Home > The 40 Hadith of Nawawi > Hadith 9 of Nawawi
Hadith number 9 of the collection of the 40 hadiths of Imam an-Nawawi, in faithful English translation.
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Updated on 07 October 2026 at 4:51 AM
📖 31 min readThis hadith belongs to the collection of the 40 hadiths of Imam an-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him), the most studied hadith compilation in the world: foundations of faith, worship and character, all authentic narrations.
"O you who have believed! Ask not of things which, exposed, would grieve you."
Al-Ma'ida, 101
This verse is reported by other channels as sent down when they asked the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) about the pilgrimage, saying, is it every year? In the two authentic collections, from Anas, may Allah be pleased with him, who said, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) preached to us; a man said, who is my father? He said, "so and so." This verse then descended. And in the two also, from Qatada, from Anas, who said, they asked the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) until they wearied him by their questions; he became angry, mounted the minbar, and said, "Ask Me today of nothing but that I explain it to you." A man rose, one who was accustomed, when people disputed, to be attributed to other than his father; he said, O Messenger of Allah! Who is my father? He said, "your father is Houdhayfa."
Then 'Omar launched forth and said, "We are content with Allah as Lord, with Islam as religion, and with Mouhammad as messenger; we seek refuge with Allah from the trials." Qatada, with this hadith, used to mention this verse, "O you who have believed! Ask not of things which, exposed, would grieve you." And in the Sahih of al-Boukhari, from Ibn 'Abbas, who said, people questioned the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) in mockery: one man would say, who is my father? And another would say, my she-camel is lost, where is my she-camel? Allah therefore sent down this verse, "O you who have believed! Ask not of things which, exposed, would grieve you." And Ibn Jarir at-Tabari reports in his tafsir from the hadith of Abu Hourayra, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) came out angry, his face red; he sat upon the minbar; a man rose towards him and said, where am I?
He said, "in the Fire." Another rose and said, who is my father? He said, "your father is Houdhayfa." 'Omar, may Allah be pleased with him, rose and said, "We are content with Allah as Lord, with Islam as religion, and with Mouhammad as prophet, and with the Quran as imam: we are, O Messenger of Allah, recently come out of ignorance and polytheism, and Allah knows our fathers best." His anger then subsided, and this verse descended, "O you who have believed! Ask not of things which, exposed, would grieve you." And it is also reported, by the way of al-'Awfi, from Ibn 'Abbas, at His words, "O you who have believed! Ask not of things which, exposed, would grieve you," the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) called the people and said, O people! "The pilgrimage is prescribed for you." A man rose and said, O Messenger of Allah! Is it every year?
The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) fell into a great anger and said, "By Him who holds my soul in His hand, were I to say yes, it would become obligatory, and were it to become obligatory, you would be incapable of it, and you would disbelieve: leave me then with what I left you, for when I command you a thing, do of it what you can, and when I forbid you a thing, abstain from it." Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, then sent down, "O you who have believed! Ask not of things which, exposed, would grieve you." He forbade them questioning like what the Christians asked at the table, becoming thereby disbelievers; Allah the Most High therefore forbade it.
These hadiths indicate the forbidding of asking what one has no need of, whose answer would grieve: like the question, am I in the Fire or in Paradise? Is my father the one to whom it is attributed or other? And the forbidding of questioning out of obstinacy, frivolity and mockery, as many hypocrites and others did. Near that: questioning the verses and proposing them out of obstinacy, as the polytheists and the people of the book questioned them; Ikrima and others said, the verse descended for that. Near that: questioning what Allah has hidden from His servants without charging them, like the question of the Hour, and of the spirit. They also indicate forbidding the Muslims to ask of many lawful and unlawful things whose answer is feared to cause the descent of insistence, like the question of the pilgrimage, every year or not?
Witnesses: In the authentic collection, from Sa'd (ibn Abi Waqqas, may Allah be pleased with him), from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), "The greatest crime of the Muslim against the Muslims is asking of a thing not forbidden that became forbidden because of his question." And when the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was asked about the man accused of adultery, he disapproved the questions and blamed them, until the questioner was tried so before the event among his people. And the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) forbade the hearsays, the multiplicity of questions and the wasting of wealth.
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) permitted questioning only to the Bedouins and the like of the delegations coming to him, charming them thereby. As for the Emigrants and the Ansar residing at Medina, whose faith had taken root in hearts, they were forbidden it: in the Sahih of Mouslim, from an-Nouwas ibn Sim'an, who said, I resided with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) at Medina a year, nothing preventing me from migrating but the questioning: when one of us migrated, he asked the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) of nothing.
(He says, I asked him of righteousness and sin, and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, "righteousness is beautiful character, and sin is that which scratches in your soul, and which you dislike that people know.") And in the same collection also, from Anas, may Allah be pleased with him, who said, we were forbidden to ask the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) of anything, and it pleased us that a sensible man of the people of the desert come and ask him while we listened. And in the Mousnad, from Abu 'Oumama, who said, Allah had sent down, "O you who have believed! Ask not of things which, exposed, would grieve you." We disliked many of his questions and guarded against them, when Allah sent down upon His prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him); we came to a Bedouin, draped him in a garment, and said to him, ask the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), and he mentions the hadith.
And in the Mousnad of Abu Ya'la, from al-Bara ibn 'Azib, who said, "Were a year to come over me wanting to ask the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) of a thing, I felt fear of him for it, and we wished for the Bedouins." And in the Mousnad of al-Bazzar, from Ibn 'Abbas, may Allah be pleased with both of them, who said, I saw no people better than the companions of Mouhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him): they asked him only twelve questions, all in the Quran, "they ask you of wine and gambling," "they ask you of the sacred month," "and they ask you of the orphans," and he mentions the hadith.
The companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) sometimes asked him the ruling of events before their occurrence, to act at their occurrence, as when they said to him, we shall meet the enemy tomorrow without knives with us, shall we slaughter with the reed? And they asked him of the governors he informed of afterwards, of their obedience and fighting. And Houdhayfa asked him of the trials and what to do in them.
[Return to the hadith:] This hadith, his words, "leave me with what I left you, for those before you perished by the multiplicity of their questions and their divergence with their prophets," indicate the disapproval of questions and the blame of them.
[Was it specific to his time?] Some claim that was specific to the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), fearing then the forbidding of what was not forbidden, or the prescribing of what is hard, set aside after his death (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). But that is not the only cause of the disapproval of questions: there is another cause, indicated by Ibn 'Abbas in his saying that we mentioned, "but wait: when the Quran descends, you will ask of nothing but that you find its explanation."
The meaning: everything the Muslims need in their religion, Allah explains obligatorily in His noble book, and His messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) conveys; none therefore needs ask after that. Allah the Most High knows the interests of His servants better than they: that containing their guidance and their benefit, Allah the Most High explains obligatorily at once, without question, as He says, "Allah explains to you, lest you stray." There is therefore no need of asking anything, especially before its occurrence, and need of it. The need is the energy of understanding what Allah and His messenger informed, then following it and acting by it. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was asked of a matter and returned to the Quran: 'Omar asked him of the deceased without heir, and he said, the verse of the summer suffices you. And the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) indicated in this hadith that attending to executing his command and avoiding his prohibition is a being-busy from questions: he said, "When I forbid you a thing, avoid it; and when I command you a command, do of it what you can."
What falls to the Muslim?
What is obligatory upon the Muslim of care and attention: seeking what has come from Allah and His messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), striving to understand it and grasp its senses, attending to believing it if it be of scientific matters; and if it be of practical matters, deploying his effort in the action of what he can of the commands and the avoidance of the forbidden, his energy being directed totally therein, not elsewhere.
Thus were they
Such was the state of the companions of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and the Successors in excellence in seeking the useful knowledge of the book and the Sunna.
The opposite image
As for the energy of the listener, at the listening to command and prohibition, directed towards suppositions that may or may not occur, that enters into the forbidden, discouraging earnestness in following the command.
A man asked Ibn 'Omar of the caressing of the stone, and he said to him, I saw the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) caress it and kiss it. The man said, were I overcome by it? Were I pushed? Ibn 'Omar said to him, "put the 'if' to the Yemen"; I saw the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) caress it and kiss it. At-Tirmidhi reports it.
The purpose of Ibn 'Omar was that your concern be none but following the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), without need of supposing incapacity or difficulty before occurrence, for that may discourage the resolution of following. Understanding the religion and asking of knowledge are praised only for action, not for dispute and argumentation.
'Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, mentioned trials occurring at the end of time; 'Omar said to him, when is that, O 'Ali? He said, when fiqh is taught for other than religion, one teaches for other than action, and the low world is sought by the deed of the Hereafter. And Ibn Mas'oud, may Allah be pleased with him, said, "How shall you be when a trial envelops you, wherein the small grows, the great sinks, and it is adopted as law: the day it is changed, it is said, that is blameworthy?" They said, and when is that? He said, "when your faithful ones grow rare, your governors multiply, your jurists grow rare, your readers multiply, fiqh is taught for other than religion, and the low world is sought by the deed of the Hereafter." 'Abd ar-Razzaq reports both in his book.
By this sense, many Companions and Successors disapproved asking of events before occurrence, without answering it. 'Amr ibn Mourra said, "'Omar, may Allah be pleased with him, went out to the people and said, I am shy of you: ask us not of what has not occurred, for we have of what has occurred an occupation." And Ibn 'Omar, may Allah be pleased with both of them, said, "Ask not of what has not occurred?! I heard 'Omar, may Allah be pleased with him, say, cursed be the questioner of what has not occurred." And Zayd ibn Thabit, asked of a thing, would say, has it occurred? Were they to say no, he said, leave it until its occurrence. Masrouq said, I asked 'Ubayy ibn Ka'b of a thing, and he said, has it occurred after? I say, no. He said, "Leave us," meaning, relieve us, "until its occurrence; when it occurs, we shall strive for you an opinion."
'Ach-Cha'bi said, 'Ammar was asked of a question, and he said, has it occurred after? They said, no. He said, "Leave us then until its occurrence; when it occurs, we shall swallow it for you." And as-Salt ibn Rachid said, I asked Tawus of a thing, and he rebuked me and said, has it occurred? I say, yes. He said, by Allah? I say, by Allah. He said, our Ancients informed us that Mu'adh ibn Jabal, may Allah be pleased with him, said, "O people! Hasten not to misfortune before its descent, for it would carry you here and here; for were you not to hasten to misfortune before its descent, the Muslims would never cease having among them one who, when he speaks, is set right, or when he says, is supported."
Abu Dawoud reports it in the book of the mursal, in raised form, by the way of Ibn 'Ajlan, from Tawus, from Mu'adh ibn Jabal, who said, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, "Hasten not to misfortune before its descent: were you not to do so, the Muslims would never cease having among them one who, when he speaks, is set right or supported; and were you to hasten, the ways would scatter by you here and here." Its mursal means that Tawus heard it from Mu'adh. And he reports it also, from the narration of Yahya ibn Abi Kathir, from Abu Salama, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), in the sense, in mursal form.
And al-Hajjaj ibn Minhal reports, Jarir ibn Hazim informed us, I heard az-Zoubayr ibn Sa'id, a man of the sons of Hachim, say, our Ancients informed us that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, "There shall always be in my community one who, when asked, is set right and guided, until they ask of what has not descended, whose explanation descended not; when they do that, they are carried away here and here."
It is reported from as-Sounabihi, from Mou'awiya, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), that he forbade the convoluted questions. Imam Ahmad, may Allah have mercy on him, reports it; al-'Awza'i explained it and said, they are the hardenings of questions. And 'Issa ibn Younous said, it is what one has no need of, of manners upon manners.
From the hadith of Thawban, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), "There shall be in my community a people deceiving their jurists by the hardness of questions: those are the worst of my community." Al-Hasan said, "The worst of the servants of Allah are those who follow the worst of questions, afflicting by them the servants of Allah." Al-'Awza'i said, "When Allah wills to deprive His servant of the blessing of knowledge, He casts upon his tongue the sophisms: I saw them the least knowing of people." Ibn Wahb reports from Malik, "I knew this city: they disapproved this multiplicity the people have today," meaning the questions. And he says also, I heard Malik blame the multiplicity of speech and the issuing of opinions, then say, he speaks like an unbridled camel, saying, it is thus, it is thus, wandering in his speech.
He says, I heard Malik disapprove answering the multiplicity of questions, and say, Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, said, "and they ask you of the spirit, say, the spirit is of the command of my Lord," without any answer coming to him. Malik disapproved also the dispute over the Sunnas. Al-Haytham ibn Jamil said, I said to Malik, O Abu 'Abd Allah! The man knowing of the Sunnas, does he dispute over them? He said, "No, but he informs of the Sunna: were it accepted of him, well and good; otherwise he keeps silent." Ishaq ibn 'Issa said, "Malik used to say, claiming and disputing in knowledge carry away the light of knowledge from the heart of man." And Ibn Wahb said, "I heard Malik say, claiming in knowledge hardens hearts and makes rancour inherited."
And Abu Chourayh al-Iskandarani was one day in his assembly; the questions multiplied, and he said, "I have destroyed your hearts from today, so rise towards Abu Hamid, Khalid ibn Hamid: polish your hearts and learn these supererogatory deeds, for they renew worship, make detachment inherited and warm friendship; and rarefy the questions, save what has descended, for they harden hearts and make enmity inherited." Al-Maymouni said, "I heard Abu 'Abd Allah, that is Ahmad, asked of a question, say, has this question occurred? Were you tried by it after?"
The people in this chapter divided into categories. Followers of the people of hadith closed the door of questions, their fiqh and knowledge growing rare to the limits of what Allah sent down upon His messenger, becoming bearers of fiqh without jurisprudence. And jurists of the people of opinion expanded to generate questions before occurrence, whether the customary thereof occur or not, busying themselves with forcing answers, the multiplicity of disputes and argumentation, until there arose from it the scattering of hearts, and there settled therein by that the passions, the rancour, the enmity and the hatred, joined often to the intention of dominating, seeking elevation and boasting, and turning the faces of the people away. The rabbaniyoun scholars blamed it, and the Sunna indicates its ugliness and illicitness.
As for the jurists of the people of hadith acting by it: most of their energy is the seeking of the senses of the book of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, and of the correct Sunnas explaining it, and of the words of the Companions and Successors in excellence, upon the sunna of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), the knowledge of its correct and its false; then the fiqh in it, its understanding and the grasping of its senses; then the knowledge of the words of the Companions and Successors in excellence in the species of sciences, the tafsir, the hadith, the questions of licit and illicit, the origins of the Sunna, detachment and the nourishments of the heart, and other. Such is the way of Imam Ahmad and whoever followed it of the rabbaniyoun scholars of hadith.
Knowing that, one is not busied with what the people introduced of opinions of which there is no profit and that do not occur, making inherit dispute, argumentation and multiplicity of hearsays.
What was said of it
Imam Ahmad, often asked of a generated question that had not occurred, would say, "leave us of these new questions." And most beautiful is the saying of Younous ibn Soulayman as-Saqati, "I considered the affair: it is the hadith and the opinion. I found in the hadith the mention of the Lord, the Mighty and Majestic, of His lordship, His majesty and His greatness, the mention of the Throne, the description of Paradise and the Fire, the mention of the prophets and messengers, of the licit and the illicit, the encouragement to maintaining kinship, and the gathering of good therein. And I considered the opinion: it contains the blameworthy, the treachery, the ruses, the breaking of kinship, and the gathering of evil therein." And Ahmad ibn Chabbouwaya said, "Whoever wants the science of the grave, let him take the deeds; whoever wants the science of the bakery, let him take the opinion." And whoever follows the way of seeking knowledge as we mentioned can understand, most of the time, the answer to the occurring events, for their origins exist in these indicated origins.
The practice of this way must be behind the imams of its people, consensual upon their guidance and discernment, such as ach-Chafi'i, Ahmad, Ishaq, Abu 'Obayd, and whoever followed their way; whoever claims to practise this way outside their way falls into deserts and perils, takes what may not be taken, and leaves what is obligatory to act upon.
The pivot of the whole affair: aiming thereby at the face of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, drawing near to Him by the knowledge of what He sent down upon His messenger, following his way, acting by it, and calling the creation towards it. Whoever is thus, Allah supports him, sets him right, inspires him uprightness and teaches him what he knew not; he is of the scholars praised in the book, at His words,
"Of His servants, only the scholars fear Allah."
Fatir, 28
and of the firm in knowledge.
Ibn Abi Hatim reports in his tafsir from the hadith of Abu ad-Darda, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was asked of the firm in knowledge, and said, "He whose right hand is virtuous, whose tongue is truthful, whose heart is upright, and who is chaste of belly and sex, that one is of the firm in knowledge." And Nafi' ibn Zayd said, it is said of the firm in knowledge, they are the humble towards Allah, submitted to Allah in His satisfaction, not boasting over those above them, nor despising those below. It is witnessed by the words of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), "The people of the Yemen have come to you, the most virtuous of hearts, the most tender of souls: faith is Yemenite, fiqh is Yemenite, and wisdom is Yemenite."
It is an allusion to Abu Moussa al-'Ach'ari and whoever is upon his way among the scholars of the people of the Yemen, then to the like of Abu Mouslim al-Khawlani, 'Ouways al-Qarani, Tawus, Wahb ibn Mouannabih and other scholars of the people of the Yemen, all of them rabbaniyoun scholars fearing Allah, all scholars of Allah, fearing Him and dreading Him. And certain are vaster in knowledge of the rules of Allah and the laws of His religion than certain others, without their distinction to the people being the multiplicity of hearsays, seeking and disputing. Likewise Mu'adh ibn Jabal, may Allah be pleased with him, the most knowing of the people of licit and illicit, who shall be resurrected on the Day of Resurrection before the scholars at a step; and his knowledge was not by the expansion of questions and their multiplication, his disapproval of speaking of what occurs not having preceded: he was a scholar of Allah and a scholar of the origins of His religion, may Allah be pleased with him.
And it was said to Imam Ahmad, whom shall we question after you? He said, "Abd al-Wahhab al-Warraq." It was said to him, he has a breadth of knowledge? He said, "he is a pious man, the like of him, supported to attain the truth." And he was asked of Ma'rouf al-Karkhi, and said, "he had with him the origin of knowledge, the fear of Allah?!" That returns to the saying of certain righteous Ancients, "The fear of Allah suffices as knowledge, and hastening upon Allah suffices as ignorance." And this chapter is vast, long to examine.
Let us return to the commentary of the hadith of Abu Hourayra, may Allah be pleased with him, and say, whoever attends not to the multiplicity of questions having no equivalent in the book of Allah nor the sunna of His messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), but attends to understanding the words of Allah and of His messenger, intending thereby the execution of commands and avoidance of prohibitions, he is of those who executed the command of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) in this hadith and acted according to its requirement. Whoever's attention is not the understanding of what Allah sent down upon His messenger, and who busies himself with the multiplicity of generating questions that may or may not occur, forcing their answers by mere opinion, he is feared to be contradictor of this hadith, committing its prohibition and abandoning its command.
Know that the multiplicity of the occurrence of events without origin in the book and the Sunna comes from abandoning attending to the execution of the commands of Allah and His messenger and the avoidance of their prohibitions: were whoever wants to do a deed to ask what Allah legislated in that deed, then execute it, and what He forbids therein, then avoid it, the events would occur confined to the book and the Sunna. Rather the doer acts according to the requirement of his opinion and his passion, and most events occur contradicting what Allah legislated, and their return to the rules mentioned in the book and the Sunna may be difficult, by their distance from them.
In sum, whoever executes what the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) commanded in this hadith, and abstains from his prohibition, being thereby busied with other, salvation in the low world and the Hereafter comes to him. Whoever contradicts that, busying himself with his thoughts and what he deems good, falls into that of which the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) warned, the state of the people of the book who perished by the multiplicity of their questions, their divergence with their prophets, their absence of submission and obedience to their messengers.
His words (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), "When I forbid you a thing, avoid it; and when I command you a command, do of it what you can." Certain scholars say, of that is taken that prohibition is harder than command, for prohibition authorised the committing of no part, and command is limited according to capacity. That is reported from Imam Ahmad, may Allah have mercy on him. And it resembles the saying of certain, "Acts of virtue, the virtuous and the perverse do them; as for disobediences, none leaves them but the sincere." And it is reported from Abu Hourayra, may Allah be pleased with him, from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), saying to him, "Fear the prohibitions, and you shall be the most worshipping of people." And 'Aicha, may Allah be pleased with her, said, "Whoever delights to outstrip the weary perseverers, let him withhold sins." And it is reported from her in raised form. And al-Hasan said, "The worshippers worshipped not by anything better than leaving what Allah forbade them."
The apparent is that what has come of preferring the avoidance of prohibitions to the doing of obediences intends the supererogatories of obediences; otherwise, the species of obligatory deeds is more demonstrative than the species of leaving prohibitions, for deeds are intended in themselves, and prohibitions, their non-existence is sought; that is why they require no intention, unlike deeds; that is why the species of leaving deeds may be disbelief, like leaving oneness, or leaving the pillars of Islam or some of them, as preceded, unlike committing the prohibitions, which does not require disbelief of itself. It is witnessed by the saying of Ibn 'Omar, may Allah be pleased with both of them, "Making unlawful a karat is better than a hundred thousand spent in the path of Allah." And of certain righteous Ancients, "Leaving a karat of what Allah detests is more beloved to Allah than five hundred pilgrimages."
Maymoun ibn Mihran said, "The mention of Allah by the tongue is good, better still that the servant mention Allah at disobedience and withhold from it." Ibn al-Moubarak said, "That I return an ambiguous dirham is dearer to me than giving alms of a hundred thousand and a hundred thousand, up to six hundred thousand." And 'Omar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz said, "Piety is not the standing of night, nor the fast of day, nor the combining of the two?! Rather piety is the accomplishment of what Allah prescribed and the leaving of what Allah forbade, even were there with that a deed, good towards good." Or according to what he says. And he says also, "I would wish to pray only the five prayers, save the prescribed night prayer; pay the zakat, then never give alms of a dirham; fast Ramadan, then never fast a day after; perform the pilgrimage of Islam, then never pilgrimage after; then direct the surplus of my subsistence towards what Allah forbade me, restraining myself from it." The essence of their saying indicates that avoiding prohibitions, even were it rare, is better than the multiplicity of supererogatories of obedience, for that is obligatory and this supererogatory.
Part of the later ones said, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, "when I forbid you a thing, avoid it; and when I command you a command, do of it what you can," because the execution of command comes only by deed, and the existence of the deed depends upon conditions and causes, some of which one may be incapable of; command was therefore limited by capacity, as Allah limited the command of piety by capacity, Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, says, "Fear Allah as much as you can." And He says of pilgrimage, "It falls to the people, towards Allah, the pilgrimage of the House, for whoever finds a way to it." As for prohibition, its non-existence is sought, and it is the origin, the aim being the permanence of the origin's non-existence, possible without anything incapable.
That too is disputable, for the caller to disobedience may be strong, without patience for the servant to abstain from it with capacity; restraint then requires intense striving, at times harder for souls than the mere striving of the soul to deeds of obedience; that is why there exist many who strive to deeds of obedience without being able to leave the prohibitions. 'Omar was asked of a people desiring disobedience without acting it, and said, "Those are a people whose hearts Allah tested for piety; for them are pardon and immense reward." And Yazid ibn Maysara said, Allah says in certain books, "O young man who abandoned your desire, who struggle in your youth for Me, you are with Me like certain of My angels." And he said, "how hard desire is in the body! It is like the blaze of fire: how should those living within it be safe from it?"
The verification herein
The verification herein: Allah charges not the servants with deeds beyond their capacity, suspending many deeds by mere difficulty, in their favour, by mercy. As for the prohibitions, none is excused of committing them by the strength of the call and the desires; He charged them with leaving them in every state, permitting the taking of forbidden foods only by necessity for the remainder of life, not for enjoyment and desire.
From there is known the truth of what Imam Ahmad, may Allah have mercy on him, says, "prohibition is harder than command."
It is reported from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), from the hadith of Thawban and others, that he said, "Be upright, and you shall not be counted," meaning you shall not be able complete uprightness. And al-Hakam ibn Hazn al-Kalbi reports, I came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and attended the Friday with him; the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) rose, leaning upon a staff or a bow; he praised Allah and glorified Him with light, good and blessed words, then said, "O people! You shall not be able, nor shall you do, all that I command you; but be upright, and be of good cheer." Imam Ahmad and Abu Dawoud report it. His words, "when I command you a command, do of it what you can," are proof that whoever is incapable of doing all the commanded, but capable of a part, does what is possible for him.
And that is uniform in the questions: among them, purification: if he is capable of part and incapable of the rest, by absence of water or sickness in certain limbs without others, he does what he can and does tayammum for the rest; likewise ablution and the great ablution, with the well-known. Among them, the prayer: whoever is incapable of performing the obligation standing prays sitting; were he incapable of that, he prays lying down. In the Sahih of al-Boukhari, from 'Imran ibn Houssayn, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, "Pray standing; if you cannot, sitting; if you cannot, upon the side." And were he incapable of all, he points with his gaze and makes his intention, the prayer not falling from him, with the well-known. Among them, the zakat of breaking: if he is capable of taking out part of the sa', it is obligatory upon him, according to the correct.
As for whoever is capable of fasting part of the day without its completeness, that is not obligatory upon him without disagreement, for the fast of part of the day is not in itself a worship. Likewise were he capable of emancipating part of the neck in expiation, it is not obligatory upon him, for the fractioning of emancipation is not loved of the Lawgiver; rather he is commanded to complete it by every means. As for whoever missed the standing of 'Arafat in the pilgrimage, does he do what remains of it, sleeping at Muzdalifa, casting the stones, or does he confine himself to the circumambulation and the running, releasing himself by the umra?
Two narrations of Ahmad, the more famous being that he confines himself to the circumambulation and the running, for the House and the casting are consequences of the standing of 'Arafat and its sequels, Allah the Most High ordaining His mention at the sacred mount and His mention in the counted days to whoever streamed from 'Arafat; whoever stood not at 'Arafat is not therefore commanded it, like the pilgrim of umra residing not being commanded it, and Allah knows best.