Types of Wujūb

The Jamhūr hold that amr divides into two types only when the command is restricted by time, as with ṣalāh; in that case, amr may be split into adāʾ and qaḍāʾ. The Aḥnāf, by contrast, hold that amr divides into adāʾ and qaḍāʾ whether or not the command is bound by time. Adāʾ is to carry out the command itself; qaḍāʾ is to carry it out by producing its likeness. Thus, in the case of ṣalāh, performing the prayer in its specified time is adāʾ; performing it outside that time is qaḍāʾ, since what is offered then is a likeness of the original command rather than what was originally enjoined.

The terms adāʾ and qaḍāʾ are interchangeable, so that one may use adāʾ with the intention of qaḍāʾ, and likewise qaḍāʾ with the intention of adāʾ. One might say نويت أن أقضي ظهر اليوم, "I intend to do qaḍāʾ of Ẓuhr today," meaning I intend to pray (adāʾ) Ẓuhr. One might also say نويت أن أؤدي ظهر الأمس, "I intend to do adāʾ of yesterday's Ẓuhr," meaning I intend to make up (qaḍāʾ) the Ẓuhr I missed yesterday.

The use of qaḍāʾ in place of adāʾ has many parallels in the Qurʾān, as in the saying of Allāh ﴿فَإِذَا قُضِيَتِ الصَّلَاةُ فَانتَشِرُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ﴾.¹

Imām al-Bazdawī notes that adāʾ is generally used to mean both adāʾ and qaḍāʾ, whereas qaḍāʾ is reserved for its own meaning and is not used to mean adāʾ.

An objection arises: if it is permissible to use qaḍāʾ with the intention of adāʾ, why is it not allowed in the case of a man who fasts in Shaʿbān thinking it to be Ramaḍān? If he says, "I am doing qaḍāʾ (intending the meaning of adāʾ) of Ramaḍān," the fasting of Ramaḍān is not thereby fulfilled. The Aḥnāf reply that the issue is not with the meaning of the sentence, nor with the interchangeability of adāʾ and qaḍāʾ; rather, adāʾ of an action cannot occur before its sabab has come into effect. Since Ramaḍān has not yet started, its sabab has not been found, and so adāʾ of it cannot be performed.

A man who fasts in Shawwāl thinking it to be Ramaḍān, by contrast, fulfils his qaḍāʾ. He has a few qaḍāʾ fasts of Ramaḍān still owing from earlier; he then fasts in Shawwāl thinking it to be Ramaḍān, saying "I am doing adāʾ of Ramaḍān." His qaḍāʾ is fulfilled.²

According to the Aḥnāf, qaḍāʾ is automatically made wājib when the sabab of the original amr for adāʾ is found, with no need for fresh evidence to indicate that qaḍāʾ is now obligatory. This is also the view of some Shawāfiʿ and the famous view of the Ḥanābilah; Qāḍī Abū Yaʿlā says Imām Aḥmad pointed in this direction. Most of the Shawāfiʿ, however, along with Abū Bakr al-Jaṣṣāṣ, Abū al-Yusr al-Bazdawī (the brother of Fakhr al-Islām Imām al-Bazdawī), and the Aḥnāf of the Iraq region, hold that qaḍāʾ does not become wājib by virtue of adāʾ's having become wājib; they require additional evidence to establish that qaḍāʾ is obligatory.

For example, the Aḥnāf hold that if a man misses his ṣalāh and the time for it has passed, qaḍāʾ becomes wājib by default; they do not look for further evidence. Others argue that qaḍāʾ is not made wājib by the āyah on its own, but by the ḥadīth of the Prophet ﷺ مَنْ نَسِيَ صَلاَةً فَلْيُصَلِّهَا إِذَا ذَكَرَهَا, "He who forgets the prayer should say it when he remembers it."³ The Aḥnāf reply that this ḥadīth, and others like it,⁴ are brought to clarify that adāʾ of ṣalāh remains due, and that the obligation is not dropped simply because the prayer was missed.

The same logic applies to a man who is ill or travelling and so misses the fasting of Ramaḍān. The Aḥnāf hold that the āyah of the Qurʾān itself indicates wujūb for both adāʾ and qaḍāʾ; the Shawāfiʿ and others hold that qaḍāʾ would not have been made wājib without the further part of the āyah, ﴿وَمَن كَانَ مَرِيضًا أَوْ عَلَىٰ سَفَرٍ فَعِدَّةٌ مِّنْ أَيَّامٍ أُخَرَ﴾,⁵ which they take to be the source of the wujūb of qaḍāʾ, rather than the original command.

In both cases the practical outcome is the same: a missed prayer or fast must be made up. Only the basis of the obligation differs. There are, however, instances in which this subtle distinction has divergent effects on a fiqhī ruling.

For example: a man takes an oath that he will fast on a particular day. While he is keeping the fast he falls ill, or becomes unconscious, such that he is unable to complete it. The Aḥnāf hold that he must do qaḍāʾ of the fast; the Shawāfiʿ hold that he need not. The Aḥnāf, holding that qaḍāʾ becomes wājib by default,⁶ reason that as soon as the man began his fast it was wājib on him to complete it; since he could not, he must do qaḍāʾ on another day. The Shawāfiʿ, holding that qaḍāʾ does not become wājib by default, reason that the man need not make up the fast, since qaḍāʾ only becomes obligatory through additional evidence, which is absent here.

There are further examples where the difference between the two madhāhib is plain. The Aḥnāf hold that the qaḍāʾ of a ḥaḍar ṣalāh should be four rakʿāt when made up in safar, and the qaḍāʾ of a safar ṣalāh should be two rakʿāt when made up in ḥaḍar. The Shawāfiʿ⁷ and Ḥanābilah hold that the qaḍāʾ of a safar ṣalāh is four rakʿāt if performed in ḥaḍar. Ibn Ḥazm offers a third view: two rakʿāt if the qaḍāʾ is in safar, four if in ḥaḍar.

The Aḥnāf likewise hold that qaḍāʾ of a jahrī⁸ ṣalāh in the day is read aloud, and qaḍāʾ of a sirrī⁹ ṣalāh at night quietly, even though jahrī prayers are not normally prayed during the day, nor sirrī prayers at night.

An objection may seem to arise here, suggesting that the Aḥnāf do not hold consistently to their principle that what makes adāʾ wājib also makes qaḍāʾ wājib. Consider this: the time for ṣalāh enters and a man is sick, so it becomes wājib on him to perform ṣalāh as a marīḍ; once the time has passed, qaḍāʾ becomes due. It might then seem that qaḍāʾ as a marīḍ should suffice even after the man has recovered; yet the Aḥnāf hold that he should pray normally.

Those raising the objection say that, since adāʾ would have been complete had the man prayed as a marīḍ, his qaḍāʾ should also be complete if performed as a marīḍ, even when he is healthy. The Aḥnāf position¹⁰ would, on this reading, imply that the sabab which made adāʾ wājib is not the same as the one making qaḍāʾ wājib.¹¹ The Aḥnāf reply that when the amr first came, it was wājib to complete the full ṣalāh, with a dispensation for the sick. The same applies to qaḍāʾ: the prayer must be completed in full, with a dispensation that the sick may pray as a marīḍ.

This is a well-known question put by the Shawāfiʿ. If a man makes an oath to do iʿtikāf in Ramaḍān, fasts, but is unable to perform his iʿtikāf due to illness, the Aḥnāf hold that he need not do qaḍāʾ of the iʿtikāf in another Ramaḍān. He must instead perform another iʿtikāf as soon as possible, and must fast while doing so. The objection is: why must a fresh fast be kept, when the fast has already been done the first time? The case looks like a qaḍāʾ of an adāʾ already completed. Why not simply do qaḍāʾ of the iʿtikāf?

The Aḥnāf reply that, since the condition of a wājib iʿtikāf is Ramaḍān,¹³ iʿtikāf without fasting in Ramaḍān is not valid. When the man is unable to complete his iʿtikāf due to illness, his fasting has been done, and so qaḍāʾ of the fasting is undertaken; but since fasting is a condition of wājib iʿtikāf, his oath for iʿtikāf is, in effect, also an oath for fasting. He must therefore complete a nafl fast alongside the qaḍāʾ of his iʿtikāf.

This parallels the case of a man who takes an oath to pray two rakʿāt of ṣalāh. He must perform wuḍūʾ before doing so, since wuḍūʾ is a necessary prerequisite of ṣalāh; if he prays without wuḍūʾ the prayer will not be accepted, and his oath remains unfulfilled.

A further objection arises: if the Aḥnāf hold that qaḍāʾ becomes wājib with the same sabab as adāʾ, namely the āyah ﴿وَلْيُوفُوا نُذُورَهُمْ﴾,¹⁴ then it should be wājib to do qaḍāʾ in a different Ramaḍān, as Zufar holds. If not, the obligation of qaḍāʾ should be dropped altogether, as Abū Yūsuf holds.¹⁵ The Aḥnāf reply that the period from one Ramaḍān to the next is long, and a man cannot be sure of reaching the next Ramaḍān to complete his qaḍāʾ; he should therefore make qaḍāʾ as soon as he is able.

Footnotes

1. Qurʾān 62:10 ↩

2. This is as long as it is not the day of Eid; fasting is not permissible nor accepted on this day. ↩

3. Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 684 a ↩

4. Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 684 b, 684 c, 684 d ↩

5. Qurʾān 2:185 ↩

6. I.e. as soon as the sabab of the amr is found. ↩

7. Shāfiʿīs (later school). ↩

8. Like Maghrib and ʿIshāʾ. ↩

9. Like Ẓuhr and ʿAṣr. ↩

10. That they should pray their ṣalāh normally. ↩

11. Similarly, if a sick person is doing qaḍāʾ for ṣalāh missed when healthy, they may lighten the prayer as is normally permitted according to the Aḥnāf. ↩

12. ʿAllāmah al-Nasafī mentions fasting (and not iʿtikāf), as if the person did not fast due to illness, then in this case it is permissible to do qaḍāʾ of iʿtikāf in the coming Ramaḍān. ↩

13. There is some ikhtilāf on whether fasting is a condition of iʿtikāf; cf. Qamar al-Aqmar. ↩

14. Qurʾān 22:29 ↩

15. cf. Qamar al-Aqmar. ↩