Discover the meaning of the term Al-astfsar (استفسار) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 1 min readLinguistically: masdar of istafsartuhu: when one asks him to explain it to me. Technically: it is said in the Muntaha al-Wusul: the request to expound the word's signification when it is sweeping or strange. The qadi said: whatever is established to admit ambiguity admits questioning.
Al-Manawi said: requesting the stating of the word's meaning where there is strangeness, obscurity, or sweepingness. It is said in the Hudud al-Aniqa: requesting the word's signified, strange through equivocation or sweepingness. The istifsar of the usulists is narrower than that of the linguists and the jurists; with the jurists it is the request for exposition unrestrictedly (Muntaha al-Wusul, p.
192; al-Tawqif, p. 59; al-Hudud al-Aniqa, p. 84; Ghayat al-Wusul, p.
140; al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya 4/57-59).
Requesting the stating of the word's meaning where there is strangeness, obscurity, or sweepingness.