Discover the meaning of the term Al-ʿjb (عجب) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 2 min readIt denotes the conceit (tasawwur) that one deserves a rank to which one is not entitled.
The soul's astonishment at what whose cause is hidden and which departs from the customary.
With damma: the conceit that one deserves a rank to which one is not entitled. With fatha of the first two radicals: the soul's astonishment at what whose cause is hidden and which departs from the customary.
Thinking oneself entitled to a station to which one is not entitled.
A thing's being outside its peers to the point of being rare in its kind; mentioned by al-Harali. As for 'ujb, al-Raghib said (the correct attribution being to al-Sharif al-Jurjani, al-Ta'rifat, p. 151): the conceit that one deserves a rank to which one is not entitled.
One says of one whom his soul beguiles that he is 'ajib bi-nafsihi (self-conceited). The difference from kibr (arrogance) is that kibr requires another over whom one is proud, while 'ujb is confined to being alone.
It denotes the conceit that one deserves a rank to which one is not entitled.