Discover the meaning of the term Al-khaṣa (خاصة) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 2 min readA universal predicated of the individuals of one and the same reality alone, accidentally: whether found in all its individuals, like 'capable of writing in potency' relative to man, or in some of them, like 'writing in act' relative to him, the universal then being derivative (mustadrak). Our saying 'alone' excludes genus and general accident, for both are predicated of realities. Our saying 'accidentally' excludes species and differentia, for their predication of what lies beneath them is essential, not accidental.
Among the technical terms: the khassa is what is found in a thing and not in another. According to the logicians: a universal predicated of the individuals of a single reality alone, accidentally; if found in all its individuals it is comprehensive, like 'capable of writing in potency' relative to man; otherwise not, like 'writing in act' relative to him.
A universal predicated of what falls under the individuals of a single reality alone, accidentally.
A planet's own motion in the sphere of the epicycles (falak at-tadwir).
The opposite of the general. 'Khisas al-bayt furjatuhu': the house's narrowness is its open space; poverty that nothing fills was expressed by al-khisasa (al-Mufradat, p. 149).
What you claim for yourself; the opposite of the general public.