Discover the meaning of the term Al-ighmaʾ (إغماء) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 5 min readIt is a torpor not original, without narcotic, that removes the workings of the faculties. 'Not original' excludes sleep; 'without narcotic' excludes torpor by intoxicants; 'removes the workings of the faculties' excludes dementia.
A torpor not natural, without narcotic, that removes the faculties or renders the rational person unable to employ them, while truly standing. His saying 'not natural' excludes sleep; his saying 'without narcotic' excludes torpor by intoxicants; his saying 'removes the faculties' excludes dementia and drops liability, as with prayer: according to Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, in consideration of the number of prayers, so long as the prayers have not become six the making-up does not fall away; and in consideration of the hours according to his two companions: even if one faints before midday and regains consciousness on the second day after midday, no making-up is due according to them, since in terms of hours it exceeds a day and night; but according to him the making-up is due so long as it has not extended to the time of 'asr, so that the prayers become six; its extension to fasting is rare and is therefore not considered, so that even if one faints throughout a whole month and regains consciousness after it passes, the making-up remains due.
In language: obscurity (khafa'). In technical usage: an affliction of the heart or the brain that suspends the perceptive and motive faculties from their actions while the intellect remains overpowered; it is a kind of illness, wherefore the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was not safeguarded from it. In 'al-Ta'rifat' it is said: it is a torpor not original, without narcotic, that removes the workings of the faculties; 'not original' excludes sleep; 'without narcotic' excludes torpor by intoxicants; 'removes the workings of the faculties' excludes dementia. Al-Manawi said: a swoon that besets a man with the torpor of his limbs for some cause; it is said: a torpor not original, without narcotic, that removes the workings of the faculties; by 'not original' sleep is excluded, by 'without narcotic' torpor, and what follows both: dementia. It is the masdar of 'ughmiya 'alay-hi' (he was fainted upon); he is 'mughma 'alay-hi'; and one says 'ghumiya 'alay-hi', he is 'mughma 'alay-hi', like 'buniya 'alay-hi' (it was built upon), when covered; one says 'huwa ghamiya', like 'asiya'; the same applies to the dual, plural and feminine; and if one wishes, one dualizes, pluralizes and feminizes it, as al-Jawhari mentioned. It has also been defined as: a torpor that removes the faculties and renders the rational person unable to employ them while truly standing. (Al-Ta'rifat, p. 26; al-Tawqif, p. 78; al-Matla', 46-47; al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya, 5/267; al-Mujaz fi usul al-fiqh, p. 39).
The loss of sensation and movement due to an accident. Among the Hanafis: an affliction of the heart or the brain that suspends the perceptive and motive faculties from their actions while the intellect remains overpowered. Among the Shafi'is: the vanishing of consciousness together with the torpor of the limbs. Among the Ibadis: the darkening (ghashawa), which is more specific than drunkenness (sukr), since it retains some discrimination.
A swoon that besets a man together with the torpor of his limbs for some cause; it is said: a torpor not original, without narcotic, that removes the workings of the faculties; by 'not original' sleep is excluded, by 'without narcotic' torpor, and by what follows both, dementia (al-Ta'rifat, p. 32).
An affliction that befalls the brain or the heart, whereby the perceptive faculties and the faculties of voluntary movement are suspended from their actions and from manifesting their effects; the ghashwa (darkening) falls under this; thus in 'Kashaf al-Mustalahat.'