Individual Duty and Sufficiency
The Fiqh distinguishes two sorts of duties:
- Individual duty or fard al-'ayn (الفرض العين) relates to tasks every Muslim is required to perform, such as daily prayer (salah), or the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime (hajj).
- Sufficiency duty or fard al-kifāya (الفرض 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 fulfil it.
Read more about this topic: Fard
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—Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859)
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—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)