Al-mithli

Definition of "Al-mithli"

Lit: Fungibles. Tech: The Muslim jurists classify things into two categories: those whose elements are distinguishable and those whose elements are indistinguishable. The first category is called mithli. For example, different units of wheat, corn or grapes are not distinguishable. If a person borrows 1 kg of wheat, he must return 1 kg of wheat, but it is not possible precisely to distinguish between the wheat borrowed and the wheat returned. The two are indistinguishable, or mithli. See al-qimi for distinguishable things.