On the authority of Abu Muhammad al-Hasan ibn Ali ibn Abu Taalib, the grandson of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and his beloved (may Allah be pleased with both of them), who said: I memorized from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), “Leave that which makes you doubt for that which does not make you doubt.” Recorded by al-Tirmidhi and al-Nasaai. Al-Tirmidhi said, “It is a hasan sahih hadith.”

In another version of this hadith, it states: “Leave that which makes you doubt for what that which does not make you doubt. Verily, truth is tranquility and falsehood is doubt”

1. “Leave that which makes you doubt.
2. “Verily, truth is tranquillity and falsehood is doubt.”
3. Other Points Related to This Hadith
4. Summary of the Hadith

General Comments About the Hadith: This hadith lays down a very general principle that can be applied in all aspects of one’s life. If a person truly applies the meaning of this hadith, he should, Allah willing, find psychological well-being and inner peace. The hadith also shows the road to true piety. In just a few words, the Prophet (peace be upon him) stated these very beneficial and useful principles. Especially nowadays this hadith is of extreme importance. Today, many people talk about differences of opinions among the scholars. Furthermore, there are numerous new things or practices (such as business practices) that seem to have some good and some bad to them that have not been discussed in detail by the scholars yet many people feel free to voice their opinions on a whole range of such topics. How can one save himself from all of this confusion? How can one know what path to follow that will lead him to the truth and lead him to Allah being pleased with him? Under situations like this, one truly needs to tum to this hadith of the Prophet (peace be upon him).

1. “Leave that which makes you doubt. ..

The essence of this hadith is the same as a previous hadith: One should avoid doubtful matters. When one avoids doubtful matters, his religion and honor become free of criticism. However, this hadith, with its additional wording found in Sunan alTirmidhi and elsewhere, points out a very important additional aspect of avoiding doubtful matters. If a believer only does those acts that he is positive and certain are permissible and proper acts, then his heart is at rest. Psychologically, he is at peace with himself. He is not wrestling with himself over any particular act that he performed. He is not blaming himself for anything that he did because he was certain that the act that he performed was permissible.

On the other hand, the one who gets involved in doubtful matters is never at rest. His heart and mind are always disturbed and troubled. He is always questioning whether it was right for him to do that act and if, in fact, he should have avoided it. Even if outwardly he is showing no ill feelings about an act he performed, his heart may be boiling and unhappy because he, in fact, is not certain whether he should have done what he did. The key to true piety is leaving doubtful matters. This is true abstention. Abu Abdul Rahmaan al-Mammari once said, “If the servant is truly pious and God-fearing, he leaves what makes him doubt for what does not make him doubt.” Hasaan ibn Abu Sanaan once said, “There is nothing easier than piety and godliness: If something makes you doubt, leave it.”

Is this Approach Obligatory or Simply Recommended?: According to al-Munaawi, the advice given in this hadith is only recommended and it is not obligatory. He comes to that conclusion because the strongest opinion is that avoiding doubtful matters is recommended and not obligatory, as was discussed under Hadith #6. From a strict fiqh point of view, what he said might be correct. But who would want to give up the advantages of following such an approach. When one avoids doubtful matters one frees one’s religion and honor from any criticism or suspicion. The person’s heart is at rest and tranquil. He has no reason to face psychological problems over the acts that he performed. And, finally, to truly be among the people of taqwa, one must avoid such doubtful matters. Yes, from a strict fiqh point of view one may say that this approach is simply recommended and not obligatory, but from the point of view of giving naseehah to all Muslims, every Muslim should be encouraged and taught to follow what is clearly permissible and remain away from all doubtful matters. Allah knows best.

In this manner, also, one is following the examples of the pious forefathers. They set the tone for all later generations. Sultan has given a number of such examples, including the following: One time Abu Bakr ate some food from someone else. The person told him that the food he ate was from the money he made from being a fortune-teller during the time of Jaahiliyyah (pre-Islamic ignorance). Immediately, Abu Bakr put his finger down his throat and vomited what he had eaten. (Recorded by al-Bukhari.)

One cannot say that such wealth was forbidden since it was earned while the person was a non-Muslim. However, to avoid any doubtful matter whatsoever, Abu Bakr vomited. But where are such people today? Al-Bugha and Mistu make the point that the masses are in need of examples, rulers or scholars, who take such an approach. They need to see in front of them those people who follow what is permissible, avoid what is forbidden and also avoid what is doubtful. If the people have no such example, then they get involved in the doubtful matters without any bad feelings whatsoever in their conscience. Indeed, they even go beyond that and boldly go into the forbidden as they have no example to show them the proper way of taqwa and piety.

Al-Baitaar goes even further and states that it is a must for those who are being taken as examples and being followed to avoid doubtful matters and to set the proper example for the others to follow. Nowadays, many of those who are being looked upon as examples are setting the worst example because they willingly and easily fall into doubtful and questionable matters, taking the matter very lightly. If there is any difference of opinion whatsoever, they follow the easiest opinion regardless whether the truth is on their side or not. These are the people who are often times being taken as examples today. Therefore, it is no surprise that the masses are going even beyond the doubtful into the clearly forbidden

2.”Verily, truth is tranquillity and falsehood is doubt.”

Al-Teebi explains this portion of the hadith by saying that if a believer finds his heart being disturbed by something, he should avoid that thing. This is because the heart of the true believer is tranquil at the sight of truth and righteousness. However, the heart becomes unsure and shaky at the sight of falsehood and wrong.

Of course, this is truly the case when the person is attune to the Quran, sunnah and following the way of the Salaf If his heart is diseased and indulging in forbidden and doubtful acts, then his heart cannot recognize truth and falsehood. It may even become uneasy at the sight of truth and at rest at the sight of falsehood, like the heart of the hypocrites. Al-Munaawi states that truth and honesty, when it mixes completely in the believer’s heart, mixes with the light of faith and tranquillity. It extinguishes the lamp of falsehood for falsehood is darkness and darkness cannot mix with light.

However, in general, truth brings about tranquillity. That is, when something is true, proper and good, the person’s heart is at rest with it. He does not quiver or doubt. When a person does what is truthful and correct, he never has to blame himself later. Furthermore, the truthful will be rewarded and saved by Allah due to their truthfulness. Again, this aspect is especially true for the believer who has knowledge of the religion. That his heart is very satisfied with something is a sign that the thing is good and proper. But when his heart is disturbed and cannot rest because of something, this is a sign that the thing is not right. There is something wrong and unacceptable about it.

Ibn Raj ab points out that this is one of the reasons why the intelligent people accepted the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) so readily while the same people rejected Musailamah, the liar. By his speech, they knew the Prophet (peace be upon him) was true. His speech put their heart at rest because there was no room for any doubt about what he was saying. However, the opposite was the case with Musailamah’s false claims. The heart could definitely not feel comfortable and accept the claims he was making. Again, though, this principle only applies if the heart is not corrupted and diseased. Otherwise, it cannot recognize truth from falsehood.

Ibn Uthaimin mentions another aspect of falsehood being doubt. He says that the first one who has doubts and suspicions is the one who committed the falsehood or lie. He has doubt whether or not the people believed what he said. That is why liars very often swear by Allah as to what they said as they need people to believe their lies. The person’s heart afterwards will not be able to rest because he will always worry whether the people believed him or not and he will always worry that the people might find out about his falsehood. Hence, falsehood always leads to doubt and never leads to tranquillity.

3. Other Points Related to This Hadith

(1) If there is a conflict between something that is known for certain and something that is a matter of conjecture, then that which is known for certain takes precedence over the conjecture. This is an important legal maxim that is applied throughout Islamic fiqh. In fact, it has numerous ramifications in almost every area of fiqh. Here are some examples of how this principle is used in the realm of Fiqh:

If a person has clothing that has some impurity on it but he is not sure where the impurity is, then he must wash the entire clothing as otherwise he cannot be certain that he removed the impurity. If a person has a doubt during his prayer concerning how many rakats he performed, then he should act based on what he knows for certain. For example, suppose he is praying the Dhuhr Prayer and he cannot recall if he had finished one rakah or two. However, he is certain that he has prayed at least one rakat. In that case, he continues his prayer based on what he is certain of (that he finished one rakat) and he disregards what he is doubtful concerning. At the end, he makes the prostrations of forgetfulness.

Another principle in fiqh is that it is not allowed to make ijtihaad if something is clearly and definitively stated in the texts of either the Quran or hadith. This is also related to the question of avoiding what causes one doubt. The Quran and sunnah are the truth and correct without any doubt. Therefore, there is no call to leave what the Quran or sunnah clearly state for the opinion or claims of anyone else. All other claims, if they contradict or seem to avoid what is clearly stated in the Quran or sunnah, are, at best, doubtful. Hence, one should avoid them.

This is an important guideline nowadays as there are a number of Muslims, generally called “modernists,” who outwardly accept the clear texts of the Quran and sunnah and then give numerous dubious arguments as to why those texts are not to be applied today or why they have to be reinterpreted. The best that can be said about their arguments is that they are doubtful, and certainly do not reach the level of certainty. The safest approach for the
Muslim is to ignore their arguments and follow what is clearly stated in either the Quran or sunnah. In this way, the Muslim will be following this teaching of the Prophet (peace be upon him) concerning leaving what makes one doubt. Furthermore, he will also be avoiding the doubtful matters and, as discussed in the commentary to Hadith #6, this will protect him from falling into the forbidden matters.

(2) When the scholars differ on an issue and a person cannot determine which is the correct opinion on that issue, it is best and safest to avoid their difference of opinion and follow the portion that they agree upon. This takes one further away from doubt. For example, if the scholars differ on whether an act is obligatory or recommended, the safest approach is to consider the act obligatory and not fail in performing it. This is the safest approach and it will put the person’s heart to rest. If, on the other hand, he decides to treat that same act as simply recommended, every time he does not perform it he may fear that he is leaving something that is actually obligatory.

This approach, though, must not be misapplied. This is only if there is doubt involved. If there is a difference of opinion among the scholars and one is certain the opinion he is following is correct- and he does not feel any doubt about it- then he does not apply the principle just mentioned in the above paragraph. For example, there is a difference of opinion concerning the timing of the Friday Prayer. All of the scholars agree that it may be performed after the time that Dhuhr begins. However, some also allow it to be performed before high noon. Since the proofs that it may be performed before high noon are authentic, explicit and clear, there is no need to refrain from that opinion simply because there is a difference of opinion on this matter.

According to ibn Rajah, if one comes across a hadith that gives an exceptional permission for something but then one notes that the Companions, the scholars of this nation and others do not apply it, then it is best not to apply it. He says that it is not conceivable that Allah would allow, among this Nation, the followers of falsehood to dominate the followers of truth in that manner. This is especially the case if it is not known that any of the people of the virtuous first three generations applied that ruling. What the first three generations followed is the truth and what opposes that is falsehood.

(3) It is not exactly proper that one involves himself in forbidden aspects and then, all of a sudden, on some points that he has chosen, he decides to avoid the doubtful matters. Instead, one should follow what is clear in all matters, which includes avoiding the clearly forbidden. Then it will benefit him to also avoid the doubtful matters. Otherwise, such an approach may not be of no benefit whatsoever. A famous incident of this nature involved Abdullah ibn Umar. He was asked by the people of Iraq about the blood of a fly, is it impure or not.

These are the same people who had just murdered al-Husain, the grandson of the Prophet (peace be upon him). So he answered, “They ask about the blood of a fly while they have killed alHusain. I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) say, ‘They [alHusain and al-Hasan] are my raihaanas in this world.”‘ (Recorded by alBukhari.) Bishr ibn al-Haarith was asked about a man whose mother asked him to divorce his wife. He said, “Ifhe obeys his mother in everything and the only thing left in his obedience is to divorce his wife, then he should do so. Ifhe obeys her by divorcing his wife and then he goes afterwards to his mother and beats her, then he should not do so.”

(4) As noted in Hadith #6, when one becomes involved in doubtful matters, he can never be certain that he is not indulging in forbidden matters also.

(5) One should base all of his life on the things that he is certain and sure about. He should avoid doubtful matters and matters that he is sure are wrong or harmful. This approach to life will lead him to true happiness in both this life and the Hereafter, Allah willing.

(6) There is no piety in avoiding something that is clearly and unquestionably permissible. Piety lies in avoiding anything for which there is a true doubt. If someone is avoiding something that is clearly permissible, supposedly as an act of piety, then he is simply following the whisperings of Satan and not the guidance of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

(7) One of the ways of Satan is to take an act that is clearly forbidden and then show some sign that it could be permissible. The person gets fooled by this small sign of permissibility and he follows the footsteps of Satan in this matter by doing that act. If an act is clearly forbidden, that status cannot be removed by doubt and conjecture. Such is the case sometimes with riba (interest) today. It is something clearly forbidden yet some people try to find some “loophole” that could make it permissible and then they claim that at the most it is doubtful and not forbidden.

(8) In contemporary times, many people get confused over new methods of business and selling. Some times promotional methods may contain some implicit aspect of riba (interest) or something of that nature. The Muslim then becomes confused whether he should take part in them or not. However, when one realizes the little gain that he may get from such an act compared to the possiblity of angering Allah, he should really ask himself, “Is the benefit really worth it?” When the person thinks of it in this way, he will conclude that it is best just to avoid such doubtful things. He will not lose much in reality and, most importantly, his heart and soul will feel tranquil, Allah willing.

4. Summary of the Hadith

A Muslim should be certain of every act he performs. If he has any doubt concerning something, he should leave it for an act concerning which he has no doubt.