Discover the meaning of the term Al-awl (أول) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 5 min readAn individual none other of whose kind is prior to it or coeval with it.
That it signifies the instituting of causality and condition, so that the connection is not understood without it, as: "I will visit you"; you then say: "then I will honor you"; it is then an operator entering the verbal sentence and putting the connected future present in the accusative, once it has occurred.
Awal of the thing: its foremost part; it is af'al (ef'al), its feminine ula, its root waliya: the waw was turned into a hamza and its fa and 'ayn remain waw according to Sibawayh; no verb was derived from it on account of the weakness of its fa and 'ayn; with the Kufans its measure is also af'al; its root is a'al from wa'ala: the second hamza was changed to waw for lightening, or a'fal, its root being a'wal with two hamzas, from ala: they were separated by a waw after the first's sukun, the hamza after it being opened; then it was turned to waw and the waw assimilated into it.
Like the influence of the higher principles upon human rational souls by the pouring out of the sciences and knowledges; under this kind fall revelation and the gifts (karamat), for they are two pourings of true meanings upon human souls prepared for it; under this also fall two classes of signs and miracles: the first, what concerns true knowledge: that the prepared soul be given the completeness of knowledge without teaching or learning, until it embraces the knowledge of things' realities as they are in themselves, to the measure of human capacity, as he said (peace and blessings be upon him): "I was given the comprehensiveness of words"; and he was given the knowledge of the first and the last, while being unlettered.
Perfection as an attribute, and deficiency as an attribute, as one says: "knowledge is beautiful and ignorance is ugly".
That the principle be the circle's pivot by existence, not by nonexistence: like squill (squamoniya) drunk causing purging; when it exists, the purging exists; but when it does not exist, the purging's absence does not necessarily follow, for it may come about through something else.
What answers to the expression, whether a substance or an accident.
The guidance embracing every morally responsible being: intellect, acumen, and the knowledges diffused through everything, each according to its capacity.
An individual none other of whose kind is prior to it or coeval with it; Ibn al-Kammal mentioned it. Al-Raghib said (al-Mufradat, p. 31): it is that after which another is ordered; it is used under several aspects: one, priority by time, as "Abd al-Malik first, then al-Mansur"; the second, priority by headship, a thing drawing another to itself, as the prince then the vizier; the third, priority by position, as when one says of one leaving Iraq: "al-Qadisiyya first, then..."; the fourth, priority by the order of making, as the foundation first, then the building; and the First, in Allah's attribute, is He whom nothing precedes. Illusions without reality, like what the sorcerer does, do not match the vital power existing in man, beast and plant, as: "and We revived thereby a dead land" (Qaf 50:11). What is one in the genus, like man and horse, or in the species, like Zayd and 'Amr.
Restriction; "if he had intercourse after standing at 'Arafa": the deliberate act, that is, what one strikes on purpose with a weapon or what is treated as a weapon, like the stick cut from wood, the reed's slat, the mirwa (toothstick), and fire.
An individual none other of whose kind is prior to it or coeval with it.
﴿أُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ عَلَىٰ هُدًۭى مِّن رَّبِّهِمْ ۖ وَأُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلْمُفْلِحُونَ﴾
« Those are upon [right] guidance from their Lord, and it is those who are the successful. »
Surah البقرة : 5
﴿أُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱشْتَرَوُا۟ ٱلضَّلَـٰلَةَ بِٱلْهُدَىٰ فَمَا رَبِحَت تِّجَـٰرَتُهُمْ وَمَا كَانُوا۟ مُهْتَدِينَ﴾
« Those are the ones who have purchased error [in exchange] for guidance, so their transaction has brought no profit, nor were they guided. »
Surah البقرة : 16
﴿ٱلَّذِينَ يَنقُضُونَ عَهْدَ ٱللَّهِ مِنۢ بَعْدِ مِيثَـٰقِهِۦ وَيَقْطَعُونَ مَآ أَمَرَ ٱللَّهُ بِهِۦٓ أَن يُوصَلَ وَيُفْسِدُونَ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ ۚ أُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلْخَـٰسِرُونَ﴾
« Who break the covenant of Allah after contracting it and sever that which Allah has ordered to be joined and cause corruption on earth. It is those who are the losers. »
Surah البقرة : 27
﴿وَٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ وَكَذَّبُوا۟ بِـَٔايَـٰتِنَآ أُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ أَصْحَـٰبُ ٱلنَّارِ ۖ هُمْ فِيهَا خَـٰلِدُونَ﴾
« And those who disbelieve and deny Our signs - those will be companions of the Fire; they will abide therein eternally." »
Surah البقرة : 39
﴿وَءَامِنُوا۟ بِمَآ أَنزَلْتُ مُصَدِّقًۭا لِّمَا مَعَكُمْ وَلَا تَكُونُوٓا۟ أَوَّلَ كَافِرٍۭ بِهِۦ ۖ وَلَا تَشْتَرُوا۟ بِـَٔايَـٰتِى ثَمَنًۭا قَلِيلًۭا وَإِيَّـٰىَ فَٱتَّقُونِ﴾
« And believe in what I have sent down confirming that which is [already] with you, and be not the first to disbelieve in it. And do not exchange My signs for a small price, and fear [only] Me. »
Surah البقرة : 41
﴿أَوَلَا يَعْلَمُونَ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَعْلَمُ مَا يُسِرُّونَ وَمَا يُعْلِنُونَ﴾
« But do they not know that Allah knows what they conceal and what they declare? »
Surah البقرة : 77
This term appears in 325 verses of the Quran.