rather I guide you to what is good and invite you to Allah. In this same manner all of the messengers—peace be upon them—would say to their people, “Say, ‘I ask you for no recompense for this, nor am I one of those who affect pretension’” (Quran 38:86); meaning: I am neither one who burdens you nor one who speaks without knowledge. Indeed, the Prophet ﷺ used to make this declaration, and Allah confirmed it by leaving it unchallenged.
Then comes the hadith of ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUmar (may Allah be pleased with them both): “We were forbidden from takalluf,” and the one who issued this prohibition was the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Whenever a Companion says, “We were forbidden,” the report carries the force of a marfūʿ narration—as though he had said, “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ forbade us.” Thus, the prohibiting voice is that of the Prophet ﷺ himself. We were forbidden from takalluf—that is, from burdening oneself with matters one does not know and trying to appear in the guise of a knowledgeable scholar while in fact one is not.
The author then cited the hadith of ʿAbd Allah ibn Masʿūd (may Allah be pleased with him): when a person is asked about something he does not know, he must not speak and produce an answer whose correctness he cannot ascertain; he should say only what he actually knows. Therefore, if he is questioned about something beyond his knowledge, let him say, “Allah knows best,” for part of knowledge is that a person, when he does not know, says, “Allah knows best.” Ibn Masʿūd described this response as knowledge because the one who says, “I do not know,” when he truly does not know, is the real scholar: he understands his own limits, recognises his station, and realises that he is ignorant of the matter, so he declares concerning what he does not know, “Allah knows best.”
Moreover, when someone says about what he does not know, “Allah knows best,” and refrains from issuing a fatwa, people place their trust in him; they understand that any ruling he does give is founded on knowledge, and that he withholds from pronouncing on matters of which he is ignorant. In addition, by saying “Allah knows best” regarding what he does not know, a person trains himself to submit to the truth and not to thrust himself forward to issue legal opinions.
This stands in stark contrast to some people today: you find them treating fatwa-giving as a profitable trade, so they issue rulings with knowledge and without knowledge—indeed, with only half-knowledge. For that reason he said