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Hukm (legal ruling)

الحكم

Hukm means judgement, lexically a prevention. ¹ For the majority of usulis the legal ruling is the address of the lawgiver concerning the acts of the obliged, by demand, choice or stipulation; for the jurists it is the effect of that address, such as obligation. ¹ The majority count five kinds of legal ruling (obligatory, recommended, permitted, forbidden, disliked); the Hanafis add two (wajib, and disliked-as-forbidden). The majority equate fard and wajib, the Hanafis separate them. ² The ruling by stipulation includes cause, condition, impediment, dispensation or strictness, and validity or nullity. ² The entry refers the reader to the separate headwords and to the usuli appendix for the details. ²

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At a glance

Era: The Early Abbasid Caliphate
Region: Global / Diaspora
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Law and courts Development of law, theology and institutions

Summary

Hukm means judgement, lexically a prevention. ¹ For the majority of usulis the legal ruling is the address of the lawgiver concerning the acts of the obliged, by demand, choice or stipulation; for the jurists it is the effect of that address, such as obligation. ¹ The majority count five kinds of legal ruling (obligatory, recommended, permitted, forbidden, disliked); the Hanafis add two (wajib, and disliked-as-forbidden). The majority equate fard and wajib, the Hanafis separate them. ² The ruling by stipulation includes cause, condition, impediment, dispensation or strictness, and validity or nullity. ² The entry refers the reader to the separate headwords and to the usuli appendix for the details. ²

People and things also explored

Dahri (the naturalist who holds that time is eternal)· Da'wa (the fiqh article: call, invitation and summons)· The state (in fiqh and siyasa shar'iyya)· Diwan (the state register: the office books of troops, taxes, judges and governors)· Hadm (demolition, real and legal)· Halal (the lawful)· Haqiqa (literal sense)· Right (haqq)

Sources

al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.7232
al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.7233

Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Hukm (legal ruling)”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/concept/hukm-ruling/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-23.

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Ideas

Beliefs, concepts, sciences and schools, explained in plain words. Related

Dahri (the naturalist who holds that time is eternal)

As a term the Dahriyya are a group of disbelievers who held that time is eternal and attributed events to it, denying the existence of a Creator who chooses, and denying the Hereafter, resurrection and recompense. The jurists distinguish the Dahri from the zindiq, the mulhid, the hypocrite and the apostate, though all of them share disbelief with him; an original disbeliever of this kind is treated as a harbi, a musta'min or a dhimmi according to his residence.