عضل

مُعْضِلَةٌ ذ [as a subst.] sing. of مُعْضِلَاتٌ (TA) which signifies Hard, or distressing, events: (S, O, K, TA:) and معضلة [app. accord. to the context ↓ مُعَضِّلَةٌ] a hard, or difficult, or strait, calamity. (Ham p. 258.) Also, and ↓ مُعَضِّلَةٌ, An affair, or a case, that is strait in respect of the ways of getting out therefrom. (TA.) [Hence,] أَعُوذُ بِا@للّٰهِ مِنْ كُلِّ مُعْضِلَةٍ لَيْسَ لَهَا أَبُو حَسَنٍ, (O, TA,) or, as some relate it, ↓ مُعَضِّلَةٍ, (TA,) is a saying of 'Omar, (so in the O, but in the TA “ in the trad. of Ibn-'Omar, ”) who meant thereby [ I seek protection by God from ] every difficult question or case [ for which there is no Aboo- Hasan; meaning, no one such as 'Alee the son of Aboo-Tálib, who was surnamed أَبُو الحَسَنِ, and was celebrated for his answers to what are termed المَسَائِلُ المُعْضِلَات, as is related by En-Nawawee, in his Biographical Dictionary (p. 437)]: (O, TA:) ابو حسن, though determinate, is put in the place of that which is indeterminate. (IAth, TA.)