Quranic root
شرط
sh · r · ṭ
The root centers on a mark, sign, or distinguishing indication, and extends to something imposed as a condition or leaving a recognizable trace.
From marking and signifying arise signs of events, stipulated conditions, physical cuts or traces, and the preparation or designation of people and goods for a consequential purpose.
- Maqāyīs · row 2617
- Mufradāt · row 760
- 1
- Quran-attested forms
- 2
- Quran senses
- 1
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
شَرَطٌ
sharaṭun
- 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 sign, indication, or portent; in أَشْرَاطُ السَّاعَةِ, a sign heralding the Hour or Resurrection.
The Quranic occurrence is the plural أَشْرَاطُها. The expression denotes indications of the Hour and, in some explanations, the preliminary events or means associated with its approach rather than the event itself.
- Lane · entry 38291
- Mufradāt · row 760
Selected Quran examples
Quran 47:18word 10
“its indications”
A beginning or preliminary manifestation of an event.
This is an alternative lexical interpretation of أَشْرَاطُ السَّاعَةِ, understood as the initial developments or beginnings preceding the Hour.
- Lane · entry 38291
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 47:18أَشْرَاطُهَا ۚits indications
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
شَرَطَ
To impose a condition, term, or stipulation on someone; to make an obligation binding, especially in a sale.
Used with عَلَيْهِ and in agreements and transactions.
- Lane · entry 38282
شَرَطَ
To scarify, slit, or make a cut; also to split palm leaves and twist them together.
Includes a cupper’s scarification, slitting an animal’s ear, and cutting palm leaves for plaiting.
- Lane · entry 38282
شَرِطَ
To fall into a momentous or formidable situation.
- Lane · entry 38282
شَارَطَ
To stipulate mutually or make conditions with one another.
Describes reciprocal agreement in which each party stipulates with the other.
- Lane · entry 38284
أَشْرَطَ
To mark or prepare oneself for an affair; to offer oneself and one’s property for it, especially when exposing oneself to death.
The object may be the self alone or the self together with property.
- Lane · entry 38285
أَشْرَطَ
To set apart and prepare camels, sheep, or goats for sale, and make that intention known.
Applies to a portion of livestock designated for sale.
- Lane · entry 38285
أَشْرَطَ
To prepare someone for a work or agency and place him in charge of it.
The construction can designate a person for a specified employment or responsibility.
- Lane · entry 38285
أَشْرَطَ
To hasten a messenger to someone or send him forward.
Connected lexically with the notion of something sent ahead or made an initial sign.
- Lane · entry 38285
أَشْرَطَ
To treat something as of little account and risk, hazard, or imperil it.
The object is expressed by a pronoun in the cited construction.
- Lane · entry 38285
تَشَرَّطَ
To perform work well, exactly, and skilfully while constraining oneself to observe imposed conditions.
Combines careful performance with adherence to stipulated requirements.
- Lane · entry 38286
اُشْتُرِطَ
To be made conditional or stipulated; to be singled out as conditionally intended.
A passive or impersonal construction concerning a condition attached to a saying or matter.
- Lane · entry 38288
اِسْتَشْرَطَ
To become bad or deteriorated after having been in a good state.
The cited subject is camels or comparable livestock.
- Lane · entry 38289
شَرْطٌ
A condition, term, stipulation, or requirement imposed on a person or matter.
Used in sales and analogous agreements, and also for requirements governing the valid application of a term or category.
- Lane · entry 38290
شَرْطَا نَهْرٍ
The two banks of a river.
Occurs in the dual expression شَرْطَا نَهْرٍ.
- Lane · entry 38290
شُرُوطٌ
Roads leading in different directions.
A plural usage distinct from the sense of contractual conditions.
- Lane · entry 38290
الشَّرَطَانِ
The two stars forming the horns of Aries, the first lunar mansion.
The associated plural أَشْرَاطٌ may refer to the asterism when the stars are treated as one group.
- Lane · entry 38291
شَرَطٌ
The refuse, inferior kind, or lowest class of livestock or people; especially inferior or young camels and goats.
The word can be used as singular or plural and with masculine or feminine reference; it may also describe livestock brought from one place to another for sale.
- Lane · entry 38291
أَشْرَاطٌ
The noble, eminent, or honourable sort of people.
This is a contrarily opposed usage to أَشْرَاطٌ meaning the refuse or lowest sort.
- Lane · entry 38291
شَرَطٌ
A small watercourse flowing from relatively level ground into larger channels.
Describes a minor runnel or stream formed by runoff.
- Lane · entry 38291
شَرْطَةٌ
A single act of scarifying.
A nominal designation of one scarification or cut.
- Lane · entry 38292
شُرْطَةٌ
A thing that one has made a condition.
Used for the stipulated item itself.
- Lane · entry 38293
شُرْطَةٌ
A chosen or forward body of troops; later, a body of armed attendants, guards, or police, and a member of such a body.
The term is associated with troops prepared for danger or distinguished by identifying marks, and with the police or armed attendants of an authority.
- Lane · entry 38293
شُرْطَةٌ
The best, choicest, or selected part of anything.
A general extension from the notion of a selected group or portion.
- Lane · entry 38293
شَرَطِيٌّ
Relating to al-Sharaṭān or al-Ashrāṭ, the asterism of the two stars of Aries.
Also occurs in a form derived from the plural because the stars are treated as one group.
- Lane · entry 38295
شَرِيطٌ
A rope, cord, or flat plait made by twisting or weaving palm leaves, fibres, wool, silk, or gold thread.
The name is connected with the splitting and twisting of the constituent leaves or fibres.
- Lane · entry 38297
شَرِيطٌ
A small receptacle or case for perfumes, utensils, or personal equipment.
Includes the receptacle called عَتِيدَة and the container called عَيْبَة.
- Lane · entry 38297
شَرِيطَةٌ
A she-camel with a slit ear, or a sheep or goat subjected to a slight throat scarification.
The latter refers to an archaic practice regarded as a form of slaughter, though its validity was rejected in reported tradition.
- Lane · entry 38298
شِرْوَاطٌ
Tall and slender or spare of flesh; also swift when applied to a camel.
Applied to men and to male or female camels.
- Lane · entry 38300
أَشْرَطُ
The vilest or lowest sort of possessions, especially the lowest class of livestock.
Occurs in the expression الغَنَمُ أَشْرَطُ المَالِ, sheep or goats being described as the meanest livestock one possesses.
- Lane · entry 38301
مِشْرَطٌ
A lancet or other instrument used by a cupper for scarifying.
Also has the variant مِشْرَاطٌ.
- Lane · entry 38303
مَشَارِيطُ
The equipment or preparations taken for an affair.
In أَخَذَ لِلْأَمْرِ مَشَارِيطَهُ, the expression means taking the necessary apparatus or preparing oneself for the matter.
- Lane · entry 38304
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Quranic form is the plural أَشْرَاطُها, normalized here under the singular citation form شَرَطٌ.
The reading of أَشْرَاطُ السَّاعَةِ as initial events or beginnings is an alternative lexical interpretation alongside the primary sense of signs or portents.
Unassigned or ambiguous evidence
A Lane discussion of a poetic occurrence of الأَشْرَاط records disputed interpretations as guards or watchmen and as low-status people, while preferring the asterism interpretation. These alternatives are not treated as an independent stable meaning of the Quranic occurrence.