Discover the meaning of the term Al-baṭl (باطل) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 7 min readIt is that which is not valid in its root.
What is of no account and yields nothing.
What falls short of meaning from every angle though the form exists: either for lack of capacity or of locus, such as the sale of a free man and the sale of a minor.
What is not valid in its root; the fasid (defective) is what is valid in its root but not in its description; hence the jurists said that whatever is not property (mal), the sale of it is void, whether it was made the object of sale or the price, such as blood and wine, the fruit crushed by beating (al-batta) and the animal that died a natural death; as for the one strangled or wounded outside the place of slaughter without necessity, as is the custom of some disbelievers and the sacrifices of the Magians, it is property, but lacking value (mutaqawwim); property lacking value is property whose humiliation we were commanded, while in another religion it is property of value, like wine; and every property without value: if sold for a price, namely dirhams and dinars, the sale is void; and if it is sold for goods, or goods sold for it, the sale in the goods is defective. Sometimes fasid is intended in a sense embracing the batil, that is, what is not valid in its description, whether valid in its root or not; hence the chapter is entitled (the defective sale) in Kanz ad-daqa'iq, although it embraces the void sale too; and in some of its commentaries: the fasid is broader than the batil, because every batil is fasid without the converse. For ash-Shafi'i, may Allah have mercy on him, there is no difference between fasid and batil. In Al-Kifaya: the fasid is what is prescribed in its root but not in its description, and the batil what has no prescription at all.
In language, among the entities: that whose created meaning has perished with its death, so that only its form remains; hence the opposite of the batil is al-haqq (the true), which denotes the established existent. In the Law: al-Qunawi said: what is not prescribed in its root and its description and does not yield ownership; thus, if someone bought a slave for carrion, took possession of him and freed him, the manumission does not stand.
The fasid and the saqit (lapsed) are the opposite of the sound, the opposite of the true: it is what, upon examination, has no standing in word or deed. The one who engages in what brings him no profit is called batal (idle) and dhu batala, with a kasra; and the brave man who exposes himself to death is called batal (hero), by imagining the nullity of his blood, the active participle being used in the sense of the passive, or because he nullifies the blood of whoever exposes himself to him.
It is that which is not valid in its root; or what is of no account and yields nothing; or what falls short of meaning though the form exists, either for lack of capacity or of locus, such as the sale of the free man and the sale of the minor.
The opposite of the true; plural: abatil. In the noble Quran: (And do not confound the truth with the falsehood, nor hide the truth while you know) (Al-Baqara: 42). The lie; in the generous Quran: (And it is indeed a noble Book; falsehood comes not to it from before it nor behind it; a revelation from One Wise, Praiseworthy) (Fussilat: 42). Disbelief and polytheism; in the Quran: (And say: the truth has come and the falsehood has vanished; surely falsehood is ever bound to vanish) (Al-Isra': 81). The idol, or the devil; in the Quran: (Those who believe in the falsehood and disbelieve in Allah, they are the losers) (Al-'Ankabut: 52). Injustice and aggression; in the Quran: (And do not consume your property among yourselves by the falsehood), that is, by injustice (Al-Baqara: 188). In the legal sense: what is not prescribed, neither in its root nor in its description (Ibn 'Abidin). According to the Malikis: the non-fulfillment of the conditions; it is identical with the fasid. According to the Hanafis: what is not valid in its root; what is of no account and yields nothing; what falls short of meaning from every angle though the form exists, either for lack of capacity or of locus, such as the sale of the minor and that of the free man; it is identical with the fasid in acts of worship. According to the Shafi'is: what implies contradiction of validity and contrariety to the Law; the batil among contracts: that which produces no effect; among acts of worship: that which does not remove the obligation of make-up. According to the Hanbalis: like the saying of the Shafi'is; it is identical with the fasid. According to the Ibadis: the absence of the legally sound; and what a ruler who has deviated from the truth judges by.
﴿وَلَا تَلْبِسُوا۟ ٱلْحَقَّ بِٱلْبَـٰطِلِ وَتَكْتُمُوا۟ ٱلْحَقَّ وَأَنتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ﴾
« And do not mix the truth with falsehood or conceal the truth while you know [it]. »
Surah البقرة : 42
﴿وَلَا تَأْكُلُوٓا۟ أَمْوَٰلَكُم بَيْنَكُم بِٱلْبَـٰطِلِ وَتُدْلُوا۟ بِهَآ إِلَى ٱلْحُكَّامِ لِتَأْكُلُوا۟ فَرِيقًۭا مِّنْ أَمْوَٰلِ ٱلنَّاسِ بِٱلْإِثْمِ وَأَنتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ﴾
« And do not consume one another's wealth unjustly or send it [in bribery] to the rulers in order that [they might aid] you [to] consume a portion of the wealth of the people in sin, while you know [it is unlawful]. »
Surah البقرة : 188
﴿يَـٰٓأَهْلَ ٱلْكِتَـٰبِ لِمَ تَلْبِسُونَ ٱلْحَقَّ بِٱلْبَـٰطِلِ وَتَكْتُمُونَ ٱلْحَقَّ وَأَنتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ﴾
« O People of the Scripture, why do you confuse the truth with falsehood and conceal the truth while you know [it]? »
Surah آل عمران : 71
﴿ٱلَّذِينَ يَذْكُرُونَ ٱللَّهَ قِيَـٰمًۭا وَقُعُودًۭا وَعَلَىٰ جُنُوبِهِمْ وَيَتَفَكَّرُونَ فِى خَلْقِ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ رَبَّنَا مَا خَلَقْتَ هَـٰذَا بَـٰطِلًۭا سُبْحَـٰنَكَ فَقِنَا عَذَابَ ٱلنَّارِ﴾
« Who remember Allah while standing or sitting or [lying] on their sides and give thought to the creation of the heavens and the earth, [saying], "Our Lord, You did not create this aimlessly; exalted are You [above such a thing]; then protect us from the punishment of the Fire. »
Surah آل عمران : 191
﴿يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ لَا تَأْكُلُوٓا۟ أَمْوَٰلَكُم بَيْنَكُم بِٱلْبَـٰطِلِ إِلَّآ أَن تَكُونَ تِجَـٰرَةً عَن تَرَاضٍۢ مِّنكُمْ ۚ وَلَا تَقْتُلُوٓا۟ أَنفُسَكُمْ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ كَانَ بِكُمْ رَحِيمًۭا﴾
« O you who have believed, do not consume one another's wealth unjustly but only [in lawful] business by mutual consent. And do not kill yourselves [or one another]. Indeed, Allah is to you ever Merciful. »
Surah النساء : 29
﴿وَأَخْذِهِمُ ٱلرِّبَوٰا۟ وَقَدْ نُهُوا۟ عَنْهُ وَأَكْلِهِمْ أَمْوَٰلَ ٱلنَّاسِ بِٱلْبَـٰطِلِ ۚ وَأَعْتَدْنَا لِلْكَـٰفِرِينَ مِنْهُمْ عَذَابًا أَلِيمًۭا﴾
« And [for] their taking of usury while they had been forbidden from it, and their consuming of the people's wealth unjustly. And we have prepared for the disbelievers among them a painful punishment. »
Surah النساء : 161
This term appears in 23 verses of the Quran.