Discover the meaning of the term Al-bḍaʿa (بضاعة) in Islamic vocabulary.
Contents :
Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 3 min readIt is a copious portion of wealth set aside for trade and handed over to another to work with, on condition that the profit belongs to the owner by way of gratuitousness.
It is wealth which its owner gives to a man so that he may gain by it and benefit from what exceeds it, then return it to its owner when he asks for it.
It is said in al-Kafiya: the ba of bida'a (merchandise) is read with kasra and with damma; likewise in al-Siha. And in al-Maghrib: with the kasra only, after al-Ghuri, which is an ancient well in Medina whose water was plentiful, so that it was said: 'eight by eight.' Al-Manawi said: 'A copious portion of wealth acquired for trade.' Al-bad' (with damma): a mass of flesh that is bad'a, that is, cut into pieces.
The portion of wealth: merchandise and everything in which one trades. 'This merchandise of ours has been returned to us.' (Plural): bada'i. Goods: the merchandise its owner places with another to sell, without taking any fee for it. Merchandise. Al-bad' (ba with kasra and fatha): what lies between three and ten; hence 'in a few years'.
It is wealth which its owner gives to a man so that he may gain by it and benefit from what exceeds it, then return it to its owner when he asks for it. The origin of this word is al-bad', a mass of flesh that is bad'a or cut up.
That in which one trades. (Plural): bada'i. In juristic usage: what the owner hands over to a person who sells and trades with it, the whole profit going to the owner and nothing to the worker (Ibn Abidin). Al-bad' (with fatha): sexual intercourse. : The private part. : In numbering: what lies between three and nine, the saying of some Arabs; and al-bad' is the more eloquent. Al-bu'd (with damma): intercourse. (Plural): budu' and abda'. : The marriage contract. In the noble hadith: 'Women shall seek counsel concerning their husbands.' : Divorce (the opposite). : The dower (mahr). : The private part.