Al-Shatibi reported: ‘Abdul Malik, the son of ‘Umar ibn ‘Abdul Aziz, may Allah have mercy on him, said to him, “What is the matter with you that you do not implement all the commands? By Allah, I do not care if the pots boil over between us in regards to the truth.” ‘Umar said to him, “Do not be hasty, my son! Indeed, Allah dispraised wine in the Quran twice and forbade it on the third time. I am afraid that if I impose the truth upon people all at once, they will reject it all at once and thus be a tribulation for them.”
Al-Shatibi said, “For this very reason, the rules of social interaction were established in a way as to not lead the accountable person to a hardship aggravating him on their account, or to disrupt his regular habits by which he earns his livelihood in the world… In this regard, the Quran was revealed in stages over twenty years, and the rulings of legal responsibility came little by little. It was not all revealed in a single moment such that it would alienate the souls in a single moment.”
Source: al-Muwāfiqāt 2/148
عَنِ الشَّاطِبِيِّ عَنْ عُمَرَ بْنِ عَبْدِ الْعَزِيزِ رَحِمَهُ اللَّهُ أَنَّ ابْنَهُ عَبْدَ الْمَلِكِ قَالَ لَهُ مَا لَكَ لَا تُنَفِّذُ الْأُمُورَ فَوَاللَّهِ مَا أُبَالِي لَوْ أَنَّ الْقُدُورَ غَلَتْ بِي وَبِكَ فِي الْحَقِّ قَالَ لَهُ عُمَرُ لَا تَعْجَلْ يَا بُنَيَّ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ ذَمَّ الْخَمْرَ فِي الْقُرْآنِ مَرَّتَيْنِ وَحَرَّمَهَا فِي الثَّالِثَةِ وَإِنَّى أَخَافُ أَنْ أَحْمِلَ الْحَقَّ عَلَى النَّاسِ جُمْلَةً فَيَدْفَعُوهُ جملة ويكون من ذا فتنة
وَقَالَ الشَّاطِبِيُّ فَلِهَذَا الْمَعْنَى بِعَيْنِهِ وُضِعَتِ الْعَمَلِيَّاتُ عَلَى وَجْهٍ لَا تُخْرِجُ الْمُكَلَّفَ إِلَى مَشَقَّةٍ يَمَلُّ بِسَبَبِهَا أَوْ إِلَى تَعْطِيلِ عَادَاتِهِ الَّتِي يَقُومُ بِهَا صَلَاحُ دُنْيَاهُ … وَمِنْ هُنَا كَانَ نُزُولُ الْقُرْآنِ نُجُومًا فِي عِشْرِينَ سَنَةً وَوَرَدَتِ الْأَحْكَامُ التَّكْلِيفِيَّةُ فِيهَا شَيْئًا فَشَيْئًا وَلَمْ تَنْزِلْ دَفْعَةً وَاحِدَةً وَذَلِكَ لِئَلَّا تَنْفِرَ عَنْهَا النُّفُوسُ دَفْعَةً وَاحِدَةً
2/148 الموافقات القسم الأول مقاصد الشارع في بيان قصد الشارع في وضع الشريعة للإفهام
