such a distinction is even possible—then when exactly? Before he even touches the drink, or only once he becomes intoxicated? On this point they are silent, leaving the judgment to the drinker himself—exactly as those shaykhs I mentioned do when they try to separate “provocative,” forbidden music from “non-provocative,” permissible music. Can anyone who truly believes the Prophet’s words, “Whoever grazes around the sanctuary is liable to fall into it,” and his saying, “Leave what causes you doubt for what does not,” and the many other Qur’anic and Prophetic texts upon which the principle of blocking the means (sadd al-dhariʿa) is founded—a principle that epitomizes the perfection of the Sharia and which Shaykh al-Qaradawi himself praised in the introduction to his book The Lawful and the Prohibited—can such a person possibly make this claim? Ibn al-Qayyim cited dozens of examples of the principle from the Qur’an and Sunnah; consult them, for they are indispensable.1

Even worse than this distinction is something I once read in a bulletin issued by a well-known Islamic party: they maintained that a man may greet an unrelated woman not only by shaking her hand but even by kissing her—provided, they said, that he intends only good and feels no desire.

All these people have abandoned the application of that magnificent principle, supported by scores of proofs, and have likewise turned away from the general evidences, as is plain to see. Indeed, they have contradicted yet another example—unmentioned by Ibn al-Qayyim but found in the authentic collections—that refutes them: those who deem it lawful to kiss and shake hands with unrelated women, and those who listen to their songs, like al-Ghazali with Umm Kulthum. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) classified such conduct as a form of fornication, saying:

“The son of Adam has been allotted his portion of fornication; he will inevitably commit it. The eyes commit fornication by looking…"