Discover the meaning of the term Al-ijmal- (إجمال) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 2 min readStating speech in a manner that admits multiple possibilities; specification (at-tafsil) consists in determining some or all of those possibilities.
Stating speech in a manner that admits multiple possibilities.
Stating speech in an indeterminate (mubham) manner.
Stating speech in a manner admitting multiple possibilities; specification (at-tafsil) is the determination of some of those possibilities or of all of them.
In language: acquisition, enumeration, and gathering. One says 'ajma'tu the thing', that is, I acquired it. In the hadith: 'a Book containing the names of the people of Paradise, compiled upon the last of them (ujmila), to which nothing is added and from which nothing is removed.'
Stating speech in a manner admitting multiple possibilities (at-Ta'rifat, p. 7). It has also been said: knowing the parts without being able to distinguish them; and the ijmal of speech is stating it in a manner in which its detail is not made clear (al-Mufradat, p. 98).
Stating speech in a manner admitting several meanings (generally speaking). Speech whose indication does not determine the intended meaning except by a specifier: speech whose intended meaning is known only through a clarification from the side of the mujmal (global statement).