Recap: The Text We Are Studying
We are studying Al-Ghayah wa’t-Taqrib, a classical short-form manual of fiqh written by Imam Abu Shuja’. Despite its brevity, this small text has been memorised and studied for close to a thousand years — from Cairo to Java, West Africa to Hadramaut. We are now continuing that same chain of transmission here in Western Australia.
What Is Fiqh?
Literal meaning: deep understanding
Technical meaning: ma’rifatul ahkam al-shar’iyyah — knowledge of the rulings of the Shari’ah
These rulings apply to the af’al al-mukallafin — the actions of a mukallaf, a person legally responsible before Allah
Mukallaf = someone the Shari’ah holds responsible. A child in a car who isn’t wearing a seatbelt isn’t fined — the responsible adult driving is. In the same way, the rulings of fiqh apply to those who are accountable (typically, those who have reached puberty and are of sound mind).
The Five Categories of Rulings (Al-Ahkam al-Khamsah)
Every human action falls under one of five rulings:
1. Wajib (Compulsory)
Do it → reward. Don’t do it → sin.
Examples: the five daily prayers, Hajj
2. Mandub / Sunnah (Recommended)
Do it → reward. Don’t do it → neutral (no sin).
Examples: washing three times during wudu, the two rak’ahs of sunnah before salah, fasting on Mondays and Thursdays, showering on Fridays
Important: reward for a sunnah requires intention. Showering on Friday only counts as the sunnah if you intend it — and it must be done on Friday itself, not the day before.
3. Mubah (Permissible)
Do it → neutral. Don’t do it → neutral.
Examples: drinking water, eating, reading a book, breathing
This is the default and largest category. The original ruling of anything is Mubah. To move something out of Mubah into wajib or haram, evidence is required.
4. Makruh (Disliked)
Do it → neutral. Don’t do it → reward.
Example: eating with the left hand (for someone able to use their right); eating something smelly like garlic or onions and then going to the masjid
5. Haram (Prohibited)
Do it → sin. Don’t do it → reward.
Examples: drinking wine, eating pork
Case Study: Rulings Can Change with New Circumstances
Two examples from the class discussion show how a ruling on the same category of item can shift as knowledge or context changes:
Smoking
Smoking was historically classed as makruh, on the same basis as garlic — an unpleasant smell. Doctors did not originally know with certainty that smoking was harmful to health; some even believed it had a calming effect. It was only in the past century, once it was conclusively established that smoking causes lung cancer, that many scholars reclassified it as haram — because causing harm to oneself is haram, and smoking was now proven to cause serious harm.
Coffee
Coffee has an interesting history in Islamic scholarship:
Coffee beans were first eaten in Ethiopia before being ground into a drink.
A Yemeni scholar, Sheikh Ali bin Umar al-Shadhili, repeatedly asked Allah for the strength to pray qiyam al-layl (night prayer) like the pious predecessors. He was inspired in a dream to grind and boil the coffee bean. It helped him stay awake for dhikr and night prayer — so coffee became strongly linked with worship.
Imam al-Haddad of Hadramaut said the clinking sound of coffee cups would make shaytan flee — meaning that coffee became associated with gatherings of dhikr.
As coffee spread to Mecca and beyond, some scholars observed young people becoming very animated after drinking it and grew concerned. Coffee’s Arabic name, qahwa, is also an old word for wine — which added to the suspicion. Some scholars declared it haram.
The dispute was settled in a memorable way: scholars who held that coffee was haram were invited to a gathering where coffee was served without them knowing what it was. They enjoyed its effects — clarity of mind and energy — and once told it was the very drink they had prohibited, they retracted their ruling.
Coffee was also banned for a period in parts of the Christian world. Coffee houses later became historically significant as centres of discussion and, in some places, political change — in contrast to pubs, where alcohol limited clear thinking and planning.
Lesson: Mubah is the default of all things. Mubah can shift to wajib (e.g. drinking water becomes obligatory if withholding it endangers life) or to haram (e.g. a permissible game becomes haram if it causes someone to neglect their prayers).
Revision: The Four Types of Water
Before moving on, we revised last week’s material on water, the subject of the first chapter of most fiqh texts — Purification (Tahara).
Why does every fiqh text begin with purification?
Purification of the body mirrors the deeper objective of all worship: purification of the heart. On the Day of Judgement, neither wealth nor children will benefit a person — only a sound heart returned to Allah, and a soul that has been purified rather than corrupted.
The Four Types of Water
Mutlaq — pure and purifying. Naturally occurring water: rain, sea, river, well, spring, snow, hail (the seven natural waters).
Mushammas — pure, but disliked (makruh) to use on the skin in specific conditions: water heated by the sun in a metal container in a hot region. It remains makruh only until it cools; a plastic container causes no such concern.
Musta’mal — previously used water. Still pure and fine to drink, but it has already been used to lift a hadath (in wudu or ghusl) and cannot be used to lift a hadath again. The same applies to water mixed with something pure that changes its taste, smell, or colour (e.g. coffee, soap, lemon) — it stays drinkable, but can no longer be used for wudu or ghusl.
Mutanajjis — impure water, contaminated by najasah (impurity). Cannot be used for wudu, ghusl, drinking, or washing — unless its volume reaches two qullah (roughly 200 litres), in which case a small amount of najasah does not affect it, provided the water’s colour, smell, or taste has not changed. If it has changed, remove the source of contamination and the water may be purified again.
This Week’s Practice: Polishing the Heart
The Prophet ﷺ said that everything has a polish, and the polish for the heart is dhikr (remembrance of Allah). This week’s homework is to recite the following daily, ideally before sleeping (roughly 10 minutes in total):
Astaghfirullah al-’Azim (”I seek the forgiveness of Allah, the Most Great”) — 100 times
Allahumma salli ‘ala Sayyidina Muhammadin wa alihi wa sahbihi wa sallim(sending blessings on the Prophet ﷺ) — 100 times
La ilaha illallah (”There is no god but Allah”) — 100 times, followed once by Muhammadun Rasulullah (”Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah”)
Students should track which days they complete this, ready to discuss next week.
Key Terms Glossary
Fiqh — Islamic jurisprudence; knowledge of the rulings of the Shari’ah
Mukallaf — a person legally responsible/accountable under Shari’ah
Wajib — compulsory
Mandub / Sunnah — recommended
Mubah — permissible/neutral (the default ruling)
Makruh — disliked
Haram — prohibited
Tahara — purification
Mutlaq water — pure, naturally occurring water that purifies
Mushammas water — sun-heated water in a metal container (makruh to use on skin while hot)
Musta’mal water — previously used water; pure but cannot remove hadath again
Mutanajjis water — water contaminated by impurity (najasah)
Najasah — ritual impurity
Qullatayn / two qullah — a measure of water volume (approx. 200 litres) above which small impurities don’t contaminate the water
Dhikr — remembrance of Allah
Self-Test Questions
What are the five categories that every human action falls under?
Give one example each of a wajib act and a mandub act.
What is the default ruling (the category everything starts in) for any action or object?
Give one example of something that started as makruh and later became haram, and explain why the ruling changed.
List the four types of water and give one distinguishing feature of each.
How much water (in litres) is generally needed for small amounts of najasah not to contaminate it?
What three phrases of dhikr were set as this week’s homework, and how many times should each be recited?
