. I '/ } (cont.)

Al-Haitami notes how the shareeah allows one to not perform an obligatory deed if there is some hardship, such as breaking one's fast or not praying while standing due to illness, however, the shareeah never allows one to take part in 1 Al-Zarkashi has divided all acts into four cases. The first case is where one definitively performs what he can and what he is not able to do of that act will not affect the correctness of the act. (Such is the case of the prayer noted above, in which if one cannot pray standing, he prays sitting and performs everything that he can of the prayer.) The second case is where there is some difference of opinion but the strongest opinion is that the person performs what he can of the act and leaves what he cannot do. The third case is where one definitively does not perform the act all, neither what he can of the act nor what he cannot of the act, as the act must be done completely or not at all. (The fasting of half a day falls under this category.) The fourth case is where the scholars have differed but the strongest opinion is that one does not perform the act that he cannot do completely. For details, see Muhammad al-Zarkashi, al-Manthoor ft al­ Qawaaid (Kuwait: Wizaarah al-Auqaafwa al-Shuoon al-Islaamiyyah, 1982), vol. 1, pp. 227-233. Commentary on the Forty Hadith of al-Nawawi something forbidden unless the case is not simply hardship but extreme necessity.1 This hadith, in hand with other evidences from the Quran and sunnah, have led most scholars to conclude that it is more important to remain away from forbidden acts than it is to perform the ordered deeds. 2 This does not mean that one may be lax in performing what has been ordered. However, it does mean that one must be even more careful and stringent when it comes to avoiding the forbidden acts. One of the early scholars said, "The righteous deeds are performed by the righteous and the wicked. However, only the truthful ones avoid the sinful deeds."3 Indeed, there is even a hadith in which the Prophet (peace be upon him) was advising Abu Huraira and he said, ,,, J I) Wथ1 ઠr :fa r !ࢎ1 ࢏1 "Protect yourself from the forbidden acts and you will be the one who worships [Allah] the most of the people."4 This stage is reached after one has fulfilled the necessary obligatory acts, such as the acts related to tauheed, prayer and so forth. It is, however, 1 Al-Haitami, p. 132. 2 Ibn al-Qayyim was of the opposite view. He stated that disobeying an order is a greater sin than doing an act that has been forbidden. His discussion of this topic goes on for some twelve pages, with twenty proofs for his position. [See Muhammad ibn al-Qayyim, al-Fawaaid (Beirut: Daar al-Nafaais, 1 984), pp. 1 54-1 66.] However, all his arguments are either logical argumens or conclusions based on indirect evidences of the Quran or sunnah. Such arguments cannot be used to oppose the clearer evidences from the Quran or sunnah, such as the hadith under discussion above. This is not the proper place to go into a lengthy discussion and refutation of his arguments. His first argument only, as an example of his reasoning, will be dealt with here. His first argument (p. 1 54) is a quote from Sahl ibn Abdullah who said, "Not performing an order is greater in Allah's sight than performing a forbidden act because Adam was prohibited from eating from the tree but he ate from it and Allah relented toward him. But Iblis was ordered to prostrate to Adam and he did not prostrate, so Allah did not relent toward him." This argument is completely irrelevant to the question at hand. When it is said that avoiding forbidden acts is more important than performing the obligatory deeds, this is said in a ceteris paribus sense (that is, all other things being held equal). If a person, who is otherwise a believer, under the influence of desires slips and performs a prohibited act, he is definitely better than a person who out of arrogance and pride refuses to obey a command because he thinks the command is not becoming of who he is. The question being discussed here is the question of a believer either not performing what he is ordered to do or performing what he is prohibited from doing. One cannot make an analogy between that case and the very different situations of Adam and Iblis, Hence, ibn al-Qayyim's first argument, which is usually a person's strongest argument, is not valid whatsoever. Allah knows best. 3 Quoted in ibn Rajah, Jaami, vol. 1, p. 252. According to al-Amaoot and Baajis' footnote, the speaker was Sahl ibn Abdullah al-Tustari. 4 The remainder of the hadith states, "Be happy with what Allah has given you and you will be the richest of the people. Be good to your neighbor and you will be a believer.