كسو

Core meaning

To clothe: to lay on a body what covers it, garment or flesh.

Uses

1. كِسْوَة, ٱكْسُوهُمْ → "clothing", "to clothe" : the garment owed to those in one's charge.

   • «وَعَلَى ٱلْمَوْلُودِ لَهُۥ رِزْقُهُنَّ وَكِسْوَتُهُنَّ بِٱلْمَعْرُوفِ» — "And it is incumbent upon the one to whom the child is born to provide their provision and their clothing, according to what is recognized" (2:233)
   • «أَوْ كِسْوَتُهُمْ» — "or to clothe them" (5:89)

2. فَكَسَوْنَا, نَكْسُوهَا → "to clothe" : the flesh laid on the bones.

   • «فَكَسَوْنَا ٱلْعِظَٰمَ لَحْمًۭا» — "then We clothed the bones with flesh" (23:14)
   • «ثُمَّ نَكْسُوهَا لَحْمًۭا» — "then clothe them with flesh" (2:259)

Evidence from the text

The gesture is the same at both ends. In the law, the كِسْوَة is what is owed to those in one's charge: mothers who take their children into care (2:233), the foolish whose goods one manages (4:5), the destitute of the expiation (5:89).

In creation, God clothes with flesh the bones He has formed (23:14) or deploys before the eyes of the one who doubted (2:259).

Distinctions

• لبس — to wear a garment, to cover oneself with it; كسو is to clothe another; the "cloak … in" of لبس (2:42, 6:82) covers one thing with another, truth with falsehood (2:42), faith with wrongdoing (6:82), not a body

See also

لحم (the flesh with which the bones are clothed)