Yang harus (mubah) ialah sesuatu yang ditunjukkan oleh dalil syarak sebagai khitab (seruan) Pembuat Syariat dengan pilihan yang diberikan di dalamnya antara melakukan dan meninggalkan, tanpa salah satunya diutamakan atas yang lain. Keharusan (ibahah) termasuk dalam hukum-hukum syarak, kerana ia diketahui daripada seruan Pembuat Syariat dan tidak boleh ditetapkan dengan cara lain. Ibahah bukanlah penghapusan mudarat daripada melakukan sesuatu perbuatan atau meninggalkannya. Jika ia demikian, maka pensyariatannya akan telah ditetapkan sebelum turunnya wahyu, sedangkan tiada wahyu sebelum kedatangannya. Sebaliknya, ibahah ialah sesuatu yang didatangkan oleh seruan Pembuat Syariat dengan pilihan antara melakukan dan meninggalkan. Ia ditetapkan daripada wahyu dan selepas kedatangannya; maka ia termasuk dalam hukum-hukum syariah.

The permissible is that which textual evidence indicates upon as being the address of the legislator with a choice given in it between performance and abstention, without one being preferred over the other. The permissibility [ibāhah] is from the legal rulings, because it is ascertained from the legislator’s address, and cannot otherwise be established. The ibāhah is not the removal of harm from the commission of an action or its omission. If this were the case then its legislation would be established before the advent of the revelation, whilst there is no revelation prior to its coming. Rather the ibāhah is that which the address of the legislator came with of choice between performance and abstention. It is established from the revelation and after its advent; hence it is from the ahkām shari’ah.

Hukum-hukum syarak yang kebolehannya telah ditetapkan mestilah masing-masing berdasarkan wahyu. Hukum-hukum ini bukanlah mengenai perkara yang wahyu diam tentangnya, sehingga ia tidak melarang dan tidak membenarkannya. Adapun apa yang diriwayatkan oleh al-Tirmidzi daripada Salman al-Farisi (ra) bahawa beliau berkata, "Rasulullah ﷺ ditanya tentang minyak sapi, keju dan bulu, lalu baginda bersabda, 'Yang halal ialah apa yang Allah halalkan dalam Kitab-Nya, dan yang haram ialah apa yang Allah haramkan dalam Kitab-Nya, dan apa yang Dia diamkan, maka ia termasuk perkara yang Dia maafkan [‘afa ‘anhu]'", hadis ini tidak menunjukkan bahawa perkara yang al-Qur'an diamkan itu adalah mubah. Ini kerana terdapat perkara yang diharamkan dan dibenarkan dalam hadis, dan telah sahih daripada Nabi ﷺ bahawa baginda bersabda, "Sesungguhnya aku telah diberikan al-Qur'an dan yang seumpamanya bersamanya" (Ahmad). Maka makna dalam hadis di atas ialah perkara yang wahyu diamkan. Namun wahyu mendiamkan sesuatu tidak bermakna ia harus, kerana sabda baginda ﷺ dalam hadis, "Yang halal ialah apa yang Allah halalkan," merangkumi setiap perkara yang tidak diharamkan, maka ia meliputi wajib, mandub, mubah dan makruh, kerana kesemua ini benar dari segi bahawa ia tidak diharamkan. Oleh itu, "apa yang Dia diamkan" tidak bermakna ia mubah.

The legal rulings in which permissibility has been established must each be based on the revelation. These rulings are not that about which the revelation is silent, such that it neither prohibits nor allows them. As for what was narrated by al-Tirmidhi from Salman al-Farisi (ra) that he said, “The Messenger of Allah (saw) was questioned about ghee, cheese and fur, so he said, ‘The halāl is that which Allah has made halāl in his Book, and the harām is that which Allah has made harām in his Book, and on that which He remained silent, it is from that which He has conceded [‘afa ‘anhu]’”, this does not indicate that that which the Qur’an is silent on is mubāh. This is because there are things prohibited and permitted in the Hadith, and it is authenticated from the Prophet (saw) that he said, “Indeed I have been given the Qur’an and its like with it” (Ahmad). Hence the meaning in the above Hadith is that which the revelation remained silent on. Yet the revelation remaining silent about something does not mean that it is permissible because his (saw) saying in the hadith, “The halāl is that which Allah has made halāl” includes everything that is not prohibited, so it includes the wājib, the mandūb, the mubāh, and the makrūh, since it is true of all of these that they are permissible in the sense that they are not prohibited. Therefore ‘that which He remained silent on’ does not mean that it is mubāh.

Adapun sabda beliau ﷺ, "Apa yang Dia diamkan, maka ia termasuk dalam perkara yang Dia berikan keringanan", dan sabda beliau ﷺ dalam hadis lain, "Dan apa yang Dia diamkan, maka ia adalah suatu keringanan" (Bayhaqi), dan sabda beliau ﷺ dalam hadis lain, "Dan Dia telah mendiamkan perkara-perkara sebagai suatu keringanan bagi kamu, bukan kerana kelupaan, maka janganlah kamu bertanya tentangnya" (Bayhaqi), maka maksud diamnya Dia terhadap sesuatu perkara ialah Dia menjadikannya halal, sehingga penghalalan-Nya itu dianggap sebagai suatu keringanan daripada Allah dan suatu rahmat kepada manusia. Ini berdasarkan dalil sabda Rasulullah ﷺ yang diriwayatkan dalam hadis Sa'd bin Abi Waqqas, "Orang Muslim yang paling buruk di kalangan kaum Muslimin ialah orang yang bertanya tentang sesuatu yang tidak diharamkan ke atas mereka, lalu menjadi haram ke atas mereka disebabkan pertanyaannya itu" (Muslim), iaitu merujuk kepada orang yang bertanya tentang sesuatu yang mana wahyu mendiamkan tentang pengharamannya.

As for his (saw) saying, “on that which He remained silent, it is from that which He has conceded”, and his (saw) saying in another hadith, “and that which He remained silent on, then it is a concession” (Bayhaqi), and his saying in another hadith, “and He has remained silent about things as a concession to you, not out of forgetfulness, so do not ask about them” (Bayhaqi), the meaning of His silence on things is His making them halāl, such that His making them halāl is considered a concession from Allah, and a mercy to the people. This is by the evidence of the saying of the Messenger (saw) narrated in the hadith of Sa’d ibn Abi Waqqas, “The worst of the Muslims amongst the Muslims is the one who asks about a thing which is not prohibited on them and consequently becomes prohibited upon them due to his questioning,” (Muslim), referring to the one who asks about a thing about the prohibition of which the revelation is silent.

Maka diam dalam hadith-hadith ini ialah diam daripada larangan, bukan diam daripada menjelaskan hukum shar'i. Tafsiran kemudian itu tidak boleh dipertahankan kerana Allah tidak pernah diam daripada menjelaskan hukum shar'i. Sebaliknya, Dia telah menjelaskannya dalam segala perkara, sebagaimana firman-Nya (swt),

Thus silence in this ahādith is silence from prohibition, not silence from clarifying the hukm shar’i. The later interpretation is not tenable since Allah has not remained silent from clarifying the hukm shar’i. To the contrary He has clarified it in all things, as He (swt) says,