Discover the meaning of the term Al-qaran (قَرَن) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 4 min readIn the vagina: a bar preventing the passage of the penis: a thick gland, protruding flesh, or bone.
Al-qarn of men: the people of one time; derived from association; every generation joined in one time is a qarn. The poet said: 'When the qarn has gone of which you were one, and you left behind a qarn, you are a stranger.' Al-qarn (qaf with fatha, ra with sukun): a bone or gland forming a bar, galling the penis; it is said: what prevents the passage of the penis in the vagina: a thick gland, protruding flesh, or bone; a woman qarina': when she has it. Some said that al-qarn is a narrow bone with a rounded head, like the horn of a gazelle, preventing intercourse. Sometimes it is flesh and may be treated, sometimes a bone and cannot be treated. One says: Qarn: the miqat place for Najd, of a day and a night, from Mecca; one says: 'qarn al-manazil' and 'qarn al-tha'alib'; some related it with opening of the ra, and that is an error, for Qarn (ra with fatha) is a tribe of the Yemen; other scholars erred in citing it with opening of the ra and claimed that Aways al-Qarani was of it: he is of 'Qarn' (with fatha), a clan of Murad. 'Al-Misbah al-Munir (qarn) p. 500-501; al-Nihaya 4/51; Gharib al-Hadith of al-Khattabi; al-Busti 1/244, 2/296; al-Nazm al-Musta'dhab 2/363; al-Kawakib al-Durriyya 2/10, 23; al-Matla' p. 166, 323; al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya 22/95.'
The strength: when it rises the devil stirs and gains sway, becoming as its helper.
The horse, in the form qarman: its hind hoofs to strike where its fore hoofs strike. A thing with a thing, or to join between two, in the forms qarman and qir'an: to combine. One says: he joined the hajj with the 'umra: to connect them; and he made qarna between the hajj and the 'umra: to gather them in one inversion. A thing to a thing: to connect it and draw it to it. One says: qarana the hajj with the 'umra: to connect them; qarana between the two: to gather them in one qiran. Such a one, in the form qarman: his two eyebrows to meet; he is aqrani, and she qarina' of eyebrows. Everything having a horn: its horns to grow long; he is aqrani, and she qarina'. The woman: when there is in her vagina a qarn.
The generation whose births drew near together, as if they had joined.
﴿أَلَمْ يَرَوْا۟ كَمْ أَهْلَكْنَا مِن قَبْلِهِم مِّن قَرْنٍۢ مَّكَّنَّـٰهُمْ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ مَا لَمْ نُمَكِّن لَّكُمْ وَأَرْسَلْنَا ٱلسَّمَآءَ عَلَيْهِم مِّدْرَارًۭا وَجَعَلْنَا ٱلْأَنْهَـٰرَ تَجْرِى مِن تَحْتِهِمْ فَأَهْلَكْنَـٰهُم بِذُنُوبِهِمْ وَأَنشَأْنَا مِنۢ بَعْدِهِمْ قَرْنًا ءَاخَرِينَ﴾
« Have they not seen how many generations We destroyed before them which We had established upon the earth as We have not established you? And We sent [rain from] the sky upon them in showers and made rivers flow beneath them; then We destroyed them for their sins and brought forth after them a generation of others. »
Surah الأنعام : 6
﴿وَيَسْـَٔلُونَكَ عَن ذِى ٱلْقَرْنَيْنِ ۖ قُلْ سَأَتْلُوا۟ عَلَيْكُم مِّنْهُ ذِكْرًا﴾
« And they ask you, [O Muhammad], about Dhul-Qarnayn. Say, "I will recite to you about him a report." »
Surah الكهف : 83
﴿حَتَّىٰٓ إِذَا بَلَغَ مَغْرِبَ ٱلشَّمْسِ وَجَدَهَا تَغْرُبُ فِى عَيْنٍ حَمِئَةٍۢ وَوَجَدَ عِندَهَا قَوْمًۭا ۗ قُلْنَا يَـٰذَا ٱلْقَرْنَيْنِ إِمَّآ أَن تُعَذِّبَ وَإِمَّآ أَن تَتَّخِذَ فِيهِمْ حُسْنًۭا﴾
« Until, when he reached the setting of the sun, he found it [as if] setting in a spring of dark mud, and he found near it a people. Allah said, "O Dhul-Qarnayn, either you punish [them] or else adopt among them [a way of] goodness." »
Surah الكهف : 86
﴿قَالُوا۟ يَـٰذَا ٱلْقَرْنَيْنِ إِنَّ يَأْجُوجَ وَمَأْجُوجَ مُفْسِدُونَ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ فَهَلْ نَجْعَلُ لَكَ خَرْجًا عَلَىٰٓ أَن تَجْعَلَ بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَهُمْ سَدًّۭا﴾
« They said, "O Dhul-Qarnayn, indeed Gog and Magog are [great] corrupters in the land. So may we assign for you an expenditure that you might make between us and them a barrier?" »
Surah الكهف : 94
﴿وَكَمْ أَهْلَكْنَا قَبْلَهُم مِّن قَرْنٍ هُمْ أَحْسَنُ أَثَـٰثًۭا وَرِءْيًۭا﴾
« And how many a generation have We destroyed before them who were better in possessions and [outward] appearance? »
Surah مريم : 74
﴿وَكَمْ أَهْلَكْنَا قَبْلَهُم مِّن قَرْنٍ هَلْ تُحِسُّ مِنْهُم مِّنْ أَحَدٍ أَوْ تَسْمَعُ لَهُمْ رِكْزًۢا﴾
« And how many have We destroyed before them of generations? Do you perceive of them anyone or hear from them a sound? »
Surah مريم : 98
This term appears in 11 verses of the Quran.