Discover the meaning of the term Mutal (معتل) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 3 min readWhat one of whose original letters is a weak letter, waw, ya or alef: in fa’ position, called mou’tal al-fa’; in ’ayn position, mou’tal al-’ayn; lam position, mou’tal al-lam.
In morphology’s terminology: a word one of whose original letters a weak letter; its categories seven, the weak letter therein multiple or not: if not, in fa’, ’ayn or lam. In fa’: called mithal, resembling the sound in no hamzation nor soundness; its past may hold three vowels, unlike ajwaf and naqis. In ’ayn: called ajwaf, its hamzation from the middle like the cavity, its cavity void of the sound letter, its cavity empty and dropped at jzm and stop; also called dhou thalatha, its past three letters from single speaker to feminine address-plural, likewise feminine absent-plural. In lam: called naqis, for its diminution regarding some declension’s acceptance, the nominative, its diminution and dropping at jzm and stop; also called dhou l-arba’a, its past four letters from single speaker to feminine address-plural, likewise feminine absent-plural: the ajwaf become three letters, the naqis worthier, the weak letter at the end, change’s place, as if contradicting the root, named an independent name, the sound like darabtou returning not, being per root, free of the infirm. The weak letter multiple: two or more; if more: the absolute mou’tal, as waw and ya for the two letters’ names. If not more: separating or joining. Separating: called lafifa mafrouqa, for a weak letter’s winding within and their separation. Joining: in fa’ and ’ayn, as wqal, yawm, no verb built of; or in ’ayn and lam, as ghawa, called lafifa maqrouna, for a weak letter’s winding within with the joining.
He who arguments by the efficient cause, also the causalizer.
What holds a weak letter.
What one of whose original letters a weak letter.