Discover the meaning of the term Al-ʿqd (عقد) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 2 min readTying the parts of the legal act by offer and acceptance, before the Law.
In language: tying, binding, firmness, guarantee, obligation and covenant; joining the ends of a thing. One says: 'I concluded ('aqadtu) the sale and the covenant, ya'qiduhu 'aqdan': I made it firm; the principle of 'aqd is the opposite of untying, then it was used for the kinds of contracts, sales and others; and 'aqadtu-hu 'ala kaza and 'aqada 'alayhi: meaning covenanted with him; and ta'aqadtum and ta'ahadtum: you covenanted; and al-'aqid and al-mu'aqid: the covenanter. In al-Misbah: I concluded the sale and the like, and I bound the oath.
The blossom: its parts tightened until it became a fruit. The rope and the like: to make a knot in it. The sale, the oath and the covenant: to confirm them. His heart on a thing: it became a constraint upon him. For so-and-so over the land: to appoint him governor over it. A thing, with 'aqdan: to twist as if with a knot. The man: his tongue kept a restraint. And 'uqdat al-lisan: he withheld speech; it is a knot; and 'uqda' too. A thing: he tied it. And in the Quran: 'God does not take you to task for the frivolity in your oaths, but He takes you to task for what your oaths have bound' (Al-Ma'ida, 89).
That one put into verse a prose not on the path of borrowing.
Among the jurists: it is tying the parts of the legal act, before the Law, by offer and acceptance; or it is the two contractors' commitment and their deliberate purpose; it thus denotes the joining of offer and acceptance, and its plural is al-'uqud.
﴿وَمِن شَرِّ ٱلنَّفَّـٰثَـٰتِ فِى ٱلْعُقَدِ﴾
« And from the evil of the blowers in knots »
Surah الفلق : 4