بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
The Categories of Action in Islam
Islam categorizes and prioritizes actions for us. Some actions we must or should do, while some are prohibited or disliked. This categorization helps us to know what to focus on, and which of the actions are more important to pay attention to.
Figure 1. Categories of Action in Islam
Implications of this classification:
fulfilling fard and avoiding haram has the highest priority and greatest reward;
fulfilling fard and avoiding haram is more important than fulfilling mustahab and avoiding makruh.
The Hanafi Classification
The Hanafi school of law has a more granular classification, where the obligatory and recommended actions are further broken down into narrower categories.
How to use this classification
Importantly, this categorization works for all acts of worship, including the categories of prayer and actions inside salah. For example, when it comes to prayer there are 11 essential (fard) elements, which one needs to fulfill for the prayer to be valid. There are also wajib and sunnah actions in prayer. Knowing to which category each action belongs will allow you to pray correctly, and not miss anything important.
A beginner should focus on:
fulfilling the essentials (fard) and obligations (wajib)
avoiding the prohibitions (haram) and prohibitively disliked (makruh tahrimi)
What we want to achieve
Our end goal is to fulfil all the fard and wajib, and follow the sunnah, with the special attention to the emphasized (muakkadah) sunnah actions. It's a journey that we need to take gradually and steadily, and the one who succeed is indeed a happy person. May Allah help and facilitate for us!
Take home questions.
What are the highest priority actions you should focus on in your life?
Do you know which of the actions inside prayer are fard and which ones are wajib?