and perfume, even though using perfume is a greater form of personal grooming, yet its expiation is waived in the case of forgetfulness. Thus, this should apply all the more so.

They said: There is a difference: trimming the nails involves destruction.

It may be said to them: But is this destruction something required, or something prohibited outside the state of consecration?

The answer is that it is required. Therefore, it has no value in the Sacred Law or in customary practice. No one gathers his nails in order to sell them; rather, trimming them is a legally sanctioned destruction, were it not for the state of consecration.

“And shaving …”

His statement, “and shaving,” means that the expiation for shaving is not waived due to forgetfulness; likewise, not due to ignorance or coercion. The reason given for this is that it involves destruction. But we say: it is the destruction of something that has no value in the Sacred Law or in customary practice.

This demonstrates the weakness of this view—namely, the view that the expiation for shaving, trimming the nails, and killing game is not waived due to forgetfulness, ignorance, or coercion—for the greatest form of destruction is killing game, yet Allah Most High has made the obligation of compensation for it conditional upon deliberate action.

The stronger view is that one who commits any of the prohibited acts falls into one of three categories. What is intended here are those prohibited acts for which an expiation is due. As for those for which no expiation is due, such as contracting a marriage, they do not fall under this classification:

First: that he commits it without a legally valid excuse and without need. Such a person is sinful, and whatever consequence follows from the prohibited act he committed is binding upon him, according to the details previously explained.

Second: that he deliberately commits it out of need. Then whatever follows from committing