Khāriq al-ʿāda

خارق العادةkhāriq al-ʿāda

Preferred translation
extraordinary act
Rendered in this work as
matter outside the ordinary course
Technical sense
the general class of events that break the customary course, of which the miracle is one kind
Distinguish from
  • muʿjiza (miracle) — a miracle is a khāriq al-ʿāda put forward by a messenger under challenge; khāriq al-ʿāda is the general class.
  • karāma (charismatic grace) — a karāma is a khāriq al-ʿāda through a God-reliant will outside the station of challenge.
  • kihāna (soothsaying) — kihāna comes to hidden matters by report from the jinn; khāriq al-ʿāda names the class of events outside the customary course, however caused.
  • siḥr (sorcery) — siḥr has its own criterion; khāriq al-ʿāda is the wider class of which it is one kind.

General Technical Meaning

A khāriq al-ʿāda is something that departs from the customary order; extraordinary character alone does not necessarily prove prophethood.

In ʿAllāmah Ṭabāṭabāʾī’s Works

In the reviewed author-endorsed al-Mīzān taxonomy, ʿAllāmah Ṭabāṭabāʾī distinguishes miracle, karāma, divination, and magic among extraordinary operations according to challenge, prayer, and causal mode. The umbrella relation does not make those concepts equivalent.

Source: al-Mīzān fī Tafsīr al-Qurʾān

Note on the Text

The printed text at Chapter 15 §6 reads خارج للعادة where the author elsewhere writes خارق العادة (Chapter 15 heading; Chapter 16); the wording is bound to this entry as a variant of the same expression.

Read in context

Open a passage in the edition where this term is linked.

Canonical address: /glossary/khariq-al-ada/