What does “likulli ajalin kitab” mean (Qur’an 13:38)?
Li-kulli ajalin kitāb means that every appointed term has a decree of its own, and the phrase closes a verse in Surah ar-Ra‘d: “And we sent messengers before you and gave them wives and offspring. No messenger could bring a sign except by God's permission. For every appointed term there is a decree.” [Qur’an 13:38]. In Arabic it is لِكُلِّ أَجَلٍ كِتَابٌ. Word by word, li-kulli means “for every”; ajal is a stretch of time whose end has already been fixed for it, and Arabic uses the word for the whole stretch and for the moment it runs out, which is why translators reach for “term”, “appointed time” or “deadline” depending on which of the two a verse has in view; and kitāb grows from the root k-t-b, to write, so it carries the writing and what the writing settles at once. The two spellings people type, likulli ajalin kitab and li kulli ajalin kitab, land on the same three words.
Those three words close what the rest of the verse opens. People had asked for a sign produced on demand, and the verse reminds them first that the messengers sent before were men with wives and children, then that no sign ever came except by God’s permission, and then settles the timing: what is coming has a time written for it and arrives on that time. The next verse stays with the same writing, “God erases what he wills and confirms what he wills, and with him is the source of the Book.” (13:39), where umm al-kitāb, the source or mother of the Book, names where the record is kept.
Each half of the phrase has its own company in the Qur’an. For ajal, Surah al-A‘raf gives the widest statement, “Every community has its appointed term. When their term comes, they cannot delay it by a single hour, nor can they bring it forward.” (7:34), repeated almost word for word in Surah Yunus (10:49) and shortened in Surah al-Hijr to “No community can outrun its appointed time, nor can they delay it.” (15:5). Surah al-Munafiqun brings the same measure down to one person, “God will never delay a soul when its appointed time has come, and God is fully aware of what you do.” (63:11), and Surah Al ‘Imran ties it back to the writing, “No soul dies except by God's permission, at a time already written.” (3:145). For kitāb, Surah al-Hadid says that “No misfortune strikes the earth or yourselves that is not in a record before we bring it into being” (57:22), and Surah al-An‘am ends its inventory of what God knows with “nor anything fresh or dry, that is not in a clear record” (6:59).
Commentators read 13:38 together with the verse after it, and they differ over how far the erasing and confirming reaches. One reading keeps the decree of 13:38 fixed in the source of the Book and places the erasing and confirming in the records the angels keep, so what changes is what stands written about a person rather than the term itself. Another lets the erasing and confirming touch the term as well, and appeals to the transmitted reports about kinship ties and supplication bearing on a person’s span. Surah Fatir speaks of a life “lengthened or shortened except as written in a record” (35:11) and leaves both readings standing. For a settled position on this, a knowledgeable scholar you trust can take you through the tafsir.
Recited today, the phrase steadies a wait. What you are asking for has a time already set for it, and the setting is deliberate. Surah ar-Ra‘d says as much a few verses earlier, “With him, everything has its measure.” (13:8), and Surah at-Talaq closes the same thought, “God has set a measure for everything.” (65:3).
📖 Source: Qur’an 3:145; 6:59; 7:34; 10:49; 13:8; 13:38–39; 15:5; 35:11; 57:22; 63:11; 65:3
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