Hadith
22: Treat The Forbidden As Prohibited
By Imam Nawawi
In the name of Allāh, the Most Gracious, the Most
Merciful;
All the praise and Thanks is due to Allāh, the Lord of
al-‘ālameen. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allāh, and
that Muhammad, Sallallāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Messenger
Abu ‘Abdullah Jabir bin ‘Abdullah
al-Ansari, (radiyallahu’anhuma), reported that
a man questioned the Messenger of Allah, (sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam), saying:
"Do
you see, if I pray the prescribed (prayers), fast during Ramadhan, treat the
lawful as permissible and treat the forbidden as prohibited, but do nothing
more than that, shall I enter Paradise?” He (the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi
wasallam) answered: “Yes.”
[Muslim]
Background
Imam Nawawi (rahimahullah) said that the
meaning of “treat the forbidden as prohibited” is to avoid the forbidden, and
the meaning of to “treat the lawful as permissible” is to perform them
believing that they are permissible.
Ibn Rajab (rahimahullah) gave two other
interpretations:
1. "To
treat the lawful as permissible" -
to believe that it is permissible; "To treat the forbidden as
prohibited" - to believe that it is prohibited and to avoid it.
2. "To
treat the lawful as permissible" -
to perform it. "Lawful" here means what is not prohibited, which
includes wajib (obligatory deeds), mustahab (preferable
deeds) and mubah
(allowed).
One thing that we notice about the hadith is
that Hajj and Zakah are not mentioned even though they make up the five Pillars
of Islam. According to some scholars, the person who asked the question passed
away (in the Battle of Uhud) before hajj was made an
obligation. As for zakah, it is possible that it also was not yet
made an obligation; alternatively, the person questioning was not a person of
wealth and therefore was not required to pay zakah.
Lessons
This hadith indicates
that the one who fulfils the obligations and avoids the prohibitions
will enter Paradise. This meaning has been emphasised in a number of
other hadiths.
This hadith emphasises
surrendering to the Will of Allah subhana wa ta'ala - to
accept as permissible what Allah has permitted and to accept as forbidden
what Allah has prohibited. This also emphasises Islam itself because Islam
means to ‘fully surrender to the Will of Allah and to accept everything that
has been commanded by Allah'.
In our contemporary times, there arise the
issue of Muslims not fully adhering to the shariah, i.e. Allah's
commandments. If this is because they are new Muslims or that they live in
areas where there is a lack of knowledge or poor dissemination of information
(e.g. there are no scholars to advise them), then this lack of adherence is
excusable. However, if a Muslim chooses to intentionally ignore or reject the
obligations and prohibitions set by Allah without good reasons, then he may be
in danger of losing his Islamic entity or identity.
These obligatory acts mentioned in the
hadith that will lead a person to Paradise require strong belief in Allah,
commitment and continuous efforts. Only then will it be an easy task to
achieve.
This hadith implies that the mustahab (or
sunnah or preferable deeds) are not necessary for one to be able to enter
Paradise. What counts or what matters is fulfilling the obligatory acts. However,
we are encouraged to perform preferable deeds according to our capacity and
whenever possible.
The significance of performing preferable
acts is that it will lead us in getting closer to Allah subhana wa ta’ala.
In addition, preferable deeds compensate for our shortcomings in performing the
obligatory acts.
Some scholars have made the assumption
that the person asking the question in the hadith was new to
Islam. This gives insights to educators (murabbi) and preachers (du’at) to
observe the following lessons when dealing with new converts to Islam:
1. The murabbi or scholar
should take into account the background or status of the questioner before
attending to and answering his or her questions. Different people with
different backgrounds may require different answers or different approaches in
conveying the answers. This is because a person who comes from a different
culture or lives in a different environment from the murabbis or
scholars may not fully understand the scholar’s explanations if it cannot be
related to his/her situation.
If the murabbi or scholar
doesn’t know the background of the questioner (e.g. if questions are being
asked through mail, through the telephone, on the radio, etc.), then he needs
to find out as much as possible about the questioner before answering. Some
scholars try to speculate what could be the status of the person asking the
question by, for example, trying to read between the lines of the text of the
question. The end-result is that the scholars do not provide one fixed answer -
there will be a few answers, each applicable to a different situation.
2. The murabbi or scholar
should not overburden new Muslims by asking them or encouraging them to perform
preferable acts. The murabbi should just get them to start
with the obligatory acts. If they are given too much to do, it may become too
much for them to cope and they may lose interest in Islam altogether. The murabbi or
scholar should start slowly and when the new Muslims are settled and are
performing the obligatory deeds, only then should they be introduced to the
preferable acts.
Similarly, new Muslims should not be
subjected to conflicting issues or views in Islam. For example, they should not
be told about the four different schools of thought (madhab) and
be asked to choose which madhabto follow. This will only confuse
the new Muslims. The murabbi or du’at should
make it easy and simple for converts to start their new lives in Islam. Only
later on can such issues be discussed.
The same thing can be said about the awam (general
public). Scholars should not overburden them or bombard them with too many
obligations or concepts. This is also a lesson we can learn from this hadith:
the murabbi or scholar should observe the background of the
questioner as well as the audience in general if there is no questioner.
An area related to this issue is the
question of Islamic websites on the Internet. A website can be accessed by
people from all over the whole world - people from different backgrounds and cultures.
We have to be careful about the information that we put on these websites.
Unfortunately there are Islamic websites that contain controversial issues and
conflicting views, where different Muslim groups or sects promote only their
school of thoughts and criticise other groups. Not only will this confuse those
interested in Islam, new Muslims or existing Muslims from other parts of
the world, it will also give a negative impression to the non- Muslims. It will
provide information to the opponents of Islam to use as a means of discouraging
people from embracing Islam. Islamic websites should be neutral and fair and
should not be one-sided or controversial because the purpose of these websites
should be to promote Islam and not to condemn it.
Conclusion
This hadith shows a
significant characteristic of Islam that it is a religion based on ease. There
is a minimum requirement to be fulfilled by every one, which is practicing
obligations and avoiding prohibitions. By fulfilling this minimum requirement a
person deserves to enter Paradise. Preferable acts are encouraged, based on
one's capacity and ability.
And Allāh Almighty Knows best.
[Excerpted from commentary on Hadith 22: “Treat the Forbidden as Prohibited”, 40 Hadiths Of Imam Nawawi, By Dr. Jamal Ahmed Badi, via IC Truth]
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