عصو

Core meaning

To refuse to follow a command received: to disobey. Under the same root, عَصَا names the staff, that of Moussa as well as those of the illusionists.

Uses

1. عَصَىٰ, يَعْصِ → "to disobey" : to go against the command of God, of a messenger, or of a man one has promised to follow.

   • «وَمَن يَعْصِ ٱللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُۥ» — "And whoever disobeys God and His messenger" (4:14)
   • «وَعَصَىٰٓ ءَادَمُ رَبَّهُۥ فَغَوَىٰ» — "And Adam disobeyed his Guardian, and erred" (20:121)
   • «وَلَآ أَعْصِى لَكَ أَمْرًۭا» — "and I will not disobey you in anything" (18:69)

2. عِصْيَان, مَعْصِيَة → "disobedience" : the refusal itself, ranked with transgression and hostility.

   • «وَكَرَّهَ إِلَيْكُمُ ٱلْكُفْرَ وَٱلْفُسُوقَ وَٱلْعِصْيَانَ» — "and has made you detest the disowning, overstepping, and disobedience" (49:7)

3. عَصِيّ → "disobedient" : one in whom refusal has become a trait.

   • «وَلَمْ يَكُن جَبَّارًا عَصِيًّۭا» — "he was neither tyrannical nor disobedient" (19:14)

4. عَصَا, عِصِيّ → "the staff", "the staffs" : the staff one leans on, through which pass the signs given to Moussa.

   • «فَقُلْنَا ٱضْرِب بِّعَصَاكَ ٱلْحَجَرَ» — "We said: "Strike the rock with your staff"" (2:60)
   • «قَالَ هِىَ عَصَاىَ أَتَوَكَّؤُا۟ عَلَيْهَا» — "He said: "It is my staff; I lean on it" (20:18)

Evidence from the text

To disobey always supposes a command already heard: "We have heard and disobeyed" (2:93, 4:46). The formula "It is for having disobeyed and crossed the limits" (2:61, 3:112) binds refusal to the overstepping of bounds, and the sanction follows, for Adam (20:121) as for Fir'awn, who "disobeyed the messenger" (73:16). Conversely, the Agents "do not disobey God in what He commands them" (66:6).

The staff has, in the text, no link with disobedience. It is Moussa's object (20:18), which becomes a serpent (7:107, 26:32), strikes the rock and the sea (2:60, 26:63), and swallows up what the illusionists distort, whose ropes and staffs appear to move swiftly (20:66, 26:45).

Distinctions

• طوع — to obey of one's own accord, which عصو refuses
• غوى — to err, which follows Adam's disobedience (20:121)

See also

طوع (obedience)