Discover the meaning of the term Al-mjml (مجمل) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 4 min readIt is that whose intended meaning is hidden, such that it cannot be grasped from the expression itself except by explanation from the one who speaks summarily (mujmil); whether because of the rivalry of equally weighted meanings, as with the equivocal term (mushtarak), or the strangeness of the word, as with 'hallu'' (ravenous), or its passing from its evident meaning to what is not known, so that one resorts first to questioning, then to request, then to reflection, as with salah (prayer), zakat and riba; for salah in language is supplication, and that is not what is meant; the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) clarified it by deed; one then asks after the meaning for which salah was made prayer: is it humility and submission? or the known pillars? Then one interprets further: one passes to the funeral prayer over the one behind him: does he pray or not?
That in which two meanings or more combine without one outweighing the rest, so that what is intended becomes ambiguous with an ambiguity graspable only through explanation from the one who speaks summarily. The difference between it and the mushtarak (equivocal) is that the concurrence of meanings in the mushtarak is by coinage alone, whereas in the mujmal it is by coinage together with the strangeness of the word and its impenetrability, without equivocation in it, and with regard to the speaker's obscuring of the speech. The mujmal is of three kinds: a kind whose meaning is not understood in language, as 'hallu'' before explanation; a kind whose meaning is known in language but not intended, as riba, salah and zakat; and a kind whose meaning is known in language except that it is multiple, while what is intended is one of them and cannot be determined, the path of preference being closed regarding it. The detail is in the books of usul. The difference between the mujmal and the mutlaq (unrestricted) is treated under 'mutlaq.'
In language: it is used for two things: one says 'ajmaltu al-hisab': I gathered the scattered reckoning; on this basis it is permitted to apply the name mujmal to the general ('amm), because it embraces a set of denominations; the mujmal is then the collected. It is also used for vagueness and concealment: one says 'so-and-so ajmala al-amr 'alayya' (made the matter vague to me): that is, he left it obscure. In law: in 'al-Dustur': the mujmal is that in which two meanings or more combine without one outweighing the rest, so that what is intended becomes ambiguous with an ambiguity graspable only through explanation from the mujmil. In 'Mizan al-Usul': it is the expression that needs explanation for the listener while being known to the speaker. In 'Lubb al-Usul': the mujmal is that whose indication has not become clear. In 'Ahkam al-Fusul': what is intended by it is not understood from its expression, and it needs other than itself for its explanation. In 'al-Hudud al-Aniqa': that whose indication has not become clear.
That whose indication has not become clear; it is that whose intended meaning is hidden such that it cannot be grasped in the expression itself except by explanation from the mujmil (al-Ta'rifat, p. 215).