And this is akin to His forbidding the Children of Israel wholesome things previously permitted to them because of their wrongdoing and transgression. Muhammad’s religious law is not subject to abrogation, nor is his entire community punished in this way. Its wrongdoers, however, may be punished by being deprived of wholesome things or having them forbidden to them.

This may take the form of deprivation through the divine decree: their rain may fail, their crops may perish, and their supplies of provisions may be cut off. Or they may no longer find the pleasure they once enjoyed in food, drink, marital intimacy, clothing, and the like. They may be overwhelmed by sorrows and things that spoil and obstruct their enjoyment, and made to swallow the bitterness associated with wealth, children, and family. As Allah Most High says:

“So let neither their wealth nor their children impress you. Allah only intends to punish them through these in the life of this world.”

And He says:

“Do they think that, by providing them with wealth and sons, We are hastening to grant them good things? Rather, they do not perceive.”

And He says:

“Your wealth and your children are only a trial.”

This is like the trial of the Sabbath-breakers through the fish.

Alternatively, they may be punished by coming to believe that something wholesome and lawful is forbidden, because they are unaware that Allah and His Messenger have permitted it. Many in this community have done precisely this: they have believed certain things to be forbidden, and this belief has gained currency among them through the oaths and divorces in which they become entangled, even though Allah and His Messenger have not forbidden those things. Yet, because they thought these things were forbidden to them, they were punished by being deprived of the knowledge through which they would recognize their lawfulness. Thus, these things became forbidden to them through the divine decree and, outwardly, under religious law. For a scholar exercising independent judgment must state the conclusion to which his reasoning leads him. If his reasoning leads him only to prohibit these wholesome things because he is unable to discern