Arba'un 6 — the lawful is clear and the unlawful is clear

الأربعون 6 — الحلال بين والحرام بين

Al-Nu'man ibn Bashir's hadith, the sixth of al-Nawawi's Forty and of Ibn Rajab's commentary: the lawful is clear and the unlawful is clear, and between them are doubtful matters unknown to many people; whoever avoids the doubtful clears his religion and honour, and whoever falls into the doubtful falls into the unlawful like a shepherd grazing around a sanctuary who is about to pasture in it; it ends with the morsel of flesh in the body which, if sound, the whole body is sound — the heart. Transmitted by al-Bukhari (52, 2051) and Muslim (1599) through al-Sha'bi from al-Nu'man ibn Bashir — the soundest hadith of the chapter according to Ibn Rajab — and also by Ahmad, Abu Dawud (3329–3330), Ibn Majah (3984), al-Tirmidhi (1205), al-Nasa'i and others; Ibn Rajab comments on the categories of the lawful, the unlawful and the doubtful, and on scrupulousness (Jami' al-Ulum wal-Hikam pp. 172–192).