Fasiq Explained
Fasiq (fāsiq) is an Arabic term referring to someone who violates Islamic law. As a fasiq is considered unreliable, his testimony is not accepted in Islamic courts.[1] The terms fasiq and fisq are sometime rendered as "impious",[1] "venial sinner",[1] or "depraved".[2]
Constant committing of minor sins or the major sins that do not require greater punishment, which are described as wickedness in fiqh terminology, are punished by the judge's discretion, without a certain limit and measure.
In tazir punishments, there is no obligation to prove the crime by witnessing or similar mechanisms.[3]
Origin
Fasiq is derived from the term fisq, "breaking the agreement"[4] or "to leave or go out of."[2]
In its original Quranic usage, the term did not have the specific meaning of a violator of laws, and was more broadly associated with kufr (disbelief). Some theologians have associated fasiq-related behaviour to ahl al-hawa (people of caprice).[5]
Theological debate
- The jurist Wasil ibn Ata (700–748 CE) submitted that a fasiq remained a member of Muslim society, so retained rights to life and property though he could not hold a religious position. This opinion set him at odds with Murji'ah jurists who considered a fasiq to be a munafiq (hypocrite), and the Kharijites who considered the fasiq a kafir.
- To the Kharijites "faith without works" was worthless, so one who professed Islam yet sinned was fasiq, and thus a kafir.[6]
Applications
In the period leading up to the 1979 Iranian Revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini described the Shah of Iran as fasiq.[7]
See also
External links
- ف س ق at The Quranic Arabic Corpus
Notes and References
- Book: Majid Khadduri. The Islamic Conception of Justice. 17 November 2012. 28 November 2001. JHU Press. 978-0-8018-6974-7. 149–.
- Book: Amīn Ahsan Iṣlāhī. Tafsir of Surah al-Fātihan and Surah al-Baqarah. 17 November 2012. 2007. The Other Press. 978-983-9154-88-7. 149.
- Ertuğrul Gazi Tuncay . İslam Hukukunda Sınırı Belirlenmemiş Cezalar . İslam Bilimleri Araştırmaları Dergisi . 2017 . 3 . 82–99 . tr .
- Book: Dr. Hasanuddin Ahmed. An Easy Way to Understanding Qur'an 2 vols. 17 November 2012. 1 March 1987. IQRA International Educational Foundation. 978-0-911119-34-3. 1–.
- Kamali, Mohammad Hashim. "The Approved and Disapproved Varieties of" Ra'y"(Personal Opinion in Islam)." American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 7.1 (1990): 39.
- Book: David Waines. An Introduction to Islam. 17 November 2012. 6 November 2003. Cambridge University Press. 978-0-521-53906-7. 105–.
- Book: Saskia Gieling. Religion and War in Revolutionary Iran. 17 November 2012. 3 December 1999. I.B.Tauris. 978-1-86064-407-8. 87–.
