nawawiDay.arabicText

nawawiDay.englishTranslation

— al-Hasan ibn ‘Ali (RA) (Tirmidhi)

nawawiDay.commentary

A practical rule: when in doubt about a matter (a transaction, a relationship, a food), the safer path is to leave it.

nawawiDay.extendedExplanation

Al-Ḥasan ibn ‘Alī (RA) — the grandson of the Prophet ﷺ — narrated this short, sharp principle: ‘Leave what makes you doubt for what does not make you doubt.’

This hadith is the practical application of Hadith 6 (‘the ḥalāl is clear…’). When you cannot be certain about a matter, the safer path is to leave it. This is the meaning of wara‘ — scrupulousness.

Ibn Rajab connects it to the heart's natural compass (al-fiṭrah): truth brings tranquillity (ṭuma'nīnah); falsehood and doubt bring agitation (rībah). The believer trained in tawḥīd and Sunnah will feel the difference. As the Prophet ﷺ said in another hadith: ‘Righteousness is what brings tranquillity to the heart; sin is what wavers in your chest.’

nawawiDay.fromScholars

"The believing heart has a sense — when it inclines to a matter and finds rest, the matter is good; when it recoils and feels unease, the matter contains evil. This is ‘the believer's eye sees with the light of Allah.’"

— Ibn Rajab

"This hadith is one of the great rules of wara‘. But it does not apply when evidence is clear — you do not leave a clearly ḥalāl matter just because you ‘feel doubt.’"

— Ibn ‘Uthaymīn

nawawiDay.fiqhRulings

  • •Wara‘ applies to matters where evidence is genuinely unclear, not to clear ḥalāl that one ‘feels’ uneasy about.
  • •In transactions: leave any contract whose halal/haram status you cannot verify.
  • •In relationships: leave any interaction that could lead to khalwah (private seclusion with the opposite sex).
  • •In speech: leave any speech you would later wish you had not said.

nawawiDay.quranCrossRefs

13:28‘Verily in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest.’
39:23‘Allah has revealed the most beautiful speech… the skins of those who fear their Lord shiver from it; then their skins and hearts soften to the remembrance of Allah.’

nawawiDay.keyVocab

دَعْda‘

leave (imperative)

يَرِيبُكَyarībuka

makes you doubt, unsettles you

nawawiDay.todaysReflection

What in your life is causing nagging doubt? Leaving it is more freedom than holding on to it.

nawawiDay.keyBenefits

  • 1Peace of heart is in distance from doubtful matters.
  • 2Truth is reassuring; falsehood unsettles the believing heart.

nawawiDay.warnings

  • ⚠Excessive ‘doubt’ (waswasah) about clear ḥalāl matters is a trick of Shayṭān — it is not wara‘.
  • ⚠Wara‘ is for yourself; do not impose your scrupulousness on others where the ruling is clearly ḥalāl.

nawawiDay.relatedHadiths

Nawawi 6 — The ḥalāl is clear and the ḥarām is clear

Nawawi 27 — Righteousness is good character; sin is what wavers in your chest

nawawiDay.memorisation