The collective obligations still waiting

In this Prishtina Talks presentation, Dr. Afrim Bulliqi takes up in depth the concept of “fard kifayah”, the collective obligations, and argues that a great many of them are currently “waiting” among Albanian Muslims. After clarifying the terminology — the difference between fard ayn, an individual obligation such as the daily prayer, and fard kifayah, an obligation discharged once enough people carry it out, such as the funeral prayer — Bulliqi goes deeper into the classical concept and into what it means in practice for a religious community living in a modern society.

Bulliqi argues that the scholars set down many collective obligations in the classical literature, and that under some of Zurxhaui's categories every obligation can be understood as both individual and collective. The main point: when a collective obligation is not carried out, the sin is borne by the whole congregation, not by one group alone. In the larger part of the presentation he identifies the “immediate” collective obligations waiting on the Albanian Muslim community to act — from schooling and educational institutions, to professional media, to financial and economic matters, to organised capacity for answering the community's needs.

Bulliqi proposes a practical frame: what is needed is a consultative group or council that studies the collective needs, ranks them by priority, and puts them to the groups with the capacity to meet them — exactly like the bricks of a wall holding one another up. Only through a systematic sharing out of responsibility according to means, he argues, can the Albanian Muslim community answer for the obligations that are waiting today.

Some of the points covered: 📌 The difference between fard ayn (individual) and fard kifayah (collective) 📌 The classical example: the five daily prayers against the funeral prayer 📌 The collective responsibility that carries the sin if it is not discharged 📌 Zurxhaui's categories of obligation 📌 The fard kifayah obligations “waiting” among Albanian Muslims 📌 Schooling and educational institutions as an immediate obligation 📌 Professional media, and the financial side 📌 The need for a consultative group to rank the priorities

📍 Prishtina Talks

Prishtina Talks 04