Discover the meaning of the term Al-mnaẓra (مناظرة) in Islamic vocabulary.
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Updated on 11 April 2026 at 1:05 AM
📖 2 min readIt is the seeing with insight, from both sides, into the relation between two things, to bring out the right; it may also be with oneself.
With its practitioners: the disputants' directing themselves to the relation between two things, to bring out the right; the word is from either al-nazir, in the sense that their starting point is one thing; or al-nazar in the sense of seeing, not of thinking and ordering; or in the sense of turning the soul to the intelligibles and contemplating them; or in the sense of waiting; or in the sense of confronting. The aptness (munasaba): in the first case there is allusion to munazara being between equals, neither of them at the utmost degree of loftiness and perfection while the other is at the lowest degree of abasement, diminution, and decline.
In language: from al-nazir, or from al-nazar with insight. Technically, per the Ta'rifat: the seeing with insight, from both sides, into the relation between two things, to bring out the right; it may also be with oneself (al-Ta'rifat, p. 207; al-Kulliyyat, p.
849).
The seeing with insight, from both sides, into the relation between two things, to bring out the right.
In language: from al-nazir, or from al-nazar with sight.