For whatever the soul seeks in a thing does carry with it a certain delight, and from that angle it may be regarded as a good. Yet if the pain that accompanies it outweighs the pleasure, then its evil is greater than its good.

The revealed laws have come to procure benefits and bring them to completion, and to block harms and reduce them. Hence they command whatever benefit clearly outweighs its harm—even though a lesser harm may remain, as in jihad—and they forbid whatever harm predominates, even though it may include a secondary benefit, such as the enjoyment found in the forbidden intoxicants of wine and the like. For this reason the Exalted has commanded that we hold fast to the best of what has been sent down to us by our Lord.

That “best” is either obligatory or recommended.

The Exalted said:

“So hold fast to them firmly, and command your people to take hold of the best of it” [al-Aʿrāf: 145];

and He said:

“Follow the best of what has been revealed to you from your Lord” [az-Zumar: 55].

He thus ordered that the best be followed and taken.

The Exalted also said:

“Give glad tidings to My servants who listen to the word and follow its best; such are the ones Allah has guided” [az-Zumar: 17].

This implies that those other than them have not been guided, and therefore taking the best is obligatory—a matter that appears problematic and about which scholars have spoken. A parallel to it is His statement: