14.

The Unrestricted and the Restricted

I. Definitions
A. mutlaq: from the verb atlaqa, to release; unrestricted or absolute.
a word which is neither qualified nor limited in its application.
e.g. 1) a book, a man (an indefinite noun in an affirmative statement or
command)
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) 3 (
Those who put away their wives (by saying they are as their mothers) and
afterward would go back on what they have said, (the penalty) in that case (is)
the freeing of a slave before they touch one another. 58:3
a slave is mutlaq.
e.g. 2) the command form of a verb
# `m& ) !# =t `s9# ) 195 (
[A]nd do good. Indeed, Allah loves the doers of good.
3. Difference between 'aam and mutlaq: 'aam applies to all the members of its
class simultaneously, whereas mutlaq applies to any one of a multitude but not
to all.
1

B. Muqayyad: from the verb qayyada, to bind. When the mutlaq is qualified by
another word or words it becomes muqayyad.
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He who has killed a believer by mistake must set free a believing slave. 4:92
Note: The qualification of slavery by belief still leaves it unrestricted in
areas outside the qualification; so it would be valid to free a female
slave as well as a male slave.
II. Rule: Compliance with a mutlaq command is achieved if one applied the rule to
any member of the set without restriction. This is consistent with the principle of
baraaat ath-thimmah.
Compliance with the muqayyad will only be accomplished by observing the
restrictions indicated by the qualifications added to the mutlaq.
III. The working relationship between the mutlaq and muqayyad.
A. Different sabab and hukm: The mutlaq is not restricted by the muqayyad (a
matter of consensus)
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As for the thief, both male and female, cut off their hands. 5:38
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) 6 (
O you who believe! When you rise up for prayer, wash your faces, and your
hands up to the elbows5:6

1
See Kamali, p. 113.
B. Same sabab, same hukm: The mutlaq is restricted by the muqayyad (a matter
of consensus)
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Allah will not take you to task for what is unintentional in your oaths, but He
will take you to task for the oaths which you swear in earnest. The expiation for
that is to feed ten of the needy with the average of that with which you feed your
own people, or to clothe them, or to free a slave; and for one who does not find
(the means to do so) then a three days fast. 5:89
The recitation of Ibn Mas'ood

three days of consecutive fasting.
$) m `6= G 9# $!# ... ) 173 (
He has forbidden you only carrion, and blood2:173
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) 145 (
Say: I do not find in what is revealed to me anything prohibited to an eater that
he eat thereof, except it be carrion, or blood poured forth 6:145

C. Different sabab, same hukm: the mutlaq is not restricted by the muqayyad
(disputed)
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Whoever killed a believer by mistake must set free a believing slave. 4:92
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) 3 (
Those who put away their wives (by saying they are as their mothers) and
afterward would go back on what they have said, (the penalty) in that case (is)
the freeing of a slave before they touch one another. 58:3
D. Same sabab, different hukm: The mutlaq is not restricted by the muqayyad
(disputed)
Example 1:
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) 6 (
O you who believe! When you rise up for prayer, wash your faces, and
your hands up to the elbows5:6
#F # $6 #s$ 6`_'/ 3& ) 6 (
And if you are sick or on a journey, or one of you comes from the
bathroom, or you have had contact with women, and you do not find
water, then go to clean, high ground and rub your faces and your hands
with some of it. 5:6
'Ammaar ibn Yaasir related that the Messenger of Allaah () sent him on an errand,
and he had a wet dream but couldnt find water, so he rolled himself in dust the way
an animal rolls itself.
2
Then he came to the Prophet () and mentioned it to him. The
Prophet () said,

It would have been enough for you to do like this.

.

Then he struck the ground with his palms once, blew the dust off them and wiped his
left hand over his right hand, and wiped the backs of his hands and his face.
34

Example 2:
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` 3 $ ) 4 (
And he who finds not (the wherewithal), let him fast for two successive months
before they touch one another; and for him who is unable to do so (the penance
is) the feeding of sixty needy ones. 58:4

IV. Some qualifications are intended simply to reveal the reality of a matter, not to
restrict it:
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`39# ) 117 (
He who calls on any other god along with Allah that he has no proof for, his
reckoning is only with his Lord. Indeed, disbelievers will not be successful.
23:117
This does not imply that one may call on another god that one has proofs for.
Alternate trans:
He who cries to any other god along with Allah has no proof thereof. His
reckoning is only with his Lord. Indeed, disbelievers will not be successful.
23:117
M`m 6= 3G & 3?$/ `66/ L9# 2f`m `3$ L9#
F=z / * 9 #3? F=z / y$`_ 6= ) 23 (

2
'Ammaar reasoned by analogy that since the water of a ghusl must wet every part of the body the
substitute for water must do the same.
3
This way of making tayammum is the most authentic recorded. Note that that he only struck the
ground once and that he wiped his hands only to the wrists.
4
BM
Forbidden to you are your mothers, and your daughters.and your step-
daughters who are under your protection (born) of your women to whom you
have gone in but if you have not gone in to them, then it is no sin for you (to
marry their daughters) 4:23
who are under your protection is not an operational restriction, according to the vast
majority of scholars. It is simply mentioned because it is the norm.