Discover the meaning of the term Al-anʿqad (انعقاد) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 3 min readIn language: the opposite of dissolution; hence the knotting of the rope (in'iqad al-habl). Among its meanings also: becoming obligatory, being tied, and being fixed. In technical usage: it covers validity and covers corruption; it is the joining of the elements of a legal act according to the Law, or the attachment of offer (al-ijab) and acceptance (al-qabul) to each other in a lawful manner whose effect appears in their objects. The corrupted contract (fasid) is thus concluded in its root but corrupted in its description; in'iqad is therefore the opposite of nullity. It has also been said: with the jurists the meaning varies with the subject: the in'iqad of an act of worship such as prayer or fasting is its valid commencement; the in'iqad of the child is the mother's carrying it; the in'iqad of what depends on a formula among contracts is the joining of offer to acceptance in the manner deemed sound by the Law. (Al-Mawsu'a al-fiqhiyya, from at-Talwih 'ala at-Tawdih 2/123, Durrar al-Hukkam 1/92, 104, Fath al-Qadir 5/456, Hashiyat Ibn 'Abidin 4/7.)
A verbal noun from in'aqada. The thing, with the Malikis: its standing by its elements; it is not correct to render it as 'it becomes valid' or 'it becomes binding', since a sale, for instance, may be concluded by hand-clasp (mu'ata) or other formulae. In the Mejelle (art. 104): the attachment of each of offer and acceptance to the other in a lawful manner whose effect appears in their objects. Al-'aqd: what is tied in building (plural 'uqud). The covenant: an agreement between two parties, each binding itself by its terms to execute what they agreed upon, as the contract of sale and marriage; in the Qur'an: 'O you who believe, fulfill the covenants ('uqud)' (al-Ma'ida, 1). Guarantee. Among the numerals: ten and twenty up to ninety. In the Law: binding the elements of the act by offer and acceptance; it is not offer and acceptance alone, nor the joining alone, but the sum of the three (Ibn 'Abidin). With the Malikis: it is offer and acceptance. In the Mejelle (art. 103): the contracting parties' commitment and undertaking of a matter, which is the joining of offer to acceptance.