Dhimma and  Uhda in Shī a Jurisprudence

The concept of dhimma and ‘uhda (obligation and undertaking) comprises one of the very important subdivisions of commitments in Shī‘a jurisprudence. The application of these two terms is very common in legal texts، both in discourses on devotional acts and the discourses concerning transactions (including transactions in specific sense and delictual liability - ḍimān). Some contemporary jurisprudents have tried to relate the difference between these two terms to the contrast between the two terms ‘ayn (physical goods) and dayn (debt) and to introduce dhimma and ‘uhda as successfully receptacles for ‘ayn and dayn. The present article is intended to verify this theory. According to the author، the contrast between dhimma and ‘uhda actually refers to the contrast between the impositive (taklīfī) obligation and positive (waḍ‘ī) obligation: ‘uhda is a receptacle for impositive obligations and dhimma is a receptacle for positive obligations.