Discover the meaning of the term Al-ḥkma (حكمة) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 4 min readA science in which one investigates the realities of things as they are in existence, to the extent of human capacity; it is therefore a theoretical science, not a practical one. Hikma is also: the disposition of the intellectual, cognitive faculty in the mean, between quick wit (ghariza), which is its excess, and dullness (balada), which is its deficiency.
It occurs in three meanings: the first: bringing into existence (al-ijad); the second: knowledge; the third: perfectly wrought works, such as the sun and the moon and others. Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) interpreted hikma in the Quran as the learning of the lawful and the unlawful. It has been said: hikma in language is knowledge joined with action.
It has been said: from hikma is gained what is true in the very reality of the matter, according to man's capacity. It has been said: every speech that accords with the truth is hikma. It has been said: hikma is well-measured speech guarded from empty filler (hashw).
In language: intelligence (dana'i). The masters of the rational disciplines differ over its definition. The well-known position is that hikma is a science of the states of existing entities as they are in the very reality of the matter, to the extent of human capacity.
By "the entities of the existents" is meant the concrete and external existents. By "human" is meant the man who stands in the middle of people, neither at the utmost height nor at the utmost low. By "as they are": in the manner in which the states of the entities stand, namely necessity, possibility, impossibility, localization (tahayyuz), corporeality (jismiyya) and the like, among them eternity (qidam) and temporal origination (huduth).
It is said that some philosophers hold the world to be eternal and others hold it to be temporally originated, and that both are "wise"; but both cannot conform to the reality of the matter, only one of them being so; it would then follow that one of the two is not wise, yet both are wise. The answer: what is meant is a science of the states of existing entities as they are in the reality of the matter, in his view, to the extent of human capacity; the subject matter of this definition is the external existents; logic is then outside hikma, because it investigates the states of mental existents, since it studies the secondary intelligibles, to which nothing in the external corresponds.
The equilibrium of the rational faculty (an-natiqa).
Originally, it is the perfection of deed and speech, and their sound execution.
﴿رَبَّنَا وَٱبْعَثْ فِيهِمْ رَسُولًۭا مِّنْهُمْ يَتْلُوا۟ عَلَيْهِمْ ءَايَـٰتِكَ وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ ٱلْكِتَـٰبَ وَٱلْحِكْمَةَ وَيُزَكِّيهِمْ ۚ إِنَّكَ أَنتَ ٱلْعَزِيزُ ٱلْحَكِيمُ﴾
« Our Lord, and send among them a messenger from themselves who will recite to them Your verses and teach them the Book and wisdom and purify them. Indeed, You are the Exalted in Might, the Wise." »
Surah البقرة : 129
﴿كَمَآ أَرْسَلْنَا فِيكُمْ رَسُولًۭا مِّنكُمْ يَتْلُوا۟ عَلَيْكُمْ ءَايَـٰتِنَا وَيُزَكِّيكُمْ وَيُعَلِّمُكُمُ ٱلْكِتَـٰبَ وَٱلْحِكْمَةَ وَيُعَلِّمُكُم مَّا لَمْ تَكُونُوا۟ تَعْلَمُونَ﴾
« Just as We have sent among you a messenger from yourselves reciting to you Our verses and purifying you and teaching you the Book and wisdom and teaching you that which you did not know. »
Surah البقرة : 151
﴿وَإِذَا طَلَّقْتُمُ ٱلنِّسَآءَ فَبَلَغْنَ أَجَلَهُنَّ فَأَمْسِكُوهُنَّ بِمَعْرُوفٍ أَوْ سَرِّحُوهُنَّ بِمَعْرُوفٍۢ ۚ وَلَا تُمْسِكُوهُنَّ ضِرَارًۭا لِّتَعْتَدُوا۟ ۚ وَمَن يَفْعَلْ ذَٰلِكَ فَقَدْ ظَلَمَ نَفْسَهُۥ ۚ وَلَا تَتَّخِذُوٓا۟ ءَايَـٰتِ ٱللَّهِ هُزُوًۭا ۚ وَٱذْكُرُوا۟ نِعْمَتَ ٱللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ وَمَآ أَنزَلَ عَلَيْكُم مِّنَ ٱلْكِتَـٰبِ وَٱلْحِكْمَةِ يَعِظُكُم بِهِۦ ۚ وَٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ وَٱعْلَمُوٓا۟ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ بِكُلِّ شَىْءٍ عَلِيمٌۭ﴾
« And when you divorce women and they have [nearly] fulfilled their term, either retain them according to acceptable terms or release them according to acceptable terms, and do not keep them, intending harm, to transgress [against them]. And whoever does that has certainly wronged himself. And do not take the verses of Allah in jest. And remember the favor of Allah upon you and what has been revealed to you of the Book and wisdom by which He instructs you. And fear Allah and know that Allah is Knowing of all things. »
Surah البقرة : 231
﴿فَهَزَمُوهُم بِإِذْنِ ٱللَّهِ وَقَتَلَ دَاوُۥدُ جَالُوتَ وَءَاتَىٰهُ ٱللَّهُ ٱلْمُلْكَ وَٱلْحِكْمَةَ وَعَلَّمَهُۥ مِمَّا يَشَآءُ ۗ وَلَوْلَا دَفْعُ ٱللَّهِ ٱلنَّاسَ بَعْضَهُم بِبَعْضٍۢ لَّفَسَدَتِ ٱلْأَرْضُ وَلَـٰكِنَّ ٱللَّهَ ذُو فَضْلٍ عَلَى ٱلْعَـٰلَمِينَ﴾
« So they defeated them by permission of Allah, and David killed Goliath, and Allah gave him the kingship and prophethood and taught him from that which He willed. And if it were not for Allah checking [some] people by means of others, the earth would have been corrupted, but Allah is full of bounty to the worlds. »
Surah البقرة : 251
﴿يُؤْتِى ٱلْحِكْمَةَ مَن يَشَآءُ ۚ وَمَن يُؤْتَ ٱلْحِكْمَةَ فَقَدْ أُوتِىَ خَيْرًۭا كَثِيرًۭا ۗ وَمَا يَذَّكَّرُ إِلَّآ أُو۟لُوا۟ ٱلْأَلْبَـٰبِ﴾
« He gives wisdom to whom He wills, and whoever has been given wisdom has certainly been given much good. And none will remember except those of understanding. »
Surah البقرة : 269
﴿وَيُعَلِّمُهُ ٱلْكِتَـٰبَ وَٱلْحِكْمَةَ وَٱلتَّوْرَىٰةَ وَٱلْإِنجِيلَ﴾
« And He will teach him writing and wisdom and the Torah and the Gospel »
Surah آل عمران : 48
This term appears in 19 verses of the Quran.