His words yarībuka (sometimes vocalised yurībuka) mean: “leave whatever makes you doubt its permissibility and turn instead to that about which you have no misgivings.”

Explanation: The imperative daʿ means “leave.” The phrase mā lā yarībuka, with the initial yāʾ carrying a fatḥa, means “that in which there is no doubt.”

This ḥadīth is one of the Forty Ḥadīths collected by al-Nawawī. It is a concise yet far-reaching text and forms an important gateway to pious restraint and precaution.

The scholars—may Allah have mercy on them—have pursued this path throughout the chapters of jurisprudence, consistently opting for the side of caution, and they have cited numerous illustrations of it.

One such example: a person’s garment is contaminated by an impurity, but he does not know whether it touched the front of the garment or the back. If he washes only the front, doubt remains, for the impurity might be on the back. What is the cautious course? It is to wash both the front and the back until his uncertainty disappears and he is at ease.

Another example: someone is unsure in his prayer whether he has performed two or three rakʿahs, and neither possibility outweighs the other. If he counts it as two, he is uneasy, fearing he may have omitted a rakʿah; if he counts it as three, he is likewise uneasy, uncertain whether he actually omitted nothing, and the anxiety persists. In such a case he follows what is free of doubt and bases his action on the lesser number. Thus, if he is unsure whether he has prayed three or