or recommended in the Sharia—then regarding it as worship, desiring it for that reason, loving it and performing it are all prescribed. But if Allah neither loves nor approves of it, so that it is neither obligatory nor recommended, no one may believe it to be recommended or an act of obedience that draws one near to Allah, adopt it as part of religion, or encourage it on the grounds that it is worship. This is a fundamental principle of religion: distinguishing between a permissible act performed simply because it is permissible and something adopted as religion, worship, obedience and a means of drawing near to Allah—in belief, desire and practice.

Whoever takes something that is not prescribed, nor part of religion, nor an act of obedience or a means of drawing near to Allah, and treats it as such, commits something forbidden by the consensus of the Muslims.

Scholars may, however, disagree over whether certain matters constitute acts of devotion and worship, whether they concern professed beliefs or practical intentions. Indeed, one scholar may consider obligatory what another considers forbidden. For example, some consider killing an apostate obligatory, while another considers it forbidden. One considers it obligatory to separate an intoxicated man from his wife if he divorces her while intoxicated, while another considers separating them forbidden. Likewise, one considers reciting al-Fātihah obligatory for someone praying behind an imam, while another considers his recitation disliked—either in all cases or when he hears the imam reciting aloud. There are other such points of disagreement.

Just as beliefs concerning these matters and their practice are subject to disagreement, so too is spending money on them. These are matters open to independent scholarly judgment.