Section
That an unrestricted command entails obligation may be inferred from the censure directed at anyone who contravenes it, from his being called disobedient, and from an immediate or deferred punishment being attached to his contravention.
That a prohibition entails unlawfulness may be inferred from the censure directed at anyone who violates it, from his being called disobedient, and from punishment being attached to the act.
Obligation is indicated sometimes by a command and sometimes by explicit words of obligation, duty, and prescription; by the word “upon”; and by such expressions as “a right incumbent upon the servants” and “upon the believers.”
Unlawfulness is indicated by a prohibition, by an explicit declaration that something is unlawful or forbidden, by a threat of punishment for the act, by censure of its perpetrator, and by making expiation obligatory for committing it.
The expression “It is not fitting” denotes, in the language of the Quran and the Messenger, something that is rationally or religiously impossible.
Other indications include the expressions “It is not for them to do such-and-such” and “It is not for them”; attaching a prescribed legal penalty to the act; the expressions “It is not lawful” and “It is not right”; describing the act as corruption or as something made alluring by Satan and belonging to his work; and stating that Allah Most High does not love it or approve of it for His servants, and that He will neither purify its perpetrator, speak to him, nor look at him, and similar expressions.
Permissibility is indicated by granting permission or a choice; by a command issued after a prohibition; by denying that there is any blame, hardship, sin, or accountability; by stating that the act is pardoned; by tacitly approving it during the time of revelation; by censuring anyone who declares something unlawful; by stating that Allah created something for us and placed it at our disposal; by reminding us of it as a favor; and by reporting an act of those before us without censuring them for it.
If such a report is accompanied by praise, this indicates that the act is preferable, whether recommended or obligatory.
Section
Every act that Allah and His Messenger hold in high esteem or praise; whose doer is praised for performing it; at which He expresses joy; which He loves, or whose doer He loves; with which He is pleased, or with whose doer He is pleased; which He describes as wholesome, blessed, or good; which He makes a cause of His love or of an immediate or deferred reward (1); which He makes a cause of His remembering His servant, thanking him, guiding him, or bringing pleasure to its doer; whose doer He describes (2) as wholesome; which He describes as a recognized good; whose doer He declares free from grief and fear or promises security; which He makes a cause of attaining His friendship; for whose occurrence He reports that the messengers prayed; which He describes as an act of devotion that draws one near to Him; by which He swears, or by whose doer He swears—as in the oath by the steeds of those striving in Allah’s cause and by their charge (3); or whose doer causes the Lord—Glorified and Exalted is He—to laugh or marvel: all this indicates that the act is prescribed, a designation encompassing both obligation and recommendation.
Section
Every act that the Lawgiver calls upon people to abandon; whose doer He censures, faults, loathes, or curses; which He declares that He does not love, or whose doer He declares that He does not love; with which He denies being pleased, or with whose doer He denies being pleased; whose doer He likens to beasts or devils; which He makes an obstacle to guidance; which He describes as evil or abhorrent; from which the prophets sought refuge or which they detested; which He makes a cause for the denial of success, for immediate or deferred punishment, for condemnation or reproach, or for misguidance or disobedience; which He describes as foul (4), defiling, impure, wicked, or sinful; which He makes a cause of sin or defilement, a curse or wrath, the loss of a blessing, the descent of retribution, a prescribed legal penalty, hardness, disgrace, a soul being held in pledge, Allah’s enmity or His waging war against its doer, His mocking or deriding him, or His forsaking its doer; concerning which He describes Himself as patient, pardoning, or forbearing; from which He calls people to repent; whose doer He describes as vile or contemptible; which He attributes to Satan and to his making it appear attractive; whose doer Satan takes as an ally; which He characterizes with a term of censure, such as injustice, oppression, aggression, or sin; from which the prophets dissociated themselves, or from whose doer they dissociated themselves; or concerning whose doer the prophets complained