Discover the meaning of the term Al-hdaya (هداية) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 3 min readThe pointing to what leads to the sought end; it has also been said: it is traversing a way that leads to the sought end.
Among the Ash'aris: showing the way that, in itself, leads to the sought end. Among the Mu'tazila: the indication that brings about arrival, that is, the conducting to the sought end; each of the two definitions is contradicted, and the contradiction can be repelled; all of it is mentioned in the margins of the Tahdhib al-mantiq. Al-Tusi's choice is that hidaya is coined for the sense common to the two mentioned meanings, because it is used for both; declaring it coined for one of them exclusively would entail equivocation or the literal and the figurative, which the origin excludes.
Al-irshad (guidance). Among the people of the law: the indication of a way whose characteristic is to lead, whether arrival actually occurs at the moment of guidance or not. [al-Kulliyyat p. 952, al-Ta'rifat p. 229]. 'Al-hadr': a sound, from 'hadara'; al-Jawhari said: to make a sound; others said: 'hadara: he warbled'; one says 'the dove warbled (hadara) sweetly', and its warbling is its cooing and returning as if chanting; one says 'the dove chanted (saja'at), and the camel uttered a cry (hadara)': he made heard his voice and throat. [al-Matla' p. 182, al-Nazm al-musta'dhab 1/199]. 'Al-hadm': the demolition of a building; one says 'hadamtuhu hadman' (I demolished it); 'al-hadm': what is demolished; whence 'I borrow a cry of hadm', meaning of noise, as al-Raghib said. 'Al-hadm', with kasra likewise, but specialized for the worn garment; plural: ahdam; 'hadamt al-bina'' (with shadda): she demolished much of the building, as Allah said: 'that monasteries be demolished'.
The gentle pointing to what leads to the sought end; it is said: the traversing of a way that leads to the sought end.
Showing the way that leads to the sought end, or the indication that leads to the sought end.