A. TYPES OF HUMAN ACTS
Rulings in fiqh are based on the types of human acts which are required,
permitted, stipulated, disliked or prohibited. They fall under the following
types of Human Acts:
- obligatory
- recommended
- permissible
- offensive
- unlawful
A2. Obligatory (Fara’id)
- referred to as Fara’id (Fard singular)
- these are strict requirements of Allah, to be done
- to perform an obligatory act out of obedience, is rewarded by Allah
- to refrain from or to neglect in doing them, would be punished by
Allah
There are four ways to distinguish obligatory acts:
i) time-based obligation
ii) person-based obligation
iii) quantum-based obligation
iv) specific-based obligation
1.1 Time-Based Obligation
i) Time-restricted:
- when Allah requires an act to be undertaken at a particular time
ii) Non-time-restricted
- when Allah requires an act to be done, but does not specify a time
for its performance
1.2 Person-Based Obligation
This type of obligation is distinguished by whether Allah requires an individual or a
group/ community to perform the act.
i) Personal Obligation (Fard ul-‘Ayn)
- these acts are which must be fulfilled by an individual by himself/
herself. The person will be personally responsible to learn and act
upon these requirements.
- It is insufficient for someone else to perform that act for oneself.
ii) Communal Obligation (Fard al-Kifaya)
- these acts are required by Allah to be performed by the community
to relieve the responsibilities of the individuals.
- If one person fulfils this type of act, it removes the responsibility
from everyone else.
- If nobody fulfils the act, everyone in responsible for the
consequences.
- Some examples of this are:
i. commanding the right and forbidding evil
ii. funeral prayers
iii. medical, industrial facilities
iv. Islamic courts
v. Response to Assalaam Alaikum
1.3 Quantum-Based Obligation
- there are acts that Allah has defined in amounts, in particular
quantities
- there are also acts that Allah has required us to perform, but no
amount has been fixed.
1.4 Specific-Based Obligation
There are two types of these acts:
i) Specificity:
- these are all types of acts which if not performed, one is not free from
its obligation, e.g., prayer itself, fasting, etc.
ii) Alternate-based
- these types are when Allah has given alternatives to the one act.
For example for a person to break an oath, he must feed or clothe
10 poor people or free a slave.
B3. Recommended Acts (Sunnah wa Mandub)
- usually referred to as The Sunnah Acts
- these are the acts that Allah asks us to do, but has not made it
obligatory
- its origins are traced back to what the Messenger, peace be upon
him, regularly (not always) did.
- If one does it out of obedience of Allah, Allah rewards the person.
- If one does not perform it or refrains from it, is not punished.
There are three categories for the Recommended Acts:
i) Confirmed Requirement
ii) Confirmed Recommendation
iii) Meritorious Acts
1.1 Confirmed Requirements (Sunnah Mu’akkada)
- these acts are recommendations which have been confirmed.
- A person refraining from it may not deserve punishment, but may
deserve censure and blame.
- these acts are which the Messenger, upon whom be peace, did not
omit or leave anytime except for once or twice to confirm they
were not obligatory
1.2 Confirmed Recommendations (Nafila)
- these acts are confirmed from the Sacred Laws, but its omission
neither deserves blame or punishment.
- These acts are which the Messenger, upon whom be peace, did not
perform regularly, or did not require to be performed.
- This type of acts include all voluntary acts
1.3 Meritorious Acts
- these acts are considered to be an individual choice for the sake of
Allah.
- These acts are normally undertaken as part of conscious efforts to
perfect oneself.
B. DISPENSATIONS & STRICT FOLLOWING
There are different implications as to the following of either different rulings or
the relaxation of rulings. This section provides only an overview of the complex
nature of this matter.
B1. Strictness (‘Azeema)
1.1 Strictness is what Allah initially initiates.
1.2 It does not consider anything other than the general norm.
1.3 It does not consider one individual’s abilities over another.
B2. Dispensation (Rukhsa)
1.1 Dispensation is based on the notion that what is normally impermissible, is
made permissible out of necessity (Dharura) or need (Hajaat)
1.2 Dispensation is also allowed to omit an obligatory act when a valid reason
exists.
1.3 Dispensation is also a reference by scholars to refer to the easier valid reason
of another school. Scholars refer to the different rulings as a Mercy from Allah.
1.4 It is fully permissible to follow a legal opinion from one of the four Imams, and
on another Imam on a different ruling. This does not mean however, to
indiscriminately choose from each school.
1.5 Dispensations between schools are fully permissible based on the following:
- when one is forced out of necessity that a particular ruling would
impose a severe hardship
- as long as all the related and pre-requisites of the obligatory act is
fulfilled under at least one of the schools of thought. One must not
just put together the rulings of the different schools of thought to
perform one or related act.
1.6 Use of the rulings of different schools can also be undertaken for the personal
intent to exercise greater caution, by following the School of Thought which
provides the more rigorous ruling on a particular act.
1.7 It is considered highly offensive for a person who can follow the strictness of
the law, to seek dispensations.
C. LEGAL RESPONSIBILITY
C1 Aspects of Responsibility
There are three conditions that must exist in an act for it to be legally responsible
on the person it becomes legal upon:
i) The act must be known to the person. This means that the person has
access to know, not the actual knowledge of knowing it.
ii) The act or ruling has been made by someone knowledgeable and
authority.
iii) The act for the person is possible and within the capacity of the person
to do it or refrain from it. Therefore:
- it is legally invalid to impose something impossible
- it is legally invalid to ask that a particular individual be responsible
for someone else’s performance or refraining from it
- it is legally invalid to impose on a person a responsibility of actions
which are innate, e.g., depression, turning red in anger, emotional
arousal, grief, etc.
ii) Hardship is of two kinds:
- what people are accustomed to bear under natural circumstances.
This does not permit one to seek dispensations.
- What is beyond people are accustomed to bear, and impossible for
them to continually endure.
iii) It is a sin for one reject a dispensation if one is in need of it or the
strict act may entail harm.
C2 Who is Responsible
There are two conditions that must exist in an individual for an act to be
legally responsible:
i) one is able to understand the ruling or the evidences. Whilst human
reason is an abstract entity, manifestations of it are embodied in the
onset of puberty without showing any signs of impaired intellectual
faculties.
ii) One is legally eligible for the ruling.
Eligibility of a ruling are of two types:
i) obligation
ii) performance
i) Eligibility for Obligation
- the fact that one is human
- partial eligibility for obligation is when one has rights over others
but have no obligations over them, e.g., a foetus in a mother’s
womb. Full eligibility for obligation is when one has rights as well as
obligations over the same. Every human acquires this eligibility at
birth.
ii) Eligibility for Performance
- the fact that a human has the capacity for words or actions,
such that if an act proceeds from him, it legally counts.
- a person can completely lack or lose eligibility for performance,
e.g., young children, insane
- a person could have partial eligibility for performance. Such
person may accept those acts that are beneficial for them, but
are bot allowed to if an act can disadvantage them.
Subject: Types of Human Acts 
