Discover the meaning of the term Al-qyas (قياس) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 3 min readIn language: it is measuring; one says: I measured the sole by the sole, when I measured and equaled it; and it is referring a thing to its like. In the Law: it is the meaning drawn from the text, to extend the ruling of the one on whom it is stated to another; it is the joining of root and branch in the ruling.
A proposition composed of propositions which, once granted, yield of themselves another proposition, as when we say: the world is multiple, and everything multiple is originated; it is a proposition composed of two propositions which, once granted, yield of themselves: the world is originated; that with the logicians. With the usulists: qiyas is the exposition of the mentioned ones' ruling upon a like of its cause in the other; the choice of the word exposition rather than establishment, because qiyas manifests the ruling without establishing it; and the mention of the ruling's like and the cause's like, as a precaution against the obligation of asserting the attributes' transfer; and the choice of the word mentioned ones, that qiyas embrace what is done between existents and what is done between nonexistents.
In language: measuring; one says: I measured the land by the cane, when I measured it by it; and equalizing; one says: he measured the sole by the sole, when he matched and equaled it; its object is governed with 'ala by inclusion of the passive's sense, the formula's transfer to the included sense.
A proposition composed of propositions which, once granted, yield of themselves another proposition, as: the world is multiple, and everything multiple is originated; it is thus of a proposition composed of two propositions which, once granted, yield of themselves: the world is originated.
With the people of the balance: composed of propositions which, once granted, yield of themselves another proposition, as: the world is multiple, and everything multiple is originated; it is thus of a proposition composed of two propositions which, once granted, yield of themselves: the world is originated.