Redefining Obligation from an Islamic Legal Perspective

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the theory of Law-Abidance as one of the core approaches to civil transaction law of individuals. The study is divided into an introduction, three sections and a conclusion. The first section defines the concept of 'obligation' from an Islamic jurisprudence perspective, differentiating it from other similar terms. The second section discusses the notion of abidance among lawyers in the context of Saudi legal system. The third section compares the Islamic Jurisprudence definition of obligation and abidance to that of legal practitioners. The study concluded that 'obligation' as a concept is not new to Islamic jurisprudence and that legal practitioners kept expanding the meaning of 'abidance' to include non-relevant implications, resulting in confusing one for another. In formulating abidance-law obligation theory, one has to bear into account the inclusion of jurisprudence-based abidance alone, ensuring that its sources are contract, free will and vow, excluding all other irrelevant guarantee measures.