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and the Hanbali jurists in general hold that contracts and the conditions laid down in them are essentially
permissible, as any contract not involving any matter which is textually established as haram is valid.)
This principle is also supported by what is reported in a sound hadith by the Prophet’s Companion, Jabir
bin ‘Abdullah. He said, “We used to practice ‘azl (coitus interrupts, or withdrawal before ejaculation
during intercourse) during the period when the Qur‘ân was being revealed. If the practice were to have
been prohibited, the Qur‘ân would have prohibited it.” He therefore concluded that if the divine
revelation was silent about something, it was permissible and people were free to practice it. Assuredly
the Prophet’s Companions (may Allâh be pleased with them) had a perfect understanding of the
Shari‘ah. Accordingly, this great principle —that no worship can be legislated except by the command of
Allâh, and no practice can be prohibited except by His prohibition— is firmly established.
2. To Make Lawful and to Prohibit Is the Right of Allâh Alone
The second principle is that Islâm has restricted the authority to legislate the haram and the halal, taking
it out of the hands of human beings, regardless of their religious or worldly position, and reserving it for
the Rabb of human beings alone. Neither rabbis nor priests, kings or sultans, have the right to prohibit
something permanently to Allâh’s servants; if someone does this, he has certainly exceeded his limits,
usurping the sovereignty which, with respect to legislating for the people, belongs to Allâh Subhanahu
wa Ta‘ala alone. Others who acquiesce with this transgression of such usurpers and act upon what they
have legislated thereby elevate them to the rank of partners or associates with Allâh: Do they have
partners (with Allâh) who have prescribed for them in religion that concerning which Allâh has given no
permission?
(42:21)
They have taken their rabbis and priests as lords besides Allâh, and the Messiah, son of Mary, although
they were commanded to worship no one except the One Allâh. There is no Deity but He, glory be to
Him above what they associate with Him! (9:31)
The Qur‘ân took to task the People of the Book, that is, Christians and Jews, for putting the power to
make lawful and to prohibit things and actions into the hands of their rabbis and priests.
‘Adi bin Hatim, who had been a Christian before accepting Islâm, once came to the Prophet
(s.a.w.s.). When he heard him reciting the above ayah he said, “O Messenger of Allâh, but they do not
worship them.” The Prophet (s.a.w.s.) replied, Yes, but they prohibit to the people what is halal and
permit them what is haram, and the people obey them. This is indeed their worship of them. (Reported
and classified as hasan by al-Tirmidhî and others.)
Christians still claim that Jesus (s.a.w.s.), before ascending to heaven, vested in His apostles the
authority to declare things permissible or prohibited as they saw fit, as reported in Matthew 18:18: “I tell
you this: whatever you forbid on earth shall be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you allow on earth
shall be allowed in heaven.”
The Qur‘ân also took the top task for legislating and prohibiting things without any authority from Allâh:
Do you see what Allâh has sent down to you for sustenance and yet you have made some part of it halal
and some part haram? (10:59) And do not say, concerning the falsehood which your tongues utter, ‘This
is halal and that is haram,‘ in order to fabricate a lie against Allâh; assuredly those who fabricate a lie
against Allâh will not prosper. (16:116)
From these explicit verses of the Qur‘ân and from clear ahadith of the Prophet (s.a.w.s.),the jurists of
Islâm grasped with certainty that it is Allâh Subhanahu wa Ta‘ala alone Who has the right to make lawful
or to prohibit a matter, either through His Book or through the tongue of His Messenger (s.a.w.s.). The
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jurists‘ task does not go beyond explaining what Allâh has decreed to be halal or haram “when He has
explained to you in detail what He has made haram for you.” (6:119) It is definitely not their task to
decide what is to be allowed and what is to be prohibited to human beings. Thus the great jurists, in spite
of their scholarship and ability of ijtihad (deduction from analogy), shied away from pronouncing
judgements concerning matters of halal and haram, passing the problem from one to the other out of
fear of committing the error of declaring halal what is actually haram and vice-versa.
In his book Al-Umm, Imam Shafi‘i narrated that Abû Yusuf, a companion of Abû Hanifah and a chief
judge (qadi), said: I know that our knowledgeable teachers avoided saying, ‘This is halal and that is
haram,‘ apart from what they found clearly stated without requiring an interpretation in the Book of Allâh.
We have been told by Ibn al-Saib that al-Rabi‘ bin Khaytham, one of the greatest of the second
generation Muslims, said, ‘Beware that none of you says, “Allâh has made this lawful or approves of it,”
and that Allâh may then say that He did not make it lawful nor approve it, or that you say, “Allâh has
prohibited this,” and that Allâh may then say, “You lie! I did not prohibit it nor disapprove of it.” Some
companions of Ibrahim alNakh‘i, a great jurist of Kufah among the second generation Muslims, have told
us of his mentioning his colleagues as saying, when they gave a judgement concerning something, ‘It is
disapproved‘ or ‘There is no harm in it,‘ rather than, ‘It is haram‘ or ‘It is halal,‘ as haram and halal are
terms of much greater import. (AI-Umm, vol. 7, p. 317.)
This is what Abû Yusuf has reported concerning our righteous forebearers and what al-Shafi‘i has
quoted from him, in agreement with his position. Similarly, Ibn Muflih reported the great scholar Ibn
Taymiyyah, as saying that the jurists of the early days of Islâm did not term anything haram unless it was
definitely known to be so. (This is further supported by the fact that the companions did not give up the
drinking of alcohol after the revelation of the Qur‘ânic verse, “They ask thee concerning wine and
gambling. Say: In them is great sin and some benefit,” (2:219) since this verse did not definitely prohibit
drinking prior to the revelation of the verses in Surah al-Maida. (5:93-94 (90-91)) In the same spirit, the
great imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, when asked about some matter, would say, “I disapprove of it” or “It
does not appeal to me,” or “I do not like it” or “I do not prefer it.” Similar reports are narrated
concerning Malik, Abû Hanifah, and all the other imams (may Allâh be pleased with them). (This is a
lesson to the followers of such imams who freely use the word “haram‘ without having a proof, or even a
semblance of proof.)
3. Prohibiting the Halal and Permitting the Haram is Similar to Committing Shirk
While Islâm reprimands all those who, on their own authority, declare what is lawful and what is
prohibited, it is more strict with respect to those who voice prohibitions; for the tendency to set up
prohibitions results in hardship for human beings, unjustifiably narrowing what Allâh has made spacious
for His creatures. Moreover, this tendency is prevalent among some of those who go to extremes in
matters of religion and must be checked. The Prophet (s.a.w.s.) fought against this pseudo-pietism and
zealotry by every means, warning those who indulged in it with the words, “The zealots will perish,”
repeated three times. (Compiled by Muslim, Ahmad, and Abû Daoud.)
The Prophet (s.a.w.s.) characterized his Message by saying, “I have been sent with what is straight and
easy“. (Compiled by Ahmad)
The straightness of his Message consists of belief in tawheed (the unity of Allâh) and its ease in practice
and legislation, in contrast to shirk (Ascribing partners, or associating others, with Allâh. (Trans.)) and to
the prohibiting of good things of this life. The Prophet (s.a.w.s.) has mentioned all this in a hadith qudsi
(A hadith in which the Prophet (s.a.w.s.) refers a saying to Allâh, the Prophet himself being merely the
narrator. Unlike the Qur‘ân, one cannot say of a hadith quasi that “Allâh said it.” In the case of a hadith
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