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Wasm (branding)

وَسْم

Wasm (branding) in the lexicon is the mark left by a burn. Branding animals is lawful, and the Shafi'is and Hanbalis hold it sunna for the camels, cattle and sheep of zakat, of fay' and of the poll-tax; zakat animals are marked with a word such as "zakat" or "sadaqa" and poll-tax animals with "jizya". ¹² The mark goes on a firm, visible place, the ear for sheep and the thigh for camels and cattle. Branding the face is forbidden according to the preferred Shafi'i view, on the report that the Prophet ﷺ cursed whoever branded a donkey's face; the Malikis, the weaker Shafi'i view and some Hanbalis regard it as disliked. Branding a human being is forbidden by consensus unless it is for treatment. ²³

Depth

At a glance

Era: The Prophetic Era
Region: Global / Diaspora
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Worship and the pillars Law and courts

People and things also explored

God's debt (dayn Allah): obligations owed to God that remain in the liability· Slaughter (dhaba'ih): the lawful killing of animals for food in fiqh· Gold (dhahab) in the rulings· Taste (dhawq) in the rulings: fasting, injury to it, and oaths· Halak (destruction of property and its legal effect)· Hay'a (the recommended forms of prayer, and the dignified offenders)· The no-harm maxim· The Prophet's written charge to Amr ibn Hazm on sending him to Yemen

Sources

al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.17193
al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.17194
al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.17195

Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Wasm (branding)”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/concept/wasm-fiqh/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-23.

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Ideas

Beliefs, concepts, sciences and schools, explained in plain words. Related

God's debt (dayn Allah): obligations owed to God that remain in the liability

God's debt is a right of God that stays in the liability of the obligated person, with no human claimant: vows, expiations, the zakat of fast-breaking, pilgrimage, fasting, and a prayer whose time has passed, all of which must be made up. A right of God becomes a debt in the liability when its time passes before performance, when the due property is destroyed, or when the person was unable to perform it when it fell due. Financial debts to God may be paid by a proxy by agreement; bodily worship may not be done for the living, and the schools differ on proxies for the dead. The schools also differ on whether it binds the estate of the dead, whether it blocks zakat, and whether it lapses through hardship, apostasy or death.