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Wujub (obligation as a state of the duty-bearer, and the difference from performance)

وُجُوب

Wujub in the lexical sense is affirmation and binding, a falling to the ground, and death; for the jurists it is the occupation of the duty-bearer's obligation by the duty, and for the usuli scholars it is the link of the command to the acts of the responsible person. 1 Command (iljab) is the demand of an act with a prohibition of leaving it, and the obligatory is the act of the person himself; when a ruling is attributed to the lawgiver it is called iljab, and when attributed to the person it is called wujub. 1 2 The Shafi'i Zarkashi holds no difference between wujub and wujub al-ada (obligation to perform), while most Hanafis distinguish them: wujub is the debt laid on the person, and wujub al-ada is the demand to discharge it. 2

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Early Abbasid Caliphate
Region
Arabia
Review
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Law and courtsWorship and the pillarsEthics and character

Summary

Wujub in the lexical sense is affirmation and binding; for the jurists it is the occupation of the duty-bearer's obligation by the duty, and for the usuli scholars the link of the command to the acts of the responsible person. 1

Command and obligation

Command (iljab) is the demand of an act with a prohibition of leaving it; the obligatory is the act of the person himself. A ruling is called iljab when attributed to the lawgiver and wujub when attributed to the person. 1 2

Wujub and wujub al-ada

The Shafi'i Zarkashi holds no difference between wujub and wujub al-ada; most Hanafis distinguish them: wujub is the debt laid on the person, and wujub al-ada is the demand to discharge it. 2

People and things also explored

Hay'a (the recommended forms of prayer, and the dignified offenders)· Openness as against secrecy in acts of worship, charity and public notice (alaniya)· Deliberate act (amd), as against error, and its rulings· Wounding an animal that cannot be taken (aqr) and its effect on lawfulness and liability· Honey: its medicinal use and zakat (asal)· Resolve and its legal effect (azm)· God's debt (dayn Allah): obligations owed to God that remain in the liability· Shahwa (desire: its effect on touch and ablution, on fasting and pilgrimage, on looking, on marriage by touch and on the breaking of the marriage bond)

Sources

  1. al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.16623
  2. al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.16624
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Wujub (obligation as a state of the duty-bearer, and the difference from performance)”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/concept/wujub-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

Hay'a (the recommended forms of prayer, and the dignified offenders)

Hay'a in the lexical sense is the outward state a thing is in, sensed or understood. In prayer the Shafi'is divide its acts into pillars (arkan), sunan that sahw prostration repairs, and hay'at that it does not repair and to which the worshipper does not return; they liken the prayer to a person, the pillar to the head, the condition to life, the sunan to the limbs and the hay'at to the hair. By the Shafi'i count there are more than fifteen hay'at, including raising the hands at the opening takbir, at bowing and at rising from it, placing the right palm on the left, seeking refuge before recitation, saying amin, the glorification in bowing and prostration, and the postures of sitting. The Hanbalis list hay'at as matters of manner: the fingers, the placing of the right hand over the left below the navel, the gaze at the place of prostration, and measured recitation. In discipline, most jurists lighten the punishment for the dignified, the people of religion and piety, relying on the saying 'pardon the lapses of the dignified except in the hadd punishments'. The jurists differ: some admonish but do not discipline a first lapse; Ibn Abd al-Salam holds the dignified are not punished at all, and al-Adhra'i disputes him.