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Abū Saʿīd ʿUthmān b. Saʿīd b. Khālid b. Saʿīd al-Sijistānī al-Dārimī (b. 200/815, d. between 280 and 282/893–5) was a prominent traditionist, jurist, and theologian. His teachers were Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal (d. 241/855), ʿAlī b. al-Madīnī (d. 234/848), Isḥāq b. Rāhawayh (d. 237/851), and Yaḥyā b. Maʿīn (d. 233/847) in the science of traditions, al-Buwayṭī (d. 231/846) in jurisprudence, and Ibn al-Aʿrābī (d. 231/846) in adab (belles-lettres). He composed two polemical treatises, al-Radd ʿalā l-Jahmiyya (“Refutation of the Jahmites”) and al-Radd ʿalā Bishr al-Marīsī (“Refutation of Bis…

Ajal is the Arabic term for the predetermined length of one's life or the appointed time of one's death. Qurʾānic verses differ on the question of whether or not ajal, decreed by God, is susceptible of being changed by man. On the one hand, Q 7:34, 10:49, 16:61, 29:53, 35:11, and 71:4 affirm a fixed time of death and Q 16:61, 35:45, and 42:14 state that even sins do not shorten one's lifetime. On the other hand, verses such as Q 2:179, 11:3, and 14:10 imply that punishment and repentance may alter one's ajal. However, the majority of verses reflect the idea that only God can predetermin…

Acquisition (kasb) is a key theological concept that deals with the relationship between God and human action. The verb kasaba, for which kasb is the infinitive, means “he gained” or “he acquired” and has an economic sense. In the Qurʾān it is also given a moral connotation; hence through the performance of acts people accrue praise or blame, reward or punishment (Q 2:281, 286, 14:51, 40:17, and 74:38). When one carries out an act, he or she acquires it and so becomes responsible for it. Some Muslim theologians exploited this verb to resolve a contradiction they perceived betwee…

In English, “world” denotes mainly the entire cosmic system whether created by God, by chance, or simply having existed throughout eternity (q.v.). In its more limited sense the world means the earth (q.v.), all its inhabitants and specifically humankind characterized by certain institutions — social, religious and so on. World also conveys the sense of a special time (q.v.), as in “this world” meaning “lifetime” as opposed to “the world to come” (see eschatology ). Some of these meanings appear in the Qurʾān but are expressed by particular words as explained as follows. ¶ ʿĀlam The word ʿā…

Indications or portents, foreshadowing or confirming something. The concept of sign, one of the most commonly exhibited concepts in the Qurʾān, is expressed mainly by the word āya (pl. āyāt) in almost four hundred instances and by the word bayyina (pl. bayyināt) in approximately sixty cases. Several other words also convey the principal idea or some nuances of āya, for example: lesson ( ʿibra,q 12:111), pattern ( uswa,q 60:4), fact, story, discourse ( ḥadīth,¶ q 45:6), example ( mathal,q 43:57; see parable ), proof (q.v.; burhān,q 4:174), proof ( sulṭān,q 30:35), signs ( shaʿāʾir,q 22:3…