Mubah

Mubāḥ (Arabic: مباح) is an Arabic word roughly meaning "permitted",^[1] 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.^[2][3]

In uṣūl al-fiqh (Arabic: أصول الفقه, lit. 'principles of Islamic jurisprudence'), mubāḥ is one of the five degrees of approval (ahkam):

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

Mubah is commonly translated as "neutral" or "permitted" in English.,^[4][5] "indifferent"^[6] or "(merely) permitted".^[6][7] It refers to an action that is not mandatory, recommended, reprehensible or forbidden, and thus involves no judgement from God.^[4] Assigning acts to this legal category reflects a deliberate choice rather than an oversight on the part of jurists.^[5]

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.^[8]

Categorization

The quality of deeds in Islam:

Left diagram: Categorization of the deeds of an obliged person.
Right diagram: Quality of the deeds in Islam.

See also

• Adiaphora – Concepts in philosophy and religion, a similar concept in Stoicism
• Halal – Islamic term for "permissible" things
• Ahkam
• Baligh
• Batil
• Ghanimah
• Hirabah
• Ibadah
• Khums
• Zakat
• Taqiyya
• Thawab
• Ulu'l-amr
• Wakil
• Makruh
• Haram
• Ghibah
• Gunah
• Islah
• Istighfar
• Qasd
• Taghut
• Tawbah
• Tazkiah
• Wasat
• Maslaha
• Qiyas
• Ijazah
• Ijma