Bibliotheca Polyglotta

▪ Morphologically, ʔiḥṣān is the vn. of ʔaḥṣana, a caus. vb. IV that in MSA either refers to the chastity of a woman and hence her unblemished reputation (↗²ḥaṣuna) or the inaccessibility of a fortress (↗¹ḥaṣuna, ↗ḥiṣn), or to inaccessibility in general. ClassAr lexicography tends to derive all values in √ḤṢN from ḥiṣn ʻfortress’. In contrast, DRS 9 (2010) suggests to keep ²ḥaṣuna ʻto be chaste’ (#ḤṢN) apart from ¹ḥaṣuna ʻto be strong, fortified’ (#ḤS/ṢN, *ʻpower, violence, strength, force, fortification’). – For more details, cf. root entry ↗√ḤṢN as well as ↗ḥaṣuna and ↗ḥiṣn.
▪ For muḥṣan as a term in Islamic Law, see below, section DISC.
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hist

▪ ^†ʔaḥṣana, vb. IV, caus., ʻto protect, defend’ (< *ʻto fortify, make inaccessible’), but also ʻto keep o.s. chaste (woman)’ (< *ʻto make o.s. inaccessible’), hence also ʻto be chaste, virtuous (woman)’, as well as ʻto give (a woman) in marriage; to marry (man or woman)’ (to protect o.’s own or s.o.’s chastity); cf. Q 21:91 and 66:12 (on Maryam bt. ʕImrān): allatī ʔaḥṣanat farǧahā ʻwho preserved her pudendum from that which is unlawful or indecorous / who abstained from what is unlawful or indecorous \ was continent, chaste’; cf. also Q 4:25 fa-ʔiḏā ʔuḥṣinna fa-ʔin ʔatayna bi-fāḥišatin fa-ʕalay-hinna niṣfu mā ʕalà ’l-muḥṣanāti mina ’l-ʕaḏābi ʻbut when they [sc., slave girls] enter wedlock, if they commit indecency, they shall be liable to half the punishment prescribed for free women’.
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cogn

▪ DRS 9 (2010) #ḤṢN-1 Ar *ḥaṣuna ‘être chaste, vertueuse (femme)’, ḥāṣinaẗ ‘femme vertueuse’, ḥaṣān ‘femme vertueuse, épouse légitime’, ḥiṣn, ḥuṣn ‘vertu (d’une femme)’; Sab ḥṣn ‘prendre sous sa protection’, ʔḥṣn (pl.) ‘épouses’. -2 Ar ḥiṣān ‘étalon, cheval de race’, Ḥrs ḥəṣān, Jib hásún ‘cheval’. -3 YemAr ĭḥtiṣān ‘biens, possessions’. -4 Tña ḥad̮in ‘fer’, Ar ʔaḥṣinaẗ ‘fers, pointes de lances’; Soq ḥaṣəhan ‘fer, lame’.

▪ DRS 9 (2010) #ḤS/ṢN-1 Hbr ḥosen ‘force’, EmpAram ḥsn ‘violence’, JP ḥᵃsen ‘être fort, véhément’, Ar ḥaṣuna ‘être fort, fortifié’; oAram ḥsn, JP ḥisnā ‘forteresse, force’, Syr ḥesnā, Ar ḥiṣn ‘forteresse’, SAr mḥṣn ‘ouvrage défensif, fortification’, Mhr Ḥrs ḥāṣən ‘grande maison’, Jib ḥeṣn, Soq ḥóṣon ‘château’; Gz ḥəṣn ‘forteresse, château’; Hbr ḥāsīn, Aram ḥassīnā, Ar ḥaṣīn ‘fort’. -2 ʔabū ’l-ḥiṣn, LevAr ʔabū ḥsēn, DaṯAr ḥuṣaynī, Soq ḥṣáyni ‘renard’.
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disc

▪ muḥṣan: »a term of Islamic law denoting a certain personal status. – The Ḳurʔān’s impersonal uses of the root ḥ-ṣ-n refer to warehousing, shelter, fortification and protection (xii: 48; xxi: 80; lix: 2, 14). Used personally of the Virgin Mary (xxi: 91; lxvi: 12), the verb refers to chastity. A cluster of participial derivatives (iv: 24-5; v: 5) relate to the intent underlying the Islamic marriage contract where muḥṣin / muḥṣanaẗ are perhaps best understood in terms of the provision of accommodation. The muḥṣanaẗ need not be Muslim (v: 5); if Muslim, she need not be free (iv: 24-5). Muḥṣanāt are thus marriageable women: free muslimāt or kitābiyyāt, or Muslim slave women. Muḥṣanāt / muḥṣinūn are contrasted with musāfiḥāt / musāfiḥūn, i.e. with such as engage in illicit sexual relations. The category muḥṣanāt may include slave women (iv: 24) yet be contrasted with slave women (iv: 25)« – J. Burton, art. “Muḥṣan”, in: EI² (online, as of 12Dec2020).
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west

–

deriv

►ʔaḥṣana, vb. IV, 1 to make inaccessible (s.th.); 2 ↗ḥiṣn; 3a to be chaste, pure (woman); b to remain chaste, be of unblemished reputation (woman): [v1] caus., either from ↗²ḥaṣuna ‘to be chaste’ or from ↗ḥiṣn ‘fortress’; [v2] clearly from ḥiṣn; [v3] only personal use, cf. section HIST.

►muḥṣanaẗ, var. muḥṣinaẗ, pl. ‑āt, adj.f., 1 sheltered, well-protected, chaste; 2 of unblemished reputation (woman; Isl. Law): PP (var. PA) IV; the variation betw. PP and PA owes itself to the perspective: the woman can be protected or actively protecing herself.

For other values of the root, cf. ↗ḥaṣuna, ↗ḥiṣn, ↗ḥiṣān, and ʔabū ’l- ↗ḥuṣayn, as well as, for the overall picture, root entry √ḤṢN.

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