المندوب
al-Mandūb
In Islamic law, an act that is recommended and rewarded but not required; also called mustaḥabb or sunnah.
What it means
Al-mandūb is the recommended act, one of the five legal categories into which jurists grade human acts. The person who does it receives a reward, and the person who omits it is not blamed. The word comes from a root meaning to call or to urge. Other names for it are mustaḥabb and, in some usages, sunnah or nāfilah. Examples include the voluntary prayers offered besides the five required ones and the voluntary fasts. The category recognises that a good deal of religious life lies in what is encouraged and not demanded, and it gives room for the believer to go beyond the minimum.
Often misunderstood as
Translating it as “optional” suggests an act of no consequence, when it is a recommended act that earns reward.
Term and Arabic as listed in Ismail al Faruqi, Toward Islamic English (International Institute of Islamic Thought, 1995), p. 53, listed as AL MANDŪB. The definition is restated here.