FARZ

Farz is a command of Allâhu ’adhîm-ush-shân. And that it is His command has been clarified by way of indubitable proof-texts. In other words, it has been clearly stated in âyat-i-kerîmas. A person who denies it or who does not attach due importance to it becomes a kâfir. Examples (of Allâhu ta’âlâ’s commandments that are called farz) are: Îmân, the Qur’ân, to make ablution, to perform namâz, to pay zakât, to perform Hajj, to make ghusl from the state of junub, [i.e. to wash the entire body (in a manner taught by Islam).]

There are three kinds of farz: Fârz-i-dâim, farz-i-muwaqqat, and farz-i-’ala-l-kifâya. Farz-i-dâim is to memorize the entire (six-tenet credo which begins with) Âmantu billâhi ..., to know and believe its meaning, and to hold this belief perpetually. Farz-i-muwaqqat is any one of the commanded acts of worship which we perform when its preseribed time comes. Examples of it are to perform namâz five times daily, to fast in the blessed month of Ramadân, and to learn the technicalities of one’s branch of art or trade. Farz-i-’ala-l-kifâya is a command of Allâhu from which an entire group of people, be there fifty, a hundred, and so forth of them, will be absolved when it is performed by one of them. An example of it is acknowledgement of a greeting. [Please see the sixty-second chapter of the third fascicle of Endless Bliss, which deals with greetings among Muslims.] Some other examples are to perform namâz of janâza, to wash the dead Muslim, to learn (the Arabic grammar called) sarf and nahw, to become a hâfidh, to learn (the branch of knowledge called) wujûb, and to learn religious and scientific knowledge more than one would need in one’s branch of art or trade.

And also, there are five other farzes within a farz. These farzes are: ’Ilm-i-farz, ’amal-i-farz, miqdâr-i-farz, i’tiqâd-i-farz, ikhlâs-i-farz, and inkâr-i-farz. Inkâr-i-farz is kufr.”