وَسط

وَسط

Wasat in the jurists' usage has three senses: the moderate, the choice, and what lies between two ends. ¹² The general rule is that what is due in each kind is its middling part; as an example, the zakat on livestock is the middling animal, on the report "but from the middle of your property". ²³ Flogging for penalties and discretionary punishment uses a middling whip, neither new and cutting nor worn and painless; stones for stoning are the size of a palm; and the feeding in expiation is of the middle quality of food eaten by one's household, a point on which the jurists differ in detail. ³⁴ In the sense of choice, wasat is used of the middle prayer, on whose identity the jurists differ at length. ⁴ In the sense of what lies between two ends, it is recommended that the imam stand in the middle of the row; standing at its right or left wing is reported as contrary to the sunna. Women's imam stands in the middle of the women's row. Eating from the middle of a dish or bread is disliked, and sitting in the middle of a circle is disliked by most jurists and forbidden by some Shafi'is. ⁴⁵⁶