Fasiq

Fasiq (Arabic: فاسق‎ 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]

Origin

Fasiq is derived from the term fisq (Arabic: فسق‎), "breaking the agreement"[3] 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).[4]

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 Mu'tazilite 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.[5]

Applications

Amongst the terms uses in geopolitics, in the period leading up to the 1979 Iranian Revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini described both the Shah of Iran and Saddam Hussein as fasiq.[4]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Majid Khadduri (28 November 2001). The Islamic Conception of Justice. JHU Press. pp. 149–. ISBN 978-0-8018-6974-7. Retrieved 17 November 2012.
  2. 1 2 Amīn Ahsan Iṣlāhī (2007). Tafsir of Surah al-Fātihan and Surah al-Baqarah. The Other Press. pp. 149–. ISBN 978-983-9154-88-7. Retrieved 17 November 2012.
  3. ↑ Dr. Hasanuddin Ahmed (1 March 1987). An Easy Way to Understanding Qur'an 2 vols. IQRA International Educational Foun. pp. 1–. ISBN 978-0-911119-34-3. Retrieved 17 November 2012.
  4. 1 2 Saskia Gieling (3 December 1999). Religion and War in Revolutionary Iran. I.B.Tauris. pp. 87–. ISBN 978-1-86064-407-8. Retrieved 17 November 2012.
  5. ↑ David Waines (6 November 2003). An Introduction to Islam. Cambridge University Press. pp. 105–. ISBN 978-0-521-53906-7. Retrieved 17 November 2012.
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