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"Leave what makes you doubt for what does not make you doubt."2 Also the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, in yet another hadith in this collection by al-Nawawi, ( Ʌ ൟ .J.ll , .J , ൞ "That which is lawful is plain and that which is unlawful is plain and between the two of them are doubtful [or ambiguous] matters about which not many people are knowledgeable. Thus, he who avoids these doubtful matters clears himself in regard to his religion and his honor. But he who falls into the doubtful matters falls into that which is unlawful like the shepherd who pastures around a sanctuary, all but grazing therein. Verily every king has a sanctuary and Allah's sanctuary is His prohibitions." (Recorded by al-Bukhari, Muslim and others.) Unfortunately, too many people consider the "legal" definition of makrooh (a disliked act), which states that it is an act that the person will be rewarded for avoiding and will not be punished for committing, and consider it permissible to engage in such actions. But the pious Muslim must look beyond such a legal definition and consider the act from another point of view: what is the value of that act in Allah's sight. When looked at from this angle, the nature of the disliked acts, although they are not forbidden, radically changes. The person who is seeking the love of Allah can place no value in such acts and can receive no joy or benefit from performing them. Therefore, he does his best to remain away from them although, according to the jurists, they are not strictly forbidden. 1 Recorded by ibn Hibbaan. Al-Albaani declared it sahih. See al-Albaani, Silsilat al-Ahadeeth al-Saheeha, vol. 2, p. 594-596. 2 Recorded by Ahmad, al-Tirrnidhi and ibn Hibbaan. This was Haditb Number 1 1 of this collection. 1 150 Hadith #38: "Whoever Shows Enmity to . . . " Furthermore, when a person involves himself in the disliked deeds, he may very easily fall into committing the forbidden acts. The case is different with those people who avoid even the disliked deeds. If these people should slip, as all humans are apt to do, then, most likely, they will simply slip into the disliked deeds and not fall all the way to those deeds that are greatly hated by Allah. Another important aspect of the voluntary deeds that, unfortunately, some people tend to forget or neglect is that they make up for the shortcomings of the obligatory deeds that the person performs. It can be argued that very few Muslims, if any, perform the prayer in the manner that they are supposed to perform it. Many Muslims move about while praying, fidgeting with their clothing, looking here and there. And, more importantly, for many of them, their hearts are not attuned to the prayers. Satan comes to them and makes them think about almost everything except what they should be concentrating on in their prayers. Again, this is the case with many Muslims, even with some who are righteous. But the difference between the righteous and the lackadaisical Muslims is that the righteous make up for such shortcomings by performing voluntary prayers (or deeds in general) that take them closer to Allah. In another hadith of the Prophet (peace be upon him), it is clear that this principle is true for all of the actions that a person performs. Abu Huraira reported that the Messenger of Allah said, rP ,,., J "" ,,,. ,,. ... ,,, ,,. ,,. ,,. ,,. ,,,. 0 ࣠) ࣡ y)I Ju .:;,:. ງ: / .a1j ¬ :.,aiiI ;i ࣟ) yG:. :W ஜLl 0) J J ,,., J .... o ,,,. ,,,. ,,. ,,,.