Ajal Mu'allaq: Difference between revisions

'''Al-Ajal al-mu'allaq''' (Arabic: {{ia|الأجل المعلَّق}}), or suspended time or term, is an indeterminate and changeable time of one's death. It is contrasted to [[al-ajal al-musamma]], which refers to the determinate and inevitable time of one's death, of which only [[God]] is aware. In the view of [[Sayyid Muhammad Husayn Tabataba'i]], al-ajal al-mu'allaq is the time of one's death in accordance with his or her bodily circumstances, which can be hastened or postponed depending on external factors.

According to Islamic sources, one's death is postponed by things such as [[charity]], [[Silat al-Rahim|ties with one's relatives]], good behaviors towards one's neighbors, quitting sins, and [[visiting Imam al-Husayn (a)]]. And there are things that shorten one's life, such as committing [[sin]]s like [[fornication]], offending one's father or mother, [[false oath]], and [[cutting ties with one's family]].

==Al-Ajal==

{{Main|al-Ajal}}

In Arabic, "al-ajal" refers to something's time span or temporal period. When applied to humans, it means the time of death. In the [[Qur'an]], humans are said to have two types of al-ajal: [[al-ajal al-musamma]] (or determined time or term) and al-ajal without any qualifications, to which [[exegete]]s have referred as "ajal ghayr musamma" (undetermined time or term), "qada' ghayr mahtum" (non-decided fate), and "al-ajal al-mu'allaq" (suspended time or term).

According to [['Allama Tabataba'i]], al-ajal al-musamma is the determined and inevitable or unchangeable time of one's death, of which only God is aware. It is contrasted to al-ajal al-mu'allaq, which refers to the natural time of one's death, which is changeable. In his view, al-ajal al-mu'allaq is the time of one's death depending on his or her bodily conditions. Thus, a person whose bodily conditions allow him to live one hundred years, his "suspended term" (that is, the time of his death) is one hundred years. However, the same person might indeed die sooner or later because of other factors, and this is his "determined term" (al-ajal al-musamma).

Al-Ajal al-mu'allaq (suspended time or term) and [[al-ajal al-musamma]] (determined term) were debated under Quranic [[verse]]s, particularly the verse 2 of [[Sura al-An'am]] (4), in which two "al-ajal"s or terms for the human being are referred to: "It is He who created you from clay and then decreed a term (al-ajal) and a specified time (al-ajal al-musamma) [known] to Him."

Some exegetes appeal to this verse to show that there are two al-ajals or terms for the human being: inevitable and suspended; the Qur'an refers to the former as "musamma", whereas the latter is mentioned without any modifiers, and was later called "al-mu'allaq" (suspended) by scholars.

There are other interpretations of the two types of [[al-ajal]] as well. For example, some people believe that "al-ajal al-musamma" in the verse refers to one's life span from death to the beginning of [[resurrection]], and the other type of al-ajal is one's life span in this world. It is also said that "al-ajal al-musamma" is the end of the life of people who are still alive, in contrast to another type of al-ajal which is the end of the life of people who are dead.

According to Quranic verses and [[hadith]]s, some actions postpone or hasten one's al-ajal al-mu'allaq. Sayyid Muhammad Husayn Tabataba'i cites verses 3 and 4 of [[Sura Nuh]] (71) to show that [[worshiping God]], [[piety]], and obeying the [[Prophet (s)]] postpone one's death.

According to hadiths, one's al-ajal al-mu'allaq is postponed by charity, [[ties with one's relatives]], good behaviors towards one's neighbor, quitting sins, [[visiting Imam al-Husayn (a)]], frequently [[thanking God]], and reciting [[Sura al-Ikhlas]] (112) after every [[prayer]]. Moreover, some actions hasten al-ajal al-mu'allaq, such as [[fornication]], offending one's father and mother, [[false oath]], and [[cutting ties with one's family]].