Utterance (lafz), fiqh rulings

Lafz, in lexicon, is to throw out something in one's mouth, and to utter a word is to speak it; in law it is what a person, or one in his place, utters, whether meaningless or meaningful ¹. A sign conveys what an utterance conveys and sometimes stands for it, and silence is the opposite of speech when one is able to speak ².

Words interpret will and desire, so the law attaches rulings to them through intentions and purposes ². Some acts are bound to fixed words, such as the call to prayer, the iqama, the opening takbir and the tashahhud; for contracts other than marriage and salam, most jurists hold that any word that achieves the purpose completes the contract, since the contract is judged by its purposes and meanings, not by its wording ². Marriage requires, for the Shafi'is and Hanbalis, a word from marrying or giving in marriage, while the Hanafis and Malikis accept any word implying permanence ³.

Most jurists require the word I testify in testimony; the Malikis do not fix a word, requiring only knowledge ³. The words of the oaths of mutual cursing are fixed by the Qur'an: I testify, the curse and the wrath ⁴. Compulsion to utter a word prevents its effect for most jurists, on the verse excepting the one compelled while his heart is at rest in faith, and the hadith that God lifted from my community error, forgetting and what they were forced to do ^{3 4}.

A word is the form that carries the speaker's meaning, so a speaker who does not know its meaning, like a non-Arab, is not held to what he says of unbelief, divorce or sale, since he did not intend it. The Hanafis count the divorce of the forgetful, the mistaken and the distracted, since intention is not a condition for them. One who utters a word intending its form but not its meaning, like the jester or the player, has no effect in most views, except for five: divorce, oath, marriage, return and emancipation, on the hadith that three are serious in their earnest and their jest: marriage, divorce and return ⁴.

A shared word has two or more meanings in turn, as the word qurʾ means both menstruation and purity ^{4 5}. If one swears not to ride a beast, eat meat or drink something cold, the word is read in the light of his intention or custom; a jurist may judge that the word of a donor, a testator, an oath-taker or a contractor is read by his custom and his language ⁵.

An explicit word is one whose meaning is plain through use; an allusive one hides its meaning though its literal sense is clear. The distinction runs through divorce, endowment, gift, betrothal, marriage, khul', zihar, slander and vows ⁵. Some words are forbidden for lawful purposes, such as the verse on not saying raʿina, and the naming of grapes as karma or the prayer of sunset as ʿatama, and the greetings of the Jahiliyya ^{5 6}.