Discover the meaning of the term Al-ikrah (إكراه) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 2 min readCompelling another to what he dislikes by means of threat.
It is compulsion and coercion upon what a man dislikes, by nature or by the Sharia, coercion taking precedence over the lack of consent, in order to remove what is more harmful.
In language: it denotes compelling a person to something he dislikes.
In language: compelling a person to a matter he does not want, by nature or by the Sharia; its noun is al-kurh (with fatha). In the Sharia: compelling another to what he dislikes by threat. In another wording: an act one performs
In language: from 'kurh' (with damma) meaning coercion, or from 'karh' (with fatha) meaning hardship; it is compelling another to a thing he does not approve; one says: 'akrah-tu fulanan ikrahan' (I compelled him), and: I charged him with what he does not love and does not approve.
A coercive threat, backed by punishment, concerning a fearsome danger which the threatener is able to carry out at once.
Compelling another to what he dislikes by severe threat.
It is forcing someone to perform an act against right without his consent by intimidation; he is called 'mukrah' (the coerced); the one who compels is called 'mujbir' (the coercer); the act is then 'makrah 'alay-hi' (a thing coerced upon him), and the thing occasioning fear is 'mukrah bi-hi' (that by which one is coerced).