The word · Belief
الأَجَل
Ajal
The appointed term of a life or a nation, which does not arrive early or run late.
Also written · Ajel · Ajl · Ajal musamma · Appointed term · Appointed time of death · Lifespan · Fixed term
The meaning
What Ajal means in Islam
The Qur'an says that when their term comes they cannot delay it by an hour, nor bring it forward (Qur'an 7:34). It is why a believer can take medicine and take cover without any contradiction: means are commanded, outcomes are decreed. The reports that keeping ties of kinship lengthens a life are explained as blessing placed in the time given, or as what stands in the angels' record rather than in Allah's knowledge.
Evidence · Qur’an · Stated directly in the Qur’an
Read beside it
Words that sit beside it
- QadrAllah's decree: that He knows, wrote, willed and created all that happens, without forcing anyone to sin.القَدَر
- QadaAllah's decree carried out: the partner word to qadr, though scholars differ over which term means which.القَضَاء
- Malak al-MawtThe angel of death, who takes each soul at its appointed time by Allah's command.مَلَكُ المَوْت
- BarzakhThe state between death and the resurrection, where the soul waits after the body is buried.البَرْزَخ
More from Belief
- Adhab al-QabrThe punishment or ease a person meets in the grave, before the Day of Judgement arrives.عَذَابُ القَبْر
- Ba'thThe resurrection: bodies raised and souls returned, so that everyone stands for judgement.البَعْث
- IstidrajBeing drawn in slowly by blessings while sinning, so that ease becomes a punishment rather than approval.الاِسْتِدْرَاج
- Lawh MahfuzThe Preserved Tablet, in which everything decreed was written down before it happened.اللَّوْحُ المَحْفُوظ
- QarinThe jinn companion assigned to each person, whose work is whispering toward wrong.القَرِين
- SunnahThe Prophet's way in belief, worship and conduct, and the measure against which innovation is judged.السُّنَّة