A general Arabic term (المال) that denotes wealth, property, money, funds, or any valuable things (intangibles included) that can be possessed and used as a countervalue in exchange-based transactions. For an item to qualify as mal in Islamic shari’a, it must meet two conditions: 1) possibility of being possessed, physically or constructively, and 2) having actual or potential, beneficial uses- whether due to possessing use value or financial value.

In its specific meaning, al-mal was used to refer to cash money such as dirham and dinar. For an item to be a subject-matter of a contract, it must be lawful under shari’a. In this sense, wine has no legal value for Muslims, and hence it cannot be bought or sold from a shari’a perspective.

Al-mal is usually classified as fungibles (mithliyyat) and non-fungibles (qimiyyat). Also, it can be divided into movables (manqulat) and immovables (aqar). Al-mal can be owned as either ‘ayn (physical or virtual asset) or dayn (debt).