Discover the meaning of the term Al-ʿdhr (عذر) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 2 min readThat with which the obligation cannot be carried out according to what the Sharia requires except by bearing excessive harm.
In language: it is the plea by which one excuses oneself; its plural: a'dhar; one says: 'I have an excuse (udhr) in this matter': meaning an exit from sin. In 'al-Misbah': ''adhartu-hu 'adhran' (on the pattern of daraba): I lifted the blame from him; he is then ma'dhur, that is, not blameworthy. In technical usage: that with which one cannot
So-and-so, ''adhara 'adhuran': his sins and defects multiplied. : ''Adharta fulanan fi ma sana'a 'adhran wa ma'dhiratan': I lifted the blame from him for what he did. : Of the boy, ''adhara-hu 'adhran': he circumcised him.
What prevents the ruling's (qada') occurrence.
A man's seeking of what would erase his sins, by saying: I did not do it, or: I did it for such a reason. And there is mentioned what removes him from being a sinner, or: I did it and will not return, and this third is repentance; so every repentance is an excuse, but not the reverse. Al-mu'dhar: one who thinks he has an excuse when he has none.
The root of the word is al-'adhira, the impure thing; hence the man's and woman's foreskin is named 'adhra. [Chapter of the ra].
Al-Sayyid said: 'The excuse is that with which the obligation cannot be carried out according to what the Sharia requires except by bearing excessive harm.' And in 'al-Kulliyyat': 'The excuse, originally, is a man's seeking what would erase his sins by saying: I did not do it, or: I did it for such a reason, or: I did it and will not return; this third is repentance: so every repentance is an excuse, but not the reverse.'