The Lawful Is Clear and the Unlawful Is Clear: The Scale of the Mind and the Scale of the Heart in Doubtful Matters

Occasion: Transcription of a Fajr khatira delivered on 3 May 2026 Source: A transcription of a video khatira by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — Watch the original video on YouTube

Today's ḥadīth is on the authority of al-Nuʿmān ibn Bashīr (may Allah be pleased with them both), who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say: «إنَّ الحلالَ بيِّنٌ، وإنَّ الحرامَ بيِّنٌ، وبينهما أمورٌ مشتبهاتٌ لا يعلمهنَّ كثيرٌ من الناس، فمن اتقى الشبهاتِ فقد استبرأ لدينه وعِرضه، ومن وقع في الشبهات وقع في الحرام، كالراعي يرعى حول الحِمى يوشكُ أن يرتعَ فيه. ألا وإنَّ لكلِّ مَلِكٍ حِمى، ألا وإنَّ حِمى اللهِ محارمُه. ألا وإنَّ في الجسد مُضغةً إذا صلحت صلح الجسدُ كلُّه، وإذا فسدت فسد الجسدُ كلُّه، ألا وهي القلب» ("The lawful is clear and the unlawful is clear, and between them are doubtful matters which many people do not know. Whoever guards against the doubtful matters has cleared himself for his religion and his honor, and whoever falls into the doubtful matters falls into the unlawful, like a shepherd who grazes around a protected pasture, about to graze in it. Truly, every king has a protected pasture, and truly, Allah's protected pasture is His prohibitions. Truly, in the body there is a morsel of flesh: if it is sound, the whole body is sound, and if it is corrupt, the whole body is corrupt. Truly, it is the heart.")^[1].

Awakening the Mind and Rebuilding Awareness

There is a very important educational indication in the ḥadīth; the Prophet ﷺ begins by stirring the mind of the Muslim and rebuilding his awareness, so that the servant reflects on what is in front of him: is it lawful or unlawful? When I stand before the phrase «الحلال بيّن والحرام بيّن» ("the lawful is clear and the unlawful is clear"), I feel as though the Messenger of Allah ﷺ is speaking to me at the outset about the comprehensive constants in this legislation: there is prayer, fasting, zakat and Ḥajj; there is food that the body takes in, and money that enters pockets or accounts, and dealings and relationships between a person and those around him; among them is what is wholly lawful, and among them is what is clear in its unlawfulness.

What remains is the matter of the doubtful things, or what they call the gray area. And I say: there is no gray area, but the idea lies in the servant's discernment of what is in front of him; if he strives to discern, and strives to select the lawful from the unlawful and choose the purer of the two, matters remain on which it is not good for him to rule decisively by himself, and he does not know what to do; that is the space in which he cannot say whether it is white or black, and it is what we call gray. Here the Prophet ﷺ rouses the living conscience of the human being: what do you accept for yourself and what do you not accept? What do you approve for your own person and what do you not approve?

The Shepherd Around the Protected Pasture

Some people eat the plainly unlawful; he is free to do what he wishes, he will meet Allah on the Day of Resurrection and the Lord of the worlds, glory be to Him, will take him to account. But for one who does not wish to eat the plainly unlawful and for whom the matter becomes confused, the Prophet ﷺ gives us here a simile: «كالراعي يرعى حول الحمى» ("like a shepherd who grazes around a protected pasture"). Imagine a shepherd with his animals or his sheep, and he knows that this is a protected pasture not to be entered; when he comes close to the boundary, there is no doubt that he will touch something of the other side, because he is dealing with animals.

One of us may ask: how does this simile apply to me when I am a rational human being? I will circle around it and not touch it! But the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in this setting is not addressing your mind, but your instinct, which overpowers you even if you strive to resist it. For this reason you see the Lord of Might, glory be to Him, when He spoke about the matter of adultery, did He say: do not commit adultery? Or did He say: ﴿وَلَا تَقْرَبُوا الزِّنَىٰ﴾ (and do not approach adultery)^[2]? Why? Because it is a human self which, if left to its desire, is more intense in taking its desire than an animal; if it sets off toward what it wants without thought, discernment, guidance or distinction, it is a beast that pounces on what it wants whatever the consequences. For this reason they say: desire is blind and does not see, deaf and does not hear; when the servant is clothed in it, he carries on as a beast that has fallen upon something in front of it, not even able to think about the consequences. And we seek refuge with Allah, blessed and exalted, from trials.

Scales We Ask Ourselves

These are questions we ask ourselves from time to time when the decision on some matter becomes confused for us:

The first scale: When you do this thing, whatever it is, does it weigh in your estimation that it is a good deed or a bad deed? If you say: I do not know, then I say to you: is it disliked? I always used to apply this example with someone who came asking me about the ruling on smoking, and I would say to him: now, when you do it, do you feel in your conscience that you are doing a good deed or a bad deed? If he said: I do not know, is it disliked? I said: disliked by whom? Consider the standing of the one who dislikes it; if a person has someone dear to him whom he does not wish to anger, even if he is doing something permissible but his companion does not like it, you sit with your beloved and refrain from smoking, for example. Why? Because you do not want to burden him or disturb his mood. How much more, then, if you are dealing with the Lord of Might, glory be to Him, exalted in His highness, and you do not want to do something He dislikes?

The second scale: And if the first is not clear to you, then ask: if you do this, do you see around you an angel rejoicing at what you do, or a devil rejoicing at what you do? If it is an angel and you feel it, then welcome and blessing.

The third scale: If you do this matter, are you certain, God willing, that on the Day of Resurrection you will find it in the scale of your good deeds, or do you fear that it will be in the scale of your bad deeds? If you know it is in the scale of your good deeds, you take it up, and if you know it is in the scale of your bad deeds, you say: no, I cannot do it. And so matters differ among people of resolve.

For Whom Are Matters Doubtful?

And a question comes to me, which I ask: the Prophet ﷺ says «وبينهما أمور مشتبهات» ("and between them are doubtful matters"), so doubtful for whom? This resemblance or similarity that occurs in some matters for you, like a transaction in which you do not know how to take a decision: should I deal with it or not? Very many questions. So I say: for whom is it doubtful? It is doubtful to people in terms of the evidence reaching them. That is: this evidence of prohibition, has it reached me at all or not? And if it reached me, did I understand it or not? They say: the doubt that occurs for people in separating lawfulness from prohibition occurs only because of the evidence of prohibition reaching them, or their understanding of what the evidence indicates, or not.

Do you remember last time when we were saying, on the ḥadīth «من أحدث في أمرنا» ("Whoever introduces into this affair of ours"), that the ḥadīth has more to it? And the point here is for those who are quick to pass judgment on people: this one is a sinner, this one is a heretic, this one is a criminal, this one is a disbeliever, this one is an innovator! Understand, but gently: the one you pass judgment on, has the evidence reached him? If it reached him, did he understand it as you understood it? The Lord of the worlds gave him of awareness what He gave you. From this we have seen scholars and we have seen imitators, so the contrast is between the mujtahid and the imitator. The mujtahid, the evidence reached him, so he grasped it, derived from it, understood its consequences and took a decision. And the imitator sees our master the Shaykh so-and-so and walks behind him; if he guides him to the right or guides him to the left, he travels in the train. And our Messenger ﷺ in this ḥadīth awakens in you the mind that must discern.

A Time When Doubtful Matters Became Mixed

The problem is that we have come to be in a world and a life in which the lawful has become mixed with the unlawful, and doubtful matters have become mixed. And imagine that it was narrated from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, in what the speaker mentioned as "in the narration," that a time will come upon people in which whoever did not consume ribā will be touched by its dust^[3]. Can you imagine? The plain ribā, where a man takes money and returns it with a stipulated increase, is plainly unlawful. And whoever did not consume it was touched by its dust. Who among those sitting now can manage to have no bank account at all? And who among us does not deal with a credit card, for example? And who among us can keep away from all kinds of transactions? Someone says to you: I will avoid the banks! Then if you go to buy something you will not be able to carry out the necessities of your whole life unless these matters become mixed with one another.

And imagine that some of the people of knowledge (may Allah be pleased with them) were asked about some matters and would say: this is among what the affliction has become widespread in^[5]. And the phrase "the affliction has become widespread in it" means that people have all come to deal in this way. For this reason, if you want today to set right some affair or thing or person, he says to you: everyone does that, are you going to set the universe right? So say to him: by Allah, you are right, I will not set the universe right, but at least I strive in what is in my hands.

After the Mind: The Heart

The point is that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ wanted in this ḥadīth to awaken the mind, so he urged you to what is called thinking: brother, think a little before you take a decision about what you do. And if the mind cannot discern, there is another restraint that must always be awake, and it is the heart. It is the sensor, like the radar inside the human being; if the red light suddenly lights up in it, know that you have a problem. And what is this problem? Your heart is not at ease.

For this reason the Prophet ﷺ said to the one who came to him seeking a ruling: «استفتِ قلبك» ("Ask your heart for a ruling")^[4]. Imagine that a person in the whole world goes until he stands at the door of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and asks whom? The scout who does not lie to his people, he asks the one who receives revelation, and whom his Lord, glory be to Him, teaches directly, and then the Prophet ﷺ teaches us how to make this indicator, the living conscience, and says: ask your heart for a ruling. And here he ﷺ says: «ألا وإن في الجسد مضغة إذا صلحت صلح الجسد كله، وإذا فسدت فسد الجسد كله» ("Truly, in the body there is a morsel of flesh: if it is sound, the whole body is sound, and if it is corrupt, the whole body is corrupt").

So the order is: before we act we think; if we do not manage to take the decision by thinking, we move on to the stage of feeling and sensing. If the feeling is toward doing, then ask and consult, then put your trust in Allah. And if the feeling is toward leaving, then leave directly even without asking; because he ﷺ commanded us to refrain from what he forbade and to do of what he commanded as much as we are able^[6].

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: The ḥadīth was narrated by al-Bukhārī and Muslim, as the speaker mentioned; the wording is as the speaker cited it, and in it is the doubt «لعرضه ودينه أو لدينه وعرضه» ("for his honor and religion, or for his religion and honor"); we have recorded one of the two forms. ^[2]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Isrāʾ, verse 32; we have recorded the point of citation in its wording from the verse. ^[3]: Editor's documentation: The speaker cited it with the words "in the narration" without attribution; what is known in the ḥadīth (in Abū Dāwūd, Ibn Mājah and Aḥmad from the ḥadīth of Abū Hurayra, may Allah be pleased with him) is the wording «ليأتينّ على الناس زمانٌ لا يبقى أحدٌ إلا أكل الربا، فمن لم يأكله أصابه من غباره» ("There will surely come upon people a time when no one will remain except that he consumed ribā, and whoever did not consume it will be touched by its dust"), and there is criticism of its chain of transmission among the ḥadīth scholars, so it was not conveyed in the body text in a categorical form. ^[4]: Editor's documentation: The ḥadīth is in Aḥmad and al-Dārimī from the ḥadīth of Wābiṣa ibn Maʿbad, may Allah be pleased with him, and its completion is «البرّ ما اطمأنّت إليه النفس…» ("Righteousness is that with which the soul is at ease…"), and a group of the people of knowledge graded it ḥasan; the speaker confined himself to the words «استفتِ قلبك» ("ask your heart for a ruling"). ^[5]: Editor's documentation: The speaker attributed the phrase to Imam Abū Ḥanīfa, may Allah be pleased with him, and it is from the terminology of the later jurists of uṣūl, "ʿumūm al-balwā"; its attribution to him in particular has not been verified, so it was left general. ^[6]: Editor's documentation: Its origin is in the two Ṣaḥīḥs, and the wording of Muslim is: «ما نهيتكم عنه فاجتنبوه، وما أمرتكم به فأتوا منه ما استطعتم» ("What I have forbidden you, avoid it; and what I have commanded you, do of it as much as you are able"); the speaker's wording was not conveyed because he blended in it between the ḥadīth and the verse of al-Ḥashr (7).