Priorities of Obligation

Categories of obligations in Islam:

All actions in Islam can be divided in two categories; Obligatory and Optional. It is obligatory for every Muslim to know all the sharia obligations, which are required of him. The objective is not to find the optional things and neglect those rather to make sure we are not neglecting any of the obligations for which we will be asked in the day of judgement. Doesn't matter how many optional things we do unless we fulfill all the obligations we remain sinful. All obligatory actions in Islam are divided into two categories ; Fard al-Ayn (Personal Obligation) and Fard al-Kifaya (Collective obligation). Examples of fard al-Ayn is Salah, Jakah, Hajj and so on for which an individual is obliged to perform (if he is able) and he will be sinful if he neglects. And also it is obligatory to stay away from those actions which are Haram, like dealing with riba (interest), Zina etc. Fard al-Kifaya (collective obligations) are those for which all the Muslims are collectively responsible. If some of them performs it then others are relieved from their obligations. It doesn't matter how many people are engaged in such actions as long as these obligations are accomplished. If it's not accomplished then all Muslims will remain sinful until they are enacted. But if some Muslims engaged to enact the obligation but were not successful then they will be removed from the sin but others will remain sinful. So from this perspective there is no difference between Fard al-Ayn and Fard al-Kifaya, cause everyone remain responsible/sinful until the obligation is fulfilled. For an example, preparing funeral for a deceased Muslim is collective obligation. Until the deceased funeral is complete all the Muslims in the society remain responsible and if it is not done then all the muslims are sinful. In a situation where some Muslims tried their best to do the funeral but couldn't do so, then those muslims who took the effort will be removed from the sin but the rest of the community will remain sinful.

Priorities of obligations:

When a muslim is able to perform all individual and collective obligations then that is required of him and he has no excuse of neglecting his duties. However if any clash occurs where he needs to choose between two obligations then Sharia decides the priority not the mind or interest. If clash occurs between individual and collective obligations then individual obligations takes precedence. If clash occurs within individual obligations or within collective obligations then it has to be referred to sharia which will decide which obligations can be done at the expense of the other. For an example in a situation where a man has some money and he needs to choose between maintaining family and payment of debt then he is obliged to spend the money on the family cause family maintenance has higher precedence over the payment of debt according to Sharia.

A Muslim (who is able) is not allowed to neglect any obligation at the expense of the other unless there is clash between them as explained above. Some people argue that before engaging in collective obligation one must complete the individual obligations, and they try to support their argument with the following hadith:

The prophet (saw) said to Mu'adh bin Jabal: "You are going to people of the scripture; and when you reach them call them to witness that there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his Messenger. And if they obey in that, then tell them that Allah has enjoyed upon them five prayers to be performed day and night. And if they obey you in that then tell them that Allah has enjoyed upon them sadaqah to be taken from the rich amongst them and given to the poor"

They take the understanding from this hadith that after having Imaan in Islam, one first implement Salah and then Zakah and so on. Likewise one must complete the individual obligations first and only after that engage in collective obligations. If we take this understanding of the hadith that would mean a person who is not praying need not to pay zakah or if someone doesn't pay zakah then he is not required to fast and so on. No fuqaha in Islam issued such opinion where a muslim has to comply with the obligations in a certain sequence and an obligation is dependant on the completion of the other obligations which are lower in the sequence. If he is able then he needs to engage in both individual and collective obligations. He will be sinful if he neglects any of those.

The mother of all obligations:

There are many collective obligations in Islam. It is not possible or required to engage in all of them by every single Muslim. These are to be enacted in a collective manner. Running all the affairs of a society according to Islam is obligatory, for example affairs related to Economy (distribution of wealth, business rules, taxes, work ..), Education system (building schools, Masjids..), Judiciary (solving social/business disputes, punishing criminals..), Social welfare (taking care of the poor and needy, sick and orphans..), Jihad (preparing forces for the protection and propagation of the Deen..) etc. Enactment of all these collective obligations is necessary for building an Islamic society. Sharia has given us the manner by which all these obligations are to be enacted. Rasulullah (SAW) established these in Medina after being appointed as the ruler of Medina. From the life of Rasulullah (SAW) we know that these obligations are to be enacted through an institution known as Khilafah (Islamic State). Ummah appoints a Khaleefah/Leader for them to implement Sharia upon them comprehensively. Most of the Sharia obligations cannot be implemented without the presence of a Khaleefah. Without it our Deen also cannot be protected from the enemy of Islam. Present world situation is the burning example of the absence of the Khilafah. (Please read "The re-establishment of the Khilafah in an obligation upon all Muslims" for more details)