بشير
Bashīr
A name of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him): the bearer of glad tidings.
What it means
Bashīr means the bearer of good news. It is one of the names of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), whom the Quran sends as a bearer of glad tidings (bashīr) and a warner (nadhīr). Good news is for those who believe and do good, while the warning concerns the result of rejecting the message. The Quran says God sent him with the truth as a bearer of glad tidings and a warner (2:119). It also says that he was sent to all humankind in this role (34:28). The title is thus tied to his mission as a messenger, and the two roles are always named together.
Often misunderstood as
That the Prophet’s mission was only to threaten, when the Quran gives him first the role of one who brings good news.
Term and Arabic as listed in Ismail al Faruqi, Toward Islamic English (International Institute of Islamic Thought, 1995), p. 24, listed as BASHĪR. The definition is restated here.