Will you explain the hadith 'Leave what makes you in doubt for what does not make you in doubt’?

Dear Brother / Sister,

"Leave what makes you in doubt for what does not make you in doubt.” (Bukhari, Buyu 3; Tirmidhi, Qiyama 60)

This hadith orders us to avoid doubtful things that are haram. Another hadith that confirms this hadith is as follows:

The following is reported from Nu'man b. Bashir: I heard the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) say:

"Both legal and illegal things are obvious, and in between them are (suspicious) doubtful matters. I will give you an example regarding the issue: Allah has established a (forbidden) grove (woods). Allah's grove is the things that He has rendered haram. If a person who pastures his animals near it, his animals are likely to get in it at any moment. A person who indulges in doubtful things bravely is likely to commit what is clearly illegal.”(Bukhari, Iman 39)

Explanation:

The hadith narration in Bukhari’s Kitabul-Iman is as follows:

"Both legal and illegal things are evident but in between them there are doubtful (suspicious) things and most of the people have no knowledge about them. So whoever saves himself from these suspicious things saves his religion and his honor. And whoever indulges in these suspicious things is like a shepherd who grazes (his animals) near the Hima (private pasture) of someone else and at any moment he is liable to get in it. (O people!) Beware! Every king has a Hima and the Hima of Allah on the earth is His illegal (forbidden) things. Beware! There is a piece of flesh in the body if it becomes good (reformed) the whole body becomes good but if it gets spoilt the whole body gets spoilt and that is the heart."

Hz. Prophet likens the things that are certainly haram to a hima (grove / woods), and the doubtful things that are not certain to be haram or halal to the area around it.  

The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) likens a person who does doubtful things that can be sins to the shepherd grazing his animals around the grove; it is possible for his animals to enter the grove any time; similarly, he states that those who do doubtful things can commit sins any time.

According to what Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani and Nawawi state, the hadith indicates that decrees are divided into three parts:

1. Decrees that are clear (certain) to be halal. They are clear things that are known to be halal by everybody and do not need to be stated like eating bread, walking and drinking water.

2. Things that are clear (certain) to be haram and that are known to be haram by everybody like drinking alcohol and committing adultery.

3. Things that are not clear (certain) to be haram or halal:

Scholars disagree about what consists of things that are doubtful to be haram or halal. According to what Asqalani states, the summary of those disagreements are as follows:

a) Doubtful things are the things about which scholar disagree if they are halal or haram. The disagreement over horsemeat is an example of it.

b) Doubtful things about which scholars disagree if they are halal or haram are makruh things. This view is reported from Mawardi.

c) Business can be made with a person whose wealth consists of both haram and halal things. This view belongs to Khattabi.

Khattabi states the following while explaining the statement "in between them there are doubtful (suspicious) things", which is really remarkable:

"That is, they are confusing for some people. In fact, they are not mixed and doubtful things that are not stated by the shari’ah. For, God Almighty did not leave anything about which there must be a decree without evidence and statement. However, statements are divided into two as clear (open) statements that can be known by everybody and secret (ambiguous) statements that can only be understood by the scholars who give importance to the science of methodology, who understand nass very well and who know the ways of qiyas (analogy) and istinbat (deduction). The statement "most of the people have no knowledge about them" in the hadith is evidence for the soundness of our view."

Khattabi also states that it is necessary for a person who doubts about the decree on something to keep away from it; otherwise, he can fall into haram.  

They are the things that are hard to determine; their decrees can be deduced only by scholars. Scholars deduce decrees based on nass or other evidence for those things. They include them in the group of haram or halal.

Doubtful things are not called haram or halal clearly but there is no doubt that it is better to avoid them in terms of taqwa. It is narrated that Abu Hanifa and Sufyan ath-Thawri said, "It is easier for me to fall from the sky onto the earth than to issue a fatwa stating that "Nabidh (a kind of drink made from dates) is haram" but I have never drunk it and will never drink."

According to what is narrated in Hayatul-Haywan, once, the desert sheep in Iraq were mixed with the sheep in Kufa; it became impossible for the owners of the sheep to separate them. Abu Hanifa found out that sheep lived about seven years and he did not eat mutton for seven years fearing that it could come from those sheep.

It means fatwa is not issued for the things about which there is no definite decree whether they are haram or halal stating that they are haram but it is a necessity of taqwa to avoid them. However, it is necessary not to act apprehensively while trying to act based on taqwa and not confuse apprehension and delusion with taqwa.

For instance, not to make wudu form the water of rivers fearing that there can be impurity in it, to wash wudu organs many times to be satisfied fully, to remain in the toilet for a very long time are not taqwa but apprehension and delusion.

We want to explain another sentence that does not exist in this narration of the hadith but exists in the next narration included in the narrations of both Bukhari and Muslim. The Prophet (pbuh) said,

"A person who avoids doubtful things saves his honor and religion. He who indulges in doubtful things indulges in haram."

Khattabi states the following while explaining those sentences:

"This is an important principle in terms of jarh and tadil. It is evidence that a person who does not avoid doubtful things leaves his honor and religion open to reproach and gossip."

Accordingly, a person who avoids doubtful things is protected from deficiency in terms of his religion and reproach and gossip in terms of his honor. The word religion here is about the things related to Allah and honor about the things related to people.  

The meaning of the statement "He who indulges in doubtful things indulges in haram" is not what is understood from its apparent meaning. If it were so, there would be no difference between doubtful and haram. According to the explanations of scholars, this statement can have two meanings:

The first meaning: A person who does doubtful things habitually by doing them continually will finally dare to commit haram things and commit harams.

The second meaning: Such a person acts carelessly as a habit and indulges in harams gradually.

Scholars say he who commits makruh things a lot will indulge in haram things. The statement "A person who indulges in doubtful things bravely is likely to commit what is clearly illegal" at the end of the hadith is evidence for the statements above.

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