Command, prohibition and capacity

In Jami al-ulum wal-hikam, Ibn Rajab explains the hadith of Abu Hurayra that a prohibition is obeyed by avoiding it, and a command by doing as much of it as one can. He links it to the hadith of Abu Sa'id al-Khudri on changing what is wrong. ^{1 2}

The text of the hadith is that what the Prophet ﷺ forbade must be avoided, and what he commanded must be done as far as a person is able. The occasion, according to Ibn Rajab, was that when the pilgrimage was made obligatory, a questioner asked: "Is it every year?" and he repeated it three times. The Prophet said that if he had said yes, it would have become obligatory, and they would not have been able to bear it. ¹

From the hadith he draws a prohibition on asking about what one has no need of, on asking to trap or to mock, and on asking about what God has hidden from His servants. He also warns against questions on what is lawful and unlawful, lest the questioning lead to hardship. He notes that permission to ask was granted to the Bedouins and to delegations, but not to the residents of Medina. ¹

In the hadith of Abu Sa'id al-Khudri, which is the thirty-fourth of the forty, there are three degrees for changing what is wrong, according to one's ability: by the hand, then by the tongue, then by the heart, and that is the weakest of faith. ²

The hadith of Ibn Mas'ud supports this, concerning one who strives against the hypocrites who say what they do not do: whoever does so with his hand is a believer, whoever does so with his tongue is a believer, and whoever does so with his heart is a believer; beyond that there is not a mustard seed's weight of faith. ²