Discover the meaning of the term Al-jaʾḥa (جائحة) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 2 min readIn language: the calamity that ravages wealth, drought or civil strife; derived from al-jawh meaning uprooting and destruction; one says: 'ja'ahathumu l-ja'iha, wajtahathum, wa-jaha llahu malahu, wa-ajhahu': meaning He destroyed it by the calamity (the 'afa). The ja'iha may be a cause of necessity. As a technical term: everything whose approach cannot be repelled when it is known, heavenly, such as cold, heat, locusts, and rain. It has been said: it is the 'afa that destroys fruits and wealth and uproots them, every great calamity and murderous discord; plural: jawa'iha. Az-Zurqani defined it: what destroys a quantity of fruit or vegetation that cannot ordinarily be repelled. The relation between the 'aha and the ja'iha is that of the caused to the cause: the ja'iha is a cause of some types of 'aha and is not the 'aha itself. (Tahdhib al-Asma' wa-l-Lughat 3/57; al-Mughni of Ibn Batish 1/338; al-Matali', p. 244; Ghurar al-Maqala, p. 222; Nayl al-Awtar 4/168; al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya 28/193, 29/238; az-Zurqani's commentary on al-Muwatta' 3/264; ad-Dasuqi's gloss 3/185).
An agent noun, feminine of ja'ih; plural: jawa'iha; the calamity (disaster). And the ja'iha of years: rigorous drought.
The calamity that befalls a man in his wealth, ravaging it entirely and destroying it visibly, such as flood and fire; plural: jawa'iha. In the noble hadith: 'If you sold your brother dates and a calamity struck them, it is not lawful for you to take anything from him. How could you take your brother's wealth unjustly?' As a technical term: what destroyed, in a way ordinarily irresistible, a quantity of fruit or vegetation after its sale. (Ibn 'Arafa).