Third: The Prophet ﷺ said, “Do not do as the Jews did, thereby making lawful what Allah has forbidden through the most trivial of legal stratagems.” (1) Shaykh al-Islam said: “Its chain of transmission is sound.”

As for the rationale, it involves nullifying a Muslim’s right. Everything that entails nullifying obligatory rights is unlawful, because the Prophet ﷺ said, “Indeed, your blood, your property, and your honour are inviolable to one another.” (2)

If someone were to ask: What is a legal stratagem? We would say: A legal stratagem is to attain something unlawful through a form that outwardly appears lawful. Legal stratagems are unlawful in every matter. Thus, every stratagem aimed at waiving an obligation or violating a prohibition is unlawful. Indeed, it is more serious than an open violation, because it entails, in substance, committing the open violation while also deceiving Allah and manipulating His rulings. For this reason, Ayyub al-Sakhtiyani said: “These people”—meaning, those who employ legal stratagems—“seek to deceive Allah just as they deceive children. Had they approached the matter directly, it would have been less serious.”

Thus, legal stratagems are unlawful. The evidence is the hadiths we have cited, and the rationale is that seeking to deceive Allah is more serious than an open violation, because such deception involves