and practice, without any definition prescribed by revealed Law or fixed by language. This is how a sound understanding of the Quran and Sunnah is attained.

When the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, defines what a term denotes, this does not necessarily mean that he has departed from its linguistic meaning or broadened it. Rather, the point is that his intended meaning is known through his own explanation, peace and blessings be upon him, whatever the case may be; this is what matters. An example is the term khamr (wine): he explained that every intoxicant is khamr, thereby making clear what is meant by it in the Quran. Whether the Arabs had previously applied the word khamr to every intoxicant or restricted it to grape juice need not be determined. What is required is to know what Allah and His Messenger intended by this term. This is known through the Messenger’s explanation, peace and blessings be upon him, and through the fact that, in the language of those addressed by the Quran, khamr included date wine and other varieties. In Medina, they had no wine other than these.

Since this is so, no one may restrict the scope of terms that Allah has left unrestricted and to which He has attached rulings—commands, prohibitions, and declarations of lawfulness or unlawfulness—except on the basis of evidence from Allah and His Messenger.

One example is the term water, which is unrestricted in the Quran and Sunnah. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, did not divide it into two categories: water that purifies and water that does not. Such a division therefore contradicts the Quran and Sunnah. Allah simply said:

“and find no water”

We have discussed this at length elsewhere and explained that anything properly called water is pure and purifying, whether it has been used for obligatory or recommended purification