قبض

Core meaning

To close the hand on what one holds: to seize, to withhold, or to draw back to oneself what was spread out.

Uses

1. قَبَضَ, يَقْبِضُ → "to tighten", "to close", "to draw back" : to close upon oneself what was opening: the provision God tightens, the miser's hand, the shadow God draws back.

   • «وَٱللَّهُ يَقْبِضُ وَيَبْصُۜطُ» — "God tightens and extends" (2:245)
   • «وَيَقْبِضُونَ أَيْدِيَهُمْ» — "and they close their hands" (9:67)
   • «ثُمَّ قَبَضْنَٰهُ إِلَيْنَا قَبْضًۭا يَسِيرًۭا» — "then We drew it back to Us" (25:46)

2. قَبْضَة → "a handful", "His grasp" : what the closed hand holds: a handful of earth, or the whole earth in the hand of God.

   • «فَقَبَضْتُ قَبْضَةًۭ مِّنْ أَثَرِ ٱلرَّسُولِ» — "so I seized a handful from the track of the messenger" (20:96)
   • «وَٱلْأَرْضُ جَمِيعًۭا قَبْضَتُهُۥ يَوْمَ ٱلْقِيَٰمَةِ» — "the whole earth will be in His grasp on the Day of Appearance" (39:67)

3. مَقْبُوضَة, يَقْبِضْنَ → "taken", "folding" : the participle names the pledge handed over; the verb names the wings the bird draws in.

   • «فَرِهَٰنٌۭ مَّقْبُوضَةٌۭ» — "then a pledge taken" (2:283)
   • «صَٰٓفَّٰتٍۢ وَيَقْبِضْنَ» — "aligning their wings and folding them" (67:19)

Evidence from the text

The verb goes with its opposite or with an extent: God "tightens and extends" (2:245); the birds above men align their wings, then fold them (67:19); the shadow, of which the sun is the indicator, is drawn back to Him (25:46). قبض is the movement that draws back to oneself what was open.

The same gesture names possession: the pledge is taken (2:283), that is, handed over; the Samiri takes "a handful from the track of the messenger" (20:96); and the whole earth will be "in His grasp on the Day of Appearance" (39:67). The hypocrites "close their hands" (9:67): the shut hand, which no longer gives.

Distinctions

• بسط — to extend, to spread: the opposite movement, which the text pairs with it (2:245)