Sheikh Uthaymeen & his sense of humour

Presented below are some humorous tidbits from the Fatwas of Sheikh Muhammad Bin Saleh Al-Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him), while answering questions.

Q – Sheikh, my question is: what is the ruling about a young lady who has not reached adulthood with regards to the following three situations: covering the face outside the house? And wearing pants in any form, situation, or reason? And the khimar in the Salah?
A – This man is intelligent. He combined three questions in one, may Allah forgive us and him….
(Baab Al-Maftooh, 139)

Q – Is it allowed for a man to be with his female servant, and what can he see of her?
A – If he marries her, then she can uncover her face in front of him, and this is the solution….
...But I am afraid that if she becomes his wife, she will demand a female servant, and then this will be a problem!
(Al-Liqaa Al-Shahri, 3)

Q – Is it allowed for me to buy a rooster so that when it crows, I ask Allah of His bounty?
A – I don’t know about this. It’s ordained for a person that when he hears the crowing of a rooster he asks Allah of His bounty, but I am afraid that your rooster will be silent! Alhamdulillah, you ask Allah for His bounty if you hear the rooster or not. Ask of His bounty always.
(Al-Baab Al-Maftooh, 200)

Q – Sheikh, may Allah reward you with Paradise, I see in my dreams as if I’m sitting in your class. I have certain questions, so I ask you and you give me the answers. So what’s the ruling with regards to those answers? (Questioner laughs)
A – I don’t remember this. I don’t remember this. I don’t notice in my sleep that you are asking me anything! (Sheikh laughs) Don’t depend on this. If you listen to a tape, that’s fine, but we don’t give lessons to those who are sleeping!
(Al-Baab Al-Maftooh, 200)

Q – With reference to the Hadith: “There is no competition except in shooting arrows, foot-racing, or horse-racing,” what is your opinion if someone engages in rooster-racing or pigeon-racing?
A – Look, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “There is no competition except in shooting arrows, foot-racing, or horse-racing,” because these things are to be used for war. If your rooster is used in war so that you ride on it, then it’s allowed! Otherwise no….
(Al-Baab Al-Maftooh, 200)

Q – What is your opinion about these du’as which are played in the car, like the du’a for riding, the du’a for traveling, etc. What’s the response to those who say they are amulets?
A – Amulets! I say that whoever says they are amulets are telling the truth, if (in case) the car is sick!
The du’as are attached to the car, not the rider, and to play them in the car is fine since they remind travelers of the du’a for riding or traveling. Everything that helps to do good is good. There is no problem, and they are not amulets!

Unless if someone said to you: If the car is sick, attaching the du’as to it will cure it by the will of Allah!
(Liqaa Al-Shahree)

Veil for men
A narrator mentions in an Arabic forum:
I asked the Sheikh about the ruling about a woman looking at a man. (His view was that it is allowed if there is no Fitna). I debated with him for a long time on the issue, and afterwards when I wanted to leave he said: “Where are you going?” The question seemed a little strange to me, so I laughed and said, “I’m going out.”

He said: “Wear a khimar so the women don’t see you!”

Destroyed Nations

It was a loud crack of thunder. A deafening shout sufficient to burst the eardrums. An endless rattling of the earth. Violent commotion. Fire, ash and lava from all directions. The last breath of man. And then silence. Absolute utter silence. Not even the sound of a heartbeat. As if nothing ever lived.

It is said that history repeats itself. How often have the nations of old been destroyed; those who made the life of this world their top concern and forgot all about Allah? They were given numerous chances to abandon their evil ways, turn back to Allah with sincere repentance and become obedient to Him. But each time they rejected the warnings and refused to pay attention, preferring worldly life over the life of the Hereafter.

The People of ‘Ad

Let us travel back in time, hundreds of years ago when the nation of ‘Ad was still thriving.  A civilization of people who were powerful not just in wealth and authority but also in their physical build and stature. They constructed monuments on mountains after spending excessively on themselves and misused their power to attack and threaten neighbouring tribes. And though it might seem that such abundance of wealth, resources and luxuries would make one soft, it did not, in the case of the people of ‘Ad.

It was indeed Allah who gave them all the strength and power that they possessed but instead of being grateful, they rejected Allah. Prophet Hud (a.s.) was sent as a warner to them but they belied him. He promised them that if they do not mend their ways, they will be struck by a severe punishment. Even so, they refused to listen, rather asked to see a punishment that was strong enough to destroy their colossal empire.

So it was, and they were seized by a long drought. But this was just the beginning. The real punishment from Allah came in the form of violent hurricane winds that pounded them nonstop for eight days and seven nights! Sharp and bitter cold winds together with sand storms that left nothing in their path by the time it was over. All was lost. From a land of lofty pillars, it became a land of mere sand dunes. Off with the people of ‘Ad!

The People of Thamud

The people of Thamud came a few generations after the people of ‘Ad, but sadly enough they did not learn from the mistakes of their forefathers. They were a corrupt people who instead of fixing their own character and being obedient to Allah, started building palaces inside of mountains, thinking that the punishment of Allah will never be able to reach them there. After all, who had ever heard of winds destroying mountains?

Prophet Saleh (a.s.) asked them to fear Allah and made them aware of the fact that they will be held accountable for their actions on the Day of Judgement. They asked to see proofs and clear signs, so by the permission of Allah, Saleh (a.s.) miraculously produced a female camel out of a rock! Everyone was shocked to see this fascinating wonder. They were given clear instructions that the camel was not to be hurt or harmed in any way, nor was it to be stopped from feeding or drinking. But the people wanted to get rid of this miracle of Allah as soon as possible. As long as the camel remained alive, everyone would know that Saleh (a.s.) had been speaking the truth all along. A group of them began to plot and so one night, they finally managed to kill the camel while everyone was still asleep. Upon hearing the news, they were warned of the punishment of Allah but they laughed and joked and instead began to plot another killing; this time of Saleh (a.s.) and his family. 

Before they could ever reach the culmination of their evil plots, the punishment of Allah enveloped them from all sides. A single blast, a shout, that killed them while they were still in their dwellings. They thought their palaces were strong inside mountains but all it took was a sound wave to finish them where they lay. For them it was difficult, near impossible to imagine, but for Allah it was easy. Off with the people of Thamud!

Fir’aun and his armies

In all Abrahamic faiths, the story of Musa (a.s.) and Fir’aun (Pharoah) is well known. Although there is a huge “charge sheet” against Fir’aun for all the wrong that he did i.e. from killing young boys to the severe torturing and dismemberment of slaves, however when Allah commands Musa (a.s.) to go to Fir’aun, He mentions only one major problem with Fir’aun.

 “Go to Fir'aun (Pharaoh), verily, he has transgressed all bounds.” [an-Naziaat 79:17]

Meaning that the reason why Fir’aun was such a tyrant and oppressive ruler was because he had crossed all bounds in disobedience to Allah. He has no respect for the laws laid down by Allah and thought of himself as above and beyond all of them.

Although we might not be as bad as Fir’aun but sometimes we too can develop the habit of knowing the commands of Allah but not obeying them. When we know that Allah has ordered something for us but we would rather do something else. This type of attitude can lead to a “Fir’aunic” state of mind. Remember, Fir’aun was not born a tyrant – for all we know he could have been a very cute baby; but he had to lead his whole life in rebellion against Allah to reach the level he had attained.

His sorry end came when he drowned at sea along with his massive armies which he was so proud of. Such is the end of the arrogant transgressors. Off with the Fir’aun and his armies!

Important Lessons

Often people tend to busy themselves with “how” it all happened. Was it an earthquake? Was it a volcanic eruption? Was it a shift of the earth’s crust? What if they had better construction material? What if they had an early warning system? Strangely enough the Qur’an does not answer these questions nor addresses them in any way. Instead it shifts our focus towards “why” it all happened. That is, why did Allah punish these people? And for us, this is a great place to start our questioning.

What were the crimes of the destroyed nations of the past? Here is a brief list:

•    They were proud and arrogant of their wealth, power and lavish lifestyle.
•    They thought this life would never end and that they will never be held accountable for what they are doing.
•    They forgot all about Allah and did not give thanks to Him for all the blessings that they had been given.
•    They didn’t find anything wrong with what they were doing, thinking that “might is right”. Thus, they refused to do istighfar i.e. to repent for this sins and transgressions.

Know that these nations had the best of everything that this world can offer yet by the time it was over nothing remained. Today we think that we have the best of everything, the question is, will we follow in the footsteps of the destroyed nations or are we better than that?

 “O mankind! Your rebellion (disobedience to Allah) is only against your ownselves, - a brief enjoyment of this worldly life, then to Us is your return, and We shall inform you that which you used to do. [Yunus 10:23]

 

2012 - Is this The End?

In November 2009, Hollywood came out with a blockbuster movie with the title: “2012”. The catchy tagline read: “We were warned…”, designed to stir all sorts of curious emotions in the heart of the avid movie-goer.

What was this movie all about? Unless you have been completely disconnected from the media recently, it was a depiction of what it would be like when the world comes to a devastating end in the year 2012.

You might wonder where they got this idea from. The idea was not something new, in fact it stemmed from ancient Mayan calculations and those predictions made by 16th Century French fortune-teller, Nostradamus.

The real question however is that; is any of this true? Is the world really going to end in 2012? What is Islam’s view on the subject?

Going straight to the Qur’an, we find that Allah, the Almighty, tells us:

“They ask you about the Hour (Day of Resurrection): ‘When will be its appointed time?’ Say: ‘The knowledge thereof is with my Lord (Alone). None can reveal its time but He. Heavy is its burden through the heavens and the earth. It shall not come upon you except all of a sudden.’ They ask you as if you have a good knowledge of it. Say: ‘The knowledge thereof is with Allah (Alone), but most of mankind know not’”.
[al-‘Araaf 7:187]

We find three main points from the above ayah:

I.    The knowledge of the final Hour i.e. the Day of Judgment is only with Allah. No one else has been given this knowledge; not a civilization, not a tribe and not an individual.

II.    Secondly, we know that the hour will come upon mankind “all of a sudden”. Meaning that it will come when people least expect it or when they are least prepared for it. In various ahadith of the Prophet (ﷺ) we learn that people on that day will be engaged in their usual routines. A man will be plastering his basin, another two will be trading in cloth but will not even get the chance to wrap it up, while a third man will take the milk from his camel, without getting the opportunity to drink it.

III.    In the final part of the above ayah, Allah for a second time reaffirms that the knowledge of this is with Allah alone, yet most of mankind do not know that it is only Allah who has this knowledge. Instead, they put their trust in the false tales and guess work of soothsayers and fortune-tellers.

So a good Muslim understands that no one knows when the Day of Judgment will be and that whenever that Day comes, it will come as a complete surprise.

After having knowledge of the above, what if a person still insists on listening to the stories of the fortune-tellers? This, you see, would be extremely problematic as the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) warned us by saying, “Whoever visits a fortune-teller and asks him about something (even out of curiosity), his prayer (salah) will not be accepted for forty nights”. [Muslim, 2230]

In another narration he (ﷺ) said “Whoever visits a fortune-teller and believes in what he says, he has disbelieved in what Allah revealed to Muhammad ﷺ (i.e. he has disbelieved in the Qur’an)”. [Abu Dawood, 3904]

Surely, no Muslim would like to be put in this grave situation. So imagine if this is the case for someone who visits a fortune-teller or believes in one, what about one who himself is a fortune-teller?

The Prophet (ﷺ) mentioned about the one who learns the art of numbers in astrology, horoscopes etc. saying, "Whoever learns anything of astrology/numerology has learned a branch of witchcraft!". [Abu Dawood]

And it goes without saying that in Islam, witchcraft (practice of black magic) is considered to be a form of disbelief (kuffar). May Allah protect us.

Once a man came to the Prophet (ﷺ) asking, “When will the Hour be?” The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) replied by saying, “The Hour will come. What have you prepared for it?”

This is indeed a very important question; a question that we need to ask ourselves. Without doubt, one day we will have to face Allah but what have we prepared for that day? Do we have lots of prayers, fasts and good deeds in our bag? Do we have kindness, love and mercy in our bags? Do we have obedience to Allah and the sunnah of the Prophet (ﷺ) in our bag?

If the answer is yes, Alhamdulillah, our preparation is going great and definitely in the right direction! But if the answer is no, then instead of focusing on when the hour will be, we need to worry more about collecting as many good deeds as we possibly can while we are still here on this planet and while we still have time.

After all, what lies ahead is truly the home that will last forever, better than anything that this world has to offer.

We ask Allah to protect us from the evils of fortune-telling and pray that may He allow us to put our trust in Him, and Him alone.