also is an Islam

Islam

Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

ic term which denotes a religious duty. The word is also used in Persian

Persian language

Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...

, Turkish

Turkish language

Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...

, and Urdu

Urdu

Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...

 (spelled farz) in the same meaning.

Fard or its synonym wajib is one of the five types of Ahkam

Ahkam

Ahkam is a reference to the Islamic commandments, derived and understood from religious jurisprudence resources . A law, value, ordinance or ruling of Shari'ah . In order to arrive at any new legal doctrine, or hukm, one must employ a systematic methodology by which to extract meaning from the...

 into which Fiqh

Fiqh

Fiqh is Islamic jurisprudence. Fiqh is an expansion of the code of conduct expounded in the Quran, often supplemented by tradition and implemented by the rulings and interpretations of Islamic jurists....

 categorizes acts of every Muslim

Muslim

A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

. The Hanafi

Hanafi

The Hanafi school is one of the four Madhhab in jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. The Hanafi madhhab is named after the Persian scholar Abu Hanifa an-Nu‘man ibn Thābit , a Tabi‘i whose legal views were preserved primarily by his two most important disciples, Abu Yusuf and Muhammad al-Shaybani...

 Fiqh however makes a distinction between Wajib and Fard, the latter being obligatory and the former merely necessary. In Indonesian

Indonesian language

Indonesian is the official language of Indonesia. Indonesian is a normative form of the Riau Islands dialect of Malay, an Austronesian language which has been used as a lingua franca in the Indonesian archipelago for centuries....

, wajib also means obligatory, since the word is derived from Arabic.

Individual duty and sufficiency

The Fiqh

Fiqh

Fiqh is Islamic jurisprudence. Fiqh is an expansion of the code of conduct expounded in the Quran, often supplemented by tradition and implemented by the rulings and interpretations of Islamic jurists....

 distinguishes two sorts of duties:

• Individual duty or fard al-ayn relates to tasks every Muslim
  Muslim
  A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
  
   is required to perform, such as daily prayer (salah), Hajj
  Hajj
  The Hajj is the pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is one of the largest pilgrimages in the world, and is the fifth pillar of Islam, a religious duty that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so...
  
  , or the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime (hajj
  Hajj
  The Hajj is the pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is one of the largest pilgrimages in the world, and is the fifth pillar of Islam, a religious duty that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so...
  
  ).
• Sufficiency duty or fard al-kifaya is a duty which is imposed on the whole community of believers (ummah
  Ummah
  Ummah is an Arabic word meaning "community" or "nation." It is commonly used to mean either the collective nation of states, or the whole Arab world...
  
  ). The classic example for it is janaza: the individual is not required to perform it as long as a sufficient number of community members fulfil it.

Ahkam

• Ahkam
  Ahkam
  Ahkam is a reference to the Islamic commandments, derived and understood from religious jurisprudence resources . A law, value, ordinance or ruling of Shari'ah . In order to arrive at any new legal doctrine, or hukm, one must employ a systematic methodology by which to extract meaning from the...
  
  , commandments, of which fard are a type
• Mustahabb
  Mustahabb
  Mustahabb is an Islamic term referring to recommended, favored or virtuous actions.-Definition:Mustahabb actions are those whose status of approval in Islamic law falls between mubah and wajib...
  
  , recommended but not required

Other religions

• Mitzvah
  Mitzvah
  The primary meaning of the Hebrew word refers to precepts and commandments as commanded by God...
  
   (somewhat similar Jewish concept)
• Dharma
  Dharma
  Dharma means Law or Natural Law and is a concept of central importance in Indian philosophy and religion. In the context of Hinduism, it refers to one's personal obligations, calling and duties, and a Hindu's dharma is affected by the person's age, caste, class, occupation, and gender...
  
   (Hindu/Buddhist/Sikh term that can be used to mean "duty" or "obligation", although there are also other meanings)
• Tao
  Tao
  Dao or Tao is a Chinese word meaning 'way', 'path', 'route', or sometimes more loosely, 'doctrine' or 'principle'...
  
  (Chinese, meaning the "way" or "path")