"The presumption of permissibility

is crucial for personal growth and community development of Muslims in the United States. Some Muslims regard Islam as little more than a list of dos and don'ts, and, generally, the don'ts outnumber the dos. When Islamic identity is behaviorally defined in this fashion, it fosters a psychology permeated with debilitations, inhibitions, and narrow cognitive frames; prohibition is made Islam's default position, and the religion is given the appearance of permitting very little and prohibiting everything else.

The presumption of permissibility emphasizes that the reverse is true; Islam's real default position is one of general permissibility with an affirmative attitude toward the world. The basic rule of general permissibility does not mean that the clear prohibitions of Islamic law are discarded. In fact, it lays stress on the fact that prohibitions in Islam are grave matters and must not to be taken lightly. Because prohibitions are grave matters, they demand cogent proof based on sound knowledge, not on hearsay, misgivings, or inhibitions. Ibn Taymiyyah adds in his discussion of the presumption of permissibility that it is reprehensible for a Muslim to be preoccupied with the minutiae of what may or may not be forbidden or to be obsessed with constantly asking about them.

[fn. 41: Ibn Taymiyyah, al-Qawa'id al-fiqhiyyah, 206, 211-218)]

 -from pg. 27 of "Living Islam With Purpose" by Dr. Umar F. Abd-Allah