Qabda

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Qabḍa ( Arabic قبضة) was the width of the fist and a small measure of length in the Egyptian system of measurement. The finger width Aṣba , as stated, was always 1/24 of a cubit and has recently been officially calculated at 3.125 centimeters , but was 2.032 centimeters in the 16th century.

  • 1 Qabḍa = 4 Aṣba (finger width) = 1/6 of the cubit

The usual cubit ( black cubit ) was used as a basis

  • 1 Qabḍa = 4 Aṣba (1 A. = 2.252 centimeters) = 9 centimeters

The canonical yardstick was

  • 1 Qabḍa = 4 Aṣba (1 A. = 2.078 centimeters) = 8.31 centimeters

In the 19th century it was

  • 1 qabḍa = 6 ¼ inch = 15.875 centimeters

literature

  • Walther Hinz : Islamic measures and weights. Supplementary volume 1, EJ Brill, Leiden / Cologne 1970, pp. 54, 63.