Do you not see that Allah has put at your disposal (to use) whatever is upon the earth? (Al-Hajj 65).
The Hukm Of Things And The Hukm Of Actions
The human undertakes his actions in order to satisfy his instincts and organic needs. So for instance he satisfies his instinct of (human) kind or procreation (Ghareezat An-Naw’i) through marriage, he satisfies the survival instinct (Ghareezat ul-Baqaa’) through the ownership of property and the instinct of religiosity (Ghareezat At-Tadayyun) through acts of worship. He satisfies his organic needs by eating, drinking and sleeping amongst other such actions.
So what then is the Hukm of things?
The one who examines the Shar’iyah texts related to things finds that the Shar’a has provided them with the description of Ibaahah (permissibility) in a general manner and then exempted from that generality a number of things which the Shar’a has given the Hukm of Tahreem (prohibition).
Some of the Adillah (evidences) that indicate the Ibaahah (permissibility) of all the things:
The Qawl of Allah Ta’Aalaa:
O mankind, eat from whatever is on earth [that is] lawful and good (Al-Baqarah 168).
And His Qawl Ta’Aalaa:
And His Qawl Ta’Aalaa:
Do you not see that Allah has subjected to you whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth? (Luqmaan 20).
Some of the Adillah (evidences) that indicate the Tahreem (prohibition) of some of the things:
He has only forbidden to you dead animals, blood, the flesh of swine, and that which has been dedicated to other than Allah (An-Nahl 115).
And His Qawl (swt):
Prohibited to you are dead animals, blood, the flesh of swine, and that which has been dedicated to other than Allah, and [those animals] killed by strangling or by a violent blow or by a head-long fall or by the goring of horns, and those from which a wild animal has eaten, except what you [are able to] slaughter [before its death], and those which are sacrificed on stone altars, and [prohibited is] that you seek decision through divining arrows (Al-Maa’idah 3).
From these texts and those similar to them the following Qaa’idah Ash-Shar’iyah was deduced:
‘The original position in respect to things is Ibaahah (permissibility) as long as there is no evidence of prohibition’.
This means that the Shaari’ has made all of the things permissible by the general evidences without mentioning the name of each thing and then exempted from all of these things those things which the Shaari’ prohibited through specific evidences which mentioned each of these things by its name.
As for the Hukm (ruling) of the actions of the Insaan (human)?
Allah Ta’Aalaa has requested from every Mukallaf (legally responsible person) during the undertaking of his actions to be restricted to and to adhere to the commands of Allah and his forbiddances. This is because He (swt) will hold the person account on the Day of Judgement for every action that he has done whether it is Khair (good) or Sharr (bad/evil). Allah Ta’Aalaa said:
So whoever does an atom's weight of good will see it. And whoever does an atom’s weight of bad shall see it (Az-Zalzalah 7-8).
And the Messenger of Allah (saw) said:
Whoever brings anything into our matter (i.e. Islaam) that is not from it, then it is rejected (Al-Bukhaari and Muslim).
From these evidences and others like them the Qaa’idah Ash-Shar’iyah is deduced
‘The original position in respect to the actions is adherence to the Hukm Ash-Shar’iy’.
Therefore, a Muslim must know the Hukm Ash-Shar’iy (ruling) of the action before proceeding upon it whether the Hukm was Fard, Mandoob, Haraam, Makrooh or Mubaah, and that is so that he does that which is Halaal and stays away from what is Haraam.