Shunning Doubtful Things When a person gets used to avoiding...

Shunning Doubtful Things When a person gets used to avoiding prohibited things and depending only on fair living, he advances one step, and with more effort he also avoids use of things, which give him some doubt of their being legitimate. Therefore, he not only avoids the use of haram objects but also abstains from things about which he has the slightest doubt of being haram . He also abstains from uttering such words that Allah (S.w.T.) might dislike the use of.

In stages he achieves total avoidance of the use of doubtful things in his day-to-day living. Shunning of The Unbecoming Or Makrūhāt The man now reaches a higher state of piety when he shuns the unbecoming ( makrūhāt ) and the stage is set for the use of only the desirables ( mustahab ). Now he has reached such a high state of piety that he does not avoid the desirables although he knows that they are not mandatory and not binding on him.

He also meticulously avoids doing or using unbecoming ( makrūh ) things that are, no doubt, not totally banned. Shunning The Permissible For Shunning The Prohibited He becomes careful in the use of such permissible things that give him doubt that their use might make him avoid certain mandatory things. For example, it is permissible to remain awake till mid-night in conversation with friends. In that time there can be two or three rounds of eating snacks.

But, if one sleeps late on a full stomach, he might find it difficult to stir out of his bed for the Fajr prayer that is mandatory. Therefore, a pious person develops such a faculty in his nature that he takes care to avoid every permissible thing that might cause difficulty in performance of his mandatory duties. Saving a Coin a Day For Use During Ramadhan A baker was our friend. He was very skillful and capable in his trade. The month of Ramadhan came during summer one year.

He took off from work the whole month of Ramadhan to avoid the excessive heat of his work place, while he fasted. He could do it by cleverly putting aside a coin from his earnings every day for the eleven months previous to Ramadhan to meet his expenses when he closed his shop during the fasting month. Although spending this coin every day was permissible and well within his rights, the baker wanted to prepare himself properly for the fasting in Ramadhan that is mandatory!

Travel Becomes the Reason for Avoiding the Mandatory Duties It is narrated that a person went to Imam (a.s.) and said, “I am required to travel to a cold country.