This excerpt is taken from Dr. Yusuf al-Qaradawi's book Halal and Haram in Islam, translated into Urdu by Muhammad Tahir Naqqash.
The right to permit and prohibit belongs to Allah alone:
Islam established the second principle that the authority which is the original source of the powers of permissibility and prohibition belongs not to the creation but solely to the Creator. No human being, whether a scholar or a ascetic, king or ruler, has the authority to declare anything forbidden upon Allah’s servants. Whoever dares to do so will have transgressed limits and committed an excess in Allah’s legislative rights. Following such a person and expressing approval through one’s actions is equivalent to polytheism.
أَمْ لَهُمْ شُرَكَاءُ شَرَعُوا لَهُمْ مِّنَ الدِّينِ مَا لَمْ يَأْذَنْ بِهِ اللَّهُ
Do they have partners who have prescribed for them a religion that Allah has not permitted?
Reference: (Ash-Shura: 21)
The Jews and Christians had given the powers of permissibility and prohibition to their rabbis and monks (clerics and ascetics), upon which the Qur’an strongly reproached them as follows:
اتَّخَذُوا أَحْبَارَهُمْ وَرُهْبَانَهُمْ أَرْبَابًا مِّنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ وَالْمَسِيحَ ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ وَمَا أُمِرُوا إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُوا إِلٰهًا وَاحِدًا لَّا إِلٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ ۚ سُبْحَانَهُ عَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ
They have taken their rabbis and monks as lords besides Allah, and also the Messiah, son of Mary. Yet they were commanded to worship none but One God, there is no deity except Him. Exalted is He above what they associate with Him.
Reference: (At-Tawbah: 31)
In a noble hadith it is stated:
وقد جاء عدي بن حاتم إلى النبى صلى الله عليه وسلم وكان دان بالنصرانية قبل الإسلام فلما سمع النبى يقرأ هٰذه الآية، قال: يا رسول الله: إنهم لم يعبدوهم، فقال: بلى إنهم حرموا عليهم الحلال وأحلوا لهم الحرام فاتبعوهم، فذٰلك عبادتهم إياهم
Adi ibn Hatim (may Allah be pleased with him), who had accepted Christianity before Islam, when he came to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and heard this verse recited, said: O Messenger of Allah, these people did not worship their rabbis and monks. The Prophet (peace be upon him) replied: Why not? They declared lawful what was forbidden and forbidden what was lawful, and the people followed them. This is the worship of rabbis and monks.
Reference: (As-Sunan al-Kubra by Al-Bayhaqi: 10/116)
In another narration, the Prophet (peace be upon him) explained this verse by saying:
أما إنهم لم يكونوا يعبدونهم ولٰكنهم كانوا إذا أحلوا لهم شيئا استحلوه وإذا حرموا عليهم شيئا حرموه
These people did not worship their rabbis and monks, but they took what they made lawful as lawful and what they made unlawful as unlawful.
Reference: (At-Tirmidhi, Book of Tafsir al-Qur’an, Chapter on Surah At-Tawbah, Hadith: 3095)
The Christians remained under the false belief that Jesus (peace be upon him), when ascending to the heavens, delegated to his disciples the authority to declare lawful and unlawful as they wished. Accordingly, in the Gospel of Matthew it is stated:
Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.
Reference: (Matthew 18:18)
Similarly, the Qur’an also declared the behavior of the polytheists in matters of permissibility and prohibition to be wrong:
قُلْ أَرَأَيْتُمْ مَّا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ مِنْ رِّزْقٍ فَجَعَلْتُمْ مِّنْهُ حَرَامًا وَحَلَالًا قُلْ آللَّهُ أَذِنَ لَكُمْ ۖ أَمْ عَلَى اللَّهِ تَفْتَرُونَ
Say: Did you consider that Allah has made lawful for you what He has forbidden, or have you fabricated against Allah falsehood?
Say: I do not find in what has been revealed to me anything forbidden to eat for one who would eat it, unless it be carrion or blood poured forth, or the flesh of swine—for that surely is impure—or a transgression beyond bounds, other than that. But whoever is forced by necessity, without willful disobedience nor transgressing limits, then surely your Lord is Forgiving, Merciful.
Reference: (Yunus: 10/59)
Also He said:
وَلَا تَقُولُوا لِمَا تَصِفُ أَلْسِنَتُكُمُ الْكَذِبَ هٰذَا حَلَالٌ وَهٰذَا حَرَامٌ لِّتَفْتَرُوا عَلَى اللَّهِ الْكَذِبَ ۚ إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يَفْتَرُونَ عَلَى اللَّهِ الْكَذِبَ لَا يُفْلِحُونَ
Those who invent falsehood against Allah and say, “This is lawful and this is forbidden,” do not prosper.
Reference: (An-Nahl: 16/116)
From these clear verses and explicit hadiths, Islamic jurists conclusively understood that the authority of permissibility and prohibition belongs solely to Allah, and He informs people of what is lawful and unlawful through His Book or through His Messenger (peace be upon him). The jurists’ role is nothing more than to explain what is lawful and unlawful. They are not legislators. Despite possessing the ability of ijtihad and leadership, these jurists refrained from issuing fatwas and delegated this task to others out of fear that they might mistakenly declare the forbidden lawful or the lawful forbidden. Imam Shafi’i (may Allah have mercy on him) narrated from Qadi Abu Yusuf (may Allah have mercy on him) in Kitab al-Umm:
I have seen many learned elders who do not like to issue fatwas and instead suffice with explaining what is in the Book of Allah without interpretation.
Ibn Sa’ib (may Allah have mercy on him), a distinguished Tabi’i, said: Avoid as much as possible being like the person who says that Allah has made something lawful or that He likes it, but on the Day of Judgment Allah will say: I neither made it lawful nor did I like it. Likewise, do not be like the person who says that Allah has forbidden something, but on the Day of Judgment Allah will say: You are a liar; I neither forbade it nor prohibited it.
Ibrahim an-Nakha’i (may Allah have mercy on him), one of the prominent jurists of Kufa among the Tabi’in, is reported to have said that when his companions issued fatwas, they used expressions such as “it is disliked” or “there is no harm in it,” because what could be more irresponsible than declaring something lawful or unlawful?
It is reported from Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) that the pious predecessors applied the term forbidden only to that which is definitively proven to be forbidden. Similarly, Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal (may Allah have mercy on him) would respond to certain questions by saying: I consider it disliked or not good or not preferable. The same has been reported from Imam Malik (may Allah have mercy on him), Imam Abu Hanifa (may Allah have mercy on him), and all other Imams of the religion (may Allah have mercy on them).
