People with disabilities
Family: People and stages of life · 8 entries
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The mute person (abkam) in fiqh
The Kuwaiti encyclopedia defines the mute person (abkam) as one who has the condition of dumbness, which is the absence of speech. Lexicographers distinguish the abkam, who has speech but cannot give an answer, from the akhras, one born unable to speak; the jurists in their usage do not distinguish between them. Since the mute lacks the means of expression by the tongue, the Encyclopedia says he is held to intention and to moving the tongue, or murmuring, in acts of worship such as prayer, reciting the Qur'an and the talbiya; the Malikis accept intention alone. In other matters he must express himself in writing, if he writes well, and otherwise by an intelligible sign, as in sales, transactions and testimony. In hudud punishments his confession against himself and his testimony against others are not accepted, because a doubt averts such punishments.Alsagh (one with a speech defect, and its rulings)
Alsagh is one who has a speech defect in which a letter is changed, such as r to l or g, or s to th; it is related to the stutter and similar defects. The defect is a fault in a prayer leader; most jurists count the speaker of such a defect with the illiterate in leading prayer, while some Malikis and the Hanbali judge al-Qadi allow him to lead with dislike. When a defect is caused by injury, the diya is reckoned in proportion.Blindness (ama): capacity, worship, testimony and contract
In the lexicon, ama is the loss of sight, and it is also used for loss of insight. The jurists agree that blindness does not remove legal capacity, and obligations fall away only where an excuse or harm requires it. Most jurists hold that the Friday prayer is obligatory on the blind man who can guide himself or has a guide; Abu Hanifa holds it not obligatory. On the call to prayer and leading the prayer the schools differ: the Shafi'is and Hanbalis dislike the blind man calling the prayer unless a sighted person tells him the time, the Malikis allow it; the Hanafis and Hanbalis dislike his leading the prayer unless he is the most learned,. The testimony of a blind man is not accepted for what is seen, but is accepted for what is touched, smelt, tasted or heard in some views. The sale of a blind man by description is valid for the Hanafis, Malikis and Hanbalis, while the Shafi'is forbid contracts that require sight. A blind man may validly swear lian for an adultery he is sure of by touch or hearing.Aqta' (one who has lost a hand or foot)
Aqta' in the lexical sense means one with a cut-off hand; in the jurists' usage, one who has lost a hand or a foot. Such a person is excused from communal jihad, does not wash the lost limb, and some jurists consider the loss a defect in a prayer leader.One-eyed defect ('awar) and its effect on sacrifice, marriage, manumission and injury
'Awar is the loss of sight in one eye; the jurists use the word in its plain sense. It is distinguished from 'asha, night blindness, from 'amash, weak sight with a watering eye, from hawal, squint, and from 'ama, blindness of both eyes. A one-eyed animal is not valid for sacrifice where the eye is gone, though the Hanafis allow it where the eye is only white and still sees. Defect of one eye gives no option to annul the marriage unless one spouse stipulated soundness. A one-eyed slave may be freed in expiation, by the majority. For injury to a sound-eyed person by a one-eyed man, the rulings differ: the Hanafis and Shafi'is require a full blood-money, the Hanbalis require half, and the Malikis give the victim a choice. The Hanafis and Shafi'is allow retaliation on the sound eye of a person who blinds a one-eyed man's only sound eye, while the Malikis give the choice between retaliation and blood-money.
Screening Room
My Name Is Khan
2010 CE · 1431 AH†Karan Johar's film starring Shah Rukh Khan as a Muslim man with Asperger's who crosses America to tell the president 'my name is Khan and I am not a terrorist' after 9/11.The Color of Paradise
1999 CE · 1420 AH†Majid Majidi's film about a blind boy in Iran and his ties to father and grandmother; a warm classic of Iranian cinema.
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