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Wara' (scrupulosity)

الورع

Stopping at doubtful matters, guarding against them, and leaving what causes unease for what does not; this meaning appears in Ibn Rajab's commentary on two of the Forty hadiths: al-Nu'man ibn Bashir's 'the lawful is clear and the unlawful is clear and between them are doubtful matters' with 'whoever guards against the doubtful has cleared his religion and honour', and al-Hasan ibn Ali's 'leave what makes you doubt for what does not', whose meaning Ibn Rajab says reduces to standing fast at the doubtful and avoiding it; it is supported by a weak report from Wathila ibn al-Asqa' in which, asked who is scrupulous, the Prophet answered 'the one who stops at the doubtful', and by another weak report that 'the scrupulous Muslim leaves the lesser sin for fear of the greater' and that the heart is agitated by the unlawful and rests in the lawful; among the sayings of the early generations he cites Ibn Masud's 'why turn to what troubles you when four thousand things around you do not?' and Umar's 'leave both usury and suspicion', meaning what you suspect to be usury even without certainty.

Depth

At a glance

Era
The Prophetic Era
Region
Global / Diaspora
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Spirituality and Sufism

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Connections

Based on
Arba'un 11 — leave what makes you doubt for what does notTaqwa (God-consciousness)The lawful, the unlawful and the doubtful

People and things also explored

Husn al-khuluq (good character)Taqwa (God-consciousness)Tayyib (purity and lawfulness)Arba'un 6 — the lawful is clear and the unlawful is clearArba'un 18 — fear God wherever you areArba'un 22 — if I pray the prescribed prayersAbdullah ibn Mas'udHasan ibn Ali

Sources

  • Jami' al-Ulum wal-Hikam — Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Wara' (scrupulosity)”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/concept/wara/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Accessed 2026-10-12.

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Wing

Ideas

Beliefs, concepts, sciences and schools, explained in plain words. Related

Husn al-khuluq (good character)

Treating people with what pleases them in word and deed while withholding harm — the third clause of 'fear God wherever you are': 'and keep company with people in good character' — which together with taqwa combines God's rights and His servants' rights, a combination Ibn Rajab calls rare, sustained only by the most complete of prophets and the truthful; its summit, as God describes the muttaqun, is giving freely and bearing hurt — 'who spend in ease and hardship, who restrain their anger and pardon people' — and revelation reports 'the most complete of believers in faith are the best of them in character', that it is the heaviest thing laid in the scales, raising its owner to the rank of the one fasting and praying, the best gift given a Muslim and what makes them most beloved to God and nearest to the Prophet in station; among its definitions: Ahmad's 'that you not become angry or fierce' and, in another report, 'that you bear what comes from people', Ishaq ibn Rahuya's 'a cheerful face and not becoming angry', and some scholars' 'restraining anger for God, showing openness and cheer except to the innovator and the flagrant, pardoning the erring except for discipline or establishing a hadd, and withholding harm from every Muslim and covenanted person except to change an evil or take what is due for the wronged without transgression'.