Arabic vocabulary
عَقْلِreason in Arabic
عَقْلِ is how you say “reason” in Arabic. Hear it pronounced and see it used in real example sentences from classical texts below.
Root ع ق ل (ʿ-q-l)noun (verbal noun / maṣdar of Form I عَقَلَ)Pronounced ʿaql
Meaning of reason in Arabic
- reason, intellect, understanding — the mental faculty; one who possesses it is called ʿāqil
- restraint, the act of binding or withholding — the primary literal sense, e.g. hobbling a camel's foreleg with a rope (ʿiqāl)
- bloodwit, payment of compensation for a slain person — extended legal usage — giving or exacting the diya owed to the victim's kin
ʿAql is the standard Arabic word for reason or intellect, the quality that makes a person ʿāqil ('rational, sane'). Classical lexicographers connect this abstract sense to the word's literal, primary meaning of binding or restraining — as when a camel's leg is hobbled with a ʿiqāl — reason being what 'restrains' a person from improper conduct. The same root also carries legal-tribal usage: ʿaql for paying or exacting the bloodwit (diya), and al-ʿāqilah for the kin-group collectively responsible for it.
Words from the same root
- عَقَلَto bind/hobble (a camel); to restrain; to pay bloodwit; to be intelligent
- عَاقِلٌintelligent, rational, sane (person)
- عِقَالٌthe rope used to hobble a camel; also a unit of collected poor-rate
- عَاقِلَةٌthe group of kinsmen liable to pay bloodwit for one of their own
- عَقَّلَto hobble a number of camels (intensive of ʿaqala)
Common questions
- How do you say "reason" in Arabic?
- Reason is ʿaql (عَقْل), from the root ع-ق-ل, the same root that gives ʿāqil ('rational, sane person').
- What does the root ع-ق-ل literally mean?
- Literally 'to bind, withhold, or restrain' — as in hobbling a camel's leg with a rope (ʿiqāl); the sense of 'reason' developed from this idea of restraint.
Definitions synthesised from Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon (E. W. Lane, 1863–1893).
Example sentences
وَبَاعِثُ الْعَقْلِ وَالدِّينِ يَمْنَعُ مِنْهُ
And the prompting of reason and religion prevents him from it.
العقل — the reason. A definite noun ('reason') owned by the 'prompting' before it, closing that 'of' pairing as 'the prompting of reason'. As the owner term it takes the genitive ending. The al- supplies 'the' without a separate word.
From: Patience and the Human Self →وَلِهَذَا أَجَابَ مُعَاوِنُ الشَّرْعِ بِالْتَغْرِيبِ وَالْتَرْهِيبِ يَقْوَى جُنْدُ الْعَقْلِ
For this reason an assistant of the Shari'a replied: By alienation and intimidation the forces of reason become stronger.
الْعَقْلِ — of reason. The owning half of 'the forces OF reason', made definite by al- and in the genitive as the possessor. Placed directly after the head-noun with no word for 'of', it both completes the phrase and makes the whole subject definite.
From: Guarding the Heart from Heedlessness →
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