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Definition 2024


نصراني

نصراني

Arabic

Alternative forms

  • نَصْرَان (naṣrān) (obsolete)
  • نَصْرِي (naṣrī) (obsolete)

Noun

نَصْرَانِيّ (naṣrāniyy) m, pl نَصَارَى (naṣārā), fem نَصْرَانِيَّة (naṣrāniyya)

  1. a Christian
    • Qur'an 2:111:10 (Sahih International):
      مَا كَانَ إِبْرَاهِيمُ يَهُودِيًّا وَلَا نَصْرَانِيًّا وَلَٰكِنْ كَانَ حَنِيفًا مُسْلِمًا
      mā kāna ʾibrāhīmu yahūdiyyan walā naṣrāniyyan wa-lākin kāna ḥanīfan musliman
      Abraham was neither a Jew nor a Christian, but he was an upright Muslim
  2. (obsolete) a Nazarene

Usage notes

  • This word is never used as a self-designation by Arabic-speaking Christians and is widely considered politically incorrect, at least in countries with relevant Christian populations. Since نصراني is the word used for “Christian” in the Quran and hadeeth, it retains some currency in Islamic religious discourse, but even there مَسِيحِي (masīḥī) is now the normal term.

Declension

Synonyms

Derived terms

Descendants

  • Egyptian Arabic: نصرانى (náṣrāni)
  • Indonesian: Nasrani
  • Maltese: Nisrani
  • Malay: Nasrani
  • Turkish: Nasrani

References

  • Lane, Edward William (1863). An Arabic - English Lexicon derived from the best and the most copious eastern sources London: Williams and Northgate.