Ta'addi (transgression against persons, property, honour and the state, and the transfer of a cause)

التعدي

Ta'addi is injustice and overstepping of right. It has two senses: attack on another's right, and the transfer of a ruling to another place. Every kind is forbidden and carries sin and liability, and may bring a penalty or discipline. Usurpation, destruction and theft oblige return or the value; a depositee is liable only for negligence or wrong; a pledge and a loan are disputed; an agent is trusted. Attack on a person requires retaliation or blood-money; attack on honour is forbidden and may be resisted. The transfer of a cause (ta'addi al-'illa) is its extension to branches, and fire spreading beyond one's land is liable. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

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Ethics and characterLaws of war and peaceDissent, heresy and freethought

Overview

Ta'addi is injustice and overstepping right. It has two senses: attack on another's right, and the transfer of a ruling to another place, as in the transfer of a cause. 1

Attack on property

Whoever seizes, destroys without lawful leave, steals or embezzles another's property incurs sin, on the verse «do not consume your wealth among you in falsehood», and a worldly consequence: the penalty or discipline with liability, on the hadith «the hand is liable for what it took until it returns it». 2 The usurper returns the thing if it remains; if it is lost, he gives its like or its value. 2

Transgression in contracts

A deposit is a trust, liable only for negligence or wrong, such as riding a deposited animal, wearing a deposited garment, or denying it. 2 3 If the pledger destroys the pledge he owes its value, and his disposal of it needs the pledgee's assent or payment of the debt. The pledgee is liable for his wrong or negligence; the Hanafis hold him liable for the loss, the Shafiis and Hanbalis treat the pledge as a trust. 3 4 A loan of goods is liable for wrong or negligence by agreement; if lost without wrong, the Hanafis and Malikis hold no liability, while the Shafiis and Hanbalis hold it liable, on the hadith «the hand». 4 5 An agent is trusted and not liable for loss without negligence; so is the partner in a profit-sharing venture; if he breaches the terms he becomes a usurper. 5

Attack on persons and honour

Attacks on the body by killing or cutting bring retaliation, blood-money or liability; in error there is blood-money; killing by right carries no liability. 5 6 Attack on honour is forbidden and its defence is obligatory, on the hadith «whoever is killed defending his family is a martyr». 6 Rebels are liable for what they destroy outside battle, and not during it by the majority. In war the child, the woman, the old man, the monk, the disabled and the blind are not killed unless they fight or aid the enemy, and captives are not wronged. 6

Transfer of a cause

A cause is the meaning for which the ruling was set to achieve a benefit. It is extended to branches (muta'addiya), like the cause of intoxication, or limited to its place (qasira), like the running in the first rounds of the circuits. Reasoning from an extended cause is sound by agreement; the qasira is disputed. 7 Whoever lights a fire on his own land and a spark burns his neighbour's house is not liable if the fire could not spread; otherwise he is liable for his wrong. 7 8

Effects

Liability for property and killing, retaliation for wilful wrong, the penalty for theft, adultery and false accusation, discipline by right of the ruler, and loss of inheritance for killing the one he inherits from. 8

Reference

The next headword «ta'dil» (equalising or certifying) begins on p.5404. 8

People and things also explored

Hajr (abandonment and shunning: its rules for a believer, a sinner, an innovator and a wife)· Hamm (resolve or intention of the heart, and its legal effect)· Hawa (desire, and the duty to resist it)· Hazl (jest in speech, and its effect on contracts, acts and belief)· Hija' (satire and insult in verse: its rules)· Salim ibn Umayr's mission to kill Abu Afak· Umayr ibn Adi al-Khatmi's mission to kill Asma' bint Marwan· Ada' al-dayn (paying a debt: its ruling, the manner of payment, insolvency and the debts of the dead)

Sources

  1. al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.5397
  2. al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.5398
  3. al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.5399
  4. al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.5400
  5. al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.5401
  6. al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.5402
  7. al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.5403
  8. al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.5404
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Ta'addi (transgression against persons, property, honour and the state, and the transfer of a cause)”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/concept/tacaddi-transgression/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-23.

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Related

Hajr (abandonment and shunning: its rules for a believer, a sinner, an innovator and a wife)

Hajr in the lexical sense is the opposite of joining; technically it is leaving what must be attended to, and a person's separation from another in body, speech or heart. Abandoning what God has forbidden is commanded, on the saying 'the emigrant is one who abandons what God has forbidden'. It is forbidden for a Muslim to shun his Muslim brother for more than three nights; most jurists allow shunning for three nights, and some count shunning beyond that among the major sins except toward one who has left the brotherhood of Islam. Whether shunning ends by written messages to an absent person, or by greeting, the jurists differ. The better of the two who shun is the one who greets first. Shunning a non-Muslim is allowed, and a husband may shun a rebellious wife in bed until she obeys. Shunning openly sinful or innovating people as correction is recognised, and the jurists give several rulings on it and three on the one who sins in secret.