Investigating Rule of Jabb through a Historic and Comparative Lens

Muhammadreza Moballeghi
 Abstract
 Rule of Jabb is among the current rules of jurisprudence entries such as saying prayers (salāt) and legal alms (zakāt). This rule deals with an infidel who has converted to Islam which has already committed sins or has reserved some rights. Thus, according to this rule, such a person’s previous sins are eliminated from the moment he has converted to Islam.
Addressing the history of the rule and all the respective rights according to this rule such as God’s rights, peoples’ rights, and their joint rights, the authors have mentioned the instances of the rule’s inclusion with respect to each of the above mentioned cases. The jurists contend in the rule’s inclusion towards God’s individual rights which is nullified based on the rule. The expression of God’s nullified rights is given due to the fact that the pagans have to fulfill their obligatory acts during their infidelity period as Muslims do their obligatory acts. Hence by converting to Islam, infidels do not need to compensate the missed religious rituals. Likewise, this rule includes the common rights of God and human such as the One-fifth (khums) and the Legal alms (zakat), but excludes peoples’ individual rights. This rule includes the obligatory precepts and certainly excludes some parts of conventional and situational rules.