Discover the meaning of the term Hbl alwryd (حبل الوريد) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 3 min readThe jugular vein (habl al-warid): a vein in the neck. In the Noble Quran: 'We created man and We know what his soul whispers to him, and We are nearer to him than his jugular vein' (Qaf, 16). Al-habl: a verbal noun; or everything that something else contains: thus the child is the habl of the womb, the pearl the habl of the shell, the drink the habl of the bottle. Plural: ihbal. The habl is specific to human beings; for what is not human, of beasts or trees, one says: himl (offspring). Al-Nawawi said: the philologists agreed upon this. Al-habalah: pregnancy; the ta entered it to signal femininity. Plural: habil. Al-habalah: the grapevine. Habl al-habalah: the offspring of the offspring in the womb of the she-camel or other animal. In the noble hadith, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) forbade the sale of habl al-habalah, because it is the sale of something nonexistent, unknown, and impossible to deliver. According to Ibn 'Umar: the people of the Jahiliyyah used to trade among themselves in the meat of camels down to the habl al-habalah, and habl al-habalah is that the she-camel gives birth, then the one that gave birth carries in turn. According to the Malikis: the sale of a commodity for a deferred price until the she-camel gives birth to what is in her womb, then what is in her womb gives birth. According to the Hanafis: the sale of what the foetus will bear, if it is female. According to the Shafi'is: like the Malikis' view; or: selling the offspring of the offspring. According to the Hanbalis, Ishaq ibn Rahawayh, Ibn Habib al-Maliki, al-Tirmidhi and Abu 'Ubaydah Ma'mar ibn al-Muthanna: the immediate sale of the offspring of the pregnant she-camel. According to the Ibadis: like the Shafi'is' view.