عزیمت

العَزِيمة

In the lexicon, azima is effort and earnestness in a matter, and the azima of God is His obligation. As a technical term it is what is made easier for the person in a case of excuse and inability while the forbidding cause still exists; by another definition it is the original ruling, free of any opposing ruling ^{1 2}. The Hanafis divide azima into obligation, necessity, sunna and voluntary; al-Qarafi restricts it to the obligatory and the recommended; al-Baydawi holds that all five rulings apply to it, while some restrict it to the obligatory ². Sometimes the law lifts hardship, so that the person may choose between the original ruling and the concession, and the jurists differ on which to prefer ^{2 3}. The full discussion is in the legal theory appendix ³.