Likewise, some of them believe that offering the full four units of prayer while travelling is obligatory, so they do so and are afflicted with this burden because of their shortcomings in obedience. Others believe that many permissible things are forbidden. Some of these are permissible by consensus, while others are disputed; nevertheless, the Messenger did not forbid them. Thus, those who believe obligatory what Allah and His Messenger have not made obligatory, and forbidden what He has not forbidden, have had a burden laid upon them. Not all burdens and shackles have been removed from them, even though the Messenger has removed them, because they remain unaware of this.

They may also be afflicted with someone in authority who imposes these requirements upon them. Thus, burdens and shackles come upon them through someone they obey, such as a judge, a mufti, an administrator of a charitable endowment, or a ruler. These requirements are attributed to the revealed Law because of his mistaken belief that they belong to it. Their authorities’ ignorance of the ease Allah has granted them becomes a punishment for their sins. This is like someone leading them along a harmful road, turning them away from a route with water and pasture out of ignorance rather than any deliberate intention to harm them; or keeping them in a town where prices are high when they could live elsewhere.

For just as people may be afflicted with someone in authority who wrongs them deliberately, they may also be afflicted with someone in authority who is ignorant of their religious and worldly welfare. The ignorance of the latter becomes a cause of their punishment, just as the injustice of the former becomes a cause of their suffering. These people have not had their burdens and shackles removed because of their sins and disobedience, even though the Messenger’s law contains no such burdens or shackles. For this reason, unjust and oppressive rulers are given power over them, and there are brought