Does the prohibition of something cease if the reason for its prohibition disappears?
Islamic rulings are divided into two types: reasoned rulings and devotional rulings (whose meaning is not rationally comprehensible).
The first type (reasoned): These are rulings whose underlying reason (illah) is known through text or inference. "The ruling revolves with its reason, in existence and non-existence," meaning: the ruling is established when the reason exists and ceases when it ceases. Examples include: the prohibition of intoxicants due to their intoxicating effect, which disappears if the intoxicant turns into vinegar. Another example: an animal (jalalah) that eats impurities is forbidden, but if it is confined and its meat becomes good, it becomes permissible because the reason for the prohibition (impurities) has vanished.
The second type (devotional): These are rulings whose underlying reason is not known, and therefore, they do not cease even if such a reason were to disappear. Examples include: the number of rak'ahs in prayers, the amounts of , the prescribed punishments (hudud), and expiations (kaffarat).
Most Islamic rulings are of the first type (reasoned). Investigating the reasons behind rulings is the duty of the learned jurist and the mujtahid. As for the common people, they should ask reliable scholars and act upon their fatwas.
Summary from Ftawy's records · added here
Reviewed by El Fatwa's sharia committee.
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- Original fatwa ID
- 23859
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- Text
- Summary from Ftawy's records, reviewed by El Fatwa's sharia committee.
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