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Irjaf (spreading alarm)

إرجاف

Irjaf in the lexicon is violent agitation; it is also used for dwelling on bad news and mentioning strife, because it causes agitation among people. In the usage of the jurists it is seeking strife and spreading lies and falsehood to cause distress. 1

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Era
The Prophetic Era
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Global / Diaspora
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Law and courts

Irjaf (spreading alarm)

Irjaf in the lexicon is violent agitation; it is also used for dwelling on bad news and mentioning strife, because it causes agitation among people. In the usage of the jurists it is seeking strife and spreading lies and falsehood to cause distress. 1 Takhdhil is discouraging people from fighting and making them averse to going out, while irjaf is spreading agitation among the Muslims, so irjaf is wider than takhdhil. Ishaa'a is making public news that should be kept hidden, in order to shame people. 1 Irjaf is forbidden, and abandoning it is obligatory, because it harms the Muslims, and its doer deserves a discretionary penalty. God ordered His Prophet to deal with the spreaders of alarm in Medina, and when the Prophet ﷺ learned that some hypocrites were discouraging people at the expedition to Tabuk, he sent men of his Companions to burn their houses over them, and they did. 2 A commander may not take a spreader of alarm with him to fight, and if the commander himself is one of them it is not recommended to go out with him; a spreader who goes out with the army gets no share of the booty, nor a reward from it. The jurists treat these rulings in the book on jihad and in the division of booty. 2

People and things also explored

Ahliyya (legal capacity: to have rights and duties, and to act; its stages from the womb to full maturity, and what impairs it)· Democracy and the Sharia — compatibility and conflict· Fatwa on the satellite channels — its benefit and harm· Secularism and Islam — conflict or concord· Stoning (rajm) as a penalty for zina· Allusion to a proposal during the waiting period· Aman (safe-conduct granted to enemies in war)· Amana (trust, deposit and what is entrusted)

Sources

  1. al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.2161
  2. al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.2162
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Irjaf (spreading alarm)”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/concept/irjaf-fiqh/. 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

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.