Discover the meaning of the term Al-aqtbas (اقتباس) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 2 min readLinguistically: the seeking of the qabas, the ember from fire; borrowed for the pursuit of knowledge. Al-Jawhari said in the Sihah: "I drew from it (iqtabastu minhu) sciences", that is, I sought them one after another. Technically: the speaker's embedding of speech, verse or prose, and of a piece of the Quran or the hadith; it has several meanings, the weightiest being the one mentioned; in this sense it differs from the istisbah (asking for light), as the definition makes plain.
The difference is clear between seeking the ember and kindling a thing so that an ember forms: kindling precedes seeking the ember. As for iqtibas meaning the speaker's embedding of speech, verse or prose, and of a piece of the noble Quran or the noble prophetic hadith, without its appearing that it is from the Quran or the hadith, that is far removed from the meaning of istisbah (al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya 16/16-17).
That speech embed a piece of the Quran or the hadith without marking that it is from them.
Its origin is the seeking of the qabas, the ember; then it was borrowed for the pursuit of knowledge and guidance, as in: "Look at us, that we may take from your light" (al-Hadid 57:13). By usage: speech's embedding, prose or verse, of a piece of Quran or hadith without marking that it is from them.