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Background material by Professor Omar Hasan Kasule Sr. for Year 1 Semester 1 Biomed PPSD session on 14th August 2008
OBLIGATORY, Waajib
Waajib is the most important legal ruling. The shafi’e school considers waajib the same as faradh. Individual obligations, fardh aini, cannot be delegated. Performance of a collective obligation, fardh kifai, by any member of the community absolves the rest from sin. However only those with the necessary competence can perform the collective obligations. The rest are not obliged even if they are members of the community.
RECOMMENDED, manduub
Recommended, manduub, is also called sunnat or masnuun, nafilat, mustahabb, tatawu'u, ihsaan, fadhiilat. It is ordained without compulsion. The manduub has got the following levels of excellence: confirmed, sunnat muakkada; and not confirmed, sunnat ghayr muakkadat. The sunnat muakkadat is what the Prophet used to carry out continuously and left it only on rare occasions.
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PROHIBITED, haraam
Prohibited/unlawful, haraam is defined as omission of the waajib or commission of the haraam. The original position for all human acts is permission and prohibition is the exception. Thus textual evidence is required to prove prohibition but is not required to prove permission. The situation is reversed in sexual matters in which the original position is haraam and permission is the exception requiring textual evidence. Only Allah can make something haraam. Haraam is prohibited because it is impure and harmful.
An act that aggravates disease is haraam. An act that leads to haraam is also haraam. An act that cures disease is waajib.
A general principle is that the halaal is clear and the haraam is clear and between the two are inconclusive matters, mutashaabihaat For inconclusive matters what leads to bad or evil is makruuh and what leads to good is manduub.
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OFFENSIVE, makruuuh
Offensive/reprehensible/disaaproved, makruuh, is an act that is discouraged by the Law giver without compulsion. It is better to avoid the makruh. The makruh is an introduction to the haram and must therefore be avoided.
REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS FOR VARIOUS ACTS
The classification of acts can best be understood from the consenquences of doing them or not doing them
Classification of act | Commission (action done) | Omission (action not done) |
Wajib | Reward | Punishment |
Manduub, mustahabb, or masnuun | Reward | No punishment |
Haram | Punishment | Reward |
Makruuh | No punishment | Reward |
Mubaah | No reward | No punishment |