Series of Answers by the Eminent Scholar Ata Bin Khalil Abu Al-Rashtah, Ameer of Hizb ut-Tahrir
To the Questions of the Visitors to his Facebook Page "Fiqhi"
Answer to a Question
To Hussein Khamaysa
Question:
Peace be upon you, and the mercy and blessings of Allah.
Our Ameer and our beloved, may Allah be pleased with you and protect you with that which He protects His Book and His allies (Awliya).
In the booklet Izalat al-Atriba ‘an al-Juthur (Removing Dust from the Roots), page 58, first paragraph, the Hadith "The Halal is clear and the Haram is clear... and whoever falls into doubtful matters is like a shepherd..." appears. It seems that the phrase "falls into the Haram" has been omitted from it. I hope you can verify and kindly respond. May Allah protect you and take care of you, dear one... with utmost love and respect.
Answer:
And peace be upon you, and the mercy and blessings of Allah.
May Allah bless you for your kind prayers, your truthful speech, and your pleasant words. May Allah protect you from every evil and guard you from every harm.
Regarding the noble Hadith ("The Halal is clear and the Haram is clear..."), what we mentioned in the booklet is the Hadith of Al-Bukhari, and it is in the wording reported:
الْحَلاَلُ بَيِّنٌ وَالْحَرَامُ بَيِّنٌ، وَبَيْنَهُمَا مُشَبَّهَاتٌ لاَ يَعْلَمُهَا كَثِيرٌ مِنْ النَّاسِ، فَمَنْ اتَّقَى الْمُشَبَّهَاتِ اسْتَبْرَأَ لِدِينِهِ وَعِرْضِهِ، وَمَنْ وَقَعَ فِي الشُّبُهَاتِ كَرَاعٍ يَرْعَى حَوْلَ الْحِمَى يُوشِكُ أَنْ يُوَاقِعَهُ، أَلاَ وَإِنَّ لِكُلِّ مَلِكٍ حِمىً، أَلاَ إِنَّ حِمَى اللَّهِ فِي أَرْضِهِ مَحَارِمُهُ أَلاَ وَإِنَّ فِي الْجَسَدِ مُضْغَةً إِذَا صَلَحَتْ صَلَحَ الْجَسَدُ كُلُّهُ وَإِذَا فَسَدَتْ فَسَدَ الْجَسَدُ كُلُّهُ أَلاَ وَهِيَ الْقَلْبُ
"The Halal is clear and the Haram is clear, and between them are doubtful matters which many people do not know. So whoever avoids doubtful matters clears himself in regard to his religion and his honor, but he who falls into doubtful matters is like the shepherd who pastures around a sanctuary (hima), all but grazing therein. Truly every king has a sanctuary, and truly Allah’s sanctuary on His earth is His prohibitions. Truly in the body there is a lump of flesh; if it be sound, the whole body will be sound, and if it be corrupt, the whole body will be corrupt. Behold, it is the heart." (Narrated by Al-Bukhari)
As for your observation regarding the omission of the words "falls into the Haram" (waqa'a fi al-haram), they are not in the narration of Al-Bukhari, but rather they are mentioned in the narration of Muslim as follows:
(Sahih Muslim, 8/290)
2996 - Muhammad bin Abdullah bin Numayr al-Hamdani narrated to us, my father narrated to us, Zakariya narrated to us from al-Sha'bi from al-Nu'man bin Bashir who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ saying, while Nu'man pointed with his two fingers to his ears:
إِنَّ الْحَلَالَ بَيِّنٌ وَإِنَّ الْحَرَامُ بَيِّنٌ وَبَيْنَهُمَا مُشْتَبِهَاتٌ لَا يَعْلَمُهُنَّ كَثِيرٌ مِنْ النَّاسِ فَمَنْ اتَّقَى الشُّبُهَاتِ اسْتَبْرَأَ لِدِينِهِ وَعِرْضِهِ وَمَنْ وَقَعَ فِي الشُّبُهَاتِ وَقَعَ فِي الْحَرَامِ كَالرَّاعِي يَرْعَى حَوْلَ الْحِمَى يُوشِكُ أَنْ يَرْتَعَ فِيهِ أَلَا وَإِنَّ لِكُلِّ مَلِكٍ حِمًى أَلَا وَإِنَّ حِمَى اللَّهِ مَحَارِمُهُ أَلَا وَإِنَّ فِي الْجَسَدِ مُضْغَةً إِذَا صَلَحَتْ صَلَحَ الْجَسَدُ كُلُّهُ وَإِذَا فَسَدَتْ فَسَدَ الْجَسَدُ كُلُّهُ أَلَا وَهِيَ الْقَلْبُ
"The Halal is clear and the Haram is clear, and between them are doubtful matters which many people do not know. So whoever avoids doubtful matters clears himself in regard to his religion and his honor, but he who falls into doubtful matters falls into the Haram, like the shepherd who pastures around a sanctuary, all but grazing therein. Truly every king has a sanctuary, and truly Allah’s sanctuary is His prohibitions. Truly in the body there is a lump of flesh; if it be sound, the whole body will be sound, and if it be corrupt, the whole body will be corrupt. Behold, it is the heart."
As you can see, Al-Bukhari did not mention it in his narration, and both narrations are authentic. It was stated in Fath al-Bari regarding Al-Bukhari's narration:
[Fath al-Bari by Ibn Hajar (1/82)]
50 - Abu Nu’aym narrated to us, Zakariya narrated to us from ‘Amir who said: I heard al-Nu'man bin Bashir saying: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ saying:
الْحَلَالُ بَيِّنٌ وَالْحَرَامُ بَيِّنٌ وَبَيْنَهُمَا مُشَبَّهَاتٌ لَا يَعْلَمُهَا كَثِيرٌ مِنْ النَّاسِ فَمَنْ اتَّقَى الْمُشَبَّهَاتِ اسْتَبْرَأَ لِدِينِهِ وَعِرْضِهِ وَمَنْ وَقَعَ فِي الشُّبُهَاتِ كَرَاعٍ يَرْعَى حَوْلَ الْحِمَى يُوشِكُ أَنْ يُوَاقِعَهُ أَلَا وَإِنَّ لِكُلِّ مَلِكٍ حِمًى أَلَا إِنَّ حِمَى اللَّهِ فِي أَرْضِهِ مَحَارِمُهُ أَلَا وَإِنَّ فِي الْجَسَدِ مُضْغَةً إِذَا صَلَحَتْ صَلَحَ الْجَسَدُ كُلُّهُ وَإِذَا فَسَدَتْ فَسَدَ الْجَسَدُ كُلُّهُ أَلَا وَهِيَ الْقَلْبُ
His saying: (كَرَاعٍ يَرْعَى)
Thus, in all copies of Al-Bukhari, the response to the condition (jawab ash-shart) is omitted if مَنْ is parsed as a conditional particle. The omitted part is established in the narration of Ad-Darimi from Abu Nu’aym, the teacher of Al-Bukhari, which says: "وَمَنْ وَقَعَ فِي الشُّبُهَات وَقَعَ فِي الْحَرَام، كَالرَّاعِي يَرْعَى". It is also possible to parse مَنْ in Al-Bukhari’s context as a relative pronoun (mawsulah), in which case there is no omission, as the estimation would be: "and the one who falls into doubtful matters is like a shepherd who pastures..." The first view is more appropriate due to the presence of the omitted part in Sahih Muslim and others through the chain of Zakariya, from which the author extracted it. Based on this, the saying كَرَاعٍ يَرْعَى is an initial sentence (jumlah musta'nafah) mentioned as a parable to draw attention to what is unseen by using what is witnessed......
A benefit: .... Ibn ‘Awn said at the end of the Hadith: I do not know if the parable is from the words of the Prophet ﷺ or from the words of Al-Sha’bi........ Perhaps this is the secret behind Al-Bukhari omitting the phrase "وَقَعَ فِي الْحَرَام" (falls into the Haram), so that what precedes the parable becomes directly linked to it, thereby remaining safe from any claim of interpolation (idraj). What strengthens the absence of interpolation is the aforementioned narration of Ibn Hibban, as well as the establishment of the parable as marfu' (attributed to the Prophet) in the narrations of Ibn Abbas and Ammar bin Yasir as well......]
I hope this is sufficient, and Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise.
Your brother, Ata Bin Khalil Abu Al-Rashtah
09 Ramadan 1445 AH Corresponding to 19/03/2024 CE
Link to the answer from the Ameer’s (may Allah protect him) page on Facebook