Clarifications of terms

[manaal]

Can someone explain to me the meanings and differences between the following terms I see used in the forum and other Islamic websites:

Obligatory (as in obligatory prayer, or action)
Nafl

How are these differenr from:

Sunnah
Wajib

What is the difference between Wajib and Fardh?

What makes something Fardh?

['Abd-al Latif]

:salamext:

Some scholars have made a slight difference between waajib and fard but the correct view is that there is no difference between waajib and fard.

Nafil means an act of worship that is optional, such as the sunnah and witr prayer after the obligatory prayer.

What makes somethin fard when we are commanded to do something from the Quran or Sunnah.

[manaal]

:salamext:

Some scholars have made a slight difference between waajib and fard but the correct view is that there is no difference between waajib and fard.

Is 'obligatory' the English meaning of Fard?

Nafil means an act of worship that is optional, such as the sunnah and witr prayer after the obligatory prayer.

What makes somethin fard when we are commanded to do something from the Quran or Sunnah.

So this means that everything in the Sunnah is not optional right? There are somethings that are compulsory, like the actions of prayer taught to us by the Prophet :saws1:

Also is it right to say that there are commands in the Qur'an that are optional? Are such commands and actions referred to as Nafil?

One more: I came across the word "mustahab", which means "recommended". Does this refer to something that is not compulsory, but it's better if one does it?

[abdussattar]

Is 'obligatory' the English meaning of Fard?

Yes. You can call a fardh as Obligatory.

So this means that everything in the Sunnah is not optional right?

Sunnah has the grade after obligatory. There are 2 types of sunnah, Muakkidah and ghair muakkidah.
You can call sunnah-e-muakkidah as Necessary and ghair muakkidah as Recommended

Also is it right to say that there are commands in the Qur'an that are optional? Are such commands and actions referred to as Nafil?

I cant tell anything about this, sorry

One more: I came across the word "mustahab", which means recommended". Does this refer to something that is not compulsory, but it's better if one does it?

Mustahab is another word for sunnah. It is highly encouraged to do mustahab acts.

Allahu alim

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[abdussattar]

Please delete this post.

[manaal]

Jazakallahu Kheir brother.

Can anyone give me some common examples?

[abdussattar]

Hmm...

Namaz is fardh, neglecting it will cause Allah's warth on you.
Wajib is near to fardh, shuch as ghusl when you are impure
Sunnah-e-muakkidah such as to greet each other with salaam
Sunnah-e-ghair muakkidah to do Mus'afa (handshake)
Nafl such as tahajjud.

You can rate them for 1-5 as:-
Fardh - 5
Wajib -4.999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 999
Sunnah-e-emuakkidah- 3.5
Sunnah ghair muakkidah -2.5
Nafl-1

[manaal]

Thanks so much. I was taught these things in school for Islamiyat, but at that age I really didn't understand what the teacher was talking about!

[abdussattar]

No problem, we're all here to help each other :)

[Grace Seeker]

The following are some terms I came across in another thread. Usually, even if I don't know the exact meaning of a term, I can roughly get its meaning from the context. In this case I can't even tell if these words have positive or negative connotations associated with them:

huffaz
hifz
desi

[جوري]

The following are some terms I came across in another thread. Usually, even if I don't know the exact meaning of a term, I can roughly get its meaning from the context. In this case I can't even tell if these words have positive or negative connotations associated with them:

huffaz
hifz
desi

huffazh = those who have memorized the Quran
hifzh= the act of memorizing the Quran
desi = is something I am not sure about myself but I take it to denote a person from the indian/pakistani/Bangali descent (hope I offended no one by saying this)

and Allah swt knows best

[جوري]

you are welcome, sorry I am all out of reps...

[ابن آل مرة]

The word Hafiz necessarily not have to relate to Quran, even though most times we use Hafiz Al Quran. Hafiz can be for hadiths, like muhaddith. There are no real Hafith in this age. Imam Bukhari and Imam Muslim, and all other Imams like them were the real huffaz(may Allah have mercy on all of them). They were Hafiz of Quran, Hadiths. They memorized thousands of hadiths they had written, the hadiths we use these days.

Answering the OP, like someone said above, there is different opinions by scholars on the difference between Wajib and Fardh. The same words may be used for certain actions. But some scholars would prefer to use a certain word just because of the soundness it has in the meaning. There are types of Sunnah that are obligatory on us, especially when it is not talked about in the Quran. Like actions in prayers, it is not mentioned in Quran in detail how to pray, so we have to look into the Sunnah for it.

Insha'Allah if I find an authentic fatwa or article that talks about differences in these words, I will try to post soon. :w:

[abdussattar]

Hafiz literally means "protector"

So usually the term is used for those who have memorized the Quraan as the "protectors of quraan" as if the quraan was Misordered somewhere(god-forbid) they have quraan remembered and hence they can rectify it.


Hafiz can also be related to hadith, as "protectors of hadith" But it is not commonly used.



Desi means national, such as desi clothes means clothes from the nation, Desi food = food from the same particular nation

[abdussattar]

Answering the OP, like someone said above, there is different opinions by scholars on the difference between Wajib and Fardh. The same words may be used for certain actions. But some scholars would prefer to use a certain word just because of the soundness it has in the meaning. There are types of Sunnah that are obligatory on us, especially when it is not talked about in the Quran. Like actions in prayers, it is not mentioned in Quran in detail how to pray, so we have to look into the Sunnah for it.

As much as I know, neglecting fardh gets you out of Islam. therefore, there are a few fardh in Islam. But wajib has somewhat the rating of Fardh but neglecting it is a great sin but doesn't get you out of Islam.

[manaal]

I heard Yasir Qadi on tv the other day saying, "Eid prayer is obligatory, not just a sunnah".

My biggest question is: Does "Obligatory" mean something it's compulsory? i.e. is it a sin to leave it?

I'd always though that Eid Prayer for "Fradh Kifaya", meaning, it's got to be done but someone in the community, but everyone need not join in.

[abdussattar]

Eid prayer is not obligatory.... as much as I know...

Obligatory means compulsory.

If you miss eid prayer for some reason, you dont have to do qazaa and it wont get you out of Islam.

Allahu alim I am no scholar...