Transliteration:( yaaa aiyuhal lazeena aamanoo laa tas'aloo 'an ashyaaa'a in tubda lakum tasu'kum wa in tas'aloo 'anhaa heena yunazzalul Qur'aanu tubda lakum; 'afallaahu 'anhaa; wallaahu Ghafoorun Haleem )
"O believers! Do not ask about things which, if made clear to you, may distress you [272]. And if you ask about them while the Quran is being revealed, they will be made clear to you. Allah has already pardoned what has passed. And Allah is Forgiving, Forbearing [273]."
This verse was revealed when some people asked the Holy Prophet ﷺ irrelevant or disrespectful questions, such as: “Where is my lost camel?” or “Who is my father?” In response, the Prophet ﷺ warned them and truthfully answered, revealing personal and painful truths. This verse discourages using the Prophet's divine knowledge to expose secrets or demand answers for curiosity or mischief. The Prophet ﷺ knew both the beginning and end of matters but was divinely guided on what to reveal. It is also taught that what is not discussed remains flexible, as seen when the Prophet ﷺ was silent about whether Hajj is yearly, preserving ease in the law.
Two principles emerge:
The Prophet’s approval or silence defines religious law.
Everything is permissible unless prohibited by Shari’ah.
This verse signals that Islam does not restrict by silence—what is not forbidden remains lawful. Conditions like pensions, Meelad, or Urs gatherings, not expressly prohibited, are thus permissible. As narrated in Hadith, what Allah has declared halal is halal, what He declared haram is haram, and what He remained silent about is pardoned. This balance reflects Allah’s Mercy and Forbearance, not rigidity.
The tafsir of Surah Maidah verse 101 by Ibn Kathir is unavailable here.
Please refer to Surah Maidah ayat 100 which provides the complete commentary from verse 100 through 102.
(5:101) Believers! Do not ask of the things which, if made manifest to you, would vex you;[116] for, if you should ask about them while the Qur’an is being revealed, they will be made manifest to you. Allah has pardoned whatever happened in the past. He is All-Forgiving, All-Forbearing.
116. People used to ask the Prophet (peace be on him) many questions which were of no practical relevance to either religious or day-to-day affairs. Once, for instance, a person asked the Prophet (peace be on him) in the presence of a crowd: ‘Who is my real father?’ Likewise, many people used to ask unnecessary questions about legal matters. By these uncalled for inquiries they sought knowledge of matters which had for good reasons, been deliberately left undetermined by the Law-giver. In the Qur’an, for example. Pilgrimage had been declared obligatory. A person who became aware of this came to the Prophet (peace be on him) and inquired: ‘Has it been made obligatory to perform it every year?’ To this the Prophet (peace be on him) made no reply. When he inquired for the second time the Prophet (peace be on him) again stayed silent. On being asked for the third time, he said: ‘Pity on you! Had I uttered “Yes” in reply to your question, it would have become obligatory to perform it every year. And then you would not have been able to observe it and would have been guilty of disobedience.’ (See Bukhari, ‘Riqaq’, 22; ‘Zakah’, 53; I’tisam’, 3; ‘Adab’, 6; Muslim, ‘Aqdiyah’, 10, 11, 13, 14; Darimi, ‘Riqaq’, 38; Muwatta’, ‘Kalam’, 20; Ahmad b. Hanbal, Musnad, vol. 2, pp. 327, 360, 367; vol. 4, pp. 246, 249, 250, 251, 255 – Ed.)
The Prophet (peace be on him) discouraged people from being over-inquisitive and unnecessarily curious about every question. We find in the Hadith the following saying from the Prophet (peace be on him): ‘The worst criminal among the Muslims is the one who inquired about something which had not been made unlawful, and then it was declared so, because of his inquiry.’ (Bukhari, I’tisam’, 3; Muslim, Fada’il’, 132, 133; Abu Da’ud, ‘Sunnah’, 6 – Ed.) According to another tradition the Prophet (peace be on him) said: ‘God has imposed upon you certain obligations, do not neglect them; He has imposed certain prohibitions, do not violate them; He has imposed certain limits, do not even approach them; and He has remained silent about certain matters – and has not done so out of forgetfulness – do not pursue them.’ See (Surah Al-Baqarah, ayat 108) note 110.
In both these traditions an important fact has been called to our attention. In matters where the Law-giver has chosen to lay down certain injunctions only broadly, without any elaborate details, or quantitative specifications, He has done so not because of neglect or forgetfulness. Such seeming omissions are deliberate, and the reason thereof is that He does not desire to place limitations upon people, but prefers to allow them latitude and ease in following His commandments. Now there are some people who make unnecessary inquiries, cause elaborately prescribed, inflexibly determined and restrictive regulations to be added to the Law. Some others, in cases where such details are in no way deducible from the text, resort to analogical reasoning, thereby turning a broad general rule into an elaborate law full of restrictive details, and an unspecified into a specified rule. Both sorts of people put Muslims in great danger. For, in the area of belief, the more detailed the doctrines to which people are required to subscribe, the more problematic it becomes to do so. Likewise, in legal matters, the greater the restriction, the greater the likelihood of violation.
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