Q&A: The Principle: The Forbidden is Permitted Due to Necessity

Question:

Dear Sheikh, Asalaamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatu Allah Wa Barakatuhu

I wanted to ask you about the Shariah Principle that states: “the forbidden is permitted due to necessities.” What is the Shariah meaning of the word necessities? I will mention two cases to explain what I mean:

The first: is a fatwa of Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi allowing removing the headscarf (Khimar) in Western schools for education purposes, and he considered it as a necessity.

Second case: Women’s childbirth delivery by male doctors.

But if we consider that the “necessities” only mean death and that which causing death, why then do male doctors attend to pregnant women and carry out child birth deliveries sometimes, which is a requirement of the “necessity” for example, for the absence of a female doctor…

If “necessities” means death, we find that this result is not seen in both cases i.e. in education and childbirth.

May Allah bless you and grant you paradise.

From Abu al-Qasim Nassar

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Answer:

Wa Alaikum As-Salaam Wa Rahmat Allah Wa Barakatuhu

Some scholars have adopted the principle: “the forbidden is permitted due to necessities” and the evidence they provide for this is the verse from the Qur’an:

إِنَّمَا حَرَّمَ عَلَيْكُمُ الْمَيْتَةَ وَالدَّمَ وَلَحْمَ الْخِنْزِيرِ وَمَا أُهِلَّ بِهِ لِغَيْرِ اللَّهِ فَمَنِ اضْطُرَّ غَيْرَ بَاغٍ وَلَا عَادٍ فَلَا إِثْمَ عَلَيْهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ

“He has only forbidden to you dead animals, blood, the flesh of swine, and that which has been dedicated to other than Allah. But whoever is forced [by necessity], neither desiring [it] nor transgressing [its limit], there is no sin upon him. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful”

(Al-Baqara: 173)

And the Almighty’s saying:

فَمَنِ اضْطُرَّ فِي مَخْمَصَةٍ غَيْرَ مُتَجَانِفٍ لِإِثْمٍ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ

“But whoever is forced by severe hunger with no inclination to sin – then indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.”

(Al- Ma’ida: 3)

And His سبحانه وتعالى Saying:

إِنَّمَا حَرَّمَ عَلَيْكُمُ الْمَيْتَةَ وَالدَّمَ وَلَحْمَ الْخِنْزِيرِ وَمَا أُهِلَّ لِغَيْرِ اللَّهِ بِهِ فَمَنِ اضْطُرَّ غَيْرَ بَاغٍ وَلَا عَادٍ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ

 “He has only forbidden to you dead animals, blood, the flesh of swine, and that which has been dedicated to other than Allah. But whoever is forced [by necessity], neither desiring [it] nor transgressing [its limit] – then indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful”

(An-Nahl: 115)

One who views this principle will find that it is incorrect:

The evidence put forward by the proponents of this principle is not appropriate for what they use it for, but it means that in necessity it is permitted to eat the dead animal and the like because of hunger:

فَمَنِ اضْطُرَّ فِي مَخْمَصَةٍ

“But whoever is forced by severe hunger”

(Al- Ma’ida: 3)

“Makhmasa” is hunger and starvation that is near death, it is permitted in such a situation to eat from what is forbidden… and “necessity” as it is clear in the verse is restricted to famine and does not go beyond it, the wording is not general or absolute, to go beyond its meaning, but it is restricted to famine.

In some of the explanations of this subject by its proponents, they make it as a license, but even a license (rukhsa) needs a verse as an evidence it is not decided by the mind, for example, breaking the fast due to travelling and illness as a license, this is due to the verse:

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا كُتِبَ عَلَيْكُمُ الصِّيَامُ كَمَا كُتِبَ عَلَى الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ