An Accepted Orthodox Principle? by Sh. G. F. Haddad  [The
default status of things is indifference until the proof
indicates prohibition; but someone wrote:] Everything in one's
daily life is permissible unless there is a proof to the
opposite. The correct phrasing in the Shafi`i School is that
"The default status of things is indifference until the proof
indicates prohibition" (al- aslu fil-ashya'i al-ibahatu hatta
yadulla al-dalilu `ala al-tahrimi) cf. al-Suyuti, Ashbah (Cairo
1998 ed. 1:166). This is the Shafi`i view. It is also the
majority Hanafi view according to Ibn `Abidin quoting Sharh Usul
al-Pazdawi in his Hashiya (1386H ed. 4:161), although the author
of the Durr al-Mukhtar considered that the default status is
suspension of the ruling (al-tawaqquf) until the Law decides.
The view of Imam Abu Hanifa himself, Allah be well-pleased with
him, was that the reverse is true, the default status of things
is prohibition until the proof indicates indifference, and Allah
knows best cf. Ibn Nujaym, Ashbah (