Discover the meaning of the term Al-ḥal- (حال) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 3 min readLinguistically: the end of the past and the beginning of the future. Technically: what indicates the state of the agent or the object, by a word, as in "I struck Zayd while standing" (darabtu Zaydan qa'iman), or by meaning, as in "Zayd is in the house, standing". The hal, for the people of truth: a meaning that comes upon the heart without affectation, without being drawn or acquired: joy, sorrow, contraction, expansion, or awe; it vanishes upon the appearance of the soul's traits, whether a similar state follows or not. When it lasts and becomes a settled mastery, it is called maqam: the hal are gifts and the maqamat acquisitions; the hal come from the very spring of generosity, while the maqamat are attained by expending effort.
An attribute of an existent, not qualified by existence and nonexistence. That which indicates the state of the agent or the object, verbally or in meaning.
Matters that prompt one to speak in a specific way; a meaning that arrives at the heart without affectation or acquisition.
Linguistically: the attribute of a described thing. With the logicians: a swiftly vanishing disposition, such as heat, cold, dryness or accidental moisture; mentioned by al-Raghib (al-Mufradat, p. 137). Ibn al-Kammal said (al-Ta'rifat, p. 85): the hal, linguistically, is the end of the past and the beginning of the future.
With the light lam: the attribute; also applied to the time one is in. With the geminated lam: the opposite of the deferred (mu'ajjal) and the deferred term (nasi'a).
The thing, hawlan: a year passed over it; al-hawl: completed; the thing: it changed; one says: the color changed, the time changed. The thing between two things, hawlan: it intervened between them; hawlula: to set them apart; in the Quran: "The wave came between them, and he was among the drowned" (Hud 11:43). As for the noble verse: "Know that Allah intervenes between a man and his heart, and that to Him you will be gathered" (al-Anfal 8:24), it alludes to what is said of His description: "the Turner of hearts": He casts into man's heart what diverts him from his aim, by a wisdom that requires it.