Discover the meaning of the term Al-dlal-a (دلالة) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 5 min readIt is a thing's being in a state such that knowledge of it entails knowledge of another thing: the first is the dalil (indicator), the second the madlul (indicated). The manner of an utterance's indicating its meaning, in the usage of the legal theorists, is confined to the expression of the text (ibarat an-nass), the intimation of the text (isharat an-nass), the import of the text (dalalat an-nass), and the requirement of the text (iqtida' an-nass). The criterion: the ruling derived from the construction is either established by the construction itself or not. In the first case, if the construction is oriented to it, it is expression; otherwise, intimation. In the second, if the ruling is understood from the word in language, it is import; if in the Law, requirement. Dalalat an-nass is thus what is established by the text's meaning in language without ijtihad. The word 'language' means that anyone knowing that tongue knows it from merely hearing the utterance, without reflection, as with the prohibition of uff in: 'fa-la taqul lahuma uffin' (say not to them 'uff'), by which one knows the unlawfulness of striking and similar harm, without ijtihad.
(rah namudan, Persian). As a technical term: a thing's being in a state such that knowledge of it entails knowledge of another thing; the first is called dalla, the second madlul. Verbal dalala of assignment was defined as the understanding of the meaning from the utterance. Objection: understanding, if a masdar denoting the agent (fahmiyya), is an attribute of the hearer; if denoting the object (mafhumiyya), an attribute of the meaning; it cannot therefore be predicated of dalala, which is an attribute of the utterance. The verifier Taftazani (may God have mercy on him) replied: we do not concede that understanding is not an attribute of the utterance; understanding alone is indeed an attribute of the one who understands, and being understood alone an attribute of the meaning; but the understanding of the meaning from the utterance is an attribute of the utterance, for understanding the meaning from the utterance or its being understood from it means the utterance being such that the meaning is understood from it. At most, the reply is: dalala is a simple from which an attribute predicable of the utterance may be derived, while the understanding of the meaning and its being understood is a compound from which that attribute cannot be derived except mediately, as when one says: the utterance is 'manfahum minhu al-ma'na' (of which the meaning is understood).
A thing's being in a state such that knowledge of it entails knowledge of another thing. The utterance's indicating its full meaning is mutabaqa (correspondence); part of it, tadmun (inclusion); its mental concomitant, iltizam (implication), the last comprehending dalalat al-iqtida' (requirement) and dalalat al-ima' (allusion), for if the truth of what is uttered or its soundness depends on ellipsis it is requirement; otherwise, if it indicates what was not intended, it is intimation (ishara); otherwise, allusion (ima'). The first: like the hadith 'rufi'a 'an ummati l-khata' wa-n-nisyan' (error and forgetfulness were lifted from my community) (Ibn Maja, Divorce, 16): meaning exemption from accountability for them. The second: like the Most High's saying: 'was-'ali l-qaryata' (and ask the town).
Combining the root and the branch by means of a factor additional to the effective cause.
A thing's being in a state such that knowledge of it entails knowledge of another thing.
With fatha: a thing's being in a state such that knowledge of it entails knowledge of another thing; the first is the dalil, the second the madlul. With kasra: the guide's fee, and what was allotted to the guide or the proof as wages.