Discover the meaning of the term Al-āla (آلة) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 5 min readThe intermediary between the agent and the patient in the arrival of its effect to him, like the saw for the carpenter. And the last condition for drawing out the intermediate cause, as the father between the grandfather and the son: it is an intermediary between its agent and its patient, yet it is not an intermediary between them in the arrival of the effect of the remote cause to the effect, since the effect of the remote cause does not reach the effect, let alone something else interposing; what reaches it is rather the effect of the intermediate cause, since it issues from it, and it belongs to the remote cause.
The intermediary between the agent and his patient in the arrival of its effect to him, like the saw for the carpenter, and the last condition for drawing out the intermediate cause, as (the one) between the grandfather and the grandson: it is an intermediary between its agent and its patient, yet it is not an intermediary between them in the arrival of the effect of the remote cause to the effect, since the effect of the remote cause does not reach the effect, let alone something else interposing; what reaches it is the effect of the intermediate cause, since it issues from it, and it belongs to the remote cause. And logic is an instrument (ala) for what will come on that, Allah the Exalted willing. The name of instrument among the masters of morphology: every noun derived from a verb for what one is helped by in that verb, like al-miftah (the key), the name of what one opens with, and al-mikhalah, the name of what one applies kohl with.
In language: the tool; plural: al-at. Al-ala: what is used as a tool, singular and plural; it has been said: it is a plural with no singular of its own form; al-Ba'li said: the tool is what one does the work with. Alat al-bayt (the instruments of the house): such as the axe and the pick, with a light dal; taken from al-ma'n (the light flint), a light stony thing; the poet said: (I did not squander it, nor did I grieve over it ... for the loss of your property is no trifle). Alat ad-din (the instruments of religion): knowledge, as in the saying of 'Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him: you employ the instruments of religion in the pursuit of this world, because religion stands only by knowledge; thus in the Lisan. Alat adh-dhabh (the instruments of slaughter): ash-shafra with a fatha, the great knife; al-lita, with a kasra on the lam and a sukun on the ya: the reed rind that clings; and al-marwa, with a fatha on the mim, the singular of al-marw: white shining stones from which fire is struck; thus in al-Maydani 'ala al-Quduri.
Every noun derived from a verb, as a noun, for what one is helped by in that verb.
It is the intermediary (23/b) between the agent and the patient when its effect reaches him.
The intermediary between the agent and the patient in the arrival of the agent's effect to him, like the saw for the carpenter, by which the intermediate cause is drawn out, as the father between the grandfather and the son: he is an intermediary between his agent and his patient, yet not an intermediary between them in the arrival of the effect of the remote cause to the effect, since the effect of the remote cause does not reach the effect, let alone another thing interposing; what reaches it is the effect of the intermediate cause, since it issues from it, and it belongs to the remote cause. (At-ta'rifat, p. 34).
It is the intermediary between the agent and his patient in the arrival of its effect to him.