of select stock are also reported. The word at issue, مِئْشِير (miʾshīr), describes the camel’s high spirits at the end of the line.
This use shows that A SH R is not always restricted to a moral judgment about a person. When an animal is described, energy, speed, and liveliness may be central.
Some plant-related usages also record أَشِرَ النَّخْلُ (ashira al-nakhlu) for date palms that take in abundant water and produce many new offshoots.
In these cases, moral conceit or arrogance cannot be attributed to the animal or tree. Liveliness and vigorous growth are prominent in those settings.
The distinction matters for the final definition. Defining the whole family simply as moral arrogance would exclude the animal and plant usages.
Conversely, defining the core only as energy and movement would weaken the clear condemnatory meaning of ashir in the Qur’an and pre-Islamic poetry.
The language’s wider semantic field should therefore be distinguished from the particular meaning of each derivative.
3. Another branch: sharpness and serration
Arabic uses أُشُر (ushur) for the fine notches and serrations at the edges of teeth.
تَأْشِيرُ الْأَسْنَانِ (taʾshīru al-asnāni) concerns the act of notching teeth and sharpening their edges. The fine notches and edges themselves may be natural or produced by alteration; the condition of the teeth should therefore be distinguished from the act that produces it.
Verse transmitted from the pre-Islamic poet Ṭarafah ibn al-ʿAbd contains the following line. Its exact date of composition is unknown:
بَدَّلَتْهُ الشَّمْسُ مِنْ مَنْبَتِهِ
بَرَدًا أَبْيَضَ مَصْقُولَ الْأُشُرْ
baddalathu al-shamsu min manbatihi / baradan abyaḍa maṣqūla al-ushur
“From its place of growth, the sun gave a tooth in its stead, like white hail with polished edges.”
The poet describes the beloved’s teeth. بَرَد (barad) supplies the image of hail for the tooth’s whiteness; أُشُر (ushur) concerns the fine notches along its edges.
This witness shows that the branch concerning sharpness and serration was also known in early Arabic poetry.
The same family includes أَشَرَ الْخَشَبَةَ (ashara al-khashabata), to cut wood with a toothed tool, and مِئْشَار (miʾshār), an old form of the word for a saw. These uses foreground a sharp edge and the ability to cut.
This branch nevertheless differs from conceit and exuberance.
Did conceit and sharpness develop from one original meaning?
Some older lexical analyses propose حِدَّة (ḥiddah), sharpness or intensity, as an explanation of the A SH R family.
Ḥiddah can refer to physical sharpness; in descriptions of people’s conduct, it can also concern impetuosity, haste, or intensity.
The sharp edges of teeth and the impetuous conduct of a conceited person can thus be compared within a broader field of sharpness and intensity.
The comparison does not, however, establish a certain historical origin for the root.
We cannot claim that a pre-Islamic Arabic speaker necessarily imagined a sharp tooth or saw blade on hearing ashir, or that the meaning of conceit must have developed from serrated teeth.
These branches may have influenced one another in the language’s history, but establishing a path of development requires independent evidence.
In the Qur’an, ashir describes human conduct and disposition. The conceit and exuberance branch is therefore more directly relevant; there is no need to transfer images of a saw or teeth into the ayah.
4. بَلْ هُوَ كَذَّابٌ أَشِرٌ (bal huwa kadhdhābun ashirun): Thamūd’s accusation against Ṣāliḥ
Surah Al-Qamar states:
أَءُلْقِيَ الذِّكْرُ عَلَيْهِ مِنْ بَيْنِنَا بَلْ هُوَ كَذَّابٌ أَشِرٌ
a-ulqiya al-dhikru ʿalayhi min bayninā bal huwa kadhdhābun ashir
“Has the Reminder been cast upon him from among us? Rather, he is an inveterate, arrogant and insolent liar.”
Al-Qamar 54:25
The ayah forms part of Thamūd’s speech about Ṣāliḥ.
Al-Qamar 54:23 states that Thamūd denied the warnings. In Al-Qamar 54:24, they express disbelief at following a human being, a single individual from among themselves.
Al-Qamar 54:25 then asks why the Reminder has been cast upon Ṣāliḥ from among them.
These questions clarify the setting of the accusation that follows.
Thamūd object to more than the content of Ṣāliḥ’s message: they also question his selection.
In this setting, ashir is the description they think explains Ṣāliḥ’s claim: supposedly, conceit and proud exuberance drive him to seek a special standing for himself.
This is his opponents’ assertion, not a truth the Qur’an affirms about Ṣāliḥ.
The difference between كَذَّاب (kadhdhāb) and أَشِر (ashir)
كَذَّاب (kadhdhāb), from K DH B, follows the pattern فَعَّال (faʿʿāl). The pattern can express repeated lying or the intensity of the accusation of lying.
أَشِر (ashir), from A SH R, follows فَعِل (faʿil) and in this setting concerns arrogance, proud exuberance, and insolence.
The two descriptions do not have identical meanings.
Kadhdhāb concerns an accusation of falsehood in speech. By this description, Thamūd allege that Ṣāliḥ does not speak the truth.
Ashir concerns conceit and self-satisfaction. Through it, they portray Ṣāliḥ as making such a claim out of an inflated sense of his importance.
Together, the descriptions form a severe accusation: they present Ṣāliḥ as both a liar and an insolent person carried away by self-importance.
The two meanings should nevertheless not be collapsed into one word.
Rendering ashir as “liar” leaves only a repetition of kadhdhāb. Rendering it as “fabricator” or “slanderer” likewise removes its distinct meaning of conceit and proud exuberance.
Nor does ashir alone mean someone who claims prophethood. The accusation was directed at Ṣāliḥ in that particular situation, but the root’s general meaning is not so restricted.
Does أَشِر (ashir) mean mad?
In some languages, intense exuberance may be described as unbalanced or foolish conduct. However, ashir here does not directly mean mad or devoid of reason.
In the preceding ayah, Thamūd also speak of error and an undesirable condition that they imagine would follow from obeying Ṣāliḥ.
Those expressions should not have their meanings transferred to ashir.
Here, ashir chiefly emphasizes self-satisfaction and the insolence accompanying proud exuberance.
Translations such as “mad,” “psychotic,” or “without reason” are therefore inaccurate for this word: they substitute a particular description for its established field of conceit and exuberance.
The inconsistency in the people’s conduct
Thamūd ask how a human being from among them could be chosen and followed by them.
Their statement itself shows that social position and the individual’s relationship with the group influence their judgment.
They accuse Ṣāliḥ of arrogance while being unwilling to accept the selection of one individual from their own people.
The contrast suggests that their objection is not confined to the truth or falsehood of a report. It also concerns accepting guidance from someone who, as a human being, is one of their own.
This does not mean that every objection to a claimant to messengership must come from arrogance. The Qur’an reports this particular group’s speech and conduct.
Any other claim requires independent evidence. What this account condemns is Thamūd’s denial and accusations against a Prophet whom the Qur’an presents as a Messenger of The God.
5. مَنِ الْكَذَّابُ الْأَشِرُ (mani al-kadhdhābu al-ashiru): the accusation returns to its speakers
The following ayah states:
سَيَعْلَمُونَ غَدًا مَنِ الْكَذَّابُ الْأَشِرُ
sa-yaʿlamūna ghadan mani al-kadhdhābu al-ashir
“Tomorrow they will know who the inveterate, arrogant and insolent liar is.”
Al-Qamar 54:26
The same two descriptions that Thamūd had attributed to Ṣāliḥ in the preceding ayah recur here.
The sentence’s structure has changed, however.
In Al-Qamar 54:25, كَذَّابٌ أَشِرٌ (kadhdhābun ashirun) is indefinite and forms a direct accusation against Ṣāliḥ.
In Al-Qamar 54:26, الْكَذَّابُ الْأَشِرُ (al-kadhdhābu al-ashiru) is definite and occurs in a sentence asking who truly deserves these descriptions.
مَنِ (mani) is interrogative here and is connected with سَيَعْلَمُونَ (sa-yaʿlamūna), “they will know.”
The second ayah thus does more than supply new information about the meaning of ashir: it turns the people’s expression into a question about the truth.
Returning the opponents’ words to them
Thamūd say that Ṣāliḥ is a liar and arrogant.
The divine reply announces that they will soon know who truly is the arrogant liar.
This response turns the accusation into a criterion of judgment.
The account continues with the sign of the she-camel and its associated trial, then describes the killing of the she-camel and the people’s fate. The reply in ayah 26 thus belongs within events that eventually expose the falsity of their judgment.
Nevertheless, it is incorrect to say that the Qur’an itself calls Ṣāliḥ ashir in ayah 25. The sentence quotes Thamūd’s speech, and the following ayah prepares for that accusation to be reversed.
This distinction matters in root study: quoting a description in the Qur’an does not mean endorsing it as true of the person mentioned in the quoted speech.
A lexical study can learn the word’s meaning from the people’s accusation, but cannot infer Ṣāliḥ’s actual character from it.
The significance of غَدًا (ghadan)
In Arabic, غَدًا (ghadan) means tomorrow and, in some uses, the near future.
Here the passage concerns the time when the truth about the people’s judgment will become apparent.
أَشِر (ashir) itself has no lexical connection with the future or the timing of punishment. That contribution comes from سَيَعْلَمُونَ غَدًا (sa-yaʿlamūna ghadan).
Nor does the adjective ashir itself specify the interval between the accusation and the disclosure of the outcome.
Root study should therefore distinguish the word’s contribution from those of the sentence’s other elements.
7. Translation choices for Forqan
The principal English equivalents for أَشِر (ashir) are “arrogant,” “carried away by pride,” “insolent,” and, in some settings, “conceited and frivolous.”
Each highlights part of the meaning.
“Arrogant” emphasizes conceit; “insolent,” reckless conduct; and “carried away by pride,” a state in which exuberance and self-satisfaction have exceeded proper bounds.
For Al-Qamar 54:25, the suggested rendering is:
“Has the Reminder been cast upon him from among us? Rather, he is an inveterate, arrogant and insolent liar.”
Here “inveterate liar” renders كَذَّاب (kadhdhāb), and “arrogant and insolent” renders أَشِر (ashir). The intensity and repetition of lying should not simply be transferred to the second description.
If one expression is needed for ashir, “carried away by pride” is also suitable, although in a complete sentence it can be heavier than “arrogant and insolent.”
For Al-Qamar 54:26, the same equivalent should be retained:
“Tomorrow they will know who the inveterate, arrogant and insolent liar is.”
Preserving the translation of both descriptions across the two ayahs matters because the divine reply repeats Thamūd’s accusatory expression.
Translating ashir as “arrogant” in the first ayah and “deceitful” in the second would weaken this verbal and semantic connection.
“A very arrogant liar” can also read naturally, but the distinction between kadhdhāb and ashir should remain clear to the reader.
“Mad,” “drunk on wine,” “mentally ill,” or “fabricator” alone is not a suitable equivalent for ashir. None accurately conveys its full relevant lexical meaning, and some introduce meanings not supplied by the word.
Non-Qur’anic uses should likewise be translated from their contexts. Miʾshīr describing an animal can mean lively, agile, or high-spirited. Ushur describing teeth concerns their fine notches and edges. Ashara al-khashabata means to saw a piece of wood.
These meanings belong to the Arabic word family, but should not replace the meaning of ashir in the account of Ṣāliḥ.
8. Conclusion
Arabic A SH R has several recognized branches. One concerns intense high spirits, exuberance, and self-satisfaction; another concerns sharpness, notching, and serration.
Some older uses also apply the family to an animal’s energy or a plant’s vigorous growth. Its forms should therefore not all be restricted from the outset to moral arrogance.
In condemnatory human usage, however, ashir describes someone whose exuberance and self-satisfaction are accompanied by conceit, frivolity, and insolence.
The Qur’an uses the adjective only twice, in Al-Qamar 54:25 and Al-Qamar 54:26.
In the first ayah, Thamūd call Ṣāliḥ كَذَّابٌ أَشِرٌ (kadhdhābun ashirun). This is their accusation, not the Qur’an’s endorsement of it concerning Ṣāliḥ.
In the second, the same descriptions recur in the divine reply, confronting the people with the question of who truly deserves them.
These ayahs show that lexical meaning alone is insufficient for understanding a word: the speaker, audience, sentence type, and situation also need to be identified.
Kadhdhāb and ashir have distinct meanings: the first concerns lying; the second, conceit and insolent exuberance. Their combination expresses two accusations rather than one repeated meaning.
The distinction should also be maintained in comparisons with baṭar, maraḥ, kibr, and faraḥ. Condemnatory ashir does not concern ordinary joy or healthy high spirits, but a state of self-satisfaction and unrestrained exuberance.
Forqan’s final definition of A SH R:
“In the behavioral branch, intense high spirits and exuberance accompanied, in condemnatory use, by conceit, self-satisfaction, frivolity, and insolence. In the Qur’an, ashir describes someone accused of arrogance and insolent exuberance. It does not itself mean lying: in Al-Qamar 54:25 it first occurs in the speech of Ṣāliḥ’s opponents, then in Al-Qamar 54:26 it becomes part of a question about the truth of that accusation. Other lexical branches concern energy and liveliness, and also sharpness and serration, without a certain historical connection between all of them having been established.”