Makruh
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Makrūh (Arabic: مَکْروه, literally: reprehensible) is one of the Five Rulings. It is an action which is not haram (forbidden), but it had better not be done. In manuals of Islamic law, makruh actions are also mentioned along with obligatory and haram actions. Actions are not makruh to the same extent; some of them are more reprehensible than others.
Notion
Literally, the word, "makruh", means reprehensible and unpleasant.[1] In the terminology of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), it refers to an action that is not forbidden to do, but it had better to be abandoned.[2] For example, urination while standing is makruh,[3] that is, although it is not forbidden (haram), one had better not do it. Sometimes it is alternatively said that an action has "kiraha" (literally: reprehensible/dislikedness) to mean that it is makruh.[4]
As One of the Five Rulings
Along with wajib (obligatory), haram (forbidden), mustahab (recommended), and mubah (merely permissible), makruh is one of the Five Rulings in fiqh.[5] In essays of fatwas as well as other jurisprudential books, in each section, relevant makruh actions are mentioned along with obligatory and forbidden ones. For example, makruh actions regarding foods and drinks (e.g. it is makruh (reprehensible) to eat the meat of horses and donkeys),[6] makruh actions regarding urination (e.g. it is makruh to urinate in water or urinate while standing),[7] or makruh actions regarding the dhibh (slaughtering) of animals (e.g. it is makruh to slaughter an animal in front of another animal),[8] and the like. According to al-Sayyid Muhammad Kazim al-Yazdi in his al-'Urwa al-wuthqa, it is obligatory to follow a mujtahid with regard to all the Five Rulings, including makruh actions.[9]
Intensity
Some makruh actions are more reprehensible than others. For example, it is strongly makruh to have an anal intercourse with one's wife.[10] However, doing makruh actions is not followed by afterlife punishments.
In Worships
Sometimes certain worships are said to be makruh. In such cases, the word, "makruh", is used in a different meaning. For example, it is makruh to say one's prayer in the bathroom or a cemetery[11] or it is makruh for a junub person[12] or a woman in her menstruation[13] to recite the Qur'an. In these cases, "makruh" does not mean that the action had better be abandoned; rather it means that the action has a comparatively smaller reward, that is, the reward for saying one's prayer in the bathroom is smaller than saying it in other places, or the recitation of the Qur'an for a junub person has a smaller reward, and so on.
Notes
- ↑ Dihkhudā, Lughatnāma, under the word «مکروه».
- ↑ Zuḥaylī, Uṣūl al-fiqh al-Islāmī, vol. 1, p. 45.
- ↑ Khomeini, Tawḍīḥ al-masāʾil, vol. 1, p. 80.
- ↑ Khomeini, Tawḍīḥ al-masāʾil, vol. 1, p. 330.
- ↑ Zuḥaylī, Uṣūl al-fiqh al-Islāmī, vol. 1, p. 45.
- ↑ Khomeini, Tawḍīḥ al-masāʾil, vol. 2, p. 779.
- ↑ Yazdī, al-ʿUrwa al-wuthqā, vol. 1, p. 180.
- ↑ Khomeini, Tawḍīḥ al-masāʾil, vol. 2, p. 754.
- ↑ Yazdī, al-ʿUrwa al-wuthqā, vol. 1, p. 11.
- ↑ Yazdī, al-ʿUrwa al-wuthqā, vol. 2, p. 808.
- ↑ Yazdī, al-ʿUrwa al-wuthqā, vol. 1, p. 593.
- ↑ Yazdī, al-ʿUrwa al-wuthqā, vol. 1, p. 292.
- ↑ Yazdī, al-ʿUrwa al-wuthqā, vol. 1, p. 349.
References
- Dihkhudā, ʿAlī Akbar. Lughatnāma. Edited by Muḥammad Muʿīn. Tehran: Dānishgāh-i Tehran, 1377 Sh.
- Khomeini, Rūḥollah. Tawḍīḥ al-masāʾil. Edited by Muḥammad Ḥasan Banī Hāshimī. Qom: Daftar-i Intishārāt-i Islāmī, 1392 Sh.
- Yazdī, Sayyid Muḥammad Kāẓim al-. Al-ʿUrwa al-wuthqā. Beirut: Muʾassisat al-Aʿlamī li-l-Maṭbūʿāt, 1409 AH.
- Zuḥaylī, Wahba. Uṣūl al-fiqh al-Islāmī. Damascus: Dār al-Fikr, 1406 AH.