Shubha (doubt that averts a penalty, and avoiding doubtful matters)

In language shubha is likeness; one thing resembles another in its features, and doubtful matters are those that resemble one another. ¹ In the technical sense it is what has not been known with certainty to be lawful or unlawful, or what is ignored as to its permissibility or prohibition in fact, or what resembles the established without being established. ¹

The scholars give four senses: what proofs conflict on; what the scholars differ about, which follows from the first; the disliked; and the permitted whose omission is better for an outside reason. ^{1 6} The first two senses are supported by the hadith of Nu'man ibn Bashir: the lawful is clear and the unlawful is clear, and between them are doubtful matters that many people do not know; whoever avoids doubtful matters has protected his religion and honour. ⁶

The Hanafis and Shafi'is divide shubha into three kinds, agreeing on two and each adding one. ² Shubhat al-mahall (doubt in the object, also called ownership-doubt) is where lawfulness is established by the law but an obstacle intervenes, as with intercourse with a woman under a waiting period after indirect divorce, or intercourse in a khul divorce without property. ² Shubhat al-fi'l (doubt in the act, also called doubt of supposition) is where the act is thought lawful for lack of a standing proof, as with intercourse with a woman in a waiting period after three divorces, or with a woman divorced by khul for property. ² The Hanafis alone add shubhat al-'aqd (doubt in the contract), where the form of a contract exists without its reality, as with one who has intercourse with a woman he is forbidden to marry under a contract. Abu Hanifa does not hold it to cancel the penalty; his two companions do if he knew the prohibition, and this is the fatwa. ² The Shafi'is alone add shubhat al-tariq, the doubt arising from the disagreement of jurists, as intercourse in marriage without a guardian. ^{2 3}

The Shafi'is hold it forbidden to act on shubhat al-mahall, for example intercourse with a jointly owned slave-girl, which all agree is forbidden. Shubhat al-fi'l is neither lawful nor unlawful, since one acting in heedlessness of the fact is not charged, by agreement, and so there is no sin. Shubhat al-tariq depends on whom one follows. ³ The Hanafis hold it forbidden to act on shubhat al-mahall where its prohibition is agreed, as intercourse with a woman divorced by khul for property. They count shubhat al-fi'l where one believes the act lawful. Shubhat al-'aqd does not cancel the penalty in the fatwa, the view of the two companions against Abu Hanifa. ³

The law urges avoiding doubtful matters and clearing oneself of them in caution for religion, on the hadith that whoever avoids doubtful matters has cleared his religion and honour, and on the version that whoever leaves what is doubtfully sinful has left what is clearly so. ³ The Nu'man hadith divides rulings into the clearly lawful, the clearly unlawful, and the doubtful. The doubtful is to be avoided: if it is unlawful one is clear of it, and if it is lawful one is rewarded for leaving it out of caution. ^{3 4}

The first degree is what must be avoided because doing it entails the unlawful, as game whose lawfulness of taking is doubtful, which may not be eaten before it is properly slaughtered. Examples are the report of Adi ibn Hatim (may God be pleased with him) about the blunt arrow and about a dog that was joined by another dog over which the name of God was not spoken, and the report of Uqba ibn al-Harith about a woman who claimed to have nursed the two of them, when the Prophet ﷺ said: how, when it has been said? ⁴ The second degree is what is originally permitted, such as purity once established, which is not lifted except by certainty of the breach; the report of Abdullah ibn Zayd illustrates it, when a man complained of feeling something in prayer, and the Prophet said: not unless he hears a sound or smells something. ⁴ The third degree is what is of uncertain origin, hovering between prohibition and permission, where leaving it is better, as in the report of the fallen date, of which the Prophet said: had it not been alms, I would have eaten it. ^{4 5} The fourth is what is recommended to avoid, such as, for some jurists, dealing with one whose wealth is mostly unlawful. The fifth is what is disliked to avoid, such as shunning the lawful concessions of the law out of excessive scruple. ⁵ See the entries on doubt, permissibility, conflict, the lawful and blocking the means. The rules are set out in the chapters on marriage, penalties, hunting, slaughter and sale. ⁵

He says the absence of blessing comes from money mixed with unlawful gain, and that wealth is cleansed by returning it or giving it away ⁷. He says prayer is not accepted for forty days from one who consumes unlawful earnings, and that God does not answer one who eats unlawful money (needs_source: the figure of forty days is not sourced in the recording) ⁸. He says blessing is removed from income mixed with the unlawful, and that a person who delays prayer loses blessing (needs_source: the forty-day hadith is not sourced in the recording) ⁹. He says forbidden money also brings trouble into homes ¹⁰. He says a salary in which one unlawful dirham is mixed taints the rest ¹¹. He says a parent who sees a child sick should consider whether the family's earnings were lawful, and should then pray ¹².

He warns against postponing repentance and against long hopes, and says that forbidden food for forty days makes the limbs disobedient (needs_source: the figure of forty days is not sourced in the recording) ¹³. He cites a saying of scholars that doubtful food for forty days corrupts the limbs, and that prayers are not accepted for forty days after forbidden food; he urges feeding children only lawful food (needs_source: the saying and the figure are not sourced in the recording) ¹⁴. He cites a hadith that a body fed on unlawful food is not accepted for forty days, and urges pure food, drink and clothing (needs_source: the figure is not sourced in the recording) ¹⁵. He says a forbidden morsel in the body keeps deeds from being accepted for forty days ¹⁰.

He introduces the fourth quality, abstaining from doubtful food, and claims that a body eating doubtful food will disobey for forty days (needs_source: the figure is not sourced in the recording) ¹⁶. He recounts Abu Bakr vomiting milk after doubting its source, and says doubtful food is a main reason prayers are not answered (needs_source: the narration is not sourced in the recording, and parts of its wording are unclear) ¹⁷.

The speaker cites a Qur'anic prohibition of spying on a spouse, and a saying of scholars that when doubt arises one should not investigate ¹⁸. He says the community often calls unlawful things by other names, and that officials should refuse bribes ¹⁹. He says that when a caller asked how to avoid bribery, he answered that real ownership belongs to God ²⁰. He says a goal that is lawful must be pursued by lawful means ²¹.

He lists remedies: prayer, seeking medicine with a sound religious view, using lawful money, giving charity, seeking the prayers of the righteous, and avoiding the oppression of spouses, neighbours, employers and the weak ²². He asks whether our tongues refrain from backbiting and gossip, and whether officials take only lawful money ²³. He holds that lawful work that benefits family and society is good ²⁴. He says one should seek medicine, but within lawful means: charity, good deeds, the prayers of the righteous, and avoiding oppression ²⁵.