Hila (legal device)

الحيلة

Hila (legal device) is lexically skill in arranging affairs and turning the mind to reach the aim; technically it is a hidden path to an end, often with some baseness but sometimes wisdom. ^{1 2} It is distinguished from deceit, delusion, planning, plotting, guile, allusion and the means to evil (dhari'a). ^{2 3} Devices are lawful or unlawful by their standing: lawful devices free one from sin or reach what is lawful or due, and do not undo a lawful principle; some are unlawful means to a lawful end. ³ Devices are of three kinds: one is unlawful in itself but aimed at a lawful end, like a false witness brought to prove a right; one is lawful in itself but aimed at a forbidden end, like travelling to rob; one is not meant for the forbidden but used for it. ^{3 4} Lawful devices are backed by proofs: escape from the unbelievers, the use of lawful causes, the utterance of unbelief under compulsion to save life, and escape from the unlawful to the lawful as in the case of the sick man's bundle of twigs and the Khaybar dates. ^{4 5} Unlawful devices rest on deceit and fraud; examples include the marriage of the one who restores a divorced wife, the 'sale of return' (inah), the Jews' trick with fat, and their trick on the Sabbath. ^{5 6 7}