Harmful Questions - Surah Al-Ma’idah 5:101

Explanation:

Part of the ease and beauty of Islam is that Allah has purposely not spoken about many issues so that they remain permissible for His servants, based on the previously mentioned principle of everything being permissible until proven prohibited.

In order to maintain this silent permission, Allah had prohibited asking unnecessary questions which could lead to the permissible becoming prohibited. The story of Banu Israel and the cow in Surah Baqarah is a classical example of this. Furthermore, Muslims are prohibited from looking for minute details to try and find a reason to declare something which is Halal by nature as Haram.

The general rule of permissibility needs to be maintained in all worldly things unless explicit evidence arises to support their prohibition, as in the case of smoking cigarettes which is clearly harmful to humans and Allah has prohibited all harmful substances. On the other hand, the usage of technology remains permissible as no evidence exists to regard it as prohibited.

It is for this reason that Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said, “The Muslims who have committed the gravest offence against other Muslims are those who ask about things which were not prohibited, but which became prohibited because of their questions,” (Sahih Muslim 30: 5821)


Source: Verse of the Day Collection by Abu Muawiyah Ismail Kamdar