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(a.), lit. “bodily form, shape”. The noun form does not occur in the Ḳurʾān, although verbal and adjectival forms of its root, here denoting a different range of meaning, that of staring fixedly (of the eyes), do occur (XIV, 43/42, XXI, 97). ¶ 1. In philosophy. Here, s̲h̲ak̲h̲ṣ , pl. as̲h̲k̲h̲āṣ , is equivalent to the Greek ἄτομον meaning an individual, a person. Philosophically, the as̲h̲k̲h̲āṣ are to be distinguished from ad̲j̲nāṣ (genera) and anwāʿ (species), as well as Arabic words which may have connotations of the particular or individual such as k̲h̲āṣṣ and ad̲j̲zāʾ …

(a.), the Sophists, from the Greek word for a sophist, sophistēs . At the heart of the Arabic references and discussions lies the Greek text of Aristotle, On sophistical refutations ( Peri sophistikōn eknk̲h̲ōn ). Here sophistical refutations are defined as those arguments which go under the guise of refutations but are, in fact, fallacious and should not be considered as refutations. A little further on in his text, Aristotle describes a sophist as one who capitalises financially on wisdom which is apparen…

(a., pls. ṭuruḳ , ṭuruḳāt , etc.), “road, route, way, path”, apparently a native Arabic word, and with the idea of a way which has been prepared for traffic to some extent by levelling, by the spreading of stones, etc. (see C. de Landberg, Glossaire dat̲înois , Leiden 1920-42, iii, 2204-5). The word shares a common field of geographical reference with similar terms like ṣirāṭ [ q.v.], darb (see R. Hartmann, EI 1 art. s.v.), maslaka and s̲h̲āriʿ [ q.v.], though each is to be distinguished in its usage. In the Ḳurʾān, Moses is bidden to strike a dry road or path ( ṭarīḳ ) throu…

(a., pl. awhām ), lit. “notion”, “supposition”, in particular also “false notion”, “delusion”. In nontechnical parlance the negative meaning of thinking something to be the case, contrary to fact, is preponderant; sometimes it comes close to sahw “inadvertency”, “inadvertent omission”. In later texts it may ¶ acquire the meaning of “hallucination” and “spectre” (see Dozy, s.v.). 1. In philosophy the term denotes “estimation”, the “estimative faculty” (also al-ḳuwwa al-wahmiyya ), and the “notion” resulting from the activity of this faculty (…

(a.) “perplexity”, “uncertainty”, “doubt” in the philosophical sense (though not the vernacular English sense of “being suspicious, dubious”). In ritual, s̲h̲akk signifies uncertainty over the effective performance of an act. In epistemology, it is part of an epistemic ranking from yaḳīn (certainty) to ¶ g̲h̲alabat al-ẓann (likelihood), to ẓann (presumption), to s̲h̲akk (uncertainty), to s̲h̲ubha (suspicion). 1. In Islamic legal and religious practice. In the Ḳurʾān there are 15 usages, all in noun form, often in a formulaic combination with murīb , e.g…

(a., pl. ʿanāṣir ), a term of Islamic philosophy. As a general term, it may be translated as “origin”, “family”, “race”, “constituent”, “ingredient”. Lane provides the example of fulānun karīm al-ʿunṣur , “Such a one is of generous origin or race”. The plural in modern Arabic may also be rendered as “nationalities”. Philosophically, the word means “element” and is the equivalent of the Latin elementum , the Greek στοιχεῖον and its Arabic form (via Syriac) usṭuḳuss . It is a non-Ḳurʾānic word used to specify in Arabic the four Empedoclean elements of fire, air, water and earth. ʿUnṣur …

(a.), verbal noun from the root s-w-s “to tend, manage”, etymologically connected with Biblical Hebrew sūs “horse”, originally used in Bedouin society for the tending and training of beasts, hence sāʾis “manager or trainer of horses, camels, etc.” (this last appearing, via Hindi, in the Anglo-Indian word syce “groom”, Fr. çais ; see Yule-Burnell, Hobson-Jobson , a glossary of Anglo-Indian colloquial words and phrases 2, London 1903, 885-6). 1. In the sense of statecraft, the management of affairs of state and, eventually, that of politics and political policy. ¶ …

(a.), “unit, unity”. 1. As a term in grammar. Here the genitive construct ism al-waḥda is variously rendered in Western grammars as nomen unitatis “noun of unity”, “unit noun”, “noun of individuality”, and “singulative” (but on the last of these, see below). The ism al-waḥda forms the counterpart to the ism al-d̲j̲ins or nomen generis “generic noun” and is derived ¶ from it by adding the feminine ending –atun . If the generic noun refers to something which exists in units, the ism al-waḥda denotes such a unit; if the referent is homogeneous, the unit noun denotes a separate piece. Thus namlun …

(pls. s̲h̲urūṭ , s̲h̲arāʾiṭ ), literally, “condition”. 1. In Islamic law. Here, it has the sense of “condition, term, stipulation”. The term has two major connotations. Generally, it denotes that which does not partake in the quiddity of a thing but upon which the existence of that thing hinges. Ritual cleansing ( ṭahāra ), for instance, is not a constitutive part of prayer ( ṣalāt ) but it is a condition for its validity. In legal theory ( uṣūl al-fiḳh ), s̲h̲arṭ signifies a condition in verifying the ratio legis, the ʿilla . S̲h̲arṭ requires the ruling ( ḥukm ) to be n…

(a.), a journey, voyage, travel; also a travelogue. It is clear from the lexicons that the root raḥala , from which this word derives, was originally associated with camel husbandry. A raḥl is a camel saddle and thus we find such phrases as raḥala al-baʿīr (he saddled the camel) (Lane, s.v. raḥala). The word riḥla thus connoted the act of saddling one or more camels and, by extension, a journey or voyage. The person endowed with skill in the saddling of a camel, or one who travelled much, was called a raḥḥāl in Arabic or, even more emphatically, a raḥḥāla , which neatly t…