Taking Payment for Obligatory Acts
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Taking Payment for Obligatory Acts (Arabic: أخذ الأجرة علی الواجبات) means receiving wages in exchange for performing obligatory acts. Taking payment for performing obligatory acts was initially raised as a jurisprudential issue only regarding a number of acts of worship; however, over time, in Imami jurisprudence, it was employed as a jurisprudential rule in a number of jurisprudential chapters such as Prayer, shrouding and burial of the dead, Judgment, medicine, and education.
Jurists have three views regarding the jurisprudential ruling on taking payment for obligatory acts; a group considers taking wages for obligatory acts to be absolutely forbidden; in contrast, some consider it permissible in all obligatory acts, and some have detailed between devotional obligations and non-devotional obligations, as well as individual obligations and collective obligations; in such a way that wages cannot be received in devotional and individual obligations; but receiving wages will be permissible in non-devotional and collective obligations.
The implementation of the rule of the prohibition of taking payment for obligatory acts has been doubted regarding Wajibat al-Nizamiyya which are obligations that ensure the continued survival and stability of human life within an organized and orderly society; for instance preparation for defence against aggression of enemies. Many jurists hold that since the time of the Infallibles (a), taking wages in these cases has been permissible.
Concept and Status
Taking payment for obligatory acts means earning income in exchange for performing an obligatory act.[1] The issue of the permissibility or impermissibility of earning income from obligatory acts has led to the discussion of a jurisprudential rule named "Prohibition of Taking Payment for Obligatory Acts" in jurisprudential books.[2] According to jurisprudential researchers, this rule finds application in several jurisprudential chapters such as Prayer, burial and shrouding of the dead, Judgment, Hajj, Will, medicine, custody, and Wajibat al-Nizamiyya.[3] For example, can a mother whose infant's life depends on her breastfeeding take wages from her husband? Or in a case where testifying in court is obligatory on a person, can they demand wages in return? Jurists have particularly discussed this issue regarding the washing and shrouding of the dead.[4]
Regarding the history of the rule of the prohibition of taking payment for obligatory acts, it is said that initially, it was a simple jurisprudential issue that addressed the ruling on receiving wages for performing some acts of worship; but over time, and especially since the time of al-Shahid al-Thani, it was mentioned as a jurisprudential rule.[5]
The importance of the discussion on taking payment for obligatory acts has been attributed especially to the fact that a large number of jobs in society such as medicine, judgment, relief and rescue, military and security jobs, and education fall under this title, and if a jurist holds the view of the prohibition of taking payment for obligatory acts, they must seek a way to provide for the livelihood of individuals working in these jobs.[6]
Jurisprudential Ruling
Shi'a jurists have presented several opinions regarding the permissibility or impermissibility of receiving wages for obligatory acts:
- Impermissibility: Jurists such as al-Shahid al-Thani,[7] Muhammad Hasan al-Najafi,[8] and al-Muqaddas al-Ardabili[9] absolutely hold the view of the impermissibility of taking payment for obligatory acts. Claiming the incompatibility of taking payment with the intention of proximity (Qasd al-Qurba), as well as the existence of consensus,[10] they believe that if someone receives a sum for performing obligatory acts, that sum will be part of forbidden incomes.[11]
- Permissibility: Sayyid Abu l-Qasim al-Khoei believes that one can demand wages for performing obligatory acts[12] and this issue has no incompatibility with the intention of proximity.[13]
- Detail between obligations: Many jurists such as Fakhr al-Muhaqqiqin,[14] Al-Shaykh al-Ansari[15] and Imam Khomeini[16] have detailed between devotional and non-devotional obligations, determinate and disjunctive obligations, and individual and collective obligations. According to the view of this group of jurists, taking wages is not permissible in devotional, determinate, and individual obligations, whereas in non-devotional, disjunctive, and collective obligations, wages can be received in exchange for performing the obligation.[17]
Permissibility of Receiving Wages in Obligations Related to Social Affairs
The existence of some jobs such as education, medicine, judgment, and military work, on which the survival of order and stability of society depends, has caused doubts to arise in many jurisprudential studies regarding the implementation of the rule of the prohibition of taking payment for obligatory acts in this type of duties.[18] These types of jobs, which are referred to as "Wajibat al-Nizamiyya" in a number of jurisprudential books, are obligations whose non-performance will lead to the disruption of the system.[19]
Many Shi'a jurists believe that despite the fame that exists regarding the rule of the prohibition of taking payment for obligatory acts, regarding these types of obligations on which the preservation of the Islamic society's system depends, receiving wages for performing them has been permissible since the time of the Infallibles (a).[20] In a jurisprudential study, it has been emphasized that even those who consider any receipt in exchange for performing obligatory acts to be forbidden have tried to find a way to exclude al-Nizamiyya obligations from the rule of the prohibition of taking payment for obligatory acts.[21]
Permissibility of Receiving Wages for Recommended Acts
Jurists usually address this issue regarding recommended acts alongside the discussion of the permissibility or impermissibility of receiving wages in exchange for performing obligatory acts, and have considered hadiths that are usually about Teaching the Qur'an and the wage of the Muezzin in this issue.[22] According to jurists who consider taking wages for obligatory acts permissible, one can demand wages in recommended acts a fortiori, and it has no incompatibility with the intention of proximity,[23] and jurists who consider receiving wages for obligatory acts forbidden have also held the view of the dislike (reprehensibility) of receiving wages in the case of recommended acts.[24]
Notes
- ↑ Mūsawī Bujnūrdī, Qawāʿid Fiqhiyya, vol. 2, p. 165.
- ↑ Mūsawī Bujnūrdī, Qawāʿid Fiqhiyya, vol. 2, p. 165.
- ↑ Burūjirdī, "Taḥlīl-i fiqhī-yi mashrūʿiyyat-i kasb-i darāmad...", pp. 27-28; Chūpān Pasandābād, "Qāʿida-yi ḥurmat-i akhdh-i ujrat...", p. 95; Muḥammadī Razīnī, "Akhdh-i ujrat dar ḥiḍānat...", p. 53.
- ↑ Burūjirdī, "Taḥlīl-i fiqhī-yi mashrūʿiyyat-i kasb-i darāmad...", p. 27.
- ↑ Jabbār Gulbāghī et al., "Wākāwī-yi tārīkhī-yi qāʿida-yi akhdh-i ujrat...", p. 143.
- ↑ Fakhlaʿī & Shīkhī, "Barrasī-yi ishkāl-i takhṣīṣ-nāpadhīrī-yi qāʿida-yi ḥurmat-i akhdh-i ujrat...", pp. 26-27; Burūjirdī, "Taḥlīl-i fiqhī-yi mashrūʿiyyat-i kasb-i darāmad...", pp. 27-28.
- ↑ Shahīd Thānī, Masālik al-afhām, 1413 AH.
- ↑ Najafī, Jawāhir al-kalām, vol. 22, p. 116.
- ↑ Muqaddas Ardabīlī, Majmaʿ al-fāʾida, vol. 8, p. 89.
- ↑ Mudarrisī Yazdī, Barrasī-yi gustarda-yi fiqhī-yi ujrat bar wājibāt..., pp. 25-26.
- ↑ Fakhlaʿī & Shīkhī, "Barrasī-yi ārā-yi fuqahā dar mawrid-i munāfāt-i akhdh-i ujrat...", p. 87.
- ↑ Khoei, Miṣbāḥ al-faqāha, vol. 1, p. 460.
- ↑ Khoei, Miṣbāḥ al-faqāha, vol. 1, p. 466.
- ↑ Fakhr al-Muḥaqqiqīn, Īḍāḥ al-fawāʾid, vol. 2, p. 257.
- ↑ Anṣārī, Al-Makāsib al-muḥarrama, vol. 2, p. 135.
- ↑ Imam Khomeini, Taḥrīr al-wasīla, vol. 1, p. 499.
- ↑ Anṣārī, Al-Makāsib al-muḥarrama, vol. 2, p. 135; Imam Khomeini, Al-Makāsib al-muḥarrama, vol. 2, pp. 297-299; Mūsawī Bujnūrdī, Qawāʿid Fiqhiyya, vol. 2, pp. 168-169; Fakhlaʿī & Shīkhī, "Barrasī-yi ārā-yi fuqahā dar mawrid-i munāfāt-i akhdh-i ujrat...", p. 86.
- ↑ Fakhlaʿī & Shīkhī, "Barrasī-yi ishkāl-i takhṣīṣ-nāpadhīrī-yi qāʿida-yi ḥurmat-i akhdh-i ujrat...", pp. 26-27.
- ↑ Baḥr al-ʿUlūm, Bulghat al-faqīh, vol. 2, p. 5.
- ↑ Anṣārī, Al-Makāsib al-muḥarrama, vol. 2, pp. 137-138; Mūsawī Bujnūrdī, Al-Qawāʿid al-fiqhiyya, vol. 2, pp. 169-170; Makārim Shīrāzī, Anwār al-faqāha, vol. 1, p. 416; Rajāʾī-pūr & Qarīb, "Ishkāl-i mashhūr dar ujrat khwāhī bar wājibāt-i niẓāmiyya", p. 123.
- ↑ Fakhlaʿī & Shīkhī, "Barrasī-yi ishkāl-i takhṣīṣ-nāpadhīrī-yi qāʿida-yi ḥurmat-i akhdh-i ujrat...", p. 26.
- ↑ Shīkhī et al., "Barrasī-yi asnād-i qurʾānī wa riwāyī-yi qāʿida-yi ḥurmat-i akhdh-i ujrat...", pp. 131-135.
- ↑ Mudarrisī, Barrasī-yi gustarda-yi fiqhī-yi ujrat bar wājibāt..., p. 183.
- ↑ Shīkhī et al., "Barrasī-yi asnād-i qurʾānī wa riwāyī-yi qāʿida-yi ḥurmat-i akhdh-i ujrat...", pp. 131-135.
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