# What does "al-Sihal" mean?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-al-sihal-mean/116356>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 28, 2002, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-al-sihal-mean/116356 "2002-06-28T10:31:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ricksummon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ricksummon/32/3333_2.png) [@ricksummon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricksummon)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2002, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-al-sihal-mean/116356/1 "2002-06-28T10:31:24Z")

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In D&D, the gateway to the 7th Heaven is called the “bridge of al-Sihal.” Obviously, this word is Arabic, but what does it mean?

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**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\
**Post date:** [June 29, 2002, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-al-sihal-mean/116356/2 "2002-06-29T03:07:42Z")

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It’s Dungeons and Dragons? Can’t it just be a made-up word, like “Lankhmar”?

Nothing comes up on Google.

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**Author:** ![Chazee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d07c76/32.png) [@Chazee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chazee)\
**Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-al-sihal-mean/116356/3 "2015-09-23T02:13:13Z")

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Doesn’t mean anything… I speak Arabic and I asked my teacher of what does it mean cuz it looks Arabic. He said the it doesn’t mean anything. Probably they wanted to say “deserts” but that word is like “suhool” which is similar to it but with one Different letter in Arabic.

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**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\
**Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-al-sihal-mean/116356/4 "2015-09-23T10:55:40Z")

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My guess is that they meant to write as-Sirat (which is, in the Muslim afterlife, the bridge that you have to cross to get to heaven…if you were a bad person, you fall off and go to Hell), but they just spelled it wrong or changed it.

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**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\
**Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-al-sihal-mean/116356/5 "2015-09-23T15:45:01Z")

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It was a tribute to early D&D playtester, Allan Sihal.

No, I can’t document that.