In the early Islamic period, the Kharijites gave it political connotations by declaring that they accept only the hukm of God (حُكْمُ اللّهِ).
The word acquired new meanings in the course of Islamic history, being used to refer to worldly executive power or to a court decision.
[1] Sharia rulings fall into one of five categories known as "the five decisions" (al-aḥkām al-khamsa): mandatory (farḍ or wājib), recommended (mandūb or mustaḥabb), neutral/permissible (mubāḥ), disliked (makrūh), and forbidden (ḥarām).
[2] The ḥukm shar‘ī (aḥkām) in its literal sense carries the meaning of a rule of Islamic law.
Āmidī (d. 631/1234) defines adillah as the science of the proofs of fiqh and the indications that they provide with regard to the aḥkām of the sharī‘ah.