Discover the meaning of the term Al-iʿtaq (إعتاق) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 2 min readIt is the establishing of the legal capacity in the owned slave.
In language: giving the strength of al-'ataq (the severing), which is strength; one says ''ataqa al-ta'ir' (the bird broke free) when it grew strong and flew from its nest. In the Sharia: it is the establishing of a legal strength that becomes fixed in the subject upon the ceasing of slavery and ownership. Slavery is a legal incapacity by which one cannot perform the dispositions and guardianships, for the Lawgiver judged the slave incapable of those dispositions; when that incapacity ceases from him, the man becomes able for those legal dispositions.
It is the removal of slavery and obligation; from it 'al-multazam', which is what lies from the Kaaba's door to the Black Stone corner of its wall (with fatha of the zay), being the place of the iltizam: meaning the freeing. In 'al-Ta'rifat': establishing the legal strength in the slave. In 'al-Tawqif': establishing the legal capability in the slave. (Talbat al-Talaba, p. 160; al-Ta'rifat, p. 24; al-Tawqif, p. 73).
The freeing of the slave from the bond of slavery by a specific expression.
The establishing of the legal capability in the slave (al-Ta'rifat, p. 30).
The establishing of the legal strength in the slave by removing ownership, that is, the strength whereby the freed one becomes fit for testimony and guardianship and able to dispose of others' wealth.