حسر

Core meaning

To be worn out to the point of dejection: the desolation that seizes one before an irreversible loss, and strength or sight emptied by effort; negated, the word states an endurance that nothing wears out.

Uses

1. حَسْرَة, حَسَرَات → "desolation" : the dejection that comes too late, when the loss is complete.

   • «كَذَٰلِكَ يُرِيهِمُ ٱللَّهُ أَعْمَٰلَهُمْ حَسَرَٰتٍ عَلَيْهِمْ» — "Thus does God show them their works, as desolations for them" (2:167)
   • «فَلَا تَذْهَبْ نَفْسُكَ عَلَيْهِمْ حَسَرَٰتٍ» — "So let not your Self waste away in desolation over them" (35:8)

2. يَٰحَسْرَةً, يَوْمَ ٱلْحَسْرَة → "What desolation!", "the Day of Desolation" : the cry of one who sees the loss, and the day when all utter it.

   • «يَٰحَسْرَةً عَلَى ٱلْعِبَادِ» — "What desolation for the obedient ones!" (36:30)
   • «وَأَنذِرْهُمْ يَوْمَ ٱلْحَسْرَةِ» — "And warn them of the Day of Desolation" (19:39)

3. مَحْسُور, حَسِير → "drained by desolation", "breathless" : the state of one, or of sight, emptied by effort.

   • «فَتَقْعُدَ مَلُومًۭا مَّحْسُورًا» — "you would find yourself censured, drained by desolation" (17:29)
   • «يَنقَلِبْ إِلَيْكَ ٱلْبَصَرُ خَاسِئًۭا وَهُوَ حَسِيرٌۭ» — "your gaze will return to you rebuffed and breathless" (67:4)

4. لَا يَسْتَحْسِرُونَ → "not to grow breathless" : the negation: an endurance that nothing wears out.

   • «وَلَا يَسْتَحْسِرُونَ» — "nor do they grow breathless" (21:19)

Evidence from the text

Desolation always comes after the irreversible. The Hour that takes by surprise wrings out the cry: "What desolation for us, for what we neglected in it!" (6:31); wealth spent to turn people from the way of God becomes "a desolation" (8:36); works are shown as desolations when there is no return left (2:167).

The same exhaustion strikes the hand opened too wide (17:29) and the sight that returns without having found a flaw in creation (67:4). Negated, it states the endurance of those who are with God (21:19).

Distinctions

• ندم — regret: reproaching oneself for an act, whereas desolation is dejection before the loss
• حزن — grief: present sorrow, without the idea of a loss recognised too late