Discover the meaning of the term Al-knaya (كناية) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 3 min readWhat is formed with ab (father), umm (mother), ibn (son) or bint (daughter).
Speech whose intended meaning remains veiled in usage, even though its meaning is evident in the language, whether what is meant by it is the literal or the figurative; there is thus uncertainty as to what is intended, so that intention is required, or what stands in its place by way of contextual indication, as in the mention of divorce (mudakara al-talaq), so that the uncertainty is removed and what is meant becomes definite. Kinaya among the masters of rhetoric (bayan): expressing a thing, whether a word or a meaning, by a term not exact in indicating it, for some purpose: to keep the listener in vagueness, as 'so-and-so came,' or for a kind of eloquence, as 'so-and-so has much ash,' that is, he keeps many hearths burning (hospitality).
What conceals its meaning and is known only through an added contextual clue; hence they called the ta in 'anta' (you) and the ha in 'innahu' (verily he) letters of kinaya, and likewise 'huwa' (he). It is taken from their saying: 'kanawtu al-shay' wa kana-tu-hu,' that is, I covered it.
In language: a name for that in which the speaker's intent is veiled on the side of wording; taken from their sayings 'kunt' and 'kunawtu'; hence the poet's verse: 'I do veil filth by means of others, and at times I express myself by them and speak plainly.'
Speech whose intended meaning remains veiled in usage, even though its meaning is evident in the language, whether what is meant is the literal or the figurative; there is thus uncertainty as to what is intended, so that intention is required, or what stands in its place by way of contextual indication, so that the uncertainty is removed and what is meant becomes definite.