without qualification. Rather, they say this in a particular case, concerning certain religious people who use such listening to move their hearts towards obedience. Through it, they stir feelings of love and eagerness to obey Allah, as well as sorrow, fear, and dread of disobedience. This is what some people describe as an act of devotion. Nevertheless, the majority hold that they would be mistaken if they treated it as an act of devotion, because it is an innovation that is neither obligatory nor recommended, and because its harms outweigh the benefits they imagine it brings. The same applies to wine and gambling: although they contain benefits for people, their sin is greater than their benefit. The Sharia enjoins what is wholly or predominantly beneficial, such as faith and jihad. Faith is wholly beneficial; jihad, although it involves the taking of lives, brings benefits that outweigh its harms.
The tribulation of disbelief causes greater harm than killing, as Allah Most High says:
“Persecution is more grievous than killing.”
He has forbidden what is wholly or predominantly harmful, just as He has forbidden shameful deeds, whether open or concealed, and “sin, unjust aggression, associating with Allah that for which He has sent down no authority, and saying about Allah what you do not know.” He never permits these things under any circumstances or in any religious dispensation.
The prohibition of blood, carrion, pork, wine, and similar things concerns matters whose harm predominates. The Sharia permits this category in cases of necessity, because the harm of losing one’s life is greater than the harm of consuming them. The jurists disagreed over whether wine may be drunk to relieve thirst only because they disagreed over