Chapter on Renunciation and Scrupulous Piety

1279 – On the authority of al-Nuʿmān ibn Bashīr (may Allah be pleased with them both) who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say—and al-Nuʿmān pointed with his two fingers toward his ears—

“The ḥalāl (lawful) is clear and the ḥarām (unlawful) is clear, and between the two are matters that are mushtabihāt (ambiguous) which many people do not know. Whoever avoids the doubtful has safeguarded his religion and his honor, but whoever falls into the doubtful will soon fall into the ḥarām, like a shepherd who pastures his flock around a king’s protected pasture—he is bound to let them stray into it. Indeed, every king has a sanctuary, and the sanctuary of Allah is His prohibitions. Truly, within the body there is a morsel of flesh: if it is sound, the whole body is sound; and if it is corrupt, the whole body is corrupt. Truly, it is the heart.” Agreed upon (1).

Vocabulary of the ḥadith

• mushtabihāt (ambiguous matters): the plural form mushtabihāt is pronounced with ḍamma on the mīm, sukūn on the shīn, and kasra on the bā, although several other vocalizations are also narrated. It refers to things whose rulings are not plainly evident—issues in which the proofs are in tension and the meanings pull in opposite directions. Refraining from them is an act of wary piety.

• istabraʾa li-dīnihi wa-ʿirḍihi (he has safeguarded his religion and his honor): from the root barāʾa, “freedom from blame.” It means that he exercised precaution, thereby freeing himself from legal reproach and protecting both himself and his honor from people’s censure.