Discover the meaning of the term Al-ʿqr (عقر) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 3 min readWith damma, in the extended sense: it is the dower of the like (mahr al-mithl), the wage for which one would hire a woman for fornication, Allah protect us from that, with her beauty; were hiring for fornication lawful, the amount for which one would hire her for fornication would be her 'aqr; and the 'aqr of the virgin girl is a tenth of her value, and of the previously married woman half a tenth of her value. With fatha, in Persian: (pi kardan), that is, severing the sinews of the leg of livestock or of a man.
(With fatha of the 'ayn): in language: the wound; one says: ''aqara al-farasa wa-l-ba'ira bi-l-sayf 'aqran' (he hamstrung the horse and the camel with the sword): cutting their legs. The root of the 'aqr is striking the legs of the camel or sheep with the sword while it stands. The 'aqr occurs only in the legs; then slaughtering (nahr) was named 'aqr, because the one slaughtering camels first hamstrings them, then slaughters them. Al-'aqira: what was slaughtered of game or otherwise. In the hadith of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) he said: 'There is no isa'a and no 'aqira in Islam.'
The amount of the wage of intercourse, were fornication lawful; it is said: the dower of her like.
The bride-gift of the woman when intercourse occurs under a mistaken assumption; the 'aqr is so named because it is obligatory upon intercourse: he 'wounds' (yaqru-ha) her through her virginity, that is, injures her; the bikara of the girl is her virginity; its root is from ibtikar al-fakiha (eating a fruit's first yield), that is, consuming its first fruits.
With damma: the blood-price (diya) of a woman's private part when she is raped; then its use spread until it was employed of the dower.
With damma: the amount of the wage of intercourse were fornication not to incur the punishment, such as intercourse under a mistaken assumption; it is a tenth of the dower of her like.