Doctrines of al-ajal al-maḥtūm and al-ajal al-makhrūm or al-ajal al-muʿallaq: the problem of fixed and variable ajal (terms/lifespans) in contemporary Shi‘ite thought ABSTRACT The dual concepts of a ‘fixed term’--ajal maḥtūm--and a changeable one--variously termed ajal makhrūm or ajal muʿallaq, are crucial to concepts of divine justice (al-ʿadl) in both Zaydi and Twelver Shiʿite theology. Naturally, these are tied to derivative, variant and distinct theological schema and exegetical trends in Qur’ānic tafsīr posited to explain the dynamic relation between al-qaḍāʾ wa al-qadar and human will (irādah) vis-à-vis divine knowledge/omniscience (ʿilm allāh) without impinging upon justice. Although he ostensibly adopted the theoretical framework of his friend and contemporary Muḥammad Bāqir al-Ṣadr in the formulation described as ‘al-sunnan al-tārīkhīyah’ as a means for reconciling doctrine, Muḥammad Ḥusayn Faḍlallah’s concept was considerably less nuanced and diverged significantly in areas, including the case of suicide. Within the realm of both ancient and contemporary ʿilm al-kalām a hermeneutically consistent expression of the doctrine of variable ajal is a philosophical challenge of grand proportions. This study traces and explores the salient features and contentions of major interpretive trends. At the practical level, the particular interpretation and credo adopted bear a decisive impact on imperatives for action that factored directly in the thinking of Abu al-Ḥasan al-Khoei and Muḥammad Bāqir al-Ṣadr, as well as Faḍlallah to a lesser extent. Source material includes recent commentary on the subjects by a younger generation of scholars including al-sayyid al-ʿalāmah Munīr al-Khabbāz and explication by sheikh Muḥammadī al-Bāmiyānī of the Kash al-Murād fī Tajrīd al-Iʿtiqād of al-Ṭūsī and the gloss of al-Ḥillī. Significant part of this paper is based on an original, unpublished interview conducted by the author with Muḥammad Ḥusayn Faḍlallah on the topic, before his death, in which the sayyid came close to explicitly rejecting the concept of a variable ajal in the service of maintaining the absolute and unitary omniscience of Allah.