Discover the meaning of the term Al-wḍʿ (وضع) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 3 min readIn language: assigning the utterance opposite the meaning; as a technical term: specifying a thing by a thing such that whenever the first is uttered, the second is understood from it.
In language: lowering, and assigning the utterance opposite the meaning, likewise agreement (ittifaq). In the usage of the Arabic grammarians: specifying a thing by a thing such that whenever the first is uttered or conceived, the second is understood from it. Wad' admits four possibilities: first, that each of the wad' and the mawdu' be particular; second, that each of the two be general; third, that the mawdi' be general and the mawdu' particular; fourth, the converse of the third, which has no existence, unlike the first three. Al-Sayyid al-Sanad al-Sharif al-Sharif (may his secret be sanctified) said in the commentary on al-Mutawwal: if you ask what is meant by the wad' being general and the mawdu' particular, I answer: it means that the wadi' conceives particular things in view of a feature common among them and assigns the utterance opposite those particularities all at once, that is, by a single wad' and not multiple wad's, as he assigned the word 'ana' (I) to each speaker singly, and the word 'nahnu' (we) to him together with others, and the word 'hadha' (this) to every thing pointed to, singular and masculine, and so on. What counts in wad' is therefore a general understanding.
That a thing be pointed to by a sensible indication; specifying a thing by another so that the second is understood at the utterance or conception of the first; or assigning the utterance opposite the meaning in the first place.
A mode (hay'a) occurring to a body because of the relation of some of its parts to one another and to external things.
In language: assigning the utterance opposite the meaning.