(68) Chapter: Leading an Abstemious Life and refraining from the Doubtful

Leading an Abstemious Life and refraining from the Doubtful Allah, the Exalted, says: "...you counted it a little thing, while with Allah it was very great.'' (24:15) "Verily, your Rubb is Ever Watchful (over them).'' (89:14) An-Nu'man bin Bashir (May Allah be pleased with them) reported: Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "What is lawful is clear and what is unlawful is clear, but between them are certain doubtful things which many people do not know. So he who guards against doubtful things keeps his religion and his honour blameless. But he who falls into doubtful things falls into that which is unlawful, just as a shepherd who grazes his cattle in the vicinity of a pasture declared prohibited (by the king); he is likely to stray into the pasture. Mind you, every king has a protected pasture and Allah's involved limits is that which He has declared unlawful. Verily, there is a piece of flesh in the body, if it is healthy, the whole body is healthy, and if it is corrupt, the whole body is corrupt. Verily, it is the heart." [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]. Commentary: There are such meeting-points between what is permissible and what is not permissible in the matter of religion of which the majority of people are ignorant. If man abstains from them, it means that he is keeping his duty to Allah. Yet, if he is involved in them without caring for what is allowable or unallowable, he may be supposed to have outstepped the Divine limits. Businessmen and traders are particularly warned here to avoid things of dubious nature and are urged to adopt only that pattern which is lawful. Another important point underlying this Hadith concerns the heart. Its purity or impurity directly affects the human conduct in a good or bad way. It is, therefore, absolutely necessary to cleanse the heart of all wiles and impurities, and this is not possible without sound Faith and consciousness of Allah.