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What is the difference between: 'Aṣam, Yaʿṣim, ʿĀṣim, and ʿAṣamah?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The origin of these words (عصم, يعصم, عاصم, عصمه) is one, namely the root "عصم" (ʿaṣama), meaning: prevention, preservation, and protection. The difference between them is that:

"عصم" (ʿaṣama) is the past tense form of the verb.

"يعصم" (yaʿṣimu) is the present tense form.

"عاصم" (ʿāṣim) is the active participle form.

"عصمه" (ʿaṣamahu) is the past tense form of the verb transitive to a third-person singular masculine pronoun, and its meaning is "He prevented him." It is said: "ʿaṣamahullāhu min al-makrūh" (May Allah protect him from harm), meaning He prevented him, preserved him, and protected him, as in the Almighty's saying: "وَاللهُ يَعْصِمُكَ مِنَ النَّاسِ" (And Allah will protect you from the people).

In Lisan al-Arab (Lexicon of the Arabic Language): "God's protection of His servant: is to protect him from that which destroys him," and "He protected him (عصَمه يعصِمُه عَصْمًا): He prevented and protected him." And in the Revelation: "لَا عاصِمَ الْيَوْمَ مِنْ أَمْرِ اللَّهِ إِلَّا مَنْ رَحِمَ" (There is no protector today from the decree of Allah except for whom He has mercy) meaning there is no one protected except the one who receives mercy.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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