The Qur’anic Root B S Ṭ (Basṭ, Bisāṭ, and Basṭah)
Opening and spreading: hands, Earth, ample provision, knowledge, and bodily capacity; the difference between a hand opened to give and one extended to harm
Qur’anic and lexical forms
بَسَطَ
(basaṭa)
Form I perfect verb; Al-Shūrā 42:27
يَبْسُطُ
(yabsuṭu)
Form I imperfect; widening provision and spreading cloud
بَسَطْتَ
(basaṭta)
Second-person masculine singular perfect; Al-Māʾidah 5:28
تَبْسُطْهَا
(tabsuṭhā)
Jussive imperfect in prohibition; Al-Isrāʾ 17:29
بِسَاطًا
(bisāṭan)
Accusative noun; Nūḥ 71:19
بَسْطَةً / بَصْطَةً
(basṭatan / baṣṭatan)
Accusative noun; Al-Baqarah 2:247 and Al-Aʿrāf 7:69
الْبَسْطِ
(al-basṭi)
Genitive verbal noun after kull; Al-Isrāʾ 17:29
بَاسِط / بَاسِطُو
(bāsiṭ / bāsiṭū)
Active participle; four Qur’anic occurrences
مَبْسُوطَتَانِ
(mabsūṭatāni)
Feminine dual nominative passive participle; Al-Māʾidah 5:64
اِنْبَسَطَ
(inbasaṭa)
Lexical form VII verb; not Qur’anic
تَبَسَّطَ
(tabassaṭa)
Lexical form V verb; not Qur’anic
1. Introduction and Qur’anic forms
B S Ṭ concerns opening, spreading, and extending something. A cloth unfolded, a hand extended, and land spread before a person are physical uses of the family.
The same sense appears in broader uses. When The God yabsuṭu provision, the subject is its widening and abundance. Ṭālūt’s basṭatan fī al-ʿilmi wa-al-jism concerns breadth of knowledge and bodily capacity.
Opening does not have the same outcome everywhere. An open hand may give or cause harm, and ample provision does not necessarily indicate the recipient’s moral superiority. The root’s sense is shared; context determines purpose, direction, and value.
B S Ṭ occurs 25 times in 23 Qur’anic verses, in six morphological groups:
- Form I basaṭa, in perfect and imperfect forms: 16 times.
- The noun bisāṭ: once, in Nūḥ 71:19.
- The noun basṭah, sometimes written with ṣād: twice, in Al-Baqarah 2:247 and Al-Aʿrāf 7:69.
- The verbal noun basṭ: once, in Al-Isrāʾ 17:29.
- The active participle bāsiṭ: four times.
- The feminine dual passive participle mabsūṭatāni: once, in Al-Māʾidah 5:64.
This classification agrees with the Qur’anic morphological index.
The verbs concern widening provision, spreading clouds, and extending hands. The active participles likewise describe different scenes: a person extending a hand toward another, angels extending their hands, someone reaching open palms toward water, and a dog with its forelegs outstretched.
The root cannot therefore be defined simply as generosity, wealth, power, or spatial breadth. These may be particular instances of opening and extension, but each use depends on what is spread and the situation concerned.
Baṣṭah and yabṣuṭu: a different root?
Some Qur’anic orthographies write two forms with ṣād: yabṣuṭu in Al-Baqarah 2:245 and baṣṭatan in Al-Aʿrāf 7:69.
In the familiar transmission of Ḥafṣ through al-Shāṭibiyyah, both are pronounced with sīn despite their written ṣād. Pronunciation with ṣād is also transmitted in some other readings and transmission paths.
Ibn Fāris does not treat B Ṣ Ṭ as an independent lexical core in Maqāyīs al-lughah; here he identifies ṣād as an alternative to sīn.
This orthographic and recitational difference should not separate baṣṭah semantically from B S Ṭ or generate a new meaning for it.
Morphologically, both belong to this root. Nevertheless, the written Qur’anic form must be distinguished from the underlying root when quoting Arabic and discussing vocabulary.
2. The semantic core in older Arabic
Something extending
Ibn Fāris identifies one underlying sense in Maqāyīs al-lughah:
«أَصْلٌ وَاحِدٌ، وَهُوَ امْتِدَادُ الشَّيْءِ، فِي عَرْضٍ أَوْ غَيْرِ عَرْضٍ»
aṣlun wāḥidun wa-huwa imtidādu al-shayʾi fī ʿarḍin aw ghayri ʿarḍin
Translation: “One underlying sense: something extending, whether in breadth or another direction.”
He then discusses bisāṭ, spread-out land, and basṭah in knowledge and body.
The definition matters because it does not confine basṭ to movement in one direction.
Cloth may spread outward, a hand reach forward, knowledge gain breadth, and provision widen from a restricted condition.
Each involves opening or extension relative to an earlier condition, but the kind differs.
Basṭ therefore means more than flattening something on the ground. Extension can concern length, breadth, access to resources, or the extent of a quality.
Spreading cloth and bedding
Al-Rāghib al-Iṣfahānī writes in al-Mufradāt:
«بَسْطُ الشَّيْءِ: نَشْرُهُ وَتَوْسِيعُهُ»
basṭu al-shayʾi nashruhu wa-tawsīʿuhu
Translation: “Basṭ of something is unfolding and widening it.”
He illustrates with basaṭa al-thawb and basaṭa al-firāsh: spreading a garment or bedding.
The image is concrete: something gathered, rolled, or restricted opens out and covers more area.
Bisāṭ names something spread out, such as a carpet or covering on which people sit or walk.
Lisān al-ʿArab explains basaṭa al-shayʾ through nasharahu, spreading something. Basīṭ and basāṭ are also recorded of broad, open land.
The physical use helps explain the root, but does not establish that every Qur’anic use originally concerned cloth and subsequently developed from it.
Lexicons show connections among meanings; the historical priority of one usage requires independent evidence.
Opening and closing: basṭ and qabḍ
In many Arabic uses, basṭ contrasts with qabḍ.
Qabḍ concerns grasping, gathering, and restricting; basṭ concerns opening and spreading.
The contrast is particularly clear with a hand: its palm may open or close.
The Qur’an also applies it to provision. There, qabḍ and basṭ concern restricting or widening access, rather than provision physically folding or unfolding like cloth.
The hand’s physical movement must therefore be distinguished from the extended economic use.
This does not sever the lexical relationship. It shows a semantic family operating differently with different subjects.
Basṭ: an open hand and generosity
Arabic records rajulun basīṭu al-yadayn for a generous, open-handed person. Yadun bisṭun likewise denotes an open, unrestrained hand.
Lisān al-ʿArab also records basīṭ al-wajh for a cheerful, open-faced person.
These are important social uses. An open hand can signal readiness to give, and an open face conveys friendliness.
Extending a hand is not always generosity, however. A person may reach to take something, threaten someone, or strike.
The Qur’an itself shows both directions.
Basṭ al-yad should therefore be understood as a construction whose basic sense is opening or extending a hand; the accompanying words determine its more specific meaning.
3. Older Arabic witnesses: open land and human open-handedness
Bisāṭ: a broad wilderness
A poem by ʿUdayl ibn al-Farakh al-ʿIjlī reads:
وَدُونَ يَدِ الْحَجَّاجِ مِنْ أَنْ تَنَالَنِي
wa-dūna yadi al-ḥajjāji min an tanālanī
بِسَاطٌ لِأَيْدِي النَّاعِجَاتِ عَرِيضُ
bisāṭun li-aydī al-nāʿijāti ʿarīḍu
Translation: “Between al-Ḥajjāj’s hand and its reaching me lies a broad expanse for swift camels to traverse.”
The verse is transmitted in Maqāyīs al-lughah, Lisān al-ʿArab, and literary accounts of ʿUdayl. Having fled al-Ḥajjāj, the poet invokes the desert’s breadth and the distance separating him from the ruler’s reach.
Bisāṭ here denotes open land, rather than a woven carpet.
This helps illuminate Nūḥ 71:19 by showing bisāṭ used of the land itself spread out.
ʿUdayl is an Umayyad poet. The verse should not be presented as pre-Islamic poetry: it records classical Arabic usage after the Qur’an’s revelation.
A wilderness spread before camels’ feet
Dhū al-Rummah writes:
وَدَوٍّ كَكَفِّ الْمُشْتَرِي غَيْرَ أَنَّهُ
wa-dawwin ka-kaffi al-mushtarī ghayra annahu
بِسَاطٌ لِأَخْمَاسِ الْمَرَاسِيلِ وَاسِعُ
bisāṭun li-akhmāsi al-marāsīli wāsiʿu
Translation: “And a wilderness like a buyer’s palm, except that it is a wide expanse for the feet of ranging camels.”
The wilderness is compared to an open palm, then described as broad through bisāṭ.
The witness occurs in lexicons and literary commentaries. The wording concerning the camels’ feet varies, including li-akhmās and li-akhfāf. Bisāṭ and the image of open land are shared by the versions examined.
The image brings together two uses: an open palm and broad land.
The comparison also reflects an observer’s perspective. It does not pronounce on the geometry of the entire Earth.
Dhū al-Rummah is likewise an Umayyad poet; this witness must be distinguished from pre-Islamic poetry.
An open hand and an open face
Lexicons record basīṭ al-yadayn and basīṭ al-wajh.
The first conveys generosity and open-handedness; the second, cheerfulness and an open expression.
Within this tradition, a generous person is pictured with an open hand, a withholding person with a closed or gathered hand.
The images draw on observable behavior. Someone giving may extend a hand to offer something; someone holding something tightly may keep the hand closed.
This social image is not the only use of opening a hand. Other Qur’anic passages place an extended hand in contexts of threat and aggression.
The movement alone should therefore not determine a moral judgment.
Inbasaṭa and tabassaṭa in other uses
Arabic sources use inbasaṭa al-shayʾ for something spreading and tabassaṭa fī al-bilād for moving around different regions or traveling.
Expansiveness in speech, language, and social interaction is also described through the family.
These forms show that the root is not confined to broad objects or cloth. Openness can concern the scope of action and behavior.
Inbasaṭa and tabassaṭa do not occur in the Qur’an. Their specialized or social senses should not be transferred without evidence to the Qur’anic form I verb.
4. Basṭ in the physical world: Earth, clouds, and a dog’s outstretched forelegs
Earth as something spread out
Nūḥ 71:19
وَاللَّهُ جَعَلَ لَكُمُ الْأَرْضَ بِسَاطًا
wa-Allāhu jaʿala lakumu al-arḍa bisāṭan
Translation: “And The God made Earth a spread-out expanse for you.”
Bisāṭan is an accusative noun functioning as jaʿala’s second object. Earth, the first object, is presented as an expanse for human use.
Unlike basaṭa, the verb here is not a verb of spreading from B S Ṭ. The sentence’s verb is jaʿala; bisāṭ names what is spread and available for use.
Al-Ṭabarī explains the verse through people being able to settle and remain on Earth.
The next verse matters too. Nūḥ 71:20 speaks of people traversing broad paths in the land. Earth as bisāṭ thus appears in the context of habitation and movement.
The image connects with concrete life: people stand, build homes, walk, and travel on the land.
Bisāṭ alone does not establish the geometry of the entire Earth.
Some readers infer a necessarily flat Earth from the carpet comparison; others seek to make bisāṭ itself mean the Earth’s sphericity.
Neither conclusion follows from the word’s lexical meaning alone.
Bisāṭ conveys the breadth and usability of the surface on which people live. Earth’s overall shape requires other evidence.
Nor should the verse’s physical sense be erased. It does concern Earth and the possibility of living and moving on it, rather than only broad opportunities or an abstraction.
Clouds spreading in the sky
Al-Rūm 30:48
اللَّهُ الَّذِي يُرْسِلُ الرِّيَاحَ فَتُثِيرُ سَحَابًا فَيَبْسُطُهُ فِي السَّمَاءِ كَيْفَ يَشَاءُ وَيَجْعَلُهُ كِسَفًا فَتَرَى الْوَدْقَ يَخْرُجُ مِنْ خِلَالِهِ ۖ فَإِذَا أَصَابَ بِهِ مَنْ يَشَاءُ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ إِذَا هُمْ يَسْتَبْشِرُونَ
Allāhu alladhī yursilu al-riyāḥa fa-tuthīru saḥāban fa-yabsuṭuhu fī al-samāʾi kayfa yashāʾu wa-yajʿaluhu kisafan fa-tarā al-wadqa yakhruju min khilālihi fa-idhā aṣāba bihi man yashāʾu min ʿibādihi idhā hum yastabshirūna
Translation: “The God is the One who sends the winds, which stir up clouds; then He spreads them in the sky however He wills and makes them into portions. You see rain emerging from within them. When He brings it to whomever He wills of His servants, they suddenly rejoice.”
Fa-yabsuṭuhu is an imperfect verb with the object pronoun -hu referring to cloud.
Basṭ concerns neither provision nor a hand here, but spreading cloud in the sky.
The passage describes connected events: winds stir cloud, cloud spreads and forms portions, and rain is seen emerging from within it.
The context supports the physical sense of spreading.
Fa-yabsuṭuhu does not establish a perfectly flat cloud sheet of uniform thickness. Spreading concerns its extent across the sky, rather than a precise geometric shape.
Kayfa yashāʾ concerns how it spreads. Basṭ itself does not supply the cloud’s dimensions, wind speed, or the physical mechanism of rainfall.
The root retains its basic sense within a natural phenomenon.
The cave’s dog: a direct image of extended limbs
Al-Kahf 18:18
وَتَحْسَبُهُمْ أَيْقَاظًا وَهُمْ رُقُودٌ ۚ وَنُقَلِّبُهُمْ ذَاتَ الْيَمِينِ وَذَاتَ الشِّمَالِ ۖ وَكَلْبُهُمْ بَاسِطٌ ذِرَاعَيْهِ بِالْوَصِيدِ ۚ لَوِ اطَّلَعْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ لَوَلَّيْتَ مِنْهُمْ فِرَارًا وَلَمُلِئْتَ مِنْهُمْ رُعْبًا
wa-taḥsabuhum ayqāẓan wa-hum ruqūdun wa-nuqallibuhum dhāta al-yamīni wa-dhāta al-shimāli wa-kalbuhum bāsiṭun dhirāʿayhi bi-al-waṣīdi lawi iṭṭalaʿta ʿalayhim la-wallayta minhum firāran wa-la-muliʾta minhum ruʿban
Translation: “You would think them awake, though they are sleeping. We turn them to the right and left, while their dog has its two forelegs outstretched at the entrance. Had you looked upon them, you would have fled from them and been filled with dread.”
Bāsiṭun is an active participle describing the dog’s condition.
Dhirāʿayhi specifies the animal’s two forelimbs, while bi-al-waṣīd identifies its position.
The image is clear: the dog is near the entrance with its forelegs extended.
Unlike widening provision, this is an observable bodily condition.
Bāsiṭ itself does not mean guarding, angry, awake, or ready to attack.
The dog’s position and the whole scene may inform discussion of its role. The word itself denotes opening and extending the limbs.
The active participle does not necessarily describe continuous movement. The dog may already have extended its limbs and remain in that position.
“Has its forelegs outstretched” is therefore more natural than “keeps extending its forelegs.”
The verse clearly witnesses the family’s bodily sense within the Qur’an.
5. Extending a hand: aggression, threat, generosity, and open-handedness
Opening or extending a hand is one of the family’s principal Qur’anic uses.
It has no single moral meaning. Some verses describe a hand extended to harm, others an open hand signaling generosity. Elsewhere open palms form part of a likeness about failing to attain a goal.
The sense of basṭ must therefore be distinguished from the purpose of extending a hand.
A hand extended to kill
Al-Māʾidah 5:28
لَئِنْ بَسَطْتَ إِلَيَّ يَدَكَ لِتَقْتُلَنِي مَا أَنَا بِبَاسِطٍ يَدِيَ إِلَيْكَ لِأَقْتُلَكَ ۖ إِنِّي أَخَافُ اللَّهَ رَبَّ الْعَالَمِينَ
la-in basaṭta ilayya yadaka li-taqtulanī mā anā bi-bāsiṭin yadiya ilayka li-aqtulaka innī akhāfu Allāha rabba al-ʿālamīna
Translation: “If you extend your hand toward me to kill me, I shall not extend mine toward you to kill you. I fear The God, Lord of all worlds.”
The verse contains two forms of B S Ṭ: basaṭta and bi-bāsiṭin.
Basaṭta is a second-person masculine singular perfect verb in a conditional construction after la-in.
Bi-bāsiṭin is an active participle made genitive in its spoken form by an emphatic bāʾ. In the familiar analysis of the Ḥijāzī negative mā, it is its predicate and occupies an accusative syntactic position. The construction emphasizes the speaker’s refusal to extend his hand.
The crucial qualifications are li-taqtulanī and li-aqtulaka.
They identify the purpose of extending a hand: killing the other person.
Basṭ al-yad does not itself mean killing. Basṭ states the extension; the purpose clause connects it with intent to kill.
The verse cannot therefore become a simple lexical definition such as “basṭ means aggression.”
Does the verse prohibit every form of self-defense?
The verse concerns one person’s refusal in relation to his brother, within a construction explicitly mentioning intent to kill on both sides.
B S Ṭ alone cannot establish that all defensive action, including averting injury without intent to kill, is prohibited.
Conversely, the explicit statement should not be emptied of meaning. The speaker declares that he will not extend his hand to kill his brother.
Its relation to every passage on defense, retaliation, and resisting aggression requires an independent study.
Lexically, one point is clear: basṭ al-yad accompanies intent to kill here, rather than meaning killing in every Arabic use.
Hands extended to cause harm
Al-Māʾidah 5:11 describes people intending to extend their hands toward believers, while The God held those hands back.
Al-Mumtaḥanah 60:2 likewise describes enemies who, if they gain the upper hand over believers, extend their hands and tongues toward them with evil.
In these uses, extending hands connects with hostility, threat, and harm.
In Al-Mumtaḥanah 60:2, hands and tongues appear together, indicating harm through deeds and words.
B S Ṭ itself does not consequently mean hostility, abusive speech, or injustice. The harmful direction follows from context and bi-al-sūʾ.
Comparison with Al-Māʾidah 5:28 shows varying hostile purposes: an explicit intent to kill or a hostile action whose exact kind is unspecified.
Angels extending their hands
Al-Anʿām 6:93 describes wrongdoers in the throes of death and angels who are bāsiṭū aydīhim.
The same context includes the command akhrijū anfusakum and the announcement of humiliating punishment.
Older commentaries sometimes explain the extended hands as readiness to take souls or inflict blows and punishment.
Lexically, bāsiṭū aydīhim denotes opening and extending hands.
How they act in that scene can be examined through the whole verse and other witnesses.
Bāsiṭū alone should not be translated as “strikers,” “takers of souls,” or “punishers.”
The use concerns angels; the bodily character of their hands and manner of action do not follow from basṭ itself.
An open hand and a bound hand: moderation in giving
Al-Isrāʾ 17:29
وَلَا تَجْعَلْ يَدَكَ مَغْلُولَةً إِلَىٰ عُنُقِكَ وَلَا تَبْسُطْهَا كُلَّ الْبَسْطِ فَتَقْعُدَ مَلُومًا مَحْسُورًا
wa-lā tajʿal yadaka maghlūlatan ilā ʿunuqika wa-lā tabsuṭhā kulla al-basṭi fa-taqʿuda malūman maḥsūran
Translation: “Do not keep your hand bound to your neck, nor open it entirely, lest you sit reproached and exhausted.”
The verse contrasts two images.
First, a hand bound to the neck: an image of withholding and refusing to give.
Second, a hand opened entirely: an image of giving or spending excessively.
Tabsuṭhā is a second-person imperfect verb made jussive by prohibitive lā. Al-basṭi is a verbal noun of the root, but is genitive here as the second member of a genitive construction. Kulla is accusative; joined to the verbal noun, it substitutes for the cognate accusative and emphasizes complete opening.
Kulla al-basṭ matters. The prohibition concerns opening entirely without observing a suitable limit, rather than merely opening the hand.
The rights of relatives, the needy, and travelers are introduced in Al-Isrāʾ 17:26. Al-Isrāʾ 17:28 concerns gentle, accessible speech to them when unable to give, and Al-Isrāʾ 17:30 concerns provision being widened or restricted.
Basṭ thus connects with financial behavior and giving.
Basṭ does not lexically mean extravagance. Excess follows from kulla al-basṭ and the warned consequence.
Nor does the bound hand represent all saving or financial caution. It represents withholding in contrast with appropriate giving.
The verse recalls a balance, without specifying one numerical amount for everyone.
Bal yadāhu mabsūṭatāni: the openness of divine giving
Al-Māʾidah 5:64
وَقَالَتِ الْيَهُودُ يَدُ اللَّهِ مَغْلُولَةٌ ۚ غُلَّتْ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَلُعِنُوا بِمَا قَالُوا ۘ بَلْ يَدَاهُ مَبْسُوطَتَانِ يُنْفِقُ كَيْفَ يَشَاءُ ۚ وَلَيَزِيدَنَّ كَثِيرًا مِنْهُمْ مَا أُنْزِلَ إِلَيْكَ مِنْ رَبِّكَ طُغْيَانًا وَكُفْرًا ۚ وَأَلْقَيْنَا بَيْنَهُمُ الْعَدَاوَةَ وَالْبَغْضَاءَ إِلَىٰ يَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ ۚ كُلَّمَا أَوْقَدُوا نَارًا لِلْحَرْبِ أَطْفَأَهَا اللَّهُ ۚ وَيَسْعَوْنَ فِي الْأَرْضِ فَسَادًا ۚ وَاللَّهُ لَا يُحِبُّ الْمُفْسِدِينَ
wa-qālati al-yahūdu yadu Allāhi maghlūlatun ghullat aydīhim wa-luʿinū bi-mā qālū bal yadāhu mabsūṭatāni yunfiqu kayfa yashāʾu wa-la-yazīdanna kathīran minhum mā unzila ilayka min rabbika ṭughyānan wa-kufran wa-alqaynā baynahumu al-ʿadāwata wa-al-baghḍāʾa ilā yawmi al-qiyāmati kullamā awqadū nāran li-al-ḥarbi aṭfaʾahā Allāhu wa-yasʿawna fī al-arḍi fasādan wa-Allāhu lā yuḥibbu al-mufsidīna
Translation: “The Jews said: ‘The God’s hand is bound.’ May their own hands be bound; they were cast away from mercy for what they said! Rather, both His hands are open: He gives however He wills. What has been sent down to you from your Lord will increase many of them in transgression and rejection. We cast enmity and hatred among them until the Day of Resurrection. Whenever they kindle a fire for war, The God extinguishes it. They strive to spread corruption on Earth, and The God does not love those who cause corruption.”
Mabsūṭatāni is a feminine dual nominative passive participle of form I basaṭa. It functions as the predicate stating the condition of yadāhu, “His two hands.”
A bound hand and open hands are contrasted here.
The key contextual indication follows:
«يُنْفِقُ كَيْفَ يَشَاءُ»
yunfiqu kayfa yashāʾu
The sentence identifies the direction of the open hands: spending and giving.
Here, open hands consequently connect with the openness of divine generosity.
The direct wording must be distinguished from the theological question of the nature of The God’s attributes.
Translation should preserve “both His hands are open.” Explanation should identify the emphasis on His giving in response to the claim that His hand is bound.
B S Ṭ alone does not determine bodily shape, a number of material limbs, or the physical nature of relating yad to The God.
Nor should explaining generosity remove yadāhu from the Arabic or its translation.
The levels remain separate: the wording is preserved, and its contextual role in generosity explained independently.
The Jews said also requires care. The verse attributes a statement to Jews, but later speaks of “many of them.” This does not establish that every Jew in every period held or holds that belief. Identifying the historical speakers and scope is a separate question.
Is al-Bāsiṭ a divine name in the Qur’an?
Some lexicons and collections of divine names present al-Bāsiṭ as a description or name of The God, explaining it through widening provision.
The definite form al-Bāsiṭ does not occur in the Qur’anic text as a divine name.
The Qur’an attributes the verb yabsuṭu to The God, but all four active participles concern other subjects: a human, angels, someone in the water likeness, and the cave’s dog.
The verb establishes The God widening provision, but does not place the title al-Bāsiṭ among the Qur’an’s explicit words.
The distinction between a description inferred from a divine action and a name occurring verbatim matters.
Hands extended toward water without attaining the goal
Al-Raʿd 13:14
لَهُ دَعْوَةُ الْحَقِّ ۖ وَالَّذِينَ يَدْعُونَ مِنْ دُونِهِ لَا يَسْتَجِيبُونَ لَهُمْ بِشَيْءٍ إِلَّا كَبَاسِطِ كَفَّيْهِ إِلَى الْمَاءِ لِيَبْلُغَ فَاهُ وَمَا هُوَ بِبَالِغِهِ ۚ وَمَا دُعَاءُ الْكَافِرِينَ إِلَّا فِي ضَلَالٍ
lahu daʿwatu al-ḥaqqi wa-alladhīna yadʿūna min dūnihi lā yastajībūna lahum bi-shayʾin illā ka-bāsiṭi kaffayhi ilā al-māʾi li-yablugha fāhu wa-mā huwa bi-bālighihi wa-mā duʿāʾu al-kāfirīna illā fī ḍalālin
Translation: “To Him belongs the true call. Those whom they call besides Him answer them in nothing, except like someone extending both palms toward water so it may reach his mouth, though it will not reach it. The disbelievers’ calling is only in error.”
Ka-bāsiṭi is an active participle made genitive by the comparative kāf.
Someone opens both palms toward water, wanting it to reach his mouth, but fails.
Older commentaries differ on the image’s details. Some describe open hands reaching toward water without taking it up; others describe reaching toward distant water or a reflection in water.
The difference concerns the image’s details, rather than bāsiṭ’s basic sense.
In either reading, palms open and extend, but the person does not attain the desired result.
Bāsiṭ does not mean praying here; it describes extending hands within a likeness.
The fruitlessness of calling others besides The God is understood from the whole comparison and surrounding statements.
A physical action illustrates a belief-related meaning. The likeness’s conclusion should not replace the word’s lexical definition.
6. Yabsuṭu al-rizq: ample provision and human moral value
Widening provision is the Qur’anic verb’s most frequent domain.
It occurs in Al-Baqarah 2:245, Al-Raʿd 13:26, Al-Isrāʾ 17:30, Al-Qaṣaṣ 28:82, Al-ʿAnkabūt 29:62, Al-Rūm 30:37, Sabaʾ 34:36, Sabaʾ 34:39, Al-Zumar 39:52, Al-Shūrā 42:12, and Al-Shūrā 42:27.
Here basṭ concerns provision’s breadth and abundance, observable in quantity, resources, and access.
It does not itself mean only an increase in cash. Rizq has its own semantic family whose scope requires separate examination.
Qabḍ and basṭ contrasted
Al-Baqarah 2:245
مَنْ ذَا الَّذِي يُقْرِضُ اللَّهَ قَرْضًا حَسَنًا فَيُضَاعِفَهُ لَهُ أَضْعَافًا كَثِيرَةً ۚ وَاللَّهُ يَقْبِضُ وَيَبْسُطُ وَإِلَيْهِ تُرْجَعُونَ
man dhā alladhī yuqriḍu Allāha qarḍan ḥasanan fa-yuḍāʿifahu lahu aḍʿāfan kathīratan wa-Allāhu yaqbiḍu wa-yabsuṭu wa-ilayhi turjaʿūna
Translation: “Who will lend The God a goodly loan, that He may multiply it for him many times? The God restricts and widens, and to Him you are returned.”
Yaqbiḍu and yabsuṭu are contrasted.
Yabsuṭu has no separately stated object here. Other verses explicitly name al-rizq, while this statement is broader.
The context concerns a goodly loan, multiplied reward, and return to The God.
Widening and restricting may therefore relate to provision and access to resources, but yabsuṭu should not be lexically restricted to rewarding.
Reward and multiplication appear earlier; qabḍ and basṭ express restriction and widening themselves.
Their contrast also presents widening and restriction as distinct conditions attributed here to The God.
It does not remove human responsibility in trade, earning provision, economic justice, or helping the needy.
The verse itself asks who will give a goodly loan. Recalling divine restriction and widening does not erase human choice and action.
Wa-yaqdiru: restricting provision, rather than inability
Al-Isrāʾ 17:30
إِنَّ رَبَّكَ يَبْسُطُ الرِّزْقَ لِمَنْ يَشَاءُ وَيَقْدِرُ ۚ إِنَّهُ كَانَ بِعِبَادِهِ خَبِيرًا بَصِيرًا
inna rabbaka yabsuṭu al-rizqa li-man yashāʾu wa-yaqdiru innahu kāna bi-ʿibādihi khabīran baṣīran
Translation: “Your Lord widens provision for whomever He wills and restricts it. He is ever aware of His servants and sees them.”
Al-rizqa is yabsuṭu’s explicit object.
Wa-yaqdiru stands in contrast with it.
Yaqdiru belongs to Q D R and here concerns measuring with restriction or narrowing provision.
Al-Ṭabarī likewise explains the contrast through widening and restricting provision.
Q D R can elsewhere concern ability, measure, and determination. Here its contrast with yabsuṭu foregrounds restriction.
Wa-yaqdiru should therefore not become “and He has ability,” erasing the opposition between abundance and restriction.
Does ample provision indicate The God’s approval?
The Qur’an does not present this conclusion as an absolute rule.
In Al-Qaṣaṣ 28:82, those who had envied Qārūn’s position recognize after his fate that The God widens provision for whomever He wills and restricts it.
The context clearly shows that Qārūn’s great wealth did not itself establish the rightness of his behavior.
Sabaʾ 34:36 likewise follows provision’s widening and restriction with mention of many people’s lack of knowledge.
Sabaʾ 34:39 connects the same subject with giving and replacement of what is spent.
Ample provision is a real condition of life, but does not alone determine moral worth.
One person may spend abundant resources for others’ good; another may use them for corruption and aggression.
Nor does restricted provision itself prove sinfulness or exclusion from The God’s mercy.
The amount, acquisition, use, and moral assessment of provision must therefore be distinguished.
B S Ṭ itself expresses widening and abundance.
Why is unlimited abundance not always beneficial?
Al-Shūrā 42:27
وَلَوْ بَسَطَ اللَّهُ الرِّزْقَ لِعِبَادِهِ لَبَغَوْا فِي الْأَرْضِ وَلَٰكِنْ يُنَزِّلُ بِقَدَرٍ مَا يَشَاءُ ۚ إِنَّهُ بِعِبَادِهِ خَبِيرٌ بَصِيرٌ
wa-law basaṭa Allāhu al-rizqa li-ʿibādihi la-baghaw fī al-arḍi wa-lākin yunazzilu bi-qadarin mā yashāʾu innahu bi-ʿibādihi khabīrun baṣīrun
Translation: “Had The God widened provision for His servants, they would have overstepped bounds on Earth. But He sends down in measure what He wills. He is aware of His servants and sees them.”
This is important evidence for understanding the limits of widening.
Widening provision appears in a conditional sentence: if provision were made ample in that way, it would lead to overstepping bounds on Earth.
The following clause concerns sending down in measure.
Al-Ṭabarī explains basṭ al-rizq through abundant, widened provision and baghy through exceeding a limit.
The roots must be distinguished lexically.
Basṭ concerns provision’s breadth; baghy concerns transgressive behavior and exceeding bounds.
The verse connects them conditionally, but aggression and injustice do not belong to basṭ’s own meaning.
Nor does the verse make every wealthy person necessarily oppressive or make keeping people poor desirable as a way of preventing corruption.
Other passages discuss giving, the needy’s rights, justice, and avoiding economic corruption.
The verse concerns divinely measured provision and the consequences of unlimited widening. It does not make poverty an independent moral virtue or economic injustice desirable.
Two false generalizations should therefore be avoided: abundance does not always signal The God’s approval, and restriction does not always signal His displeasure.
Widening provision and absolute abundance
Al-Raʿd 13:26, Al-ʿAnkabūt 29:62, Al-Rūm 30:37, Sabaʾ 34:36, and Al-Zumar 39:52 repeat closely related constructions about provision widening or being restricted.
The repetition establishes yabsuṭu al-rizq as a clear, familiar Qur’anic usage.
Al-Shūrā 42:12 gives the same meaning after mentioning the keys of the heavens and Earth.
Basṭ should nevertheless not be made wholly synonymous with rizq.
Rizq is what is made available for benefit; basṭ expresses its breadth and the widening of access to it.
Nor does widening guarantee unlimited wealth to every believer or righteous person. The passages describe varying conditions, and no form of the root promises everyone a set quantity of possessions.
7. Basṭah: breadth of knowledge and bodily capacity
Basṭah occurs twice. Both concern added breadth or capacity, but their objects differ.
Ṭālūt: breadth in knowledge and body
Al-Baqarah 2:247
وَقَالَ لَهُمْ نَبِيُّهُمْ إِنَّ اللَّهَ قَدْ بَعَثَ لَكُمْ طَالُوتَ مَلِكًا ۚ قَالُوا أَنَّىٰ يَكُونُ لَهُ الْمُلْكُ عَلَيْنَا وَنَحْنُ أَحَقُّ بِالْمُلْكِ مِنْهُ وَلَمْ يُؤْتَ سَعَةً مِنَ الْمَالِ ۚ قَالَ إِنَّ اللَّهَ اصْطَفَاهُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَزَادَهُ بَسْطَةً فِي الْعِلْمِ وَالْجِسْمِ ۖ وَاللَّهُ يُؤْتِي مُلْكَهُ مَنْ يَشَاءُ ۚ وَاللَّهُ وَاسِعٌ عَلِيمٌ
wa-qāla lahum nabiyyuhum inna Allāha qad baʿatha lakum ṭālūta malikan qālū annā yakūnu lahu al-mulku ʿalaynā wa-naḥnu aḥaqqu bi-al-mulki minhu wa-lam yuʾta saʿatan mina al-māli qāla inna Allāha iṣṭafāhu ʿalaykum wa-zādahu basṭatan fī al-ʿilmi wa-al-jismi wa-Allāhu yuʾtī mulkahu man yashāʾu wa-Allāhu wāsiʿun ʿalīmun
Translation: “Their prophet said: ‘The God has appointed Ṭālūt as king over you.’ They said: ‘How can he have kingship over us when we are more entitled to it and he has not been given abundant wealth?’ He said: ‘The God has chosen him over you and increased him in breadth of knowledge and body. The God gives His kingship to whomever He wills, and He is boundless in giving and knowing.’”
The objection combines two claims: greater entitlement and Ṭālūt’s lack of great wealth.
The response presents The God’s choice and Ṭālūt’s basṭatan fī al-ʿilmi wa-al-jism.
Lexically, basṭah concerns breadth and increase.
The breadth is specified in two domains: knowledge and body.
Older commentaries explain the former as greater knowledge and the latter through stature and bodily capacity.
Al-jism should not without reason be confined to height. Bodies can differ in size, structure, and capacity.
The leadership and battle context also makes bodily capacity relevant, although the verse numerically specifies neither height, weight, nor strength.
Breadth of knowledge likewise exceeds an assumed increase in memorized information. Knowledge can involve understanding, discernment, and decision-making; identifying Ṭālūt’s particular knowledge requires the story’s context.
Does basṭah here mean political fitness?
Basṭah itself does not mean kingship or entitlement to lead.
Iṣṭafāhu expresses choosing him, al-mulk identifies kingship, and breadth of knowledge and body supplies characteristics in the response to the opponents.
The distinction matters.
It does not follow that every tall or strong person is inherently entitled to rule.
Nor does the verse establish that wealth has no role in administering affairs, or that knowledge and body are the only qualifications for every public responsibility.
The opponents cite a lack of wealth among their reasons for rejecting Ṭālūt. Their prophet’s reply directs attention to divine choice and breadth of knowledge and body.
B S Ṭ describes greater capacity in two domains here, rather than an entire theory of leadership and political legitimacy.
ʿĀd: breadth in creation and bodily formation
Al-Aʿrāf 7:69
أَوَعَجِبْتُمْ أَنْ جَاءَكُمْ ذِكْرٌ مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ عَلَىٰ رَجُلٍ مِنْكُمْ لِيُنْذِرَكُمْ ۚ وَاذْكُرُوا إِذْ جَعَلَكُمْ خُلَفَاءَ مِنْ بَعْدِ قَوْمِ نُوحٍ وَزَادَكُمْ فِي الْخَلْقِ بَصْطَةً ۖ فَاذْكُرُوا آلَاءَ اللَّهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ
a-wa-ʿajibtum an jāʾakum dhikrun min rabbikum ʿalā rajulin minkum li-yundhirakum wa-udhkurū idh jaʿalakum khulafāʾa min baʿdi qawmi nūḥin wa-zādakum fī al-khalqi baṣṭatan fa-udhkurū ālāʾa Allāhi laʿallakum tufliḥūna
Translation: “Are you astonished that a reminder from your Lord has come upon a man among you to warn you? Remember when He made you successors after Nūḥ’s people and increased you in breadth of creation. Remember The God’s favors, so that you may prosper.”
The written form baṣṭatan belongs lexically to basṭah.
Its object differs from the verse about Ṭālūt.
Al-Baqarah 2:247 specified knowledge and body; Al-Aʿrāf 7:69 specifies creation, fī al-khalq.
Older commentaries chiefly explain it through stature, bodily size, and the capacity of ʿĀd. Al-Ṭabarī speaks of increased stature and strength.
This fits basṭah’s application to the human body.
The word alone does not establish ʿĀd’s exact height, weight, or stature relative to every other people.
Nor does The God recalling their breadth of creation establish moral superiority.
The context is their prophet’s warning and invitation to remember The God’s favors.
Greater capacity does not remove responsibility. Bodily strength or ample resources do not themselves prove righteousness.
Basṭah and saʿah: one meaning or different emphases?
In Al-Baqarah 2:247, the opponents say Ṭālūt lacks saʿatan mina al-māl; their prophet then presents basṭatan fī al-ʿilmi wa-al-jism.
The verbal contrast deserves attention.
Both saʿah and basṭah concern breadth, but are attributed to different objects within this verse.
The first concerns wealth, the second knowledge and body.
It does not follow that basṭah always means knowledge and bodily power, or saʿah always wealth.
The verse uses related lexical families in distinct constructions to separate the disputed criterion from the characteristics offered in reply.
9. Translation proposals for Forqan
“Opening,” “spreading,” and “widening” suit the semantic core.
Each natural rendering must fit its object.
“Spreading” and “extending” suit physical uses such as Al-Rūm 30:48 and Al-Kahf 18:18. Provision is more naturally “widened” or “made ample.”
Basṭah in Al-Baqarah 2:247 and Al-Aʿrāf 7:69 is best rendered as breadth or increase, according to knowledge, body, or creation.
Bisāṭan in Nūḥ 71:19 can be “a spread-out expanse” or “a broad resting surface.” “Carpet” is familiar, but may overemphasize a woven object for some readers.
Wa-lā tabsuṭhā kulla al-basṭ in Al-Isrāʾ 17:29 can be “nor open it entirely” or “do not open your hand without limit.” The basic translation should retain the hand image, with its financial sense explained contextually.
Basaṭta in Al-Māʾidah 5:28 approaches “you extended,” and bi-bāsiṭin “one extending”; a natural sentence can say “I shall not extend.”
In Al-Raʿd 13:14 and Al-Kahf 18:18, the active participle may convey opening or holding out according to its object. A sentence such as “has its forelegs outstretched” is more natural than a cumbersome descriptive noun.
The dual mabsūṭatāni in Al-Māʾidah 5:64 should remain dual: “both are open.” Yunfiqu kayfa yashāʾ clarifies generosity.
Word boxes must keep two levels separate:
- Brief root meaning: opening, spreading, and extending.
- Verse meaning: determined by the object, such as ample provision, an extended hand, broad land, breadth of knowledge, or spreading cloud.
These should not merge into a vague definition.
Yabsuṭu in provision passages should not be restricted to “makes wealthy”: ample provision extends beyond monetary ownership.
Translating basṭatan fī al-ʿilmi wa-al-jism must retain knowledge, rather than reducing the phrase to height or muscular strength.
Nor should one fixed moral sense govern all hand passages: hands may extend to help, give, take, or harm.
10. Conclusion
B S Ṭ denotes opening, spreading, and extending in older Arabic. Ibn Fāris explains extension in breadth or another direction, and al-Rāghib identifies unfolding and widening as principal meanings.
Physically, the family concerns cloth, bedding, land, and hands. The same semantic field helps explain ample provision, knowledge, capacity, and expansive behavior.
The root occurs 25 times in 23 Qur’anic verses.
Its uses show that openness has no fixed moral value in itself.
An open hand may give, as the spending context in Al-Māʾidah 5:64 supports. In Al-Māʾidah 5:28 a hand may extend with intent to kill.
Ample provision likewise does not itself prove righteousness or superiority. Qārūn’s abundant possessions accompany an adverse end, while Al-Shūrā 42:27 addresses consequences of unlimited widening.
In Al-Baqarah 2:247, Ṭālūt’s breadth of knowledge and body answers opponents who treat insufficient wealth as disqualifying.
In Al-Aʿrāf 7:69, ʿĀd’s breadth of creation is recalled as a favor, without guaranteeing their guidance or righteousness.
Nūḥ 71:19 compares Earth to an expanse on which people live and move. The image alone does not establish Earth’s overall geometry.
Clouds spread in Al-Rūm 30:48, and a dog’s forelegs are outstretched in Al-Kahf 18:18. Both clearly show physical opening and extension.
The Qur’anic active participle bāsiṭ concerns humans, animals, and angels; The God widening provision is expressed through yabsuṭu. The inferred title al-Bāsiṭ must therefore be distinguished from a divine name explicitly occurring in the text.
Final definition for Forqan:
B S Ṭ concerns opening, spreading, and extending, whether physically, as with hands, land, and clouds, or through wider access and capacity, as with provision, knowledge, and ability. The Qur’an applies the family to hands, provision, Earth, clouds, knowledge, and body. Basṭ is not inherently generosity or aggression, wealth or moral superiority: it expresses openness and breadth. The object, accompanying expressions, and context identify what opens or widens and its consequences.