Tatawwu (voluntary acts beyond the obligatory, in worship and in giving)

Tatawwu is giving freely; for the jurists it is what goes beyond the obligatory and the required. ¹

The jurists give three senses of tatawwu: what the law prescribed beyond the duties; what is outside duties and sunnas; and what has no specific transmitted rule and is begun by the person. Most use tatawwu, sunna, the recommended, nafl and the desirable as one word; al-Subki said the disagreement is verbal. ^{1 2}

Some voluntary acts have counterparts in worship, such as prayer, fasting, zakat, pilgrimage and holy war, and this is the usual sense. Others are outside worship, such as learning beyond what is obligatory, supporting a relative whose maintenance is not due, releasing a debtor, lending, bequest, endowment, loan and gift. ³ Some are individual recommendations, others communal, such as the call to prayer, the greeting at the start, and answering a sneezer. ⁴

Voluntary acts bring the servant near to his Lord and increase his reward; they earn God's pleasure and forgive minor sins; they accustom the soul to worship; they mend any defect in the obligatory acts; and they build cooperation and bonds among people. ^{4 9 5}

For the Malikis and Shafiis the best bodily worship is prayer; for the Hanbalis holy war, then spending in it, then teaching and learning, then prayer. Among acts whose benefit reaches others, charity to a poor relative is better than freeing a stranger; some held lending better than giving. ^{5 10}

The basic rule is that it is recommended. It may become obligatory, as giving food to one in dire need or lending what would save a life. It may be forbidden at times of prohibition, such as prayer at sunrise or sunset, fasting on the two festivals and the days of tashriq, and disliked at other makruh times. ^{6 7}

To perform voluntary worship one must be a Muslim, sane and discerning; adulthood is not required, since a child's voluntary worship is valid. For giving outside worship one must be sane, adult and of sound judgement. ⁷

The eclipse prayer is congregational by agreement, and tarawih is congregational for the Hanafis, Shafiis and Hanbalis. Other voluntary prayers may be said in congregation or alone for the Shafiis and Hanbalis, and the Hanafis dislike congregation by way of regular gathering. Voluntary prayer is better in the home, except where congregation is prescribed. ^{7 8}

The detail on the regular sunnas, the supererogatory prayers, congregation, eclipse, rain prayer and the two festivals is in their own entries; the entry continues past p.5319.

Voluntary prayer on a mount during travel is lawful by agreement; the Hanbalis allow it on a short journey too, on the report that the Prophet ﷺ witnessed the odd prayer on his camel. The Hanafis hold witr obligatory and so not on a mount when one can dismount. Voluntary prayer seated is lawful by agreement, standing being better. ^{11 12}

Most jurists recommend separating the obligatory prayer from the voluntary one by the wording of remembrance; the Hanafis dislike the separation and begin the sunna at once. For making up voluntary prayers, the Hanafis and Malikis make up only the dawn pair, the Shafiis recommend making up the timed ones in the sounder view, and the Hanbalis differ on the regular sunnas. ^{12 13}

An obligation may become voluntary: a noon prayer entered with the intention of the obligatory and later found not due becomes voluntary. Some acts are complete in duty but yield the reward only with the intention, such as a bath for Friday that also lifts major impurity, which yields the Friday reward only if intended. ^{13 14 15}

For the Hanafis and Malikis a voluntary act must be completed once begun, and made up if spoiled; the Malikis require making up only where the spoiling was deliberate. The Shafiis and Hanbalis recommend completing it but do not require it, except for the voluntary pilgrimage and the umra, which must be completed. The hadith «the fasting volunteer is master of himself» is cited. ^{15 16}

A bequest may be revoked while the testator lives; a loan and a loan of goods may be claimed back; a gift may be revoked before possession, and for the Hanafis if it went to a stranger; a charity may not be revoked. ^{16 17}

Voluntary worship needs intention by agreement. A general voluntary act needs only a general intention, while a named one, such as the regular sunnas, witr, or the fast of Ashura, needs to be named for the Malikis, Shafiis and Hanbalis; the Hanafis need only a general intention. For acts outside worship the intention of pleasing God is needed for the reward. ^{18 17}

Bodily voluntary worship admits no proxy; financial and charitable acts do. The Hanafis and Hanbalis allow a person to give the reward of his act to another, living or dead. The rule is that an act a Muslim is especially fit for may not be paid for, such as leading prayer, the call to prayer, pilgrimage, holy war and teaching the Qur'an, on the hadith of Uthman ibn Abi al-As (may God be pleased with him) about the muezzin who takes no fee. The Malikis allow it with dislike; the Shafiis allow a fee for what needs no intention, such as the call, and for the pilgrimage on behalf of one unable or dead. ^{18 19 20}

A voluntary act becomes obligatory once begun, as the pilgrimage is for all; prayer and fasting are so for the Hanafis and Malikis. One who enters a voluntary pilgrimage without having made the pilgrimage of duty is taken to have made the obligatory one, according to Ibn Qudama and al-Shafii; the Hanafis and Malikis take it for what was intended. ^{21 20}

A voluntary act becomes obligatory by a vow, the vow being a cause of obligation in worship and intended acts of devotion. A voluntary gift is fixed by naming it in words, as with the sacrificial animal or the offering, and the thing is fixed by words without dispute, while fixing by intention alone is disputed. A benefit that is needed and costs little must be given freely, such as letting a neighbour set wood in one's wall when it does no harm, and lending a copy of the Qur'an to a Muslim who needs it to read. ^{22 23 24}

A voluntary act is prevented at the forbidden times, at sunrise, sunset and midday, and the fast of the two festivals and the days of tashriq is forbidden. Voluntary prayer is forbidden once the call to the obligatory prayer has been given. A person whose voluntary act depends on another's leave may act only with it, as a wife needs her husband's leave to fast voluntarily or seclude herself. A man overwhelmed by debt may not make a gift of his money after the order of restraint, by agreement, and gifts made in the final illness are limited to a third unless the heirs consent. A gift that involves a sin is forbidden, such as a bequest to a church or of weapons to people at war, or an endowment for a sin. ^{24 25 26}

Offer and acceptance are a condition of a loan of goods by agreement. The Hanafis, Shafiis and Hanbalis allow taking it back, as it is not binding for them, while the Malikis hold it binding. Possession is a condition of a gift for the Hanafis and Shafiis, and in one Hanbali view; the Hanbali school makes the gift pass by the contract; taking it back before possession is allowed for the Hanafis and Shafiis, and after possession the majority forbid it except a father taking back from his child, on the hadith «the one who takes back his gift is like the one who takes back his vomit». A bequest to a named person is accepted after the testator's death and the legatee owns without possession; an endowment to a named person requires acceptance for the Hanafis, Malikis and Shafiis, but not for the Hanbalis. ^{26 27 28}

The rules of loans of goods, gifts, bequests and endowments are in their own entries. ²⁸