will reconcile their hearts to something more beneficial, or will avert quarrelling and harm because he is unable to convey the truth to them and have them accept it. In such a case, performing it is likewise commendable.

Accordingly, a single deed may at one time be recommended to perform and at another time recommended to leave, depending on which side—action or omission—brings the greater benefit, as weighed by the Sharʿī evidences. A Muslim may set aside a recommended act when doing it would entail a harm outweighing its benefit, just as the Prophet ﷺ refrained from rebuilding the House on the foundations laid by Abraham and said to ʿĀʾishah: “Had your people not only recently emerged from the pre-Islamic period of ignorance, I would have demolished the Kaʿbah, lowered it to the ground, and given it two doors—one for people to enter and another to exit.” The report is in both Ṣaḥīḥs.

Thus the Prophet ﷺ abstained from that course of action which, in his estimation,