Quranic root
شهد
sh · h · d
The root centers on presence joined with knowledge and its communication: being present to perceive, knowing what is present, and declaring or establishing it as evidence.
From presence and direct perception develop witnessing, testimony, acknowledgment, authoritative attestation, and the associated nouns for witnesses, testimony, witnessed events, and places of assembly. Some lexical branches retain the notion of presence, while others develop into specialized legal, religious, or technical uses.
- Maqāyīs · row 2713
- Mufradāt · row 793
- 8
- Quran-attested forms
- 15
- Quran senses
- 160
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
شَهِدَ
shahida
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- Quran occurrences
- 44 occurrences
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
To be present at, observe, or witness something; to be there for an event or occasion.
Used for presence joined with perception, including attending a time, place, event, or assembly. This sense can overlap with direct observation without implying a subsequent verbal testimony.
- Lane · entry 39424
- Mufradāt · row 793
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:185word 14
“witnesses”
Quran 27:32word 12
“you are present with me”
To know and declare what one has witnessed or knows; to bear witness, testify, acknowledge, or give decisive information.
The verb may take بِ, عَلَى, or occur without a preposition. It includes testimony in legal or argumentative settings, acknowledgment against oneself, and authoritative attestation or declaration; in the divine expression شَهِدَ اللَّهُ, it denotes manifesting, declaring, or establishing the truth.
- Lane · entry 39424
- Mufradāt · row 793
Selected Quran examples
أَشْهَدَ
ʾashhada
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form IV
- Form
- IV
- Quran occurrences
- 7 occurrences
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
To make someone witness, present, or aware of something; to call or take someone as a witness.
The causative construction can mean making a person observe or know something, causing presence at an event, or formally calling witnesses. It may also have a direct object referring to the matter witnessed.
- Lane · entry 39427
- Mufradāt · row 793
Selected Quran examples
Quran 7:172word 10
“and made them testify”
Quran 2:282word 108
“And take witness”
Quran 18:51word 2
“I made them witness”
اِسْتَشْهَدَ
āistashhada
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form X
- Form
- X
- Quran occurrences
- 2 occurrences
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
To ask, require, summon, or call someone to give testimony or serve as a witness.
The construction is used for soliciting testimony about an event, person, confession, or legal matter; in legal contexts it may mean calling witnesses or seeking evidential testimony.
- Lane · entry 39429
- Mufradāt · row 793
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:282word 52
“And call for evidence”
Quran 4:15word 6
“then call to witness”
شَاهِد
shāhid
- Part of speech
- Active participle
- Quran occurrences
- 21 occurrences
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
A witness: one who has perceived or knows something and can declare or attest to it.
The noun may denote an eyewitness, a person who gives testimony, or one who reports decisive knowledge. It is also used for a witness against or in favor of someone.
- Lane · entry 39437
- Mufradāt · row 793
Selected Quran examples
Quran 12:26word 7
“a witness”
Quran 11:17word 8
“a witness”
A person who is present or attending.
This use emphasizes personal presence rather than the subsequent act of testimony and may be opposed to being absent.
- Lane · entry 39437
- Mufradāt · row 793
Selected Quran examples
Quran 74:13word 2
“present”
Quran 9:17word 8
“(while) witnessing”
شَهَادَة
shahādah
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 26 occurrences
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
Testimony, attestation, or evidence: a declaration based on witnessed or known information.
The noun covers testimony given for or against someone, evidential declaration, acknowledgment, and a formal statement whose wording establishes it as testimony rather than mere private knowledge.
- Lane · entry 39434
- Mufradāt · row 793
Selected Quran examples
Quran 24:4word 15
“testimony”
Quran 2:282word 92
“for evidence”
An oath or sworn declaration.
In the oath construction, the statement combines testimony or assertion with swearing, especially with بِاللَّهِ. The plural شَهَادَات in the Quran is used for repeated sworn declarations in the liʿān procedure.
- Lane · entry 39434
- Mufradāt · row 793
Selected Quran examples
Quran 24:6word 10
“then (the) testimony”
Quran 24:8word 7
“testimonies”
The witnessed or visible realm, as opposed to what is unseen.
This is a relational, theological use in the expression الغيب والشهادة: the domain accessible to perception or manifest knowledge, contrasted with the hidden or unseen.
- Lane · entry 39434
- Mufradāt · row 793
Selected Quran examples
Quran 13:9word 3
“and the witnessed”
Quran 6:73word 21
“and the seen”
شَهِيد
shahīd
- Part of speech
- Adjective / Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 56 occurrences
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
A witness or one who is present to observe and testify.
This intensive adjective may refer to a witness who knows and bears witness, including one who witnesses for or against others. It can overlap with شَاهِد in the ordinary witness sense.
- Lane · entry 39433
- Lane · entry 39437
- Mufradāt · row 793
A supporting witness or authoritative party invoked to substantiate a claim; in some contexts, a helper or alleged supporting deity.
In expressions such as وَادْعُوا شُهَدَاءَكُمْ, the plural may be understood as those called to support or validate a claim, with interpretations ranging from witnesses to helpers or invoked objects of worship.
- Lane · entry 39433
- Mufradāt · row 793
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:23word 14
“your witnesses”
One possessing extensive knowledge of external or manifest things; as a divine epithet, the One from whose knowledge nothing is hidden.
This sense emphasizes comprehensive awareness and reliable witnessing rather than the ordinary human role of giving testimony.
- Lane · entry 39433
- Mufradāt · row 793
Selected Quran examples
Quran 10:46word 12
“(is) a Witness”
A martyr, especially one slain in the cause of God.
The Quranic plural شُهَدَاء is used for martyrs in contexts where martyrdom is distinguished from ordinary witnessing. Classical Arabic also extends the designation to additional categories of persons who die in specified circumstances; those extensions are listed separately below.
- Lane · entry 39433
- Mufradāt · row 793
Selected Quran examples
Quran 57:19word 8
“and the martyrs”
Quran 3:140word 20
“martyrs”
مَشْهُود
mashhūd
- Part of speech
- Passive participle
- Quran occurrences
- 3 occurrences
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
Witnessed, attended, or marked by the presence of observers.
The passive participle may describe an event, time, day, place, or prayer at which people or angels are present or which is witnessed. In the Quran it can also characterize an assured day as one that will certainly be witnessed.
- Lane · entry 39443
- Mufradāt · row 793
Selected Quran examples
Quran 11:103word 16
“witnessed”
Quran 17:78word 14
“ever witnessed”
Quran 85:3word 2
“and what is witnessed”
مَشْهَد
mashhad
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 1 occurrence
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
A scene, place, or occasion of witnessing or assembly.
The noun denotes a setting in which people are present or gathered, or an occasion viewed as a scene of witnessing. The Quranic form occurs in the expression مَشْهَدِ يَوْمٍ عَظِيمٍ.
- Lane · entry 39439
- Mufradāt · row 793
Selected Quran examples
Quran 19:37word 9
“(the) witnessing”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:23شُهَدَآءَكُمyour witnesses
- 2:84تَشْهَدُونَ(were) witnessing
- 2:133شُهَدَآءَwitnesses
- 2:140شَهَـٰدَةًa testimony
- 2:143شُهَدَآءَwitnesses
Broader Classical Arabic meanings
Recorded for this root in the Classical lexicons beyond its Quran usage. These are secondary to the Quran senses above.
Show 31 Classical meanings
شَهِدَ / أَشْهَدَ
To swear by God or by something, combining an assertion of having witnessed or known a matter with its sworn declaration.
This is the oath construction شَهِدَ بِاللَّهِ or أَشْهَدُ بِكَذَا; some usage treats an unqualified أَشْهَدُ as an oath as well.
- Lane · entry 39424
إِشْهَاد
A formal warning or notification intended to make someone take notice of a danger and act to prevent harm.
A specialized legal usage, such as notifying a property owner that a dangerous wall must be repaired or demolished.
- Lane · entry 39427
أَشْهَدَ
In a rare intransitive usage, to emit a thin sexual fluid, with related descriptions of the garment affected by the act.
This archaic usage is distinct from the causative Form IV witness construction and is attributed in the lexical evidence to a specialized expression.
- Lane · entry 39427
أَشْهَدَ
Of a boy, to reach puberty; of a girl, to menstruate or reach puberty.
A rare intransitive usage reported for the Form IV-shaped expression; it is not a Quranic sense.
- Lane · entry 39427
تَشَهُّد
The recitation of the testimony beginning with أَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ in prayer.
By convention the term also names the sitting recitation of the prescribed salutations and testimony in prayer.
- Lane · entry 39428
تَشَهَّدَ
To seek or desire martyrdom.
This is a Classical Arabic Form V usage distinct from the technical prayer noun.
- Lane · entry 39428
اِسْتَشْهَدَ
To adduce or cite a verse or other literary passage as evidence for the meaning or form of a word.
A technical lexicographical usage; the cited passage is an evidential example, not necessarily a Quran citation.
- Lane · entry 39429
اُسْتُشْهِدَ
To be slain as a martyr in the cause of God.
This is the passive Form X usage and is related to, but distinct from, the ordinary active request-to-testify construction.
- Lane · entry 39429
شَهْد / شُهْد
Honey in its comb or wax, especially honey not yet pressed from the comb.
The plural is شِهَاد; شَهْدَة and شُهْدَة can denote a portion or honeycomb.
- Lane · entry 39430
شَهِيد
A person accorded the status of martyr by extended religious usage, including one who dies by drowning, plague, a collapsing building, pleurisy, burning, childbirth, or other specified causes.
These are Classical Arabic extensions of the martyr designation beyond the primary person slain fighting in God's cause.
- Lane · entry 39433
شَهَادَة
Martyrdom in the cause of God's religion.
A deverbal noun use corresponding to the designation شَهِيد; it is kept separate from testimony and from the visible realm.
- Lane · entry 39434
شَهِيدَة
A roasted lamb or a dish of the kind called هَرِيسَة.
A rare lexical noun unrelated in practical meaning to testimony.
- Lane · entry 39435
شَهَّاد
Always present.
An adjectival or intensive description of continual presence.
- Lane · entry 39436
الشَّاهِد
A title of the Prophet as the witness against those to whom he was sent.
This is a conventional religious title derived from the ordinary witness sense.
- Lane · entry 39437
شَاهِد
An angel or guardian angel; in some explanations, a prophet serving as a witness.
A specialized interpretation of the noun, with the plural أَشْهَاد in the cited usage.
- Lane · entry 39437
شَاهِد
The tongue or one's faculty of eloquent expression.
Used in expressions describing someone as possessing an elegant or effective tongue.
- Lane · entry 39437
شَاهِد
An evidential example, usually a verse of poetry or other authoritative language, cited to establish the form or meaning of a word.
A technical term of lexicology, grammar, rhetoric, and related language sciences; the cited example may come from the Quran, poetry, prose, or tradition according to the discipline.
- Lane · entry 39437
شَاهِد
A notary who hears, records, and attests cases for submission to a judge.
A later legal and administrative specialization of the witness sense.
- Lane · entry 39437
شَاهِد
A horse's full-force or openly displayed run, one that demonstrates the horse's excellence.
A specialized equestrian use, contrasted with a reserved or concealed run.
- Lane · entry 39437
شَاهِد
A star when visible and apparent in the night.
The designation is motivated by the star's being present and visible.
- Lane · entry 39437
صَلَاةُ الشَّاهِد
A conventional name for the sunset prayer, and in some usage for the dawn prayer.
The name is explained through the visibility of the stars or through the status of the person present at home rather than traveling; the lexical evidence records both traditions.
- Lane · entry 39437
الشَّاهِد
A name for Friday, and in some usage for the Day of Resurrection or the Day of ʿArafah.
These names are associated with the presence and gathering of people on the relevant day.
- Lane · entry 39437
شَاهِد / شُهُود
A mucus-like substance issuing with a fetus, or the traces of blood or fetal membrane left where a she-camel gives birth.
A specialized anatomical and obstetric use; شُهُود may denote the corresponding birth traces or formations.
- Lane · entry 39437
شَاهِد
A quick or expeditious thing or affair.
A rare adjectival use.
- Lane · entry 39437
الشَّاهِدَة
The earth or ground.
A rare feminine noun use recorded as a separate lexical item.
- Lane · entry 39438
مَشْهَد
A funeral assembly or procession.
A specialized type of assembly designated by the place or occasion of collective presence.
- Lane · entry 39439
مَشْهَد
A place where a martyr died or is buried.
A specialized religious and commemorative sense of the place noun.
- Lane · entry 39439
مَشْهَد
A person's aspect or outward appearance.
A figurative extension from what is seen or presented to observation.
- Lane · entry 39439
مُشْهَد
A person slain as a martyr in the cause of God's religion.
A rare passive-participial noun use distinct from the Quranic passive participle مَشْهُود meaning witnessed.
- Lane · entry 39440
مُشْهِد / مُشْهِدَة
A woman whose husband is present with her.
The expression اِمْرَأَةٌ مُشْهِد is opposed to a woman whose husband is absent, اِمْرَأَةٌ مُغِيبَة.
- Lane · entry 39441
مَشْهُود
Present or current, as a designation of the present tense of a verb.
A terminological use in the contrast مَعْهُودٌ وَمَشْهُودٌ وَمَوْعُودٌ for past, present, and future.
- Lane · entry 39443
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
شَهِيد and its plural شُهَدَاء have distinct Quranic branches for ordinary witnessing, comprehensive awareness, supporting authority, and martyrdom; context determines the applicable sense.
The plural form group شَهَادَات is accounted for under the singular public headword شَهَادَة; its Quranic occurrences are especially associated with sworn testimony.
The visible/unseen sense of شَهَادَة is a relational theological use and should not be reduced to legal testimony.
Some classical entries preserve rare technical or dialectal usages that are not Quranic meanings; they are retained separately rather than merged into the Quranic senses.