Discover the meaning of the term 'Asaba (عُصْبَة) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 3 min readThe osier, a plant winding about the tree. The stubborn arrow of a man: what, once lodged, hardly leaves. One says of a man most tenacious in dispute: a distaff wound with a band; the meaning: a clinging was created for my adversaries; he set the osier in place of the clinging, then likened himself, in his excessive clinging and persistence toward them, to the distaff as it grips and the stubborn arrow: something very erect. The ba of « binouchba » expresses aid, like that of…
The plural of ’asib, as talaba and toullab, fajira and foujjara, zalima and zalama: the ’asaba are a plural of plurals, from ’asoubiya; and a man’s osiba: his sons.
Al-Jouhari said: a man’s osiba: his sons and paternal kin; they were named ’asaba because they surround him, each bracing the other: the father a side, the son a side, the uncle a side, the brother a side; plural ’asaba. Az-Zoubayr said: the singular is ’asib by analogy, as talaba and toullab, zalima and zalama; the turban was also called ’asaba, as it girds the head of the wearer. Ibn Qoutayba said: ’asaba is a plural without attested singular; analogy gives ’asib. The author of al-Kafi said: every male between whom and the deceased is no woman, hence the germane sisters enter with the daughters, for the loss of their male character. Others say: the asaba is every heir without a fixed share, not singled for mention, and the daughter enters, and the son’s daughter with her brother, and the sister to both parents or to the father with her brother, and the sisters with the daughters and the emancipated and others. As a term: every heir without a Text-fixed share, inheriting all if alone or the remainder after the holders of fixed shares. The asaba is of two kinds: the asaba of kinship, the first in order, asaba in itself; then the asaba with another: germane or consanguine sisters with daughters or sons’ daughters.
A man’s kinship by his father: his sons, the father’s father, and the like.
إِذْ قَالُوا۟ لَيُوسُفُ وَأَخُوهُ أَحَبُّ إِلَىٰٓ أَبِينَا مِنَّا وَنَحْنُ عُصْبَةٌ إِنَّ أَبَانَا لَفِى ضَلَـٰلٍۢ مُّبِينٍ « When they said, "Joseph and his brother are more beloved to our father than we, while we are a clan. Indeed, our father is in clear error. » [Surah يوسف : 8]
قَالُوا۟ لَئِنْ أَكَلَهُ ٱلذِّئْبُ وَنَحْنُ عُصْبَةٌ إِنَّآ إِذًۭا لَّخَـٰسِرُونَ « They said, "If a wolf should eat him while we are a [strong] clan, indeed, we would then be losers." » [Surah يوسف : 14]
إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ جَآءُو بِٱلْإِفْكِ عُصْبَةٌۭ مِّنكُمْ ۚ لَا تَحْسَبُوهُ شَرًّۭا لَّكُم ۖ بَلْ هُوَ خَيْرٌۭ لَّكُمْ ۚ لِكُلِّ ٱمْرِئٍۢ مِّنْهُم مَّا ٱكْتَسَبَ مِنَ ٱلْإِثْمِ ۚ وَٱلَّذِى تَوَلَّىٰ كِبْرَهُۥ مِنْهُمْ لَهُۥ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌۭ « Indeed, those who came with falsehood are a group among you. Do not think it bad for you; rather it is good for you. For every person among them is what [punishment] he has earned from the sin, and he who took upon himself the greater portion thereof - for him is a great punishment. » [Surah النور : 11]
۞ إِنَّ قَـٰرُونَ كَانَ مِن قَوْمِ مُوسَىٰ فَبَغَىٰ عَلَيْهِمْ ۖ وَءَاتَيْنَـٰهُ مِنَ ٱلْكُنُوزِ مَآ إِنَّ مَفَاتِحَهُۥ لَتَنُوٓأُ بِٱلْعُصْبَةِ أُو۟لِى ٱلْقُوَّةِ إِذْ قَالَ لَهُۥ قَوْمُهُۥ لَا تَفْرَحْ ۖ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَا يُحِبُّ ٱلْفَرِحِينَ « Indeed, Qarun was from the people of Moses, but he tyrannized them. And We gave him of treasures whose keys would burden a band of strong men; thereupon his people said to him, "Do not exult. Indeed, Allah does not like the exultant. » [Surah القصص : 76]