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Contract, a unilateral or bilateral agreement or promise to do or not to do a thing or a set of things; alliance, a relationship of solidarity and support to preserve and further the common interests of those participating in the relationship. The concepts of a strictly legal contract or political alliance are not well articulated in the Qurʾān. That of a contract (ʿaqd) in the sense of a covenant ( ʿahd, see covenant ) between God and man does, however, appear frequently. The word ʿahd seems at times to be a virtual synonym of ʿaqd although the latter connotes more than the former a sen…

The creation of, or belief in, something that has no precedent or support either in the texts of revelation or in juridical consensus (see revelation and inspiration; law and the qurʾān). Innovation is connoted by two Arabic terms (bidʿa, muḥdath), and derivatives of both roots, b-d-ʿ and ḥ-d-th, appear in the Qurʾān, but in the majority of cases they are not used in the sense of deviating from a set path or precedent. In q 65:1, for instance, the verb yuḥdith is used — with God as grammatical subject — to mean “create” (probably ex nihilo) or “bring some new thing to pass” (see creation ). Derivat…

Excluded from acceptable behavior on legal and religious grounds. The Arabic terms ḥarām and maḥẓūr (the latter is not attested in the Qurʾān) refer to that which is impermissible, expressed in legal terminology as prohibited acts, the performance of which renders one liable to punishment (see chastisement and punishment ). Several derivatives of the root ḥ-r-m, which carries the notion of impermissibility or debarring, appear in the Qurʾān. Often, the verb ḥarrama — with God as the grammatical subject — is used to declare certain foods, acts or games of chance ¶ impermissible, e.g. t…