Ta'liq (conditional linking of clauses)

Ta'liq is, in language, hanging one thing on another. In law it links the occurrence of one clause to the occurrence of another, and is called an oath by metaphor, since it contains a condition and its consequence and a sense of cause. ^{1 2}

Idafa in the jurists' usage is attributing a ruling to a person or quality, or specifying it by time. Ta'liq differs from it in being an oath meant to move a person to act or refrain, and in having an uncertain condition, while idafa has no uncertainty. ¹ A legal condition is one whose absence entails absence of the ruling; a condition the parties agree upon is what contracting parties stipulate. Ta'liq puts the particle on the act itself, while shart makes the act certain and adds another condition. Ta'liq and oath resemble each other in moving the self toward or away from an act. ^{1 2}

Ta'liq may be made by any particle, or without one where the context shows the link. An example with a particle: if you enter the house, you are divorced; without one: the profit that returns to me this year is given to the poor. ²

The particles listed are in, idha, mata, mata ma, mahma, man, ayy and kullama, and others add law, kayfa, haythu, ayna and anna. ³

In is the basic conditional particle, since its only sense is condition and linking; it is used for what may or may not occur. Because it is a pure condition, a man who makes the divorce of his wife depend on his not divorcing her is not divorced until one of them dies; if the wife dies first, she is divorced in one of two accounts. For the Hanbalis in is delayed, while mata, man, kullama and ayy act at once. ^{3 4}

Idha is sudden-occurrence when it takes a nominal clause and has the sense of now; otherwise it is a time adverb for the future with the sense of condition. For Abu Hanifa, when it is a condition, it loses its time sense and becomes like in; Abu Yusuf and Muhammad keep the time sense. The effect appears when a man says: idha lam uttalliqik, you are divorced; if he meant time it takes effect at once, if condition not until one dies, and without intention not until one dies on Abu Hanifa's view. ^{4 5}

Mata is a noun for time, then given the sense of condition. It differs from idha in that idha is used for what must occur, while mata is used for what may or may not. It is used as a condition while keeping its time sense. ⁵ When the act is linked to a negation with mata, and a span of time passes in which the act could have happened without it happening, the divorce falls. ⁵

Mata ma follows mata in rule and is stronger, since ma makes it a pure condition. Man and ma are nouns for rational and non-rational beings and take general form by their wording, and they replace in when generality is meant, as in: whoever comes, I honour him; whatever you do, I do. The ma that is verbal (masdariyya) in fiqh gives attribution, not linking: if he says you are divorced for as long as I do not divorce you and stays silent, the divorce falls by agreement. Mahma is for what is not rational and then takes the sense of condition. ^{6 7}

Ayy follows what it is attached to: for persons it acts like man, for things like ma, for time like mata, and for place like ayna. If it is used to negate an act, the divorce falls after a span in which the act was possible. Tabyin al-haqa'iq holds that ayy does not generalise by the generality of the attribute, so that whoever I marry is divorced applies to one woman only. ⁷

Kull is used for totality by context and sometimes for multitude, and it is always attached to a noun; kullama carries the generality of what it is attached to. ⁷

Kullama indicates repetition and immediacy, and is followed by the verb, not the noun: if one says, whenever I marry a woman she is divorced, and he marries her several times, she is divorced each time. Kull counts as a particle of ta'liq for the Hanafis and Malikis, and for the Shafiis when meant as ta'liq. ^{8 9}

Law is a conditional for the future, not inflected; some jurists treat it as in, and it indicates limitation in the past. Lawla is for prevention and is not a particle of ta'liq. For Abu Hanifa kayfa affects only the manner of an act, not the act itself; for Abu Yusuf and Muhammad it affects both. The Hanbalis treat it like the others, so a divorce does not take effect until she says she has willed it. ^{9 10 11}

Haythu is a noun for an unspecified place. For the Hanafis a ta'liq with it is limited to the session of address; for the Hanbalis it is not so limited. Ayna and anna are treated like in by some Hanbalis. ^{11 12}

The condition must be an unknown matter that could go either way; a ta'liq on a certainty is an immediate act, and on an impossibility is void. It must be something whose occurrence can be known; a divorce linked to God's will is not valid. There must be no gap between condition and consequence; the condition must concern the future, not the past, so an acknowledgement cannot be linked; it must not be meant as a retort, and if it is, the divorce takes effect, though a man who meant only ta'liq is believed before God. A link such as fa or the sudden idha must appear where the consequence is delayed. ^{12 13}

The Hanafis and Malikis require only ownership in some form. The Shafiis and Hanbalis require that the one who links be able to act at once, on the rule: whoever can act immediately can link, and whoever cannot act immediately cannot link. The first camp argues that the act is an oath, that its effect comes at the condition, and that ownership is certain then. The second relies on the report that there is no vow, no manumission and no divorce about what a son of Adam does not own, and on the report that there is no divorce except after marriage. ^{13 14}

The Hanafis hold that ta'liq blocks the cause from being a cause as well as the ruling from taking effect, so a divorce or manumission linked to ownership is valid and takes effect when ownership comes. The Shafiis hold that ta'liq does not block the cause but only the ruling, so it is void when the object is not owned. ^{14 15}

The ila' accepts a condition, so the man becomes one who swears off intercourse when the condition occurs. Hajj may be linked and may take a condition. Khul' from the husband's side accepts ta'liq for the Hanafis, Malikis and Shafiis; from the wife's side the Hanafis and Shafiis do not accept it, since it is an exchange, and the Hanbalis do not accept it at all. Divorce accepts ta'liq by agreement. Zihar may be linked by agreement. Manumission may be linked to a condition or a description, with details. Writing for manumission may be linked. A vow may be linked, and its fulfilment is not due before the condition occurs. Command, judgeship and guardianship in general accept ta'liq; the Hanafis, Shafiis and Hanbalis allow a guardianship appointment linked to death; the Malikis do not state it. ^{15 16 17 18}

Hire, acknowledgement, faith in God, sale, return to a wife, marriage, endowment and agency in general refuse ta'liq, since they transfer ownership or report facts or do not admit certainty. Some detail in endowment and agency is disputed. The governing principle is that pure transfer rejects ta'liq, pure release accepts it, and between them lie acts such as rescission, release of a debt and endowment, on which the schools differ. ^{15 16 17 18 19 20}