The word for wisdom in Islam, and what the Qur'an means by it
Hikma (حِكْمَة), also written hikmah or hikmat, is the Arabic word for wisdom. In the Qur'an it means the God-given ability to see a situation as it actually is and to know the right thing to do in it. The verse that states this most directly describes wisdom as something handed to a person: "God grants wisdom to whomever he wills, and whoever is granted wisdom has been granted abundant good. Yet none take heed except those endowed with understanding." (2:269). Wisdom, on that reading, sits among the largest things a human being can be given.
The word comes from the root ح ك م, which carries the sense of judging and, behind that, of restraining a thing so that it holds steady. The same root gives hukm, a judgement or ruling, and hakim, a person who judges well, and it stands behind one of the names of God, al-Hakim, the Wise. Sound judgement sits at the centre of the word in Arabic, which is why hikma covers conduct as much as it covers thought.
The most useful way to pin the word down is to set it beside 'ilm, the Arabic for knowledge. 'Ilm is what you know: the facts, the texts, the rulings. Hikma is the judgement that decides what to do with what you know, when to do it, and with whom. It takes in timing, proportion and manner. Someone can hold a great deal of 'ilm and still handle a person badly, and someone with little formal learning can say the one sentence that changes how another person sees their life. The tradition calls the second thing hikma.
The word also appears in a fixed phrase that runs through the Qur'an's account of prophecy. Ibrahim prays for a messenger who will "teach them the Book and wisdom" (2:129), and the answer to that prayer is described in the same pairing more than once (2:151, 3:164, 62:2). The Book and the wisdom are named separately every time, which left the commentators to say what the second thing was. The best-known answer, argued at length by al-Shafi'i and widely followed after him, is that the wisdom taught alongside the Book is the Prophet's own practice, the Sunnah. Others read it more broadly, as the understanding of the Book that a teacher passes on. Either way, the pairing treats hikma as something a person takes from another person, which is why the tradition puts so much weight on company and apprenticeship.
Hikma has a practical, situational sense as well. When the Qur'an gives instructions for calling people to faith, it says: "Call to the way of your Lord with wisdom and beautiful counsel, and reason with them in the way that is best." (16:125). Wisdom there is a way of proceeding: reading the person in front of you and choosing the approach that will actually reach them. It also reaches beyond the prophets. Luqman, remembered in the tradition as a sage and, on the majority reading, not a prophet himself, receives it in the same grant language as 2:269: "And we gave Luqman wisdom" (31:12). Among the prophets it comes at any age and alongside worldly power, since Yahya is given it while he is still a child (19:12) and Dawud receives it together with kingship (2:251).
Wisdom of this kind is also something to ask for. Ibrahim's prayer in the Qur'an is "My Lord, grant me wisdom and join me with the righteous." (26:83), and Muslims have repeated it ever since.
Outside scripture the word is in ordinary use. Hikma, Hikmat and Hikmet are common given names across the Muslim world, and schools, clinics and charitable foundations take the name when they want to be known for sound judgement. This site is named for it as well. What we hold ourselves to in carrying the name, now that we put the Qur'an and guidance in front of people every day, is set out in our principles.