The Qur’anic Root S Ḥ R
Siḥr and saḥar: altered perception and the time before dawn
The Qur’anic family س ح ر, S Ḥ R, has several branches that should not be reduced to a single original meaning merely because their consonants coincide. Its principal Qur’anic forms include سِحْر, siḥr; سَاحِر, sāḥir; سَحَّار, saḥḥār; سَحَرَ, saḥara; مَسْحُور, masḥūr; مُسَحَّرِين, musaḥḥarīn; سَحَر, saḥar; and أَسْحَار, asḥār.
Two main fields are clearly distinct in the Qur’an itself:
Siḥr and its related forms concern deception, distorted appearances, effects on perception, and practices that the audience knew as siḥr;
And:
Saḥar denotes the final part of the night before dawn.
Arabic also had another branch, سَحْر, saḥr, referring to an internal part of the body. This noun does not occur independently in the Qur’an, but it matters for understanding مَسْحُور, masḥūr, and especially الْمُسَحَّرِين, al-musaḥḥarīn.
Older linguistic discussions did not necessarily trace these branches to a single origin either. Connections between “the half-light of dawn” and “uncertainty between reality and illusion” may be appealing as literary comparisons, but they do not establish a historical etymology and should not be built into the definition.
For the siḥr branch, the clearest core suggested by Qur’anic usage can be stated as follows:
An act or effect that can influence human perception and judgment so that something appears differently from its actual condition; in other uses, siḥr also names practices associated with deception, influence, and harm, without the Qur’an defining a single mechanism for them all.
Forms and designations examined
Older Arabic: deception, effects on perception, and distinct branches
In Arabic, siḥr was associated with deception, hidden influence, and making something appear different from what it actually was. It could describe an act that captured the eye or judgment, so that what appeared to be the case did not correspond to reality.
Something whose manner of influence was extremely subtle and imperceptible could also, in some uses, be compared to siḥr. This explanation should not, however, become a definitive historical account of every form in the family.
Alongside this, saḥar named the last part of the night before morning; its plural is asḥār.
The third branch, saḥr, is recorded in older sources for the lung and for what lies near the throat and esophagus in the upper interior of the body; other descriptions of internal organs are also recorded. This field gave rise to expressions concerning a human being who has an internal cavity and requires food and drink.
Older poetry also uses al-musaḥḥar in a construction interpreted either as a human being who eats and drinks or as someone deceived. The same ambiguity appears in explanations of certain Qur’anic forms.
Three fields should therefore remain distinct:
Siḥr: deception and influence on perception;
Saḥar: the time at the end of the night;
And:
Saḥr: an internal part of the body.
The shared consonants alone do not establish that the three have a single historical origin.
Siḥr in Mūsā’s story: when perception differs from reality
The clearest ayahs for identifying one way siḥr operates occur in the story of Mūsā and Pharaoh’s sorcerers.
Al-Aʿrāf states:
قَالَ أَلْقُوا ۖ فَلَمَّا أَلْقَوْا سَحَرُوا أَعْيُنَ النَّاسِ وَاسْتَرْهَبُوهُمْ وَجَاءُوا بِسِحْرٍ عَظِيمٍ
Qāla alqū fa-lammā alqaw saḥarū aʿyuna n-nāsi wa-starhabūhum wa-jāʾū bi-siḥrin ʿaẓīm.
“He said: ‘Cast.’ When they cast, they bewitched the people’s eyes, terrified them, and produced great sorcery.”
Al-Aʿrāf 7:116
The ayah does not say that the objects first changed their nature. What the verb explicitly acts upon is:
أَعْيُنَ النَّاسِ
Aʿyuna n-nās.
“The people’s eyes.”
These are the stated object of the action.
A further effect is then expressed by a separate verb:
وَاسْتَرْهَبُوهُمْ
Wa-starhabūhum.
“And they terrified them.”
Ṭā Hā makes the event clearer:
قَالَ بَلْ أَلْقُوا ۖ فَإِذَا حِبَالُهُمْ وَعِصِيُّهُمْ يُخَيَّلُ إِلَيْهِ مِنْ سِحْرِهِمْ أَنَّهَا تَسْعَىٰ
Qāla bal alqū fa-idhā ḥibāluhum wa-ʿiṣiyyuhum yukhayyalu ilayhi min siḥrihim annahā tasʿā.
“He said: ‘Rather, you cast.’ Then suddenly their ropes and staffs, through their sorcery, appeared to him to be moving.”
Ṭā Hā 20:66
The expression:
يُخَيَّلُ إِلَيْهِ
Yukhayyalu ilayhi.
establishes an important limit: the Qur’an is describing something that appears this way in Mūsā’s perception.
For this event, therefore, we can confidently say that the sorcerers’ siḥr affected perception. The text does not say that their ropes and staffs actually became living creatures.
This does not mean that every Qur’anic use of siḥr should be reduced to “visual illusion.” These ayahs clarify how this particular instance works.
In Yūnus, Mūsā says:
مَا جِئْتُمْ بِهِ السِّحْرُ ۖ إِنَّ اللَّهَ سَيُبْطِلُهُ ۖ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يُصْلِحُ عَمَلَ الْمُفْسِدِينَ
Mā jiʾtum bihi s-siḥru inna llāha sa-yubṭiluhu inna llāha lā yuṣliḥu ʿamala l-mufsidīn.
“What you have brought is sorcery. The God will render it void; The God does not set right the work of those who spread corruption.”
Yūnus 10:81
Here siḥr is an act that has produced an effect, but can be nullified. Again, the ayah offers no general theory of the nature of every kind of siḥr.
These ayahs support a limited but clear conclusion:
In the encounter with Pharaoh’s sorcerers, the Qur’an itself identifies altered perception as part of siḥr’s operation.
Going further—for example, developing a philosophical theory of “capturing consciousness” or a “false phenomenological world”—would exceed the ayahs’ direct language.
Al-Baqarah 2:102: siḥr is not presented solely as an optical illusion
Al-Baqarah states:
وَاتَّبَعُوا مَا تَتْلُو الشَّيَاطِينُ عَلَىٰ مُلْكِ سُلَيْمَانَ ۖ وَمَا كَفَرَ سُلَيْمَانُ وَلَٰكِنَّ الشَّيَاطِينَ كَفَرُوا يُعَلِّمُونَ النَّاسَ السِّحْرَ ... فَيَتَعَلَّمُونَ مِنْهُمَا مَا يُفَرِّقُونَ بِهِ بَيْنَ الْمَرْءِ وَزَوْجِهِ ۚ وَمَا هُمْ بِضَارِّينَ بِهِ مِنْ أَحَدٍ إِلَّا بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ ۚ وَيَتَعَلَّمُونَ مَا يَضُرُّهُمْ وَلَا يَنْفَعُهُمْ
Wa-ttabaʿū mā tatlū sh-shayāṭīnu ʿalā mulki Sulaymāna wa-mā kafara Sulaymānu wa-lākinna sh-shayāṭīna kafarū yuʿallimūna n-nāsa s-siḥra … fa-yataʿallamūna minhumā mā yufarriqūna bihi bayna l-marʾi wa-zawjihi wa-mā hum bi-ḍārrīna bihi min aḥadin illā bi-idhni llāhi wa-yataʿallamūna mā yaḍurruhum wa-lā yanfaʿuhum.
“They followed what the devils recited concerning Sulaymān’s reign. Sulaymān did not commit kufr, but the devils committed kufr, teaching people sorcery … They learned from the two what they used to separate a person from their spouse. Yet they could harm no one through it except by The God’s permission. They learned what harmed them and did not benefit them.”
Al-Baqarah 2:102
This ayah explicitly states several features.
Siḥr can:
يُعَلِّمُونَ النَّاسَ السِّحْرَ
Yuʿallimūna n-nāsa s-siḥr.
Be taught;
فَيَتَعَلَّمُونَ
Fa-yataʿallamūn.
Be learned;
And:
يُفَرِّقُونَ بِهِ بَيْنَ الْمَرْءِ وَزَوْجِهِ
Yufarriqūna bihi bayna l-marʾi wa-zawjih.
Play a part in separating a person from their spouse.
Also:
مَا يَضُرُّهُمْ وَلَا يَنْفَعُهُمْ
Mā yaḍurruhum wa-lā yanfaʿuhum.
It harms and does not benefit.
But a clear limit is immediately stated:
وَمَا هُمْ بِضَارِّينَ بِهِ مِنْ أَحَدٍ إِلَّا بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ
Wa-mā hum bi-ḍārrīna bihi min aḥadin illā bi-idhni llāh.
“Through it they harm no one except by The God’s permission.”
The Qur’an therefore does not establish an independent power for siḥr outside The God’s sovereignty.
At the same time, the ayah does not explain the mechanism by which spouses are separated. It does not say that matter changes in the world, that an independent force governs human will, or that only deception and altered perception occur.
Two extremes should therefore be avoided:
Not every Qur’anic occurrence of siḥr can be treated as a visual performance or optical illusion;
Nor can Al-Baqarah 2:102 support an elaborate system of supernatural forces and unknown laws.
The text says what it says: something is learned, can cause harm, and can affect human relationships, but its influence is not independent of The God’s permission.
Sāḥir and saḥḥār: practice, profession, and accusation
The Qur’an uses سَاحِر, sāḥir, and سَحَرَة, saḥarah, for people who practice siḥr.
Pharaoh says:
ائْتُونِي بِكُلِّ سَاحِرٍ عَلِيمٍ
Iʾtūnī bi-kulli sāḥirin ʿalīm.
“Bring me every knowledgeable sorcerer.”
Yūnus 10:79
And in Al-Shuʿarāʾ:
يَأْتُوكَ بِكُلِّ سَحَّارٍ عَلِيمٍ
Yaʾtūka bi-kulli saḥḥārin ʿalīm.
“They will bring you every knowledgeable master of sorcery.”
Al-Shuʿarāʾ 26:37
سَحَّار, saḥḥār, follows the faʿʿāl pattern, which can express intensity or frequency of action. Here it can refer to someone who practices extensively or skillfully. The pattern alone, however, gives neither a precise number of acts nor a measurable degree of skill.
Elsewhere, sāḥir is an opponents’ accusation against messengers, rather than the Qur’an’s own description of what the person actually is:
وَقَالَ الْكَافِرُونَ هَٰذَا سَاحِرٌ كَذَّابٌ
Wa-qāla l-kāfirūna hādhā sāḥirun kadhdhāb.
“Those who rejected said: ‘This is a sorcerer, a liar.’”
Ṣād 38:4
And:
كَذَٰلِكَ مَا أَتَى الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِمْ مِنْ رَسُولٍ إِلَّا قَالُوا سَاحِرٌ أَوْ مَجْنُونٌ
Ka-dhālika mā atā lladhīna min qablihim min rasūlin illā qālū sāḥirun aw majnūn.
“Likewise, no messenger came to those before them without their saying: ‘A sorcerer or a madman.’”
Al-Dhāriyāt 51:52
Sometimes the divine message or sign itself is also called siḥr.
These instances must be distinguished from passages where the Qur’an itself describes an act as siḥr. Who is speaking matters to the ayah’s meaning. An opponent calling someone a sāḥir is not the Qur’an defining the messenger that way.
The accusation nevertheless shows that siḥr was a familiar term for the audience, one that could be used to explain an unusual, deceptive, or difficult-to-understand influence on others.
Fa-annā tusḥarūn: from sorcery to being deceived
Al-Muʾminūn presents a series of questions to which the audience gives answers that themselves acknowledge The God’s sovereignty. Then comes:
سَيَقُولُونَ لِلَّهِ ۚ قُلْ فَأَنَّىٰ تُسْحَرُونَ
Sa-yaqūlūna li-llāhi qul fa-annā tusḥarūn.
“They will say: ‘It belongs to The God.’ Say: ‘Then how are you being deceived?’”
Al-Muʾminūn 23:89
There is no mention here of a group of sorcerers performing a magical ceremony. The audience accepts certain premises but reaches a conclusion inconsistent with those premises.
In this construction, تُسْحَرُونَ, tusḥarūn, therefore comes close to being deceived or diverted from sound judgment.
The literal rendering:
“How are you being bewitched?”
may suggest to a modern English reader that the Qur’an is reporting an external magical operation performed upon them. The argument of the ayahs is conveyed more naturally by:
“Then how are you being deceived?”
This better communicates the reasoning in context.
The usage extends siḥr beyond a particular professional practice to a condition in which truth has been reversed or distorted for a person.
Masḥūr and musaḥḥarīn: a disagreement that should remain visible
In the Qur’an, opponents say of the Prophet:
إِذْ يَقُولُ الظَّالِمُونَ إِنْ تَتَّبِعُونَ إِلَّا رَجُلًا مَسْحُورًا
Idh yaqūlu ẓ-ẓālimūna in tattabiʿūna illā rajulan masḥūrā.
“When the wrongdoers say: ‘You follow only a man who is masḥūr.’”
Al-Isrāʾ 17:47
And Pharaoh says to Mūsā:
إِنِّي لَأَظُنُّكَ يَا مُوسَىٰ مَسْحُورًا
Innī la-aẓunnuka yā Mūsā masḥūrā.
“Mūsā, I indeed think you are masḥūr.”
Al-Isrāʾ 17:101
Two analyses of مَسْحُور, masḥūr, are recorded in older Arabic scholarship.
The first derives it from siḥr: someone affected by sorcery, whose ordinary perception or behavior has been disturbed.
The other connects it with bodily saḥr, the lung or an internal organ: a human being who has a saḥr like other humans, a bodily creature who needs food and drink.
In many contexts, “bewitched” appears to be the more natural reading of masḥūr, especially within the broader language of accusations such as madness. The existence of the second analysis in older Arabic should nevertheless not be ignored.
The issue becomes more significant with الْمُسَحَّرِين, al-musaḥḥarīn.
Of Ṣāliḥ, it is said:
قَالُوا إِنَّمَا أَنْتَ مِنَ الْمُسَحَّرِينَ مَا أَنْتَ إِلَّا بَشَرٌ مِثْلُنَا
Qālū innamā anta mina l-musaḥḥarīn. Mā anta illā basharun mithlunā.
“They said: ‘You are only one of the musaḥḥarīn. You are only a human being like us.’”
And of Shuʿayb:
قَالُوا إِنَّمَا أَنْتَ مِنَ الْمُسَحَّرِينَ وَمَا أَنْتَ إِلَّا بَشَرٌ مِثْلُنَا
Qālū innamā anta mina l-musaḥḥarīn. Wa-mā anta illā basharun mithlunā.
Two older readings also exist for this form:
One derives it from siḥr: “those repeatedly or intensely bewitched.”
The other derives it from bodily saḥr: those who have an internal cavity, eat, and drink—in other words, ordinary human beings.
The immediately following statement:
مَا أَنْتَ إِلَّا بَشَرٌ مِثْلُنَا
Mā anta illā basharun mithlunā.
“You are only a human being like us”
gives the second reading serious contextual support. In explanations of older poetry, al-musaḥḥar has likewise been understood as a person who is nourished and has bodily needs, although the same witness has also admitted the reading “deceived.”
This clue does not, however, settle the disagreement entirely. The “bewitched” reading also exists in Arabic, and musaḥḥarīn can be understood within that field.
The question should therefore remain open, rather than one possibility displacing the other as the word’s certain meaning.
Neither reading requires a psychological theory about the opponents’ intentions. If “bewitched” is intended, they are challenging the Prophet’s credibility; if “having a saḥr and needing food” is intended, they are emphasizing his humanity. Anything further must come from the narrative’s wider context, not from the word alone.
Saḥar and asḥār: the end of the night before dawn
Another Qur’anic branch of S Ḥ R concerns time.
Āl ʿImrān states:
الصَّابِرِينَ وَالصَّادِقِينَ وَالْقَانِتِينَ وَالْمُنْفِقِينَ وَالْمُسْتَغْفِرِينَ بِالْأَسْحَارِ
Aṣ-ṣābirīna wa-ṣ-ṣādiqīna wa-l-qānitīna wa-l-munfiqīna wa-l-mustaghfirīna bi-l-asḥār.
“The patient, the truthful, the obedient, those who spend, and those who seek forgiveness in the hours before dawn.”
Āl ʿImrān 3:17
In Al-Dhāriyāt:
وَبِالْأَسْحَارِ هُمْ يَسْتَغْفِرُونَ
Wa-bi-l-asḥāri hum yastaghfirūn.
“And in the hours before dawn they sought forgiveness.”
Al-Dhāriyāt 51:18
And concerning Lūṭ’s household:
إِنَّا أَرْسَلْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ حَاصِبًا إِلَّا آلَ لُوطٍ نَجَّيْنَاهُمْ بِسَحَرٍ
Innā arsalnā ʿalayhim ḥāṣiban illā āla Lūṭin najjaynāhum bi-saḥar.
“We sent a stone-bearing storm upon them, except Lūṭ’s household, whom We saved in the hours before dawn.”
Al-Qamar 54:34
Saḥar in these ayahs is the final part of the night before daybreak; asḥār is its plural.
This branch should remain distinct from siḥr in the sense of sorcery and deception.
As a literary observation, one might say that the predawn hours lie between darkness and light, while siḥr blurs the boundary between perceived reality and appearance. That aesthetic resemblance is not etymological evidence. It cannot establish that Arabic formed both words from a single image.
For a root study, the firmer conclusion is:
Saḥar names a time in the Qur’an; a historical connection with siḥr has not been conclusively established here.
Translation proposals for Forqan
For سِحْر, siḥr, “sorcery” is suitable in many ayahs, while retaining siḥr in a lexical discussion can keep its range visible. A single substitute such as “deception” does not cover every use, and “sorcery” should not be taken to specify a mechanism the ayah itself leaves unstated.
In:
سَحَرُوا أَعْيُنَ النَّاسِ
Saḥarū aʿyuna n-nās.
“They bewitched the people’s eyes.”
An explanation can clarify:
“They altered their visual perception.”
In:
يُخَيَّلُ إِلَيْهِ مِنْ سِحْرِهِمْ أَنَّهَا تَسْعَىٰ
Yukhayyalu ilayhi min siḥrihim annahā tasʿā.
“Through their sorcery, it appeared to him that they were moving.”
In:
فَأَنَّىٰ تُسْحَرُونَ
Fa-annā tusḥarūn.
The more natural proposal is:
“Then how are you being deceived?”
Or:
“Then how are you being diverted from sound perception?”
For سَاحِر, sāḥir:
“Sorcerer” or “magician,”
depending on the translation’s style.
For مَسْحُور, masḥūr, “bewitched” is natural in most contexts, while a root discussion should preserve the older disagreement about its possible relationship to bodily saḥr.
For الْمُسَحَّرِين, al-musaḥḥarīn, the real disagreement should be made explicit; a definitive translation should not be imposed without explanation.
For سَحَر / أَسْحَار, saḥar / asḥār:
“The predawn hours,”
“The time before dawn,”
And:
“The hours before dawn,”
are suitable renderings.
In translation, this branch should not evoke siḥr in the sense of sorcery.
Conclusion
The S Ḥ R family has several branches, and no single definition should be imposed on all of them. For siḥr, the clearest Qur’anic evidence comes from Mūsā’s story: the people’s eyes are bewitched, and the ropes and staffs appear to be moving. An effect on perception is therefore explicit in this instance. Yet Al-Baqarah 2:102 shows that the Qur’an does not define siḥr solely as an optical illusion: it speaks of something learned, harmful, and capable of playing a part in separating a person from their spouse, without explaining how that effect occurs.
The crucial distinction is that one example cannot determine the nature of every example. Mūsā’s story does not authorize a theory of all siḥr, nor does Al-Baqarah 2:102 authorize an elaborate system of unknown forces. Sāḥir, too, sometimes names an actual profession in Pharaoh’s story and sometimes merely conveys opponents’ accusations against messengers. The identity of the speaker must remain part of how each use is understood.
Another important caution concerns the similar-looking branches. Saḥar in the Qur’an denotes the last part of the night before dawn, while bodily saḥr named an internal part of the body in Arabic. The disagreement over masḥūr and al-musaḥḥarīn shows that this bodily branch is a genuine part of the recorded analysis of certain forms. The precise historical relationship between these fields is unclear; poetic similarities between the darkness before dawn and the ambiguity of siḥr should not replace historical evidence.
A concise definition of the family can be stated as follows:
S Ḥ R: a family with several branches. Siḥr concerns deception, distorted appearances, and influence on human perception, without the Qur’an defining a single mechanism for all its kinds. Saḥar denotes the final part of the night before dawn. Arabic also had bodily saḥr for an internal part of the body. The precise historical relationship between these branches should remain an open question approached with caution.