Sufficiency (kifaya)

كِفاية

Kifaya in the lexicon is what brings independence from others. In fiqh it has three senses: the important acts the lawgiver wants done without regard to who does them, which are the collective obligations (fard al-kifaya); a person's fitness for public duties; and meeting one's essential needs of food, clothing and housing to the level of one's condition. Collective obligations include bearing and giving testimony, taking in an abandoned child, washing, shrouding, praying over and burying the dead, and appointing an imam. Sufficiency is owed first by the person himself, then by his kin, then from the zakat, the public treasury and taxes levied by the ruler. ¹ ² ³ ⁴ ⁵ ⁶ ⁷ ⁸ ⁹

Summary

In the lexicon kifaya is what brings independence from others; one says he was sufficed by a thing, and kafaf is the measure of need with no excess or lack ¹ ². In the terminology it has three senses: the important acts the lawgiver wants done without regard to who does them, which are collective obligations; a person's fitness for public duties; and meeting one's essential needs to the level of one's condition ¹.

Collective obligations and recommended collective acts

A collective obligation is an important general matter with religious or worldly benefit, meant to be done by enough of the people, not each; once some have done it the rest are excused. It differs from a personal obligation, whose benefit repeats with each performance, and it ends when some perform it ² ³. Recommended collective acts include the greeting of a group and the blessing of a sneezer ³.

The benefits met by sufficiency

Religious benefits include learning, memorizing Qur'an and Sunna, public worship, jihad and enjoining good; worldly ones include learning crafts and farming; shared ones include bearing and giving testimony, taking in a foundling, visiting the sick, washing, shrouding, praying over and burying the dead, and holding public offices ⁴ ⁵ ⁶. Bearing testimony is a collective obligation when many witnesses are available and a personal one when there is only one ⁴ ⁵.

Appointing the imam and public offices

Appointing the imam is a collective obligation by agreement of the schools; those who choose the ruler, and those qualified for the post, discharge it for the community, and the same applies to other public offices ⁷ ⁸.

Sufficiency of individuals

A person's sufficiency is his essential needs; it is owed first by himself, then by his kin, then by the Muslims ⁷. A rich man or one able to work must meet his own needs and is not given zakat ⁸. The maintenance owed to a relative is sufficiency suited to his condition; a wife's maintenance is measured by sufficiency, and the Shafi'is set measures of food by wealth and poverty ⁸ ⁹.

Ways of providing sufficiency

Zakat may provide it: the Hanafis give a poor man less than the nisab, while the Malikis and one Hanbali narration give enough for a year. Poor people who may not take zakat are paid from the public treasury, and the ruler may levy taxes on the rich for public needs ⁹.

Sources

al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.13376

al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.13377

al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.13378

al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.13379

al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.13380

al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.13381

al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.13382

al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.13383

al-Mawsu'a al-Fiqhiyya al-Kuwaitiyya, Noor-Book copy (file named v3) , p.13384

Herbage and pasture (kala')

Kala' means herbage, dry or green; in law it is grass that grows without human work. The jurists agree that grass growing on open land such as valleys, mountains and unowned ground is shared, and no one may forbid another to take it or to graze his animals there, on the hadith that Muslims share three things: water, fire and herbage. Grass on owned land belongs to its owner, who may bar entry, though no one may be stopped from taking grass he cannot find elsewhere; the Malikis allow grazing on unplanted ground and do not allow grass in unplanted land to be stopped unless a field nearby is at risk. The imam may reserve unowned land for the herds of the poor-tax and the sadaqa and for the weak, according to the Hanafis, Malikis, Hanbalis and the sounder Shafi'i view, and most jurists allow grazing in the sanctuary of Mecca.