View source for Mubah

{{Short description|Islamic jurisprudential term denoting an action that has no specific ruling}}
{{Usul al-fiqh}}
{{Italic title}}
'''''Mubāḥ''''' ([[Arabic language|Arabic]]: مباح) is an Arabic word roughly meaning "permitted",<ref>{{Cite book|author=Hans Wehr, J. Milton Cowan| year=1976 | title=A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic|publisher=Spoken Language Services|edition=3rd|page=81}}</ref> which has technical uses in [[Sharia|Islamic law]]. "Mubah" is an [[Fiqh|Islamic jurisprudential]] term that refers to an action for which a person has no specific obligation. Consequently, performing or abstaining from it is considered equally permissible, and neither action results in reward or punishment from the perspective of [[Allah|God]] in [[Islam]].<ref>
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</ref><ref>
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In [[uṣūl al-fiqh]] ({{Langx|ar|أصول الفقه|lit=principles of Islamic jurisprudence}}), ''mubāḥ'' is one of the five degrees of approval ([[ahkam]]):
# {{transliteration|ar|[[farḍ]]/wājib}} ({{lang|ar|واجب / فرض}}) - compulsory, obligatory
# {{transliteration|ar|[[mustaḥabb]]/mandūb}} ({{lang|ar|مستحب}}) - recommended
# {{transliteration|ar|[[mubāḥ]]}} ({{lang|ar|مباح}}) - neutral, not involving God's judgment
# {{transliteration|ar|[[makrūh]]}} ({{lang|ar|مكروه}}) - disliked, reprehensible
# {{transliteration|ar|[[ḥarām]]/maḥzūr}} ({{lang|ar|محظور / حرام}}) - forbidden

Mubah is commonly translated as "neutral" or "permitted" in English.,<ref name="vikor">{{cite encyclopedia|first=Knut S.|last=Vikør|title=Sharīʿah|encyclopedia=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Politics|publisher=Oxford University Press|editor=Emad El-Din Shahin|year=2014|url=http://bridgingcultures.neh.gov/muslimjourneys/items/show/226|access-date=2017-05-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140604214623/http://bridgingcultures.neh.gov/muslimjourneys/items/show/226|archive-date=2014-06-04|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="hallaq">{{cite book|author=Wael B. Hallaq|author-link = Wael Hallaq|title=Sharī'a: Theory, Practice, Transformations|year=2009|publisher=Cambridge University Press (Kindle edition)|page=Loc. 2160}}</ref> "indifferent"<ref name="baber">{{cite encyclopedia|author=Baber Johansen|title=Islamic Law. Legal and Ethical Qualifications|encyclopedia=The Oxford International Encyclopedia of Legal History|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|year=2009|url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195134056.001.0001/acref-9780195134056-e-424|editor=Stanley N. Katz|url-access=subscription }}</ref> or "(merely) permitted".<ref name="baber" /><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Islam|title=Halal|editor= Juan Eduardo Campo|publisher=Infobase Publishing|year=2009|page=284}}</ref> It refers to an action that is not [[Fard|mandatory]], [[Mustahabb|recommended]], [[Makruh|reprehensible]] or [[Haram|forbidden]], and thus involves no judgement from [[God in Islam|God]].<ref name="vikor" /> Assigning acts to this legal category reflects a deliberate choice rather than an oversight on the part of jurists.<ref name="hallaq" />

In Islamic property law, the term ''mubāḥ'' refers to things which have no owner. It is similar to the concept ''[[res nullius]]'' used in Roman law and common law.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|author=Ersilia Francesca|title=Possession. Yad in Islamic Law|encyclopedia=The Oxford International Encyclopedia of Legal History|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|year=2009|url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195134056.001.0001/acref-9780195134056-e-642|editor=Stanley N. Katz|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==Categorization==
{{Big|The quality of deeds in Islam:}}
[[File:Hanafi Mubah.png|thumb|750px|center|Left diagram: ''Categorization of the deeds of an obliged person''.{{BR}}Right diagram: ''Quality of the deeds in Islam''.]]

== See also ==
{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}
* {{annotated link|Adiaphora}}, a similar concept in Stoicism
* {{annotated link|Halal}}
* [[Ahkam]]
* [[Baligh]]
* [[Batil]]
* [[Ghanimah]]
* [[Hirabah]]
* [[Ibadah]]
* [[Khums]]
* [[Zakat]]
* [[Taqiyya]]
* [[Thawab]]
* [[Ulu'l-amr]]
* [[Wakil]]
* [[Makruh]]
* [[Haram]]
* [[Ghibah]]
* [[Gunah]]
* [[Islah]]
* [[Istighfar]]
* [[Qasd]]
* [[Taghut]]
* [[Tawbah]]
* [[Tazkiah]]
* [[Wasat]]
* [[Maslaha]]
* [[Qiyas]]
* [[Ijazah]]
* [[Ijma]]
{{Div col end}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://en.wikishia.net/view/Mubah Mubah]
* [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mubah Mubah definition]
* [https://www.thedeenshow.com/halal-mustahabb-mubah-makrooh-haram/ Halal, Mustahabb, Mubah, Makrooh & Haram]
* [https://academic.oup.com/book/39928/chapter/340197539 The Permissible (Mubah, Also Halal, Ja'iz)]

{{Obligatory rulings of Islam}}
{{Islam topics}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Arabic words and phrases]]
[[Category:Arabic words and phrases in Sharia]]
[[Category:Sharia legal terminology]]


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