Wara' (scrupulosity)

الورع

Stopping at doubtful matters, guarding against them, and leaving what causes unease for what does not; this meaning appears in Ibn Rajab's commentary on two of the Forty hadiths: al-Nu'man ibn Bashir's 'the lawful is clear and the unlawful is clear and between them are doubtful matters' with 'whoever guards against the doubtful has cleared his religion and honour', and al-Hasan ibn Ali (may God be pleased with him)'s 'leave what makes you doubt for what does not', whose meaning Ibn Rajab says reduces to standing fast at the doubtful and avoiding it; it is supported by a weak report from Wathila ibn al-Asqa' in which, asked who is scrupulous, the Prophet ﷺ answered 'the one who stops at the doubtful', and by another weak report that 'the scrupulous Muslim leaves the lesser sin for fear of the greater' and that the heart is agitated by the unlawful and rests in the lawful; among the sayings of the early generations he cites Ibn Masud's 'why turn to what troubles you when four thousand things around you do not?' and Umar's 'leave both usury and suspicion', meaning what you suspect to be usury even without certainty. In fiqh: the lexical sense of wara' is restraint. Ibn al-Humam and al-Nawawi define it as avoiding doubtful matters; al-Dusuqi as leaving some permitted things for fear of falling into doubt; al-Ghazali and Ibn al-Qayyim add leaving what is known to be forbidden, out of fear of God. ¹ Jurists separate it from piety (taqwa), which is wider, from precaution (ihtiyat), which is wider still, and from asceticism (zuhd), which is about the heart rather than conduct. ¹² Al-Qarafi holds wara' recommended; it applies where a ruling is unclear because the evidence is hidden or conflicting, where the cause of prohibition is doubtful, or, as far as possible, to leave a scholarly disagreement. ²³ Ibn al-Shatt and al-Shatibi deny that leaving every disagreement is wara', since it would lead to hardship. ⁴⁵ Ibn Taymiyya lists three ways scrupulosity goes wrong: restricting it to avoiding the forbidden and neglecting duties, treating a natural distaste as a legal ruling, and weighing the harm of an act while ignoring a greater good it serves. ⁵⁶ Al-Ghazali sets four grades: the wara' of the upright, of the righteous, of the pious and of the truthful. ⁷⁸ In leading prayer the Hanafis put the more scrupulous after the most learned in its rules and the best reciter; the Shafi'is have two views on placing him before the most learned in jurisprudence; the Hanbalis put him after the ruler, the householder and the regular imam. ⁹¹⁰ Scrupulousness is recommended for rulers, judges and the market inspector; Ibn Taymiyya prefers, for judgeship, the most learned and most scrupulous, depending on whether the matter is plain or delicate. ¹⁰¹¹