But many of these people do not go so far as to deny all obligations and prohibitions and cast off the bonds of servitude altogether. Rather, they claim that certain duties no longer apply to them, or that certain forbidden things are lawful for them. Some claim that the five daily prayers are no longer obligatory for them because they have attained their goal. Others may claim exemption from prayer while in a state of witnessing and presence. They may also claim exemption from congregational prayers, considering their own spiritual focus and presence sufficient. Some claim that Hajj is no longer obligatory for them, despite their ability to perform it, because the Kaaba circumambulates them, or because of some other satanic state. Others consider it lawful to break the fast in Ramadan without a valid religious excuse, claiming that they have no need to fast.

Some consider wine lawful, claiming that it is forbidden only to ordinary people, who quarrel and fight when they drink it, but not to the discerning elite. They claim that it is forbidden to ordinary people who have no righteous deeds, whereas those with pure souls and righteous deeds are permitted to drink it, unlike ordinary people.

This “specious argument” had already occurred to some of the early Muslims, and the Companions agreed that they should be put to death if they did not repent of it. Qudāmah ibn Madʿūn and a group of others drank wine, interpreting the words of the Most High as permitting it:

“There is no blame upon those who believe and do righteous deeds for what they have consumed, provided they are mindful of Allah, believe, and do righteous deeds.”

When this was reported to ʿUmar ibn al-Khattāb, he, ʿAlī ibn Abī Tālib, and the rest of the Companions agreed that if they acknowledged its prohibition, they were to be flogged; but if they persisted in declaring it lawful, they were to be put to death. And ʿUmar said