The Meaning of Lahw (Diversion) and its Ruling

It is an important jurisprudential issue to find out the meaning of “lahw” (diversion) and its ruling and no deep research has been conducted about the meaning of this term so far. Although this term has been extensively applied in religious and jurisprudential texts, it has been treated as if its meaning has been completely clear. It was under-researched until 9th/15th century when, for the first time, jurists gradually started to research about its meaning. Among the jurisprudential discussion of 13th/19th and 14th/20th century, we find scattered researches in this respect. However, it still seems necessary to study the development of the thoughts of jurists about this concept. An extensive research on the literal meaning of this term and its usages in Islamic texts brings us to the conclusion that the ruling of unlawfulness for lahw is not a general/absolute ruling.