Fiqh Principles Derived from the Hadith: Leave What Makes You Doubt

He (RH) said:

The eleventh Hadith:

On the authority of Abu Muhammad, al-Hasan bin 'Ali bin Abi Talib,

the grandson of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and his fragrant flower (RA),

who said: "I memorized from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ:

'Leave what makes you doubt for what does not make you doubt.'"

Related by at-Tirmidhi and an-Nasa'i. at-Tirmidhi said: It is a Hasan Sahih Hadith.

Yes, this Hadith is one of the foundations of the religion.

I will briefly mention two principles based on it.

Among the principles built upon this Hadith

is the universal principle that applies to most contracts and acts of worship, which is the principle of precaution.

The meaning of this principle is that if a person doubts something...

he should exercise caution for himself.

I expressed it as "caution for oneself"

because there is a difference between caution for oneself and caution for others,

for caution for others is not permissible except with knowledge,

so do not restrict rulings for people and forbid them from permissible things,

while you have only based this on caution.

Rather, a person exercises caution for himself by abstaining.

Therefore, when Al-Qadi Abu Ya'la (RH) cited this hadith, he said:

"The meaning of this hadith is to abandon doubt and build upon certainty,

for building upon certainty is part of caution."

We have previously discussed building upon certainty and predominant assumption.

Based on this, if something forbidden is confused with something permissible,

then caution lies in abandoning both, which is the rule of mixing,

but if it is a matter of hesitation between existence and non-existence, then...

one builds upon certainty — which is non-existence — unless one has presumed continuity of one of the two original states.

The second rule built upon this Hadith, which is a very important rule, is the issue of estimated measures.

The scholars (RH) say that whatever requires estimation

is referred back to three things:

either it is referred to the text, if it exists;

and if no text is found, it is referred to linguistic indication;

and if there is no linguistic indication, it is referred to custom ('urf);

and the evidence for referring to custom is this Hadith,

which is what Imam Ahmad used as evidence.

Abu Bakr al-Khallal (RH) said: "That which the narration settled upon from Abu Abdullah Ahmad ibn Hanbal..."

that the excessive amount is what is deemed excessive by each person according to their own estimation,

due to the saying of the Prophet ﷺ: "Leave what makes you doubt for what does not."

Ahmad used this Hadith as evidence that the standard is one's own estimation regarding the excessive amount that invalidates wudu from exits other than the two passages,

and the impurity that is excused in purification,

and in many other issues that scholars have individually tracked.

Yes. Assalamu alaykum.