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Insihab (the extension of an act or intention over successive moments)

الانسحاب

Insihab is lexically the reflexive of sahb, to drag; in usul and fiqh it is the conventional extension of an act over successive moments. 1 Thus an intention formed at the start of the first pillar of ablution is taken to carry over all its pillars, though the mind wanders afterwards. 1 It applies to a duty with a flexible time, where resolve at the beginning suffices until the time narrows. 1 In a worship of several acts one intention at the outset is enough, with the Hanafi treatment of the pilgrimage as a noted exception. 2

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Era
The Prophetic Era
Region
Global / Diaspora
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Worship and the pillars

Definition

Insihab is lexically the reflexive of sahb, to drag. In usul and fiqh it means the conventional extension of an act over successive moments of time. 1

Related terms

  • Istishab: lexically keeping one thing company with another; in usul, leaving an established state as it was while nothing changes it. 1
  • Injirar: lexically the same as insihab; in the jurists' usage on patronage (wala'), the transfer of patronage from one patron to another after the first lapses. 1

Ruling

  • In usul: where a duty has a flexible time, the whole time is time for performance; each part requires either the act or resolve to act, and resolve need not be renewed at each part. Resolve at the start carries through the rest until the time narrows. 1
  • In fiqh: a worship of several acts is generally begun with one intention, which carries over its acts. 2
  • Among the Hanafis, an act of worship with several acts carries its intention over all of them. Ibn 'Abidin excepts the tawaf of ifada in hajj, which needs its own basic intention of tawaf because it is independent worship, as well as a part of hajj. 2

People and things also explored

The ruling on one who abandons prayer· Ada' (performance of an obligation within its time)· Adhan (the call to prayer: its ruling, wording, conditions, recommended features and the muezzin)· Bone (adhm): purity, use and retaliation· The adornment of desires and the goods of this world· The people of the bench (ahl al-suffa)· The earth made a place of prayer and purity· Spending in the way of God (infaq)

Sources

  1. al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.3473
  2. al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.3474
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Insihab (the extension of an act or intention over successive moments)”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/concept/insihab/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-23.

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Ideas

Beliefs, concepts, sciences and schools, explained in plain words. Related

The ruling on one who abandons prayer

Al-Sallabi quotes Ali: whoever does not pray is an unbeliever. He then reports from al-Nawawi the dispute over one who neglects prayer while believing it obligatory: the majority (Malik, al-Shafi'i) hold him a sinner to be asked to repent, others hold him an unbeliever, a view ascribed to Ali; Abu Hanifa and the Kufans hold him not an unbeliever but to be disciplined.