what he loves for himself: fairness in dealings, gentleness in debate, equity in judgment, doing good in private, preferring others even in hardship, gracious companionship, a soft demeanor, forbearance when harmed, fulfilling obligations, and avoiding what is forbidden.
Ithm (sin) is whatever settles in the breast, producing constriction and turmoil so that the heart cannot find ease with it—and, at the same time, the people who witness it instinctively recoil from it and deem it objectionable. This is the highest level of discerning sin when matters are ambiguous: it is that which ordinary people, whether they commit it or merely observe it, view with disapproval.
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Masʿūd said, “Whatever the believers deem good is good with Allah, and whatever the believers deem ugly is ugly with Allah.”
In short, when a clear textual proof exists, the believer has no course but to obey Allah and His Messenger, as Allah says: “It is not for a believing man or a believing woman, once Allah and His Messenger have decided a matter, to have any choice about it” (Q 33:36).
This command should be met with an open chest and contentment, for whatever Allah and His Messenger have legislated must be embraced with faith, satisfaction, and full submission. Allah says: “But no, by your Lord, they will not truly believe until they make you the judge concerning whatever disputes arise between them…” (Q 4:65).
As for matters on which there is no text from Allah or His Messenger, nor from anyone whose word among the Companions and the early generations is to be followed, if something of that sort occurs to a believer—whose heart is tranquil through faith and whose breast is illumined by the light of knowledge and certainty—yet it troubles his conscience because of some lingering doubt, and he finds no one of reliable learning and religion to issue a concessionary ruling, but only those known for following their own desires, then the believer must return to what unsettles his heart, even if such muftīs give him a legal opinion to the contrary.
Shaykh Aḥmad Ḥijāzī said, “Ithm is a sin; it is whatever clings to the soul, imprinting it with agitation, anxiety, aversion, and distaste so that it finds no tranquillity, and it dislikes to…"