Adha (harm of a slight kind: removing harmful things and the duty not to harm)

In the lexicon, adha is what one dislikes and does not accept, including filth, and it also names the slight trace such a thing leaves behind. The author of the Taj al-Arus, quoting al-Khattabi, says adha is a slight unwelcome thing. ¹ The jurists use adha in both senses. They apply it to the harmful thing itself; the Prophet ﷺ's saying, in the list of the branches of faith, gives "removing harm from the road" as the lowest of them. ¹ A slight evil is called adha, and a grave one darar. The author of the Taj al-Arus says adha is a light evil, and when it increases it becomes darar. ¹ The jurists keep this distinction. They say that the one circling the Ka'ba must not harm anyone in his circuit, and they speak of darar's guarantee (daman al-darar), never of adha's guarantee. Adha stands to darar as minor sins stand to major ones. ²

Adha in the sense of slight harm is forbidden, and avoiding it is obligatory by agreement unless it is set against a greater harm; then the lesser of two harms is taken to avoid the greater. The jurists treat this in the rites of pilgrimage, touching the Black Stone, in the chapter on slaves, in their treatment of slaves, and in the chapter on the prohibited and the permitted in the Hanafi works. ² Adha in the sense of the harmful thing: removing harmful things from Muslims is recommended wherever they are. ² Whoever sees harm on his brother should remove it, and whoever passes an arrow through a crowded place should hold its tip so as not to hurt anyone. ² A child's hair is shaved on the seventh day and the harm is removed from him. ² A harmful animal may be killed to stop its harm, even if found in the sanctuary. ³ In enemy territory the harmful animal is not killed, because harmful things there still weaken the enemy fighters, as the jurists state in the chapter on jihad. ³