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Why are there Prophetic hadiths that seem unclear in some of their rulings, such that one hadith commands a certain matter, while another hadith indicates the desirability of the same matter rather than its obligatoriness?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

The variation and diversity in the styles of prophetic discourse are due to the nature of the messengers' mission in inviting nations, dealing with the diverse differences among people in all aspects, and the varying stages and circumstances of the call [to Islam]. What might appear to some individuals as a contradiction in texts is due to the varying levels of people's knowledge and understanding. Here, the role of scholars emerges in regulating the perceptions and derivations of rulings. For Allah, in His wisdom, decreed that there would be in the Qur'an and Sunnah what has hidden meanings, to manifest the merit of those firmly rooted in knowledge.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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