The word · Law & life
عُرْف
'Urf
Local custom, which fiqh accepts as a decider where revelation has left a matter open.
Also written · Urf · Orf · Urff · Aadah · Adah · Ada · custom · customary law · local custom · convention · common practice
The meaning
What 'Urf means in Islam
If a contract says a reasonable quantity, or a delivery in good time, it is 'urf that decides what those words mean. It cannot make lawful what the texts forbid; it fills gaps and defines undefined terms. Because customs change, rulings resting on 'urf change with them, which is why the same school can give different answers in different centuries or countries without contradicting itself.
Evidence · Editorial · Our own summary, drawn from the sources named
Read beside it
Words that sit beside it
- MaslahahPublic benefit, weighed as a legal consideration where no specific text settles the matter.مَصْلَحة
- Qawa'id FiqhiyyahLegal maxims: short principles that gather the pattern behind thousands of separate rulings.القَواعِدُ الفِقْهِيَّة
- 'AqdA contract: a binding agreement formed by an offer and its acceptance.عَقْد
- HanafiThe school of Abu Hanifah, the most widely followed, known for careful reasoning and analogy.المَذْهَبُ الحَنَفِيّ
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