حبس

Core meaning

To hold in suspense: to keep, for a time, a person from leaving or a thing from happening, until a set term.

Uses

1. تَحْبِسُونَ, يَحْبِسُ → "to hold in suspense" : to keep in place, for a time, witnesses or an announced punishment.

   • «تَحْبِسُونَهُمَا مِنۢ بَعْدِ ٱلصَّلَوٰةِ» — "You will hold them both in suspense after the Contact" (5:106)
   • «مَا يَحْبِسُهُۥٓ» — "What holds it in suspense?" (11:8)

Evidence from the text

Both uses have the same bounded duration. In 5:106, the two witnesses are held in suspense after the Contact, for the time of swearing by God. In 11:8, the verse sets the term itself: "if We delay for them the punishment until a numbered term" (11:8), and those who disown ask what holds it in suspense. The suspense abolishes nothing: it suspends until a fixed moment.

Distinctions

• سجن — imprisonment: confinement in a closed place, whereas حبس holds for a time, with no fixed place

See also

اخر (to delay)