Living On The Edge

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate

Assalaamu alaykum

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

Often we find Muslims don't give matters of religion the attention it deserves. They are living on the edge.

In all our actions we have a decision to make. What governs our decision is Allah. So, we ask ourselves--is this action going to be pleasing to Allah; is this action going to be for me or against me in the Hereafter?

The halal is clear and the haram is clear. What about the doubtful matters?

On the authority of Abu `Abdillah an-Nu`maan the son of Bashir, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

That which is lawful (halal) is clear and that which is unlawful (haram) is clear, and between the two of them are doubtful matters about which many people do not know. Thus he who avoids doubtful matters clears himself in regard to his religion and his honor, but he who falls into doubtful matters [eventually] falls into that which is unlawful, like the shepherd who pastures around a sanctuary, all but grazing therein. Truly every king has a sanctuary, and truly Allaah's sanctuary is His prohibitions. Truly in the body there is a morsel of flesh, which, if it be whole, all the body is whole, and which, if it is diseased, all of [the body] is diseased. Truly, it is the heart.

[Bukhari and Muslim.]

This hadith is laying the foundations for what our decision must be built upon when faced with making a decision. It helps us achieve piety and love of Allah.

We are not to be like the shepherd who goes to the boundary of his land and lets his sheep graze from there and says everything will be okay because it is very hard to tell the sheep where to stop grazing. So you need to keep the sheep away from the boundary because if they graze from your neighbor’s land, then you have committed a sin.

So, we should never approach the boundaries of Allah Most High as it will be very difficult to stop going over into the prohibition. If we are near the boundary, we will be like sheep which don’t know right from wrong and risk committing sin.

Al-Hasan said,

The pious remained at a state of piety to the level that they left a lot of halal out of fear of falling into haram.

Sufyan Al-Thawri said,

They were called pious because they stayed away from what others do not stay away from.

Abdullah ibn Umar said,

I wish to put a barrier of halal between me and the haram, and I do not break that barrier.

Sufyan bin ‘Uyayinah said,

A slave does not attain the reality of Iman (Faith) until he puts between him and the haram a barrier of halal, and he leave sins and what is doubtful of it.

Other righteous predecessors said,

We used to leave seventy doors of halal out of fear of falling into haram.

The great companion, Abdullah ibn Mas’ud said,

What do you want from approaching what is doubtful when there are 4000 non doubtful matters.

He said the number 4000 as an exaggeration and not referring to something specific, but is telling us that the non doubtful matters are many, so why do we go for the doubtful matters?

It is not difficult to stay away from doubtful matters if we have scrupulousness and it is easier when you are around scrupulous people.

So choose your friends wisely as the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, said that "a person is upon the religion of his friend."

Don't live on the edge. It is not a safe place. Don't do things that may lead to haram, even if a mufti said it is okay. We should be aware of the many things that are controversial (though they were never controversial in the time of the Companions and the generations that followed) such as, music, free gender interaction and mixing, Islamic dress code, woman traveling without mahram/close relative, etc. If you don't know, ask those who know. Our actions should err on the side of caution and leave what is doubtful.

The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, said,

You do not leave something for the sake of Allah, except that Allah will replace that thing for you with something that is better than it.

(Reported in Ahmad).

May Allah grant us tawfiq and bring us close to Him. Ameen.

Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.

And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam