Acting upon a Custom

Question

Customs are founded on ‘urf (common usage); nobody regards them as obligatory (wajib) in the Sacred Law, or as sunna, or as mustahabb. Therefore, so long as it is not known of a certain custom that it is prohibited by the Sacred Law, it cannot be called haram; and to declare it prohibited by stretching the matter is an excess.

Answer

For a custom no reward is promised, nor is there any threat of punishment for abandoning it — provided that it is not something peculiar to the disbelievers and the sinful (fasiqs). Then, to bind oneself to it as one binds oneself to the fara’id and wajibat, and to guard against abandoning it as one must guard against abandoning the fara’id and wajibat (if not in belief, then…

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

Preview. The full text opens with JavaScript enabled.