المعنى الاصطلاحي :

The illness which most probably leads to death and which is actually succeeded by death, even if the cause of death is different.

الشرح المختصر :

"Marad-ul-mawt" (final illness): "Marad" (illness) is a state that affects the human body because of a specific reason and makes it unhealthy. It falls into two categories: 1. "Marad ghayr makhoof" (illness that is not serious), which is not expected to lead to death, whether it is chronic, like diabetes, or temporary, such as a toothache, a headache, and the like, unless the chronic disease intensifies and worsens. 2. "Marad-ul-mawt" (final illness), which fulfills three conditions: a. It often leads to death, like cancer and similar illnesses. b. It engenders a fear of death in the heart of the patient. c. It actually leads to the patient’s death, whether death happens as a result of that illness or due to another unrelated cause such as getting killed, drowned, burned, etc. The type of illness can only be determined by experts, physicians in this case, who have the necessary experience in this field. The only opinion that could be accepted in this regard (as to whether an illness is final or not) is that of two trustworthy, adult, Muslim physicians, because it is associated with the rights of Allah Almighty and His slaves. In relation to his health, a person's actions are of two kinds: 1. Actions performed in a state of health or in a state of illness that is not serious, as long as it does not affect one's sanity, and in such a state one is considered fully competent. 2. Actions performed in a state of "marad makhoof" (serious illness that is expected to lead to death), and in such a state one is considered incompetent.