''Mubāḥ'' (
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
: مباح) is an Arabic word meaning "permitted", which has technical uses in
Islamic law
Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the ...
.
In
uṣūl al-fiqh (''principles of Islamic jurisprudence''), ''mubāḥ'' is one of the five degrees of approval (
ahkam
''Ahkam'' (, ar, أحكام "rulings", plural of ()) is an Islamic term with several meanings. In the Quran, the word ''hukm'' is variously used to mean arbitration, judgement, authority, or God's will. In the early Islamic period, the Kharij ...
):
# () - compulsory, obligatory
# () - recommended
# () - neutral, not involving God's judgment
# () - disliked, reprehensible
# () - forbidden
Mubah is commonly translated as "neutral",
"indifferent"
or "(merely) permitted".
It refers to an action that is not
mandatory
Mandate most often refers to:
* League of Nations mandates, quasi-colonial territories established under Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations, 28 June 1919
* Mandate (politics)
In representative democracies, a mandate (or seat) ...
,
recommended,
reprehensible or
forbidden, and thus involves no judgement from
God
In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...
.
Assigning acts to this legal category reflects a deliberate choice rather than an oversight on the part of jurists.
In Islamic property law, the term ''mubāḥ'' refers to things which have no owner. It is similar to the concept ''
res nullius
''Res nullius'' is a doctrine.Johnston. The International Law of Fisheries. 1987p 309 The expression "res nullius" (lit: ''nobody's thing'') is a Latin term derived from private Roman law whereby ''res'' (an object in the legal sense, anything ...
'' used in Roman law and common law.
See also
*
Adiaphora
Adiaphoron (; plural: adiaphora; from the Greek (pl. ), meaning "not different or differentiable") is the negation of ''diaphora'', "difference".
In Cynicism, adiaphora represents indifference to the s of life. In Pyrrhonism, it indicates things ...
, a similar concept in Stoicism
*
Halal
''Halal'' (; ar, حلال, ) is an Arabic word that translates to "permissible" in English. In the Quran, the word ''halal'' is contrasted with ''haram'' (forbidden). This binary opposition was elaborated into a more complex classification kno ...
References
Arabic words and phrases
Arabic words and phrases in Sharia
Islamic terminology
Sharia legal terminology
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