Assignment of Duties Based on Capability or Endurance

There are two different views among the scholars about the basis and criterion of responsibilities. The first view is that the basis for the assignments is the capability of the servants. That is, everything that goes beyond the capability of mankind falls under the heading of the hardship and restriction, although the human can endure doing that. The second view is that the criterion of assignments is the level of endurance of the servants. That is, everything that goes beyond the human’s level of endurance is subjected to the rule of negation of hardship. While reviewing the issue, the authors believe that in general, it cannot be said that the duties are assigned based on the capability or endurance, but it seems that the original principle, when in doubt and the absence of analogy, requires that the assignment of duties be based on the person’s capability and the criterion is the servants’ capability; that is the customary power but not their level of endurance. The verses of the Qur'an, the narrations, the evidence of the facilitation of worship and the conduct of the wise can be considered as the most important evidence for strengthening the first theory. However, in certain cases, such as latitude and honor, divorce and taking oath, the criterion of determining the duties is the duration (utmost power) of the legally competent person.