The Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) hadith: "So, regarding what I have forbidden you, refrain from it." Are these prohibitions to be taken in their absolute sense?

The questioner: It is mentioned in a hadith of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) at the end of the hadith: "So, regarding what I have forbidden you," he says, "refrain from it" ... and the question is: are these prohibitions to be taken in their absolute sense?

The Shaykh: If he means what he is saying, then the answer is yes, they are to be taken in their absolute sense. But I do not think that is what he means. If he wasThe questioner : ... clarify the question.

The questioner- Addressing the questioner - : ... What do you mean by your statement?

The Shaykh: What do you mean by asking whether the prohibition is to be taken in its absolute sense?

The questioner: ... For example, in "Sahih al-Jami'" there are many prohibitions. The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade doing such-and-such and eating such-and-such.

The Shaykh: I am not concerned with the examples. What do you mean by saying: are they to be taken in their absolute sense?

The questioner: I mean, do we take this prohibition at face value and accept it absolutely, without considering if, for example, other hadiths contradict it?

The Shaykh: All right, if you are a student of knowledge, then research. ... I have limited the scope at this point. If your question is with this restriction, why did you limit the question to prohibitions and not generalize it to all matters; whether it is a prohibition, a command, a virtue, or an answer; meaning any ruling? Because just as prohibitions, for example, may include a prohibition that indicates prohibition, a prohibition that indicates deprecation, and a prohibition that indicates guidance, so it is possible that there are commands established from the Messenger (peace be upon him), some of which indicate an obligatory command, some indicate a recommended command, and some indicate a guiding command. So, if ... the question is not limited to prohibitions, but to all rulings of the Shari'ah, especially those that can be understood in two ways, such as a command and a prohibition, for example. What comes to my mind is that the answer at this point is: whoever wants to take on the role of issuing fatwas to people should not issue a fatwa until after studying the aspects surrounding it. If you see a prohibition among the prohibitions in the text of "Sahih al-Jami'" or elsewhere, and it appears to you that the original implication of this prohibition is that it indicates prohibition, and you say that it indicates prohibition; you must devote some research, at least, due to the scholars who preceded us in this field of research and knowledge. What is their position regarding this prohibition? Do they say that it is for prohibition, for example, or for guidance? ... What is not the case is for a student of knowledge to take a hadith directly from an established book; whether this hadith is a prohibition or a command, and then proceed with it to issue fatwas as if he were the scholar of all the scholars of the Muslims. This, in reality—and I take this as an opportunity—to remind you that one of the problems of the Muslim youth today—and the Sunni Salafi is no exception to them—is their haste in expressing their opinions on some texts of the Shari'ah. This is because, first, they have not matured in fiqh and understanding, and second, because they do not give weight to the previous scholars who truly exercised ijtihad. As soon as one of them sees an opinion in his understanding, it appears as if it is a revelation from the Wise, the Praiseworthy. This haste is a mistake, a very great mistake. And therefore, you find in our Salafi community many very diverse opinions. The reason is: each person found a hadith and issued a fatwa based on it, the second found another hadith and issued a fatwa based on it. As for one person coming to collect this hadith and conduct a precise, objective scientific study on it; this is what we need. And perhaps, after this chaos of knowledge among the Salafi youth, our Lord (Blessed and Exalted is He) will bestow upon us a large number of them who will follow the precise scientific methodology in collecting hadiths and looking at them in relation to one another, so that the result is as close to the truth as possible.