Crimes, Punishments, and General Legal Terms

The penal and ethical code categorizes human acts and public harms.

• Legal Status of Actions: Mubah means permissible; Obligatory means required by law.
• Taqlid: Means to follow a school of law.
• Bai: Denotes the sale of money for money.
• Maa'si'at: Deals explicitly with crime.
• Maqasid al-Sharia (Purposes of Law): Divided by al-Ghazali into dini (hereafter) and dunyawi (worldly). Worldly purposes include life, intellect, and wealth, EXCEPT liberty in classic taxonomies.
• Punishments: Punishments at the discretion of a judge relating to private injuries are called tazir (distinct from Hadd, Qisas, and Diyat). Kafarat refers to an atonement for the non-discharge of an obligation.