This is a glossary of key terms used in Muslim family laws and commentary related to such laws and practices.

Please contactMusawah to suggest terms that can be added to the glossary. adat: Custom (Malay/Indonesian) `adl: (lit. straightness, impartiality) In a general sense, adl refers to justice and fairness and impartiality. Islamic law requires a witness in the court to be adl, to be just and impartial. The criteria for impartiality are defined often in terms of good character and general reputation. Declaring someone to be fit as a witness is called tazkiya al-shuhud. Justice in Islamic legal thinking has been defined in terms of order and hierarchy; focus on fairness and right has been marginal. Modern Muslim thought stresses a wider sense of justice to include notions of social and economic justice. ahliyya: (lit. ability) Legal capacity, which is enjoyed only by a person who is adult and sane. Adulthood in Islamic law obtains on puberty. In modern times, adulthood is defined more in terms of age than puberty. al-ahkam al-khamsa: (lit. five values) The five legal qualifications, which are Obligatory (wajib/fard); Recommended/ commendable (mandub/mustahabb); Neutral, Indifferent/permissible (mubah/jaiz);Reprehensible/disapproved(makruh); Forbidden (haram, mahzur). This categorization suggests Muslim jurists effort to define the wide range between halal and haram (the lawful and the forbidden), the basic categories used in the Quran. darar syarie: Harm, according to what is normally recognised by Muslim law, affecting a wife in respect of religion, life, body, mind, moral or property faqih(plural fuqaha): The specialist in fiqh. A faqih is trained in a madrasa or special institutions of learning, but his authority is defined more in terms of his reputation, than is training or competence. fasakh: The dissolution of a marriage for cause fatwa: The considered legal opinion of a mufti. Essentially fatwa is advice which is not legally binding. Often, fatwa means citation from an authoritative legal text. Political use of fatwa in modern times has given it a sense of religious call or edict. fiqh: (lit. understanding, knowledge) The science of Sharia, the sacred law of Islam. The huge literature produced by Muslim jurists. It began with the opinions and doctrines of the jurists in leading Islamic cities in early Islam. These opinions shaped gradually the schools of law. Jurists never claimed that their doctrines were sacred. They always distinguished between divine and human; fiqh was human understanding. The contents of Fiqh were further divided into two main divisions: Ibadat (rituals, laws relating to relations between God and humans) andMuamalat / Adat ( laws relating to relations between humans). Human reasoning and experience plays a vital role in case of Muamalat. Fiqhis more focused on rituals, marriage, divorce, inheritance, less on public laws, somewhat detailed on commercial laws. The diversity of opinions over time and among the jurists is quite notable. In modern times fiqh has come to be distinguished from Shariah; the latter is of divine origin but fiqh is human. hadanah: Physical care and custody Hadith: Hadith is distinguished from Sunna, which means normative practice. Hadith is a report about what Prophet Muhammad said about something, practiced or approved, or did not disapprove a certain thing. A science of Hadith criticism was developed to examine the normative value of a hadith and about the reliability of a hadith. A hadith report consists of two parts; first gives a list of narrators of the hadith and the second part the text. The jurists and the collectors of hadith differed in their criteria about the normativity of a hadith. haqq: (lit. truth, correctness, fair) In Islamic legal thinking, gives both the sense of right and a duty. Huquq (pl. of Haqq) are divided into the rights of God and rights of men. The idea of Divine Rights, belonging to humans, e.g. kings or religious authorities, is not endorsed by jurists. hukum (lit. Judgment, opinion, decision) A very complex term that has a variety of meanings in Islamic legal literature ranging between command, rule of law, judgment and an arbitration. The term refers also to Hakam and Hakim; the former an arbiter and the later a ruler who has to power to give final decision. Hukum refers to the decision of a Muslim judge as well as to a conclusion drawn by a jurist from authoritative text and evidence. Hukum in Islamic legal theory also refers to the normative laws in the Quran, direct or indirect.

hukum fiqh: Legal ruling according to any recognised mazhab iddah: (lit. counting) Waiting period of about three menstrual cycles that a divorced or widowed woman must observe ijbar: The power to compel an unmarried virgin (of any age) to marry someone of equal status, as recognised by certain schools of law; the power usually resides in the father or paternal grandfather ijma: (lit.agreement) Consensus; the concept and definition of Ijma has changed over time in Islamic history from the consensus of the first generation of Muslims to the consensus of the leaders of opinion to that of jurists only. In modern times, the emphasis has shifted from the meaning of a convention or practice to an agreement reached after consultation and discussion by a particular group. Some Muslim thinkers have suggested parliament as a place for Ijma. ijtihad: (lit. effort, endeavourer, diligence) Independent reasoning to arrive at a legal principle. Ijtihad is an essential process of legal reasoning, responsible for the growth of Islamic law. After the establishment of the various schools of law, the Sunnis understand ijtihad as an opposite oftaqlid. Since no new schools appeared after the third century, it was wrongly assumed that the door of ijtihad was closed. The necessary qualifications for the exercise of ijtihad are: knowledge of the sources, legal methods, and scholarly integrity. Traditionally, it is further added that the subjects of ijtihad must be a matter on which the jurists are not agreed and that it must not go against the consensus. The person who is qualified to exercise ijtihad is called mujtahid. The Sunnis regard the rank of ijtihad restricted within the schools. The Shia, on the other hand do not regard the door of ijtihad closed, but they also require the lay person to follow a mujtahid. ikhtilaf: Divergent legal rulings istihsan: (lit. to regard something good, approval, consent) A method of legal reasoning in which a discretionary opinion is taken in breach of strict analogy. It is often attributed to the Hanafi school. The Hanafis describe it as a method of qiyas, when a jurist prefers one analogical conclusion to the other in view of the common good. istislah: A method of taking public interest into account, which is attributed to the Maliki school. The principle is also called maslaha, common good, and public interest. kafaah: Social equality khalwat: Close proximity khul: Divorce by redemption, generally through payment or compensation to the husband, initiated by the wife Kitabi: A man who is a Christian or Jew and has been so since birth Kitabiyah: A woman who is a Christian or Jew and has been so since birth Kompilasi Hukum Islam: Indonesian Compilation of Islamic Laws lian: Divorce by imprecation in relation to alleged adultery, where the husband affirms under oath that the wife has committed adultery and the wife affirms under oath to the contrary madhhab / mazhab: A particular school of religious law or thought. In the second and third century, groups of jurists appeared in different Islamic cities, which later came to be known as madhhabs or schools of law. Out of more than nineteen, seven or eight schools have survived. Jafariyya (Jafar Sadiq), in Iraq, Iran and India, Zaydiyya (Zaydb. Ali), Hanafiyya (Abu Hanifah), Shafiiyya (Idris al-Shafii), Malikiyya (Malik b. Anas), Hanbaliyya (Ahmad b. Hanbal), Ibadiyya. mahr: Dower, or the goods and/or cash due from the groom to the bride under hukum fiqh, as stipulated in the marriage contract. It may be given at the time of the marriage ceremony, or promised to be paid at a later date or to be paid upon divorce or the death of the husband, or divided into prompt and deferred portions. maslahah: (lit. matter, affair, benefit, interest) Public interest. Maslaha is the basic principle of Maliki method of istislah. Fourteenth century jurist Abu Ishaq al-Shatibi defined it as the primary objective of Shariah. According to him, maslaha relates to the five basic needs that the law aims to protect: life, faith, reason, property, family.

maqasid al-shariah: The basic objectives of Shariah; the five main objectives are considered to be religion, life, intellect, lineage and property, others mentioned include justice, human dignity, and economic development. This doctrine stressed that the primary objective of the Shariahis human welfare. The fourteenth century Spanish Maliki jurist, Abu Ishaq al-Shatibi, who expounded this doctrine has been very popular in modern Islamic legal thought. mubaraat: Divorce by mutual consent mufti: A specialist in religious law who is qualified to give an authoritative religious opinion (fatwa) murtad: Apostate musha: Where ownership of matrimonial properties has become mixed up mutah: Compensatory payment by the husband to the wife, paid on divorce through talaq or where the fault lies with the husband nafaqah: Maintenance of wife during marriage, and, if she is divorced, throughout the iddah period, including shelter, food and clothing nikah: Marriage nusyuz: Disruption of marital harmony by either spouse pemberian: The gifts, whether in the form of money or things given or exchanged between the husband and wife, at the time of marriage qadi: An Islamic judge. A qadi is distinguished from a mufti as a legal authority who is appointed by the state and thus represents the state. The decision of a qadi is binding for the parties and is enforceable; the mufti only gives an advice, which is not enforceable in a court of law. qiwamah: A mixture of a husband's dominion and protection over his wife; in fiqh it is defined as a man's duty to provide for his wife; it is linked to the wife's duty to obey him. qiyas: (lit. measurement, comparison) Analogical reasoning in Islamic law that is constructed on the pattern of formal logic: premises and conclusion. Major premise is the injunction from the Usul, i.e. the Quran, Sunnah and ijma, the minor premise is the case in question, reconstructed as minor premise, namely to contain the middle term include in the major premise. The conclusion is the hukum, the method of deduction is called qiyas. s.a.w.: Peace be upon Him (in reference to Prophet Muhammad) Shariah: (lit. water source, the way, the path) The path or way given by God to human beings, the path by which human beings search Gods Will. Commonly misinterpreted as Islamic law, shariah is not restricted to positive law per se but includes moral and ethical values and the jurisprudential process itself. siyasah shari`iyyah: (lit. administration, management) Policy or administrative justice created by the state. Fiqh is not elaborate in matters of public law and administration. Jurists adopted and assimilated local practices of public administration, even in such matters as the appointment of the head of state. This adoption was called siyasa. Its use is synonymous with public interest and general policy. Later, since such adoptions mostly related to criminal laws and penalties against the state, which were mostly not in strict accordance with fiqh or Shariah,siyasa was understood as opposite or supplemental to Shariah. It was often justified as a need of the state. Some Muslim jurists disagreed and called for public administration to accord with Shariah, to be called al-Siyasa al-Shariyya. Sunnah: (lit., the way or course or conduct of life): The example of the Prophet embodied in his statement, actions and those matters that he silently approved or disapproved as reported in hadith literature. Sunnah is acknowledged as a primary source of Islamic law after the Quran. tafwid: A delegated right of divorce exercised by the wife. takhayyur: The process of selection (from a range of juristic opinions).

talfiq: (lit, patchwork) The process of combining and fusing juristic opinions. talaq: Oral repudiation of marriage by the husbands. taliq: Stipulations in a marriage agreement to which the groom has agreed; divorce for breach of condition in marriage contract or any subsequent written agreement between the husband and wife. tamkin: the wife's obedience and submission. taqlid: (lit. imitation, copying, custom) Taqlid as a doctrine requires a person to follow a particular school of law. It was a legal device to systematize the schools of law and to establishing their authority. ulama: Scholars ummah: Community urf: (lit. beneficence, kindness) Custom. Local customs play a very important role in the understanding and growth of Islamic law. Urf andAda, often interchangeably refer to customs, local and common, and social practices. usul: (lit. root, origin, source, reason, cause) The roots or theoretical basis of Islamic law. Usul is used in two different meaning: principles and sources. In the meaning of sources, usul refers to the following four: the Quran, Sunnah, ijma and qiyas. The fist two are considered primary sources, while the latter two are formal sources. The jurists have added a number of other sources; Qarafi, a Maliki jurist, for instance counts thirteen sources of Islamic law. Usul refers to general principles. These include maxims (qawaid), special methods of reasoning, e.g. istislah, the basic doctrines of the founders of the schools of law, and the common principles on a certain legal subject (dawabit). wahy: Divine revelation wali: Guardian (for marriage); recognised by some schools of law as the father or paternal grandfather who has authority to contract marriage on behalf of the bride. wilayah: Authority; fiqh defines it as a father's guardianship rights over the child, as distinct from the hadanah (care) element of custody that is defined as the mother's duty to care.