al-Shāfiʿī was profoundly influenced by the diction of the Qur’an, so whenever we come across in his speech a word that has a special sense in the Noble Qur’an, we must interpret it according to that sense and not by the technical meaning coined by later scholars. The Exalted says, “He has made disbelief, wickedness, and disobedience hateful to you” (1), and all of these are forbidden acts. This, and Allah knows best, is the meaning Imām al-Shāfiʿī—may Allah have mercy on him—intended by his earlier phrase, “I dislike….” This is borne out by his follow-up remark: “If someone prays toward it, the prayer is valid, yet he has done wrong,” for the expression “has done wrong” means that he has committed a sin, i.e., something unlawful. The word “wrong” carries this very sense in Qur’anic usage as well; after prohibiting the killing of children, approaching fornication, killing a soul, and other deeds, Allah the Exalted says in Sūrat al-Isrāʾ, “All of that—its evil—is hateful to your Lord” (2), meaning it is forbidden. This confirms that the intended sense of “dislike” in al-Shāfiʿī’s statement