Quranic root
سهر
s · h · r
The root centers on wakefulness, sleeplessness, and the loss of sleep.
The basic idea of remaining awake extends in Classical Arabic to things active or continuing through the night, including productive land, running water, and certain celestial expressions.
- Maqāyīs · row 2511
- 1
- Quran-attested forms
- 1
- 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.
سَاهِرَةٌ
sāhirahun
- 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.
The earth's surface or land; in the Quranic expression, the land of resurrection.
Occurs in بِالسَّاهِرَةِ in 79:14. It is explained as the face or surface of the earth and, contextually, as the land on which resurrection occurs. Other reported identifications include a newly created resurrection land, Hell, a mountain near Jerusalem, or the land of Syria.
- Lane · entry 42505
- Mufradāt · row 733
Selected Quran examples
Quran 79:14word 3
“(will be) awakened”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 79:14بِٱلسَّاهِرَةِ(will be) awakened
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 17 Classical meanings
سَهِرَ
To remain awake, sleepless, or wakeful at night; to abstain from sleep for all or part of the night.
An imprecation using the verb invokes sleeplessness together with grief or mourning.
- Lane · entry 42497
سَهِرَ
Of lightning, to gleam or glisten during the night.
A tropical application to lightning.
- Lane · entry 42497
مُسَاهَرَةٌ
Staying awake with another, vying with another in wakefulness, or making another sleepless.
Describes shared or reciprocal wakefulness and, in one usage, the causing of wakefulness in another.
- Lane · entry 42498
أَسْهَرَهُ
To cause someone or something to wake, remain awake, or be sleepless.
The wakefulness may be caused by anxiety, trouble of mind, or pain.
- Lane · entry 42499
سُهَارٌ
Wakefulness, sleeplessness, or the state of being awake.
A noun for the condition of lost or absent sleep.
- Lane · entry 42503
سَاهِرٌ
Awake, wakeful, or sleepless at night; one who remains awake for all or part of the night.
Also used attributively of a night to mean a night of wakefulness.
- Lane · entry 42505
سَاهِرٌ
Of lightning, gleaming or glistening during the night.
A tropical adjectival application.
- Lane · entry 42505
سَاهِرَةٌ
A she-camel that yields milk for a long time and abundantly.
An assumed-tropical application of the wakefulness imagery.
- Lane · entry 42505
عَيْنٌ سَاهِرَةٌ
A spring or fountain that runs continuously, by night and by day.
A tropical expression for unremittingly running water.
- Lane · entry 42505
سَاهِرَةٌ
A wide tract, desert, or untrodden land; also land that produces vegetation quickly.
Broader tropical applications distinct from the Quranic use for the earth or resurrection land.
- Lane · entry 42505
سَاهِرِيَّةٌ
A particular perfume.
The name is explained by the sleeplessness associated with preparing and perfecting it.
- Lane · entry 42507
سَاهُورٌ
The moon's sheath or enclosure; by extension, the moon itself or its halo.
The sheath is described as what the moon enters during an eclipse. The entries also record uses for the moon and its halo.
- Lane · entry 42508
سَاهُورٌ
The shade or shadow of the earth's surface.
A separate reported sense of the same noun.
- Lane · entry 42508
السَّاهُورُ
The last nine nights of the lunar month.
The term is explained by the moon's absence during the first part of that period.
- Lane · entry 42508
سَاهُورٌ
The source of a spring of water.
A nominal lexical use distinct from the related expression for a continuously running spring.
- Lane · entry 42508
سَاهُورٌ
A multitude or abundance.
A separately reported Classical Arabic nominal sense.
- Lane · entry 42508
الأَسْهَرَانِ
A pair of ducts or veins, variously identified with internal nasal ducts, reproductive ducts carrying seminal fluid, erectile penile veins, or veins in the eye.
The anatomical referent varies among the reported descriptions; the nasal-duct sense is also attested independently.
- Lane · entry 42509
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The interpretation of السَّاهِرَةِ in 79:14 is reported variously as the earth's surface, the resurrection land, Hell, a Jerusalem mountain, or Syria; the dictionary sense presents the core land/earth meaning while preserving these as interpretive alternatives.