Ribat (garrisoning the frontier, and the endowed hostels for travellers)

Ribat in its root sense is the garrisoning of an enemy frontier; it is also used for keeping the five prayers, for persistent sitting in the mosque, and for endowed hostels that house travellers, the poor and students. ^{1 2}

Ribat in the sense of guarding the frontiers is a confirmed sunna, since it protects them; Ahmad called it the root and branch of jihad. ^{2 3}

Many hadiths praise it: a day on it is better than the world and what is in it, and the one who dies on ribat has his deeds continued and is safe from the trial of the grave. ^{2 3} The best ribat is at the most dangerous frontier, where the presence is more useful and the people more in need. ³

The Hanafis hold that ribat is in a place with no Islam beyond it; Ibn Hajar allows it anywhere other than one's homeland, when the intention is to repel the enemy. ^{3 4}

A complete ribat is forty days by agreement, and one who stays longer has more reward. The Hanbalis set its least at an hour, and Ibn Hajar at a day or a night. ⁴

Endowed hostels on roads and at the edges of Muslim lands serve travellers, strangers and the poor. Whoever arrives first to one of them and is entitled to it has the better claim, and leaving for a need does not end it, but a long absence does. ^{4 5}

Jihad is treated in its own entry, and shared benefits and endowments likewise. ^{2 4}