Permissibility (ibaha)

The Kuwaiti Encyclopedia of Fiqh, in the section on its effects, defines permissibility (ibaha) as an act on which no sin follows. By source it divides permissibility into original and legislated, and by whole and part into four kinds. ^{1 2}

Among the properties the jurists treat as permitted are water, pasture, fire, unclaimed land, buried treasure, minerals and ownerless animals, each with its own rules. The jurists hold that public benefits which the lawgiver permitted for the ease of people, such as mosques and roads, have their rulings referred to their own terms. ¹

By source, permissibility is original, meaning where no text from the lawgiver was given and the matter stays on its default, and legislated, meaning where a text gives the choice, either from the start, as with permission to eat and drink, or after an earlier contrary ruling, as in abrogation and concessions. The Encyclopedia notes that original permissibility becomes legislated once the law has come, and cites in support the verse mentioned in al-Baqara 29. ¹

As for the permission of people, there are two kinds. In one, the thing is given over to be consumed, as with meals at celebrations, where eating and drinking are allowed but not taking food away, and hospitality. In the other, it is given over for use only, as when the owner of an animal or a car lets another ride it, or the owner of books lets someone read them, or someone who does not own the thing but owns its use, such as a tenant or a borrower, grants permission. ¹

The Encyclopedia divides permissibility, by the relation of part to whole, into four:

1. Permission of a part while the whole is demanded as obligatory, as with eating: a particular kind is permitted, but abstaining from food altogether is forbidden if it leads to death.
2. Permission of a part while the whole is recommended, as with enjoying what is above need of the good things; leaving it altogether goes against the recommendation to speak of God's blessing.
3. Permission of a part while the whole is forbidden, as with permitted acts whose constant practice damages one's uprightness, such as habitual swearing or cursing one's children.
4. Permission of a part while the whole is disliked, as with permitted play that is disliked when kept up constantly.

²

The Encyclopedia lists among the effects of permissibility the lifting of sin and hardship, since permissibility is defined as an act that carries no sin; and the enabling of a settled ownership over the thing, and exclusive right over its use. A permission to eat at a feast does not allow any disposal of the food other than eating, except with the owner's consent, by custom or by a clear sign; in this way permissibility differs from a gift or charity in conferring ownership, and from a bequest. ^{2 3}

The Encyclopedia notes that permissibility generally does not exclude liability, because God's permission, though it lifts hardship and sin, may carry a liability: permission to use a thing implies protecting it from ruin, and any damage that occurs is liable to compensation. It reports al-Qarafi's two views on a case in which someone takes another's food under compulsion, and does not decide between them here. ³