Discover the meaning of the term Al-klam (كلام) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 3 min readWhat contains two words by predication (isnad).
A science treating of Allah the Exalted's essence and attributes, and of the states of contingents, origin and return, upon the law of Islam; the final restriction excludes the philosophers' divine science. With the grammarians: it is the compound meaning containing complete predication.
A science examining matters from which is known the return (ma'ad) and what pertains to it: Paradise, the Fire, the bridge, the balance, the reward and the punishment; it has been said: kalam is knowledge of the creed's legal doctrines, acquired from the proofs.
Like kalima in derivation, from kalm (with unvoweled lam), which is the wound. It may be used for what one speaks with, little or much. With the grammarians: an expression containing two words by predication, unrestricted, that is, whether that predication is intended for itself or not; kal and jumla are then synonymous, as the author of the Lubab and the author of the Mufassal held, and toward which the words of Imam Ibn al-Hajib, may Allah have mercy on him, point, where he did not restrict the predication to what is intended for itself; when he so restricts it, there is between them general and particular inclusion without restriction.
Making manifest upon the outward what is in the inward, to whoever witnesses it, by one of the modes of manifestation. The science of kalam: a science treating of Allah's essence and attributes and the states of contingents, origin and return, upon the law of Islam. With the grammarians: the compound meaning containing predication and completeness; it has been expressed as: what contains in speech a significant predication intended for itself. The Mu'tazila said: it is literal for the vocal; al-Ash'ari said: at times for the psychic, which al-Subki chose, and at times shared between the two, as Imam al-Razi transmitted from the verifiers. It has been said: like qawl and kalima, it is applied to the vocal, the expression, and to the psychic, the meaning subsisting in the soul. Ibn al-Hajib mentioned that it is shared between the psychic and the vocal (al-Misbah al-Munir, root kalam, p. 539; al-Tawqif, p. 607; al-Tamhid of al-Isna'wi, p. 136).
Complete compounded expressions, and letters indicating beneficial meanings.
Making manifest upon the outward what is in the inward, to whoever witnesses it, by one of the modes of manifestation. Kalam is a science treating of Allah's essence and attributes and the states of contingents, origin and return, upon the law of Islam.