KHUTAB V: 12. DOUBTFUL MATTERS (1)

12. DOUBTFUL MATTERS (1)

Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. said in a ḥadīth, as follows             

عَنْ أَبِيْ عَبْدِ اللهِ النُّعْمَانِ بْنِ بِشِيْر رضي الله عنهما قَالَ: سَمِعْتُ

رَسُوْلَ اللهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم يَقُوْلُ: (إِنَّ الحَلالَ بَيِّنٌ وَإِنَّ الحَرَامَ بَيِّنٌ

وَبَيْنَهُمَا أُمُوْرٌ مُشْتَبِهَات لاَ يَعْلَمُهُنَّ كَثِيْرٌ مِنَ النَّاس،  فَمَنِ اتَّقَى الشُّبُهَاتِ

فَقَدِ اسْتَبْرأَ لِدِيْنِهِ وعِرْضِه، وَمَنْ وَقَعَ فِي الشُّبُهَاتِ وَقَعَ فِي الحَرَامِ كَالرَّاعِي

يَرْعَى حَوْلَ الحِمَى يُوشِكُ  أَنْ يَقَعَ فِيْهِ. أَلا وَإِنَّ لِكُلِّ مَلِكٍ حِمَىً. أَلا وَإِنَّ

حِمَى اللهِ مَحَارِمُهُ، أَلا وإِنَّ فِي الجَسَدِ مُضْغَةً إِذَا صَلَحَتْ صَلَحَ

الجَسَدُ كُلُّهُ وإذَا فَسَدَت فَسَدَ الجَسَدُ كُلُّهُ أَلا وَهيَ القَلْبُ

(رواه البخاري ومسلم) 

On the authority of Abu 'Abdullah al-Nu'man bin

 Bashir (r.a.) who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah

(s.a.w.) say:  “Truly, what is lawful is evident, and what is

 unlawful is evident, and in between the two are matters which

 are doubtful which many people do not know. He who guards

 against doubtful things keeps his religion and honour blameless,

 and he who indulges in doubtful things indulges in fact in

 unlawful things, just as a shepherd who pastures his flock

 round a preserve will soon pasture them in it. Beware,

 every king has a preserve, and the things Allah  has

 declared unlawful are His preserves. Beware, in

 the body there is a flesh; if it is sound, the whole

 body is sound, and if it is corrupt, the whole

 body is corrupt, and behold, it is the

 heart.”  [al-Bukhārī & Muslim]

          What we learn from this ḥadīth is that matters in Islamic law are divided into three categories: (1) clear ḥalāl, permitted by Allah, and known to everybody, such as drinking milk, eating dates, apples, etc.

الْيَوْمَ أُحِلَّ لَكُمُ الطَّيِّبَاتُ وَطَعَامُ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ حِلٌّ لَكُمْ

 وَطَعَامُكُمْ حِلٌّ لَهُمْ  (المائدة:5)

“This day [all] good foods have been made

lawful, and the food of those  who were given

the Scripture is lawful for you and your food

is  lawful for them.” (al-Mā’idah 5:5)

 (2) clear ḥarām, prohibited by Allah, and known to everybody, such as stealing, drinking alcohol, etc. For example, Allah said in the  Qur’ān,

حُرِّمَتْ عَلَيْكُمْ أُمَّهَاتُكُمْ وَبَنَاتُكُمْ وَأَخَوَاتُكُمْ وَعَمَّاتُكُمْ

وَخَالَاتُكُمْ وَبَنَاتُ الْأَخِ وَبَنَاتُ الْأُخْتِ  (النساء:23)

“Prohibited to you [for marriage] are your mothers, your

 daughters, your sisters, your father's sisters... [Q. 4:23]”

Backbiting is clear ḥarām. Allah said:

وَلَا تَجَسَّسُوا  وَلَا يَغْتَبْ بَعْضُكُمْ بَعْضًا... (الحجرات:12)

…and spy not, neither backbite one another..(Q. 49:12)

 Anything prohibited by Allah with a threat of punishment belongs to this category. The word ḥarām literally means prohibited,   مَمْنُوع ; the expressionمَحَارِمُ الإنْسَانِ وَ حُرُمُه  means “things sacred and prohibited from other than the man himself”, namely, “close female relatives of a man”, and the expression حُرْمَةُ االرَّجُلِ  means “a person who is prohibited  to other than the man himself, the husband,” (3) doubtful, unknown whether it is ḥalāl or ḥarām, could be ḥalāl, could be ḥarām.

          The cause of this doubt is either (1) in the dalīl, evidence, doubting whether the Prophet did really say it or not, and this is called by scholars of jurisprudenceتَخْرِيْجُ اْلمَنَاط ،  (bringing out suspended thing) (2) in applying the dalīl, whether what the Prophet said is applied to this matter or not,    sometimes the doubt in the ḥukm (legal judgment) or in the application of this ḥukm,  namely, does this ḥadīth apply this issue by itself or not. The scholar of Islamic jurisprudence call it تَحْقِيْقُ اْلمَنَاط  (investigating the suspended thing).

          The Prophet said further that many people do not know these doubtful things. But many people also know them, as the Prophet luckily did not say “most people do not know them” which means only a few people know them. Many people do not know these doubtful things, because either they do not have enough knowledge or understanding or they are limiting themselves to what they know. Whoever avoids the doubtful thing he keeps his religion blameless, namely, between Allah and himself; and he keeps his honour from blames, namely, between himself and people, so that they would not say, that such a person did such a thing which could be ḥarām.

          Scholars have different views regarding doubtful matters:

1.    They are ḥarām, as being close to ḥarām is itself ḥarām.

2.    They are permissible, ḥalāl, as the Prophet said: "like the shepherd who pastures around a sanctuary” but leaving them is better out of piety.

3.    There is no ruling regarding doubtful matter; they are between clear ḥalāl and clear ḥarām. Many people do not know them, but scholars know whether they are (closer to) ḥalāl or ḥarām. But staying away from these doubtful matters purifies our religion and our reputation.

Muslim scholars give an example of the doubtful thing between ḥalāl and ḥarām as follows:

If we say that the area is 3 meters, one meter is a ḥalāl area, and one meter is a ḥarām area, between them one meter of a doubtful area. This doubtful area could be close to the ḥarām area and it could be close to the ḥarām area, depending where you are standing. So, do not come close to the ḥarām area.

          If you shoot a deer with your arrow, saying بِاسْمِ اللّهِ , اللّه أَكْبر  and found it dead, then it is clearly ḥalāl, but if you find it still alive and you do not want to slaughter it while you can until it dies, then it is clearly ḥarām. But if you find it dead the next day, and you find another arrow of another man in it, then it becomes doubtful, whether it died because of your arrow, or of the other man.

 There is a concept in Islamic Jurisprudence called سَدُّ الذَّرَائِع  “blocking the means”, namely blocking, preventing any action that could  lead to committing prohibited things. Therefore, it would be better to stay away from these doubtful things. If you cannot avoid it, then only in case of necessity, as it is not clear whether it is ḥalāl or ḥarām. Even what is ḥarām becomes permitted in case of necessity, such as protecting one’s life.

Prophet Muḥammad s.a.w. said about these doubtful things:

الْبِرُّ مَا اطْمَأَنَّتْ إلَيْهِ النَّفْسُ وَ الإثْمُ مَا حَاكَ فِي نَفْسِكَ وَ كَرِهْتَ اَنْ يَطَّلِعَ الناَّسُ

Piety (righteousness) is what the soul (mind) feels confident

 (calm, at rest), whereas sin is what interweaves in your

 mind,  and you dislike to let people know it.

          It means that if you are doubtful about something, whether it is ḥalāl or ḥarām, good or bad, or you worry about doing it, then it belongs to the category of doubtful things, then it would be better to stay away from it. Your conscience will tell you whether it is OK or not. This is the importance of having a clean heart, staying away from committing sins which will taint it. A person who used to commit sins would consider major sins as minor ones, such as drinking alcohol, and lying. Lying could become a major sin, especially if you are a witness in court, where one’s life depends on your statement.

          One day Abu Bakr’s servant gave him food. When he tasted it he felt uncomfortable. He called his servant and asked him where he got this food. He told him that he got it from a fortune-teller. Abu Bakr vomited the food.

          It happened that ‘Umar ordered his servant to bring milk from his camel. When he tasted it he did not like its taste. He called his servant and asked him where he got the milk. The servant said he got it from a drinking charity camel, a camel belonged to charity, because ‘Umar’s camels were far away from its tenders. So, he asked them to take the milk of the camel belonging to charity. ‘Umar said to him, “You want me to eat charity?”

          Imam Abū Ḥanīfah was a business man. He sold clothes. He took aside a cloth which had a defect, the only cloth left. He went out for a while. When he returned he did not find the imperfect cloth. The person who worked with him accidentally sold it with the full price, because he did not know that it was imperfect. Imam Abu Ḥanīfah gave the whole price of the imperfect cloth to charity.

          The Prophet told us that a sound heart would make the whole body sound, and the corrupt heart would make the whole body corrupt. Sound heart makes good intention, good judgment, and corrupt heart makes corrupt intention and judgment. The Prophet urged us to strengthen and purify our heart in obeying Allah, staying away from doubtful matters and in practicing Islam.

 The Prophet says in another ḥadīth,

“A person’s īmān will not be upright until their heart is upright

 and strong. The heart will not be upright and strong until the

tongue is upright and strong.” (CIVIC, 12.04.13)