Khafara (guarding, safe-conduct, escort fee)

الخفارة

Khafara is lexically guard, protection and safe-conduct, the guard is a khafir, and khafara also means the guard's fee; the jurists also call it the escort, a group that goes before a caravan to guard it. ¹² Ruling: guarding may be a duty, as a body guarding another during the prayer of fear, a recommended watch on the frontiers, or lawful when hired for a lawful work; safe-conduct is lawful where it serves the Muslims and must be granted to one asking to hear God's word. ² In the Hajj: security of the road is a condition of ability; if pilgrims must hire a guard, the Hanafis, Malikis and one Hanbali view hold that a small fee that does not ruin them, given with assurance against betrayal, does not excuse the Hajj; the Shafiis and most Hanbalis treat it as a bribe that need not be paid; for the Shafiis a guard hired at the going rate is a duty of the pilgrimage. ²³ On guards' liability: most jurists do not hold guards liable, as they are trustees unless they transgress or neglect; any stipulation making guards liable in markets is disregarded. ³ Khafara as a covenant between God and His servants: a Muslim is under God's protection while obedient, and one who disobeys has broken faith; Ibn Hajar draws from the report on praying in our prayer that the one who abandons prayer may be killed in the view of some. ⁴ The dawn prayer is under God's protection; al-Qadi Iyad says one must not molest the one who prays dawn with a claim. ⁴ Khafara as the safe-conduct among people: the protection of Muslims is one, and the least of them may grant it; whoever betrays a Muslim's protection is cursed; when protection is given to enemies, killing or taking their goods is forbidden, and one who asks it to hear God's word is granted it and returned to his place of safety. ⁴⁵