You give preference to the opinion that it is a girl...

You give preference to the opinion that it is a girl, but you are not quite sure because there also is a possibility that it’s a male. However from outward appearance you are inclined to think that it is a female. This is called conjecture. It means, after seeing that this person has outward signs of a girl, you imagine that it is a girl. But you also have some doubt. Perhaps, these days, there also has come about a change whereby boys make up their appearance like girls.

It could also be a eunuch who makes up like females. You have an opposite opinion but you feel more that the person is a female. Thereafter, the person comes very near to you and sits by your side. You talk with that person and ask, “May I know your good name?” The reply is Miss Zahrmaaryaan. When you hear this you become sure that she is a female. You come out of doubt and suspicion and become sure that she is a girl.

This was a simple example of ‘opinion’ (Zann), that is, to give preference to one side of doubt. But the meaning of Husn-e-Zann (good opinion) and Soo-e-Zann (bad opinion) is what whenever a man looks at someone’s deeds, the looking has two sides; one is the good aspect and the other bad. If you think nicely about it, it is called Husn-e-Zann. If you form a bad conjecture, it is Soo-e-Zann. For example: A man approaches you from a distance and speaks a word, which was not clear.

You could not follow what he said. There are two doubts: Either he abused you or praised you. This is good and bad (imagination). If you think that he praised you, as there was no reason (he did not have any ailment) for him to abuse me, then this is called Husn-e-Zann (good opinion). But if you say that since we were not at good terms in the past, he must have abused me. You imagined that he abused you. This is called Soo-e-Zann (having a bad opinion).

Another example: Suppose a man came out of a den of vice. Here also are two possible doubts. One is that he went there to obstruct corruption and to give advice to concerned people. Likewise there also is a possibility to imagine that he went there to take part in evil deeds. If you say: By the permission of Allah, he might have gone there to make reforms, then it is called Husn-e-Zann.

But if you give preference to the doubt that he might have gone there to participate in bad deeds, it is Soo-e-Zann. The prohibited Soo-e-Zann is of two kinds. First, having bad opinion about the deeds of God.