nawawiDay.arabicText

nawawiDay.englishTranslation

— Abu Tha‘labah (RA) (Daraqutni (ḥasan))

nawawiDay.commentary

Four categories of rulings: obligations, limits, prohibitions, and silence (which is mercy).

nawawiDay.extendedExplanation

Four divine categories: obligations, limits, prohibitions, silence. The fourth — silence as mercy — is the most overlooked and the most relevant in our age of constant question-asking. Allah deliberately did not legislate everything; the gap is a divine gift, not an oversight.

Ibn Rajab links this to the verse: ‘O you who believe, do not ask about things which, if revealed to you, would distress you’ (5:101). The Banū Isrā’īl asked excessively about the cow and were burdened with progressively harder rulings. The Prophet ﷺ warned: ‘The greatest sinner among the Muslims is the one who asked about something not forbidden — and it became forbidden because he asked.’

nawawiDay.fromScholars

"Allah’s silence is one of the four sources — alongside His commands, His limits, and His prohibitions. To violate His silence by inventing a ruling is to overstep."

— Ibn Rajab · Jāmi‘ al-‘Ulūm wa al-Ḥikam

"If a matter is not addressed in revelation, the original ruling is permissibility — and asking ‘is this allowed?’ in such cases is unnecessary."

— Ibn ‘Uthaymīn

nawawiDay.fiqhRulings

  • •Things Allah has commanded: do them — neglect is sin.
  • •Limits Allah has set (e.g., inheritance shares, ‘iddah periods): do not exceed.
  • •Prohibitions: complete avoidance — partial compliance does not exist.
  • •Silence: the original ruling in worldly affairs is permissibility (al-aṣl fil-ashyā’ al-ibāḥah); in worship it is restriction (al-aṣl fil-‘ibādāt at-tawqīf).

nawawiDay.quranCrossRefs

5:101‘Do not ask about things which, if revealed to you, would distress you.’
2:67-71Banū Isrā’īl and the cow — excessive questioning brought excessive obligation.

nawawiDay.keyVocab

فَرَائِضَfarā’iḍ

obligations

حُدُودًاḥudūd

limits

سَكَتَsakata

remained silent

نِسْيَانًاnisyānan

out of forgetfulness

nawawiDay.todaysReflection

Are you adding burdens Allah did not place — searching out rulings about matters He left silent?

nawawiDay.keyBenefits

  • 1Allah's silence is intentional and merciful.
  • 2Asking unnecessary questions historically led to harder obligations on past nations.

nawawiDay.warnings

  • ⚠Do not search out fatwa on hypotheticals or matters that don’t affect you — the Salaf hated this.
  • ⚠‘The original ruling is permissibility’ applies to worldly matters — NOT to acts of worship, where the original is prohibition until proven.

nawawiDay.relatedHadiths

Bukhari — ‘The greatest sinner is the one who asked about a matter not forbidden, and it was forbidden because he asked’

nawawiDay.memorisation