However at the same time...

However at the same time, they are many instances in which these same doubtful things act as a bridge towards certain forbidden acts. It is for this reason that a person must not make his way to the ultimate level of these permissible acts - meaning the makruh things. Why? This is said because the final level of the permissible acts is the edge where the forbidden acts begin and there is a possibility that at any moment, a person could trip and fall into the forbidden deeds.

“Be advised that the protected limits of Allah (which we must not transgress) are those things which He has made impermissible.”[^4] There is an area which a person is prohibited from entering into and if he moves closer to it, we see that sometimes through transgressing the boundaries, one will become overcome by the evil whisperings such that he may proceed to move forward (towards the haram acts) due to the excuse that: كُلُّ مَشْكُوكِ جَايِزٌ كُلُّ مَظْنُونِ جَايِزٌ.

“All doubtful things are permissible, and all actions which one is uncertain about are (also) permissible.” Thus, such a person may begin to perform those actions which could cause him to enter into sin and they will be classified as forbidden (haram) acts. All of these acts are permissible to perform, however at the same time we must not approach the boundaries of the forbidden acts since this boundary is one full of danger.

Of course we are not saying that we must refrain from all Makruh (reprehensible) acts, however there is a difference here and in certain instances, we must be extremely careful. If a person wishes to stay away from the danger boundary, then one must also distance oneself from the uncertain and doubtful acts.

The final sentence in his tradition is that if a person succeeds in destroying the mystique behind sins and no longer feels frightened at performing forbidden acts, then one will easily contaminate one's pure essence. When some sinners speak to others about their life and the actions that they had performed in the past, they say, “The very first time that I performed such and such a sin, I felt my entire body tremble.

However after continuously performing that sin, it became second nature for me.” Thus in summary, what protects a person is being frightened of performing a sin.