Discover the meaning of the term Al-ʿrḍ (عرض) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 5 min readThe existent that needs, in order to exist, a locus, that is, a substratum in which it subsists, like color, which needs, to exist, a body to receive and bear it. Accidents ('arad) are of two kinds: that which is stable in itself (qarr al-dhat), whose parts coexist, like whiteness and blackness; and that which is not stable in itself, whose parts do not coexist, like motion and rest.
Extension in the direction contrary to length.
What occurs in substance, such as colors, tastes, the senses of taste and touch and others, whose continuing after existence is impossible.
With the first vowel light and the second unvoweled: honor, dignity and esteem; and with the 'ayn light.
With light 'ayn and unvoweled ra: the people of language said: it is all kinds of goods other than gold and silver; as for al-'urud with heavy ra, it is all the world's goods, gold, silver and other; it has other known meanings. The 'ard of a thing: its side; with the light sense: the contrary of its length; in "from the side ('ard) of his discourse": that is, from its flank. It may also intend the contrary of length, and would then be an abstract 'ard. Among the senses of 'ird (with kasra): honor and lineage; one says "pure in honor", that is, free of all fault, and "so-and-so is noble in lineage", that is, noble by descent. The plural of 'ird is a'rad, as in the authentic hadith of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): "Your bloods, your properties and your honors are sacred among you as the sacredness of this your day".
The thing, 'ardan: to show it, bring it forward. Goods for sale: displaying them to would-be buyers that they may purchase. The book: to recite it from memory. A matter came to him: it became manifest. His enemy upon the sword: killing him with it. His goods: to barter with them. The thing, 'ardan and 'irada: its edges drew apart and its breadth widened; it is 'arid and 'arid. The thing: to make it wide. So-and-so to such a thing: making it his mark and target. Speaking to him by allusion: not making it plain nor declaring it; in the Quran: "No blame attaches to you in what you allude to concerning a proposal of marriage to women" (al-Baqara 2:235); it has been said: saying to her "you are beautiful and everyone desires a woman like you", and the like. Al-ta'arrud: masdar of ta'arrada. The thing: its side, from whatever quarter one comes. The people: the common folk; one says "one of the breadth of the people", that is, of the commoners; one also says "I saw him among the breadth of the people": that is, in their midst. Al-'urda: ambition; the target; one says "make it the 'urda of such a thing": make it his target; in the Quran: "Do not make Allah the target of your oaths, so as to be virtuous, God-fearing, and to make peace among people: Allah is hearing, knowing" (al-Baqara 2:224): do not let your oaths by Allah bar you from virtue and kinship ties if you have sworn to sever them. Al-'ird: the body; plural: a'rad; honor; what in the teeth draws fault and blame; in the noble hadith: "Every Muslim is sacred to the Muslim: his blood, his property and his honor"; lineage; any odor whatsoever; the great cloud; the valley with trees. Al-'arud: the poem's meter; Mecca, Medina and their surroundings; the path in the mountain's breadth, in the defile. Al-mi'rad: an arrow-like stick with which one hunts; plural: ma'arid; the euphemism of one thing for another.
Taking the recited hadith from the shaykh, whether he himself or another, in writing or by memorization.
The contingent that needs a locus: it is the state subsisting in the individual subject.
What follows illness.
With full voweling: the existent that needs, in order to exist, a locus, that is, a substratum, like color, which needs, to exist, a body to receive and bear it at rest. The contrary of length; originally said of bodies, then used beyond them.