Discover the meaning of the term Tahkim (تحكيم) in Islamic vocabulary.
Contents :
Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 2 min read(Making one one’s judge.) Al-hakam, with fatha of the first two, is a quasi-adjective from al-houkm with sukun of the second: he to whom judgement is delegated; if Zayd and ’Amr, say, are in litigation and appoint Bakr judge between them saying: by what Bakr judges between us, he submitting to us: Bakr judged between them by proof, confession or denial, outside legal penalty and diya charged to the clan, it is valid; Bakr would stand as judge; his ruling is void to his parents’, child’s and wife’s benefit, contrary to his ruling to their hurt, like the judge’s. Al-hakam is a rank below the judge. At-tahakkoum: judging without argument.
Lexically: verbal noun of hakkamahu fi l’amr: making him judge and delegating the matter to him; in the noble Quran: « no! By your Lord, they believe not till they make you judge of their differences ».
Expressing the summit of specificity by the tongue.
It is the two litigants’ taking an arbiter by mutual consent to settle their dispute; called al-hakam and al-mouhakkam.
Verbal noun. By usage: the litigants’ appointing an arbiter judging between them. In the Mejalla (art. 1790): the two parties’ taking, by consent, an arbiter to settle their dispute and claim.