What does Tabia mean?

Islam > Glossary > Tabia

Discover the meaning of the term Tabia (طبيعة) in Islamic vocabulary.

Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM

📖 2 min read

Definition Tabia

Tabia according to Kitab at-Ta'rifat (Al-Jurjani)

It is the force running through bodies, whereby the body reaches its natural perfection.

Tabia according to Dustur al-'Ulama (Al-Ahmadnagari)

The principle of essential acts of what holds it, without consciousness nor will. It may also mean the force running through bodies, whereby the body reaches natural perfection. Tabi’a is also applied to reality and essence. Physicians use tabi’a for temperament, innate heat and vegetative power. The Sayyid chérif as-Sanad, his secret sanctified, said in his gloss of al-Moutawwal, in rhetoric: tabi’a in the tongue is the disposition created by nature, psychic qualities issuing from it or not; terminologically taba’i’ and tabi’a applied to the specific form. Said: taba’i’ wider, applied to the principle of every thing’s first essential attribute.

Tabia according to Maqalid al-'Ulum (As-Suyuti)

Motion’s beginning and rest’s ending.

Tabia according to Maqalid al-'Ulum (As-Suyuti)

Likewise, in consideration of the sword’s nature.

Tabia according to At-Tawqif (Al-Munawi)

The force running in bodies, whereby the body reaches its natural perfection, so Ibn Kamil established. In al-Misbah: at-tab’: the created disposition man is formed upon; tabi’a: man’s temperament of blended humours. Ar-Raghib said: at-tab’: conceiving a thing in some form, as the dirham’s flan’s type, wider than the seal and more specific than the engraving.

Related terms: Tabia

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