Simplified Table of Measuring

Units

Sheikh Abdul Azeez bin Abdur-Razzaaq Al-

Ghudayaan*

* Judge at the General Court in Al-Khobar.

 Simplified Table of Measuring Units

All praise belongs to Almighty Allah and peace and blessings be

upon the last Prophet, his family and companions.
This is a brief study of the measuring units contained in some
Sharee'ah provisions which I have transferred to modern measuring
units to make it easy for the reader to know the amount of the unit
contained in the Sharee'ah provision like the dhiraa', saa', wasaq, shibr,
baa', mud, uqiyah, etc.
I have arranged this paper in the form of a table so that the reader
would find it easy to reach the amount of each unit. The importance of
this paper lies in the application of the measuring unit contained in the
sharee'ah provision in this age when the old units are no longer available.
Sharee'ah provisions which have such measuring units include, for
example, the hadeeth narrated by Abu Sa'eed Al-Khudree (may Allah be
pleased with him) that the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be
upon him) said, "No zakat may apply to any amount less than five zauds,
no zakat may apply to any amount less than five uqiyas and no zakat shall
apply to any amount less than five wasaqs." (Reported by At-Tirmidhee)
Anas bin Maalik (may Allah be pleased with him) also said, "The
Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) was making
ablution with a mud and washing with a saa' to five muds." (Agreed
upon hadeeth). Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated that
the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said, "If the
quantity of water reaches two qullaas, nothing may make it impure." In
another narration: "it will not hold any impurity." (Reported by the five
scholars of hadeeth and Al-Haakim according to the condition stipulated
by the two sheikhs and the words are by Ahmad. Ka'b bin Ujrah (may
Allah be pleased with him) also narrated that the Prophet (may Allah's
peace and blessings be upon him) said to him, "Or feed six poor persons
a farq of raisins." The man who had sexual intercourse with his wife
during the day of Ramadhaan brought a branch of dates to the Prophet
(may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) (fifteen saa's) and said,
'take it as a charity.'" (reported by Ahmad). Jaabir bin Abdullah (may
Allah be pleased with them) described the tomb of the Prophet (may
Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) thus: "His tomb was raised a
shibr over ground level." (Reported by Al-Baihaqee and is considered

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 Sheikh Abdul Azeez bin Abdur-Razzaaq Al-Ghudayaan

authentic by Ibn Hibbaan.) Abu Sa'eed Al-Khudree (may Allah be

pleased with him) said, "We were giving it (Zakat Al-Fitr) at the time of
the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) as one saa' of
food, dates, barley or raisins." (Agreed upon hadeeth).
In the two Saheehs it is reported that Abu Hurairah (may Allah be
pleased with him) said, "The Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings
be upon him) permitted selling dates with their bushes if they are less
than five wasaqs."
When the above statements are applied these days, one needs to
know the amounts of these units as measured by the modern units.
Through profound research I have found that these units are either
measurements of volumes, weights, lengths or areas. Measures of
volume include the saa' and mud. I have found that may studies transfer
the saa' to different amounts. As the saa' is a unit to measure the
volume), those who transferred it to the kilogram have made a mistake
because weights and volumes differ with regard to foods. Therefore, I
found it more suitable and sounder to transfer the saa' to the litre. A
resolution issued by the Commission of Senior Scholars in the 56th
session under No. 207 dated 9.11.1422 AH. States that the saa' used at
the Prophet's time is equal to three litres and thirty millimetres. I have
adopted this estimation in the table. According to the juristic rules, any
trivial difference is neglected for this estimation is not certain with
regard to the Prophet's saa'; it is a discretionary estimation and may be
closer to the right estimation, and Allah knows best.
Had it been obligatory to know the specific amount of the saa' and
had it been forbidden to use a discretionary amount, our predecessors
would have given specific amounts of these measuring units and such
amounts would have reached us through unanimous narrations. As
there is no reliable saa' at our present time that the nation may take for
granted as the Prophet's saa', this paper is meant to estimate these
measures.
This is the case with volumes, but what about lengths? The basic unit
in measuring lengths is the dhiraa' which the sources, especially the
juristic ones, define as the distance between the end of the elbow and the
end of the middle finger of the human being's arm. This dhiraa is equal

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 Simplified Table of Measuring Units

to six handgrips, each handgrip is equal to four fingers, each finger is

equal to six barley pieces of a moderate size in a cross position adjacent
to each other and each barely piece is equal to six hairs of the mule's tail
hair. Muhammad Baig Al-Falakee (died in 1302 AH.) used several ways
to determine the measure of the dhiraa'. One of his trials included
measuring the dhiraa's of thirty men of medium fathom. He found out
that the average dhiraa' equals 48 centimetres. Ibraheem bin Mustafa
(died in 1328 AH.) carried out a similar trial. He measured the diameter
of 144 barley grains fifty five times and measured the diameter of the
mule's hair eighty one times. The result of his calculations concluded
that the legal dhiraa' is equal to 48.5 centimetres (A Treatise on
Determination of Measures and Weights).
Some interested researchers measured the sides of the holy Ka'bah,
being the holiest Islamic monument. Muslims have always been
interested to know its measures. The measures of the Ka'bah from the
time its building was modified by Al-Hajjaaj in 74 AH. to the time it was
rebuilt by Murad IV in 1040 AH were mentioned in several sources such
as Al-Azraqee (died in 250 AH.) (Akhbaar Makkah, 1/95), An-Naqee Al-
Faasee (died in 832) (Al-Iqd Ath-Thameen, 1/55) and Ad-Diyaar Al-
Bakree (died in 966 AH.) (Tareekh Al-Khamees). Although the building of
the Ka'bah was not modified during that period, the measures contained
in the above sources were different from each other. Al-Azraqee states
that the eastern side of the Ka'bah is equal to 25 dhiraa's, the northern
side is equal to 21 dhiraa's , the western side is equal to 25 dhiraa's and
the southern side is equal to 20 dhiraa's. An-Naqee Al-Faasee states that
the sides of the Ka'bah are: 21 1/3, 17 3/4, 21 2/3 and 18 1/4 dhiraa's
respectively. These different measurements can not be reliable.
Therefore, some interest researches measured Al-Jizza pyramids in
Egypt. Moreover, these sources give different and inaccurate
measurements.
It should be noted that the most accurate measurement of the dhiraa'
is that applied to the pool at the Tubrusiyah School of Al-Azhar Mosque
in Egypt, for it was built by the Hanafites who consider the stagnant
water is not good for ablution unless the surface area of water is 100
dhiraa's or more.

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 Sheikh Abdul Azeez bin Abdur-Razzaaq Al-Ghudayaan

Mahmoud Baig Al-Falakee states that the pool at the Tubrusiyah

School annexed to Al-Azhar Mosque which was built for the surface
area of water to be 100 dhiraa's is exactly square. When he measured this
pool, he found that its width is equal to 3.95 metres, its length is equal to
6.16 metres which means that its area is 24.332 square metres. By
dividing this area by 100, it is found that it is equal to 0.24332 square
metres which is the measure of the square dhiraa'.
By calculating the square root of the figure 0.24332, the result will be
0.4932747712989 metres, i.e. 49.32747712989 which is the length of the
Sharee'ah dhiraa'.
Based on this conclusion, we can say that the dhiraa' is as stated
above and hence can be used to measure other lengths. In weighting
units, I have also found that the two basic units of weight are the dinaar
(mithqaal) and the dirham and that the Sharee'ah dinaar is equal to the
weight of the Byzantium dinaar (Solidos), i.e. 4.547958 grams and that
the dirham is equal to 7/10 mithqaal, i.e. 3.183571 grams.
Having said that, I have calculated these measures in a table which I
ask Allah to be useful and to serve interested people. I would like to ask
those who read it to pray for me.

Volume Measuring Units

Saa 5 1/3 pounds 3.030 litres

Mud Quarter Saa' or 1 1/3 pounds 0.7575 litres
Qullah 250 pounds 142.040 litres
Wasaq Sixty saa's 181.80 litres
Irq 15 saa's 45.45 litres
Farq 3 saa's 9.09 litres
Qirbah 100 pounds 56.816 litres
Qaffeez 12 saa's 36.36 litres
Qist 1/2 saa' 1.515 litres

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Karr 720 saa's 2181.60 litres

Makhtoom 1 saa' 3.030 litres
Makkook 1 1/2 saa's 4.545 litres
Qadah 1/2 saa' 1.515 litres
Rawiyah 500 pounds 284.08 litres
(Qulainin)
Qanfal 12 saa's 36.360 litres
Irdab 24 saa's 72.72 litres
Kailaja 1/2 saa' 1.515 litres
Muda 24 saa's 72.720 litres
Mann 2 pounds 1.136 litres
Wabyah 24 muds or 6 saa's 18.180 litres
Kaleelah 1/12 irdab 6.06 litres

Lengths Measuring Units

Dhiraa' 24 isbaa' or 6 kabdhas 49.32 cm

Isba' 1/24 dhiraa' 2.06 cm
Qabdhah 1/6 dihraa' 8.22 cm
Sha'eerah 1/144 dhiraa' 0.34 cm
Qasabah 8 dhiraa's 394.56 cm
Kadam 1/2 dhiraa' 24.66 cm
Shibr 4/9 dhiraa's 21.92 cm
Bareed 48000 dhiraa's 23.67 km
Farsakh 12000 dhiraa's 5.92 km
Meel 4000 dhiraa's 1.97 km

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 Sheikh Abdul Azeez bin Abdur-Razzaaq Al-Ghudayaan

Baa' 4 dhiraa's 197.28 cm

Khutwah 1 1/2 dhiraa's 73.98 cm
Marhala 96000 dhiraa's 47.34 km
Sha'rah 1/864 dhiraa' 0.057 cm

Wight Measuring Units

Mithqaal 1 3/7 dirham or 20 qiraats 4.55 grams

Dinaar 1 3/7 dirhams or 72 grains 4.55 grams
Dirham 50 2/5 small grains or 7/10 dinaar 3.185 grams
Uqiyah 40 dirhams 127.34 grams
Ratl 12 4/7, 80 dirhams or 90 mithqaals 409.5 grams
Qintaar 12000 uqiyahs (8400 dinaars = 8000 1528.1 kg
dirhams)
Qiraat 0.5/10 dinaar 0.227 grams
Nawah 5 dirhams 15.92 grams
Qamhah 1/72 dinaar 0.06317 grams
Nash 20 dirhams or 1/2 uqiyah 63.67 grams
Asqaar 4.5 mithqaal 20.47 grams
Tasooj 1/2 qiraat 0.144 grams

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 Simplified Table of Measuring Units

Area Measuring Units

Jareeb 6400 square dhiraa's 1557.24799 m2

Qaffeez 1/10 jareeb 155.7248 m2
Faddaan 13824 sahtoot (2.5 jareeb) 3893.119 m2
Donum 40 architect's square dhiraa's 919.3024 m2
Daniq 1/144 faddaan 27.03555 m2
Asheer 1/10 qaffeez 15.57248 m2
Habbah 1/72 faddaan 54.07111 m2
Sahtoot 1/13824 faddaan 0.282 m2
Qiraat 1/24 faddaan 162.21333 m2

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