what predominates in people’s wealth.

If unlawful wealth were predominant, and religious life among the general population could not be sustained without it, one of two things would necessarily follow: either most people would abandon their obligations, or what is unlawful would become permissible for most people. Both conclusions are false.

Scrupulousness is one of the foundations of religion. An authentic hadith relates from al-Nuʿmān ibn Bashīr that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“What is lawful is clear, and what is unlawful is clear. Between them are doubtful matters about which many people have no knowledge. Whoever avoids doubtful matters safeguards his honour and religion, while whoever falls into doubtful matters falls into what is unlawful, like a shepherd grazing his flock around a protected pasture, which he is on the verge of entering. Indeed, every king has a protected domain, and Allah’s protected domain is what He has forbidden. Indeed, within the body is a piece of flesh: if it is sound, the whole body is sound; if it is corrupt, the rest of the body becomes corrupt because of it. It is the heart.”

Another hadith states:

“Leave what makes you doubt for what does not make you doubt.”

He also saw a date lying on the ground and said:

“Were it not that I feared it might be from charity, I would have eaten it.”

This has been discussed at length elsewhere.

The matter becomes clear by setting out several principles.

First: Not everything a particular jurist believes to be unlawful is actually unlawful. Rather, what is unlawful is that whose prohibition is established by the Quran, the Sunnah, consensus, or analogical reasoning that weighs in favour of its prohibition. Matters over which scholars disagree must be referred back to these foundations. Among people are