and it represents fairness and moderation in all affairs.
4 – Subjecting oneself to hardship, strain, and deprivation is not part of the religion at all; it is rather among the practices of innovators who contravene the Sunnah of the Master of the Messengers ﷺ.
5 – Renouncing the lawful delights of life as a form of asceticism or worship is a departure from the purified Sunnah and a following of a path other than that of the believers.
6 – This noble hadith makes plain that Islam is not a religion of monasticism and privation; it is the religion that came to rectify both religious and worldly life. It grants every claimant his due: Allah has His right of worship, the body its right to partake of wholesome things, and the soul its right to rest.
7 – In His perfect wisdom Allah implanted instincts and needs within the human being, then satisfied those instincts through lawful means. He did not suppress them or forbid what they naturally incline to, for in these lawful outlets lie the cultivation of the earth, the preservation of the human race, and the sound ordering of affairs.
8 – The sunnah means the way. Turning away from the sunnah in this sense does not in itself expel a person from the faith when it stems from an interpretable misunderstanding for which the person may be excused.
9 – To turn away from something means to shun it. What is prohibited is to abandon it in pursuit of exaggerated devotion, coupled with the belief that what Allah has made lawful is in fact forbidden.
10 – Shaykh al-Islam said: “Keeping aloof from one’s wife and children is not something loved by Allah and His Messenger, nor is it part of the religion of the prophets and messengers,” for Allah the Exalted has said: “We certainly sent messengers before you and appointed for them wives and offspring” (Qur’an 13:38).
11 – The Vizier said: “The scholars agree that when a person yearns for marriage and fears falling into sin, marriage becomes emphasized in his case and is better for him than (optional) ḥajj, prayer, fasting, or any other supererogatory act.” Shaykh Taqī al-Dīn added: “Indeed, marriage is obligatory for anyone who fears hardship for himself, according to the majority of the jurists, provided he can afford the dowry.”