Discover the meaning of the term Al-khṣm (خصم) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 2 min readVerbal noun: I disputed him, meaning I contended with him as an adversary. It is said: I contended with him and engaged in dispute and contention. The disputant is called an adversary, and the term is used for the singular and plural, as well as for the male and female with a single form.
In language: it matches in the dual and plural, and has the plurals khusum and khisam, like buhur and bihar. A man is an adversary when he masters disputation. The term khasm, with a fatha at the beginning and a kasra on the second, denotes one who disputes much or is specialized in disputation, and similarly al-khasim.
The term khusm, with a damma at the beginning and a sukun on the second, denotes the side and the flank. Al-Mufradat page 149, An-Nihayah 2/38, Al-Misbah al-Munir (khasm) pages 65, 66, and Muqaddimah Fath al-Bari page 118.
The plaintiff and the defendant, because each of them is the adversary of the other.