Discover the meaning of the term Qasr (قصر) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 3 min readLexically: retention; one says: I qasr’d the milch beast for my horse, making her milk his alone. As a term: specifying a thing by another and confining it thereto; the first is called maqsour, the second maqsour alayh, as we say of qasr between subject and predicate: « it is Zayd alone who stands », and between verb and agent: « I struck none but Zayd ». Qasr in prosody: deleting the light cause’s vowel, then muting its mobile, as dropping the nun of fa’ilatoun and muting its letter, leaving fa’ilat; called maqsour.
(To shorten.) Also lexically: retention. The qasr of prayer in the Law: performing two rak’a of the four-rak’a prayer in travel. In the terminology of the masters of ma’ani: specifying a thing by another by a known way of the qasr ways, as coordination, exception, fronting, innamma and the like, as detailed in at-Talkhis: « Zayd came to me, not ’Amr », « I struck none but Zayd », « I am a Tamimi », « it is Zayd alone who stands »; the first is called maqsour, the second maqsour alayh.
Lexically: retention. As a term: specifying a thing by another and confining it thereto; the first maqsour, the second maqsour alayh, as we say of qasr between subject and predicate: « it is Zayd alone who stands »; and between verb and agent: « I struck none but Zayd ». Qasr in the lawful journey: some Malikits defined it as the traveller’s prayer halved.
Lexically: retention.
With qaf fatha and sin sukun, qasara yaqsourou the thing: lessen or detain it. Opposite of lengthening. Shortness. The grand, high, spacious dwelling; plural qousour. Castle, palace. Qasr of the matter upon so-and-so: specifying by him; hence qasr of the general, confining it to part of what it embraces. Restrict to, limit to, confine to. Qasr of the four-rak’a prayer: performing it two rak’a in travel.
﴿فَكَأَيِّن مِّن قَرْيَةٍ أَهْلَكْنَـٰهَا وَهِىَ ظَالِمَةٌۭ فَهِىَ خَاوِيَةٌ عَلَىٰ عُرُوشِهَا وَبِئْرٍۢ مُّعَطَّلَةٍۢ وَقَصْرٍۢ مَّشِيدٍ﴾
« And how many a city did We destroy while it was committing wrong - so it is [now] fallen into ruin - and [how many] an abandoned well and [how many] a lofty palace. »
Surah الحج : 45
﴿إِنَّهَا تَرْمِى بِشَرَرٍۢ كَٱلْقَصْرِ﴾
« Indeed, it throws sparks [as huge] as a fortress, »
Surah المرسلات : 32