Discover the meaning of the term Al-iydaʿ (إيداع) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 3 min readSetting another person over the safekeeping of one's property.
Linguistically: setting another person over the keeping of anything at all, property or otherwise; one says "I entrusted Zayd with property and deposited it with him" when one hands it over to be kept. Technically: al-Jurjani said: setting another over the keeping of one's property. Al-Nasafi said: "al-iyda' and al-isti'da'" have one meaning; one says "awda'tuhu", that is, he accepted the deposit, as stated in the Diwan al-Adab, where it is said the word is among the contraries. It has also been defined as a mandate to guard property, and as setting another over the keeping of one's property (al-Ta'rifat, p. 34; Talbat al-Talaba, p. 217; Fath al-Rahim 2/177; al-Tawqif, p. 105; Dustur al-'Ulama 1/215).
A mandate to guard property, likewise.
Setting another person over the safekeeping of one's property (al-Ta'rifat, p. 42).
Leaving. Legally: the mandate given by the owner, or his deputy, to another to keep property and have exclusive charge of it (al-Bajirmi). In the Mejelle (art. 764): the owner's placing his property with another for safekeeping; the guardian is called wadi' (with light dal), and the one who accepts the deposit wadi' or mustawda' (with heavy dal). Al-da'a: ease; abundance and modest living. Al-mustawda': the place of deposit; in the Quran: "It is He who produced you from a single soul, then a lodging place and a depository: We have detailed the signs for a people who understand" (al-An'am 6:98): the lodging is the wombs, the depository the loins. Al-wada': seeing off at travel. Al-wida': settlement. Al-wadi'a: what is deposited; plural: wada'i'. Legally: the contract entailing custody; or the thing entrusted, literal in both respects (al-Bajirmi). With the Hanafis: a trust left with another for keeping, with intention. In the Mejelle (art. 763): the property placed with a person for keeping. Al-wadak: fat; the fat of meat and the unguent drawn from it; the fat of the rump and flanks of the sheep and the calf.