''Fard''

Farḍ (Arabic: فرض‎) or farīḍah (فريضة) in Islam is a religious duty commanded by Allah (God). The word is also used in Persian, Pashto, Turkish, and Urdu (spelled farz) in the same meaning. Muslims who obey such commands or duties are said to receive hasanat, ajr or thawab each time for each good deed. Farz can also mean ‘the ruling means the thing which is so obligatory that one is not relieved of the obligation until he fulfills it, it is called farz. If this thing is a part of worship, the worship will be void without it, leaving it out is a major sin’.

Fard or its synonym wājib (واجب) is one of the five types of Ahkam into which Fiqh categorizes acts of every Muslim. The Hanafi Fiqh, however, makes a distinction between Wajib and Fard, the latter being obligatory and the former merely necessary.^[1][2]

Individual duty and sufficiency

The Fiqh distinguishes two sorts of duties:

• Individual duty or farḍ al-'ayn (فرض العين) relates to tasks every Muslim is required to perform, such as daily prayer (salat), and the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime (hajj).
• Sufficiency duty or farḍ al-kifāya (فرض الكفاية) is a duty which is imposed on the whole community of believers (ummah). The classic example for it is janaza: the individual is not required to perform it as long as a sufficient number of community members fulfill it.

See also

• Dua

References