Commentary:

Leaving the worldly pleasures, when permissible

The verses appearing above tell us that the renunciation of worldly life and the abstinence from appetites and passions is favorable within a certain limit, but any transgression of the Divinely-ordained limits in this matter too shall be blameworthy and Haram (unlawful, forbidden). Details are being given below.

How Halal is turned into Haram : The Three Forms

There are three forms in which something made Halal (lawful and good) by Allah could be declared as Haram (unlawful and evil): (1) BELIEF-WISE, that is, something is taken to be Haram by believing it to be so. (2) VERBALLY, that is, something is taken to be Haram for oneself by saying so - for instance, someone swears that he will not drink cold water, or would not eat such and such Halal food, or would not do something which is permissible. (3) PRACTICALLY, that is, someone who neither believes nor says anything, yet decides in practice that he or she would abandon something Halal for ever.

1. Under the first situation, if that thing being Halal stands confirmed by absolute proofs, then, the person who takes it to be Haram shall become a disbeliever (kafir) because of that open contravention of the Divinely-ordained law.

2. And under the second situation, if someone has made something Haram for oneself by declaring it with words of oath, the oath will become effective. There are many words of oath details of which appear in Fiqh books - for example, someone clearly says: ‘ I swear by Allah, I will never eat that’ or ‘by Allah, I will not do that’ or one might say, 'I make taking this or doing that Haram for me.' The rule which governs such actions is that taking such oaths unnecessarily is a sin. If taken, one must break the oath and make amends by paying the Kaffarah (expiation) of that oath, the detail about which will appear later.

3. The third will be a situation in which no Halal has been made Haram either by belief or word of mouth, but practically what one does is similar to what is done with
something Haram, that is, takes it as obligatory to abandon it for ever. The rule in this case is: If one takes the abandonment of the Halal to be an act of Thawab (merit, reward), then, it is Bid’ah (innovation in established religion) and Rahbaaniyah (monasticism) - which is a grave sin as categorically laid down (mansus) in the Qur’an and Sunnah; and acting against it is Wajib (necessary as an obligation); and adhering to such a restriction is an act of sin. Of course, if such a restriction is not there with the intention of Thawab, instead, it is there for some other reason, such as, some physical or spiritual sickness because of which one abandons permanently, then, there will be no sin in doing so. Reports about some noble Sufis and other pious elders that they had abandoned some Halal things are all included under this third kind as they had found them to be harmful for their desiring self, or were advised by a pious elder to abstain from it as harmful in their case which they abandoned as a treatment and remedy.
If so, it does not matter.

The Correct Attitude towards Halal Things At the end of the first verse (87), it was said: 'and do not transgress the limits set by Allah because Allah does not like such transgressors.’ Here, transgressing means that one abandons something Halal, without any valid excuse, as an act of Thawab. This is something an ignorant person takes to be Taqwa, fear of Allah, while, in the sight of Allah, that is transgression, which is impermissible. Therefore, it was said in the next verse (88): ‘(eat from the good and pure sustenance Allah has blessed you with) and keep fearing Allah whose believers you are.'

Stated clearly in this verse is that leaving off good and pure things as a source of Thawab (reward) is no Taqwa. Rather, quite contrary to that, Taqwa lies in using them as the blessings of Allah and showing one’s gratitude for them. However, if something is abandoned as a curative measure against a physical or spiritual disease, that does not count here.