Haqq Allāh/al-ʿAbd as Mandatory/Directory Rule in Islamic Jurisprudence: A Study of Sunnī Private Law

This study aims to provide a better understanding of the distinction between the claim of God (ḥaqq Allāh) and that of an individual (ḥaqq al-ʿabd or ḥaqq ādamī) in Islamic jurisprudence, which has been discussed exclusively within the context of Islamic criminal law and with a focus on the Ḥanafī jurisprudence. The notions do not refer precisely to public and private laws, nor are defined as mere interpretative heuristics. An investigation of the Sunnī jurists’ debates on private law reveals that divine and individual claims rather correspond to mandatory and directory rules in modern law; a mandatory rule cannot be excluded or modified by the parties concerned as opposed to a directory one that is subject to any agreement to the contrary. Section 1 provides a brief sketch of the sharīʿa bodies, as elaborated by Muslim jurists regarding this dichotomy. Section 2 examines some concepts interchangeable or compatible with ḥaqq Allāh. Section 3 discusses the interplay between divine/mandatory and individual/directory rules in three cases: (i) the minimal amount of bride price (mahr, ṣidāq), (ii) the right to residence of a divorcee or widow in a matrimonial home during her waiting period, (iii) completion of a partial manumission by a co-owner of a slave as to his share (takmīl al-ʿitq).