Introduction

In a world where the dominant culture is becoming increasingly individualistic and social isolation is on the rise, there is a need to revisit the factors necessary for Muslim communities to prosper. Muslim communities have obligations to not only perform acts of worship like establishing congregational prayers and funeral services, but also to provide a wide range of other essential social and financial services. As a community, we have a responsibility to look after the physical, mental, and spiritual well-being of one another. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “The relationship of the believer with another believer is like (the bricks of) a building: each strengthens the other,” and he ﷺ illustrated this by interlacing the fingers of both his hands.

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The dereliction of some collective responsibilities or the failure to prioritize duties appropriately can significantly jeopardize the future well-being of the community.                                                                                                        

This article highlights the role of the community in establishing and maintaining Islamic objectives and rulings through the concept of ‘communal obligation’ (farḍ kifāyah), particularly in the context of Muslim minorities living in a non-Muslim society. There is a paucity of Western academic literature that comprehensively treats the topic of farḍ kifāyah and its theological and legal frameworks.

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The term is only mentioned in relation to other substantive law topics, but does not have its own entry in most popular English encyclopedias on Islam.

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This article introduces farḍ kifāyah theory for the reader and showcases the vital role of the community in establishing Islamic principles. Part

I introduces the definition of farḍ kifāyah in legal theory (uṣūl al-fiqh) and

some of its applications in Islamic law (fiqh), and lays out its theological frame

The concept of religious obligation (

wājib

) in Islamic law is multifaceted.

First, independent of the identity of the person fulfilling the obligation and the time it is being fulfilled, obligations are categorized as: (1) a single specified act (muʿayyan) such as the five daily prayers; or (2) a choice within a set of obligatory options (mukhayyar) such as choosing one of the three ways to atone for breaking an oath.

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With respect to the time of performance, some obligations are time-limited (muʾaqqat). These are further divided into (muwassaʿ), when the time allocated is extended beyond what is needed for the performance such as prayers’ time- windows, and (muḍayyaq), when the time is only equal to the time needed for the performance such as the time of fasting. With respect to the person fulfilling the obligation, wājib is categorized into individual obligation

(farḍ ʿayn) and communal obligation (farḍ kifāyah).

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It is essential to note that farḍ and wājib are used here synonymously, following the majority opinion of legal theorists.

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It is not within the scope of this paper to examine the implications of the nuanced distinctions between farḍ and wājib; rather, the focus will be on the definition of farḍ kifāyah, some traditional examples of it, and relevant

applications of it to current community work and services.

Jurists have cited multiple proofs for the religious mandate of farḍ

kifāyah

. These proofs include the following Qur’anic verses which reference

the distribution of essential responsibilities among community members as

well as the social obligation of enjoining good and forbidding evil:

The word “important” (

muhimm

) in

farḍ kifāyah

definitions is posited to imply

the human motivation behind the prescribed acts and signify the paramount need for all of them.

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Prior to Imam al-Subkī, Imam Ibn Daqīq al-ʿĪd identified a maxim that characterizes farḍ kifāyah as an act that has the purpose of “attaining a benefit or preventing a harm, without being directed to specific individuals or meant to test them.”

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Farḍ kifāyah fosters a sense of shared responsibility among community members, irrespective of the performer’s identity, to bring about religious and worldly public interests. As is widely known by Muslims, shared responsibility means that if the obligation is fulfilled—by whatever number of moral agents (mukallafīn) it takes—all community members are free of the religious responsibility of that obligation. If no one fulfills the obligations,

then all members of the particular community will be held accountable.

On the other hand, al-Qarāfī, al-Subkī, and al-Zarkashī,

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adopted a distinction between: (1) what must be provided only once (e.g., rescuing a drowning person), and (2) what must be provided whenever needed (e.g., offering funeral and Islamic educational services).

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Notably, between these two sets of services, one can notice the difference in discharging the communal responsibility as an occasional ritual or service versus an ongoing shared interest. These taxonomies can help measure

each farḍ kifāyah’s degree of importance relative to another. Indisputably, the communal obligation of responding to a Muslim’s greeting is unlike that owed to sustain lives or promote survival.