Discover the meaning of the term Al-aḥtmal- (احتمال) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 4 min readExerting the soul in good deeds.
That whose conceptualization of both terms does not suffice, the mind wavering over the relation between them; by it is meant mental possibility.
Linguistically: pardon, forbearance, and exerting the soul in sensible things and the like. Technically: used in the sense of conjecture (wahm) and possibility, it is intransitive; in the sense of requiring and bearing (entailing), it is transitive, as in "it may be so", and "the state bore many facets". Al-Jurjani said: that whose conceptualization of both terms does not suffice, the mind wavering over the relation between them; by it is meant mental possibility (al-Tawqif 'ala Muhimmat al-Ta'rifat, p. 39; al-Ta'rifat, p. 7).
Exerting the body in good deeds.
Linguistically: pardon, forbearance, and exerting the soul in sensible things and the like; with the jurists, used in the sense of conjecture and possibility it is intransitive, and in the sense of requiring and bearing it is transitive, as in "it may be so", and "the state bore many facets".
Masdar of ihtamala. With the jurists and the theologians it may be used in the sense of conjecture and possibility, intransitive, and in the sense of requiring and bearing, transitive: "it may be so", "the state bore facets" (al-Fayyumi). Exerting the soul in good deeds. That whose conceptualization of both terms does not suffice, the mind wavering over the relation between them; by it is meant mental possibility. Al-himal: the blood money (diya) or fine that a people bear for a people; plural: himal. Al-himala: the himal. Suretyship (kafala). What a man undertakes and binds upon himself by taking on debt, in order to pay it toward reconciling parties. Al-himala (variant); plural: hama'il. Al-haml: the young of sheep; plural: hamlan and ahmal. Lightning. Al-haml: what is carried; what was in the womb or upon the tree; plural: ahmal; in the Quran: "It is He who created you from a single soul and made from it its mate that he might find rest in her; then, when he covered her, she bore a light burden and passed along with it; then, when she grew heavy, they called upon Allah, their Lord: if You give us a sound child, we will be of the thankful" (al-A'raf 7:189). Ibn al-Sikkit said: al-haml is what was in the womb or at the top of a tree, and al-himl what was on the back or the head, which is al-Asma'i's view. The burden; hence "so-and-so is a burden upon his folk", when his illness is grave. Al-hamula: what beasts carry, such as the camel, the horse, the mule and the donkey; in the Quran: "Among the cattle are (some) for carriage and (some) for use: eat of what Allah has provided you and do not follow the steps of Satan: he is a clear enemy to you" (al-An'am 6:142). The caravan of camels. Al-hamil: the guarantor; in the noble hadith: "the guarantor is a bound debtor" (al-hamil gharim), that is, the guarantor is liable. The abandoned child whom people carry and rear. The stranger. The child in the womb. What the flood carried of froth and mud. With the Hanafis: every lineage that was among the people of war. Al-hamila: that with which the sword is belted; plural: hama'il. Al-Asma'i said: the sword belts have no singular of the same form; their singular is mihmal.