Mubah

{{Short description|Islamic jurisprudential term denoting an action that has no specific ruling}}

{{Usul al-fiqh}}

{{Italic title}}

Mubāḥ (Arabic: مباح) is an Arabic word roughly meaning "permitted",{{Cite book|author=Hans Wehr, J. Milton Cowan| year=1976 | title=A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic|publisher=Spoken Language Services|edition=3rd|page=81}} which has technical uses in Islamic law. "Mubah" is an Islamic jurisprudential term that refers to an action for which a person has no specific obligation. Consequently, performing or abstaining from it is considered equally permissible, and neither action results in reward or punishment from the perspective of God in Islam.

{{cite book

|last = فراهیدی

|first = خلیل

|author-link =

|date =

|title = العین

|trans-title = Al-Ayn

|url = https://lib.eshia.ir/20006/1/1

|location = قم

|publisher =

|quote = تحقيق الدكتور مهدى المخزومي الدكتور ابراهيم السامرئي، ۱۴۰۵ق /۱۹۸۵م.

|language = ar

|volume = ۱

|page = ۱۱۹

|isbn =

}}

{{cite book

|last = ازهری

|first = محمد

|author-link =

|date =

|title = تهذیب اللغة

|trans-title = Language refinement

|url = https://lib.eshia.ir/40687/1/0

|location =

|publisher = دار إحياء التراث العربي

|quote =

|language = ar

|volume = ۲

|page = ۶۷

|isbn =

}}

In uṣūl al-fiqh ({{Langx|ar|أصول الفقه|lit=principles of Islamic jurisprudence}}), mubāḥ is one of the five degrees of approval (ahkam):

1. {{transliteration|ar|farḍ/wājib}} ({{lang|ar|واجب / فرض}}) - compulsory, obligatory
2. {{transliteration|ar|mustaḥabb/mandūb}} ({{lang|ar|مستحب}}) - recommended
3. {{transliteration|ar|mubāḥ}} ({{lang|ar|مباح}}) - neutral, not involving God's judgment
4. {{transliteration|ar|makrūh}} ({{lang|ar|مكروه}}) - disliked, reprehensible
5. {{transliteration|ar|ḥarām/maḥzūr}} ({{lang|ar|محظور / حرام}}) - forbidden

Mubah is commonly translated as "neutral" or "permitted" in English.,{{cite encyclopedia|first=Knut S.|last=Vikør|title=Sharīʿah|encyclopedia=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Politics|publisher=Oxford University Press|editor=Emad El-Din Shahin|year=2014|url=http://bridgingcultures.neh.gov/muslimjourneys/items/show/226|access-date=2017-05-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140604214623/http://bridgingcultures.neh.gov/muslimjourneys/items/show/226|archive-date=2014-06-04|url-status=dead}}{{cite book|author=Wael B. Hallaq|author-link = Wael Hallaq|title=Sharī'a: Theory, Practice, Transformations|year=2009|publisher=Cambridge University Press (Kindle edition)|page=Loc. 2160}} "indifferent"{{cite encyclopedia|author=Baber Johansen|title=Islamic Law. Legal and Ethical Qualifications|encyclopedia=The Oxford International Encyclopedia of Legal History|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|year=2009|url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195134056.001.0001/acref-9780195134056-e-424|editor=Stanley N. Katz|url-access=subscription }} or "(merely) permitted".{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Islam|title=Halal|editor= Juan Eduardo Campo|publisher=Infobase Publishing|year=2009|page=284}} It refers to an action that is not mandatory, recommended, reprehensible or forbidden, and thus involves no judgement from God. Assigning acts to this legal category reflects a deliberate choice rather than an oversight on the part of jurists.

In Islamic property law, the term mubāḥ refers to things which have no owner. It is similar to the concept res nullius used in Roman law and common law.{{cite encyclopedia|author=Ersilia Francesca|title=Possession. Yad in Islamic Law|encyclopedia=The Oxford International Encyclopedia of Legal History|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|year=2009|url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195134056.001.0001/acref-9780195134056-e-642|editor=Stanley N. Katz|url-access=subscription }}