Amr (command: forms, force and meaning in usul)

الأمر

Amr in the lexical sense means a matter or a state of affairs, and a request to act, the opposite of a prohibition. ¹ Explicit forms of the command are three: the imperative verb, the imperative noun-form, and the present verb with the command-prefix; there are also implicit forms. ² The form do is, for the majority, a command to obligation, and for others to recommendation. ²³ Carrying out a command validates it, and a prohibition takes precedence over a command in conflict. ⁴

Definition

Amr has two lexical senses: a matter or a state of affairs, and a request to act, the opposite of a prohibition. The first is pluralised as umur and the second as awamir. ¹

Usul questions

Is the word shared between the two senses, or is it a true request with the other sense as a figure? ¹
Is a request a command only if it is binding? The Hanafis say yes; al-Baqillani and the Shafi'is do not require it. ¹²
Must the command be from a higher to a lower? Some Maturidis and al-Amidi require it; al-Ash'ari does not. ²

Forms

Explicit: the imperative verb, the imperative noun form, and the present verb with the command particle. ²
Implicit: a report that states a ruling, a praise of the doer, or something the required act depends on. ²

What the form means

The imperative for the majority means obligation, for Abu Hashim and many usulis means recommendation, and some hold it shared. ²³
A command after a prohibition means permission for most, and obligation for the Hanafis. ³
A command does not by itself require repetition: the Hanafis say no, others say it does, and some say only once. ³
The preferred Hanafi view is that it does not require speed. ³
A command to pass an order to a third party is not a command to that third party, unless a sign shows otherwise. ³

Compliance, validity and conflict

Doing what is commanded, with its conditions and parts, validates it, by agreement when validity means compliance. ⁴
Where a prohibition conflicts with a command, the prohibition prevails, since avoiding harm comes before seeking benefit. ⁴
In homicide and damage the liability falls on the one who kills or destroys, not on the one who commanded, with exceptions. ⁴
Obedience is owed to God and His Messenger, and to others in what is not sinful. ⁴

Sources

al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.3381

al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.3382

al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.3383

al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.3384

Ahliyya (legal capacity: to have rights and duties, and to act; its stages from the womb to full maturity, and what impairs it)

Ahliyya is lexically suitability, and it is of two kinds: capacity to have rights and duties, the capacity of liability; and capacity to act, that is to perform acts recognised by the law. Its bearer passes through the stages of the foetus, childhood, discernment, puberty and maturity. Liability is complete from birth and incomplete for the foetus; the capacity to act is partial at discernment and full with puberty and reason. It is affected by heavenly impediments such as madness, imbecility, sleep, fainting, illness, slavery, menstruation, childbirth and death, and by acquired ones such as ignorance, drunkenness, jest, folly, travel, error and coercion.