The Majlis Vol 21 No 10

MANY MUSLIMS ARE writing to express their dismay and concern at the new trend of Bid'ah-introduction by molvis associated with Deoband. One concerned brother writes: "A new bid'ah has raised its ugly head in the Muslim community. Recently, a Janaazah Salaat was performed in the Qabrustaan by an Aalim of the Deobandi School of Thought. Other Ulama from the locality had also participated.. The disturbing aspect was that, contrary to normal Shar'i practice, a loudspeaker was used for the Janaazah Salaat. Many musallis were taken aback by this new introduction, and that too in the sombre setting of a Qabrustaan. They expressed vehement disapproval. Muslims nowadays, including the Ulama, are so irrationally and un-Islamically enamoured with the loudspeaker that they feel it necessary to use it in Salaat. In fact, they regard the instrument as indispensable, considering it an integral constituent of the Salaat in their opinion. It appears that they have added a new dimension for the validity of Salaat, namely, the use of a loudspeaker which is being used indiscriminately irrespective of the Salaat being Jahri (Audible Qiraa't) or Sirri (Silent Qiraa't), or whether there is only a handful of musallis present, or whether ir is a small Musjid. The new class of Deobandi Ulama is ignoring the Fatwas of their senior Muftis who have by consensus prohibited the utilization of loudspeakers in Salaat. They have dismissed the Fatwas of these senior Ulama of Deoband scornfully. It is indeed deplorable that this bid'ah sayyiah (dark, evil innovation) has now been extended to even Janaazah Salaat and that too in the Qabrustaan. They have indeed set a detestable precedent. Nowadays, Deobandi Ulama seem to be preoccupied with ushering in one bid'ah upon another. They have introduced a string of new bid'ah practices unheard of in Deobandi Circles whose Ulama at one time were the Bastions of the Sunnah. Some of these new bid'ah practices are as follows: (1) Compulsory use of loudspeakers for Salaat. (2) Priority given to pre-Khutbah Jumuah bayaans/ lectures to the extent of preventing people from performing the Masnoon acts of Ibaadat such as Tahyatul Musjid and the 4 raka'ts Sunnatul Muakkadah. (3) Kitaab-reading immediately after the Fardh Salaat, thus preventing musallis from the incumbency of engaging immediately in Sunnat Salaat. Priority is given to this new bid'ah over the Sunnah Salaat which has to be incumbently performed immediately after the Fardh Salaat. (4) Loud halqah thikr sessions in the Musjid. (5) So-called 'seerah jalsahs' confined to the month of Rabiul Awwal in emulation of the Ahl-e-Barelwi Bid'atis. (6) Ulama addressing ladies in the Musaajid, at wedding receptions and other public venues. (7) Congregational loud dua at the graveside. (8) Abandoning the Masnoon method of carrying the Janaazah and passing the mayyit from hand to hand as if the Marhoom is a bag of potatoes. (9) Now this new evil of the loudspeaker for Janaazah Salaat in the Qabdustan. What next??? What is sad and lamentable is that these evils have been introduced by such Ulama who are supposed to be the custodians of the Deen, the upholders and revivers of the Sunnah, and the Defenders of Haqq. It is clear that they have drifted wide off the mark from the Path of our Pious Predecessors. Where are the Ulama of Deoband of this era heading to? OUR COMMENT Brother we supplement your woeful list of vile bid'ah acts with the following immoralities also introduced by so-called 'Deobandi' molvis: a. Halaalizing carrion b. Halaalizing haraam pictures c. Appearing on television d. Participating in wine and dine shows e. Participating in zina-award functions such as the recent MTN awards function f. Halaalizing haraam sport g. Using the Musaajid for Nazam/Qawwaali sessions h. Halaalizing the riba products of banks i. Participating in kufr interfaith gatherings. j. Canvassing for mureeds k. Etc., etc., etc., etc., etc. Hadhrat Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi (rahmatullah alayh), commenting on the bid'ah introduced by those who are supposed to be of our kind, said that bid'ah is not restricted to moulood, urs and the like in which the Barelwi sect specializes. He said that even among our own group bid'ah has raised its vile head. In fact, we have today degenerated to the level where the bid'ah of the so-called 'Deobandi' molvis has surpassed the bid'ah of the Barelwis in notoriety and villainy. And, this satanic trend is incremental among those who falsely believe themselves to be related to the Ulama of Deoband. Let it be known and well understood that every Tom, Dick, Harry, Munaafiq, Faasiq, Faajir and Zindeeq who had done a stint at Daarul Uloom Deoband or at any of the Madaaris associated with Deoband is NOT among the Ulama of Deoband. Only those Ulama who adhere to the Minhaaj of the Senior Ulama of Deoband, zaahiran wa baatinanun, are members of this glorious Taaifah known as the Ulama of Deoband who have emblazoned the firmament of Ilm, Taqwa, and the Sunnah in this age known as Aakhiruz Zamaan. The myriad of puny, plastic and cardboard molvis who studied at institutions related to Deoband are in reality flotsam – ghutha and rijs. They come within the scope of the Qur'aanic aayat: "Thus, has Allah cast RIJS (FILTH) on those who have no intelligence." They are dumb, deaf and blind. They who have introduced all these acts of bid'ah, fisq and fujoor are juhala and zanaadiqah. They are of the vilest specimens of human kind and they deserve to be buried alive. The pits into which their noxious corpses should be dumped should be filled with thorns, for they are among the Dajjaals who are digging up the very foundations of Islam. They are the Devils who are destroying the Deen. They are the spiritual progeny of the Yahood, the Shiah and Shaitaan. They do not belong to the Taaifah called Ulama-e-Deoband. They are the evil agents of Iblees-in-Chief, hence they indulge in bid'ah to destroy the Deen. It is haraam to refer to them as Ulama of Deoband. It is to bring pain and insult to the Ulama of Deoband to dub these vile specimens of human shayaateen, 'Deobandi Ulama'. Besides not being remotely attached to the Ulama of Deoband, they are not even ulama. They are juhala wallowing in jahl muraqqab (compound ignorance) – darkness piled on darkness. They are unable to distinguish between food and excreta, for they devour carrion and excreta, hence their brains are vermiculated with all the vermin of the najaasat into which they are sinking deeper by the day. Brother, we are living in a time which is in close proximity to Qiyaamah. Things are not going to improve. Rasulullah's predictions have to materialize. We are observing this materialization in our day on a daily basis. About this illegitimate breed of fakes, quacks, cranks and creeps who falsely masquerade as 'Deobandis', Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) said: "Soon will there dawn a time over the people when nothing will remain of Islam but its name; nothing will remain of the Qur'aan but its text; the Musaajid will be beautifully adorned structures, but bereft of the guidance (of the Sunnah). The worst of the people under the canopy of the sky will be their 'Ulama'. From these 'Ulama' will emerge fitnah, and this fitnah will rebound on them." These are the kind of 'ulama' who are the villains and frauds who are introducing bid'ah, fisq, fujoor and even kufr and misguiding the unwary and the ignorant. May Allah Ta'ala save us from the evil of these robbers of Imaan. THERE IS NOT the slightest vestige of compatibility and co-operation between Imaan and kufr. Islam is the only true Deen. All religions besides Islam are false and there is nothing more abhorrent to Allah Ta'ala than the religions of kufr, hence the Qur'aan Hakeem declares: "Verily, the only Deen by Allah is Islam." "Whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, never shall it be accepted of him, and in the Aakhirah, he will be among the losers." The interfaith kufr ideology requires acceptance of all religions and ideologies, even atheism and gayism. All religions are on par and no religion is the absolute truth in terms of interfaith ideology. The proponents of the different religions are required to sit obsequitiously around the table and listen with 'toleration' and 'understanding' to the deluge of kufr dinned into the ears of the audience. Whilst the Qur'aan demands the proclamation of the Haqq which necessitates informing humanity that there will be no salvation in the Hereafter without Islam, and that all religions besides Islam are false and their adherents are destined for everlasting perdition in Jahannum, interfaith regards such proclamation of the Haqq intolerable and prohibited. Regarding Da'wat and Tableegh, the Qur'aan apprizes us with the greatest clarity of the methodology to be adopted. It is the simple method of staing the truth for the benefit of mankind. They must be made aware that those who reject Islam are the enemies of Allah Ta'ala and the enemies of the Mu'mineen. Precisely propounding this ideology of the Haqq, the Qur'aan Hakeem informs us: "There was most certainly a sterling ideology (Uswah Hasanah – a Beautiful Pattern) in Ibraaheem and those with him when they said to their people (who were kuffaar): 'Verily, we exonerate ourselves from you and from that (idols) which you worship besides Allah. We reject you (O Mushrikeen and Kuffaar Interfaithers!) Enmity and hatred have become apparent between us and you forever as long as you do not believe in The One Allah…" (Aayat 4, Al-Mumtahinah) The Qur'aan Majeed explicitly and emphatically outlines the unbridgeable chasm between Imaan and Kufr – Islam and all the false religions. As far as Deen is concerned there can be no co -operation with kufr. Anyone joining the kufr interfaith movement or who speaks from the interfaith platform does so at the peril of the destruction of his Imaan. When it comes to Deen, Islam has only one message: Islam alone is the only Truth and the only repository of Salvation, and all other religions are false. This message is in diametric conflict with the articles of faith propound- ed by the kufr interfaith movement whose chief votary in this era has become the Saudi royal family. Q. A person performed 39 Salaat with jamaat in Musjidun Nabawi. Does this affect his Hajj in view of him not having completed 40 Salaat? A. Performing the 40 Salaat in Musjidun Nabawi has absolutely no relationship with Hajj. Whilst it is meritorious to perform 40 Salaat in Musjidun Nabawi, it is not compulsory nor is it related to the Hajj. does not cause disease, then too its use is haraam. The actual hurmat in the first instance, is not based on the disease factor. The recycled water is haraam because it is najis in terms of the Shariah. It is filthy sewerage water which may not be intentionally given to even dogs. Furthermore, whilst the engineer says that the water does not cause disease, other experts say the contrary. The view of the engineer does not enjoy Shar'i status nor is there a valid reason for preferring it over and above the contrary view which propagates the disease and harmful aspects of the recycled filth. Therefore, the view claiming disease is the safest although the fatwa of hurmat is not primarily based on the disease factor. Urine has many health benefits. In fact, a community in India daily drinks a glass of their own urine. Medical experts have proven the medicinal properties of urine. But this does not render urine permissible for Muslims. There is no difference between urine and recycled water in terms of the Shariah. Even the Qur'aan acknowledges the 'many benefits' of liquor and gambling. Despite this, these evils remain haraam. Benefit is not a legalizing factor in Islam. Everything on earth has benefits, even pork has its benefits. The very idea of consuming najaasat – water saturated with urine and faeces - is loathsome and abhorrent to people of Imaan. Whilst najaasat is a natural attraction for kufr, Imaan repels it. Recycled water is najis, hence its use to even wash cars, is haraam. Q. A Muslim civil engineer opposes the objection which the Muslim community has against the use and consumption of recycled toilet water. Arguing against the objections, the engineer says that Namibia, Singapore and the U.S.A. are using recycled water without any adverse health effects. He implies that without a better understanding the objections of the Muslim community are baseless. What is the Shariah's stance regarding the use of recycled toilet/ sewerage water? A. The engineer has not proffered a single argument which could be worthwhile for consideration by the Shariah. Namibia, Singapore and the U.S.A. do not enter the Shar'i equation of prohibition. The health factor whilst important is of secondary importance when there exists a Shar'i element of primary importance for the prohibition of using the filthy water. In the absence of pure Shar'i factors of prohibition, the secondary element of health and disease, will assume the primary premises for the prohibition of the recycled najaasat. Primarily, the concern regarding the use of recycled water is Deeni. Recycled water remains filth and haraam for use regardless of its superficial 'cleanliness'. What may be pure and clean to non-Muslims is not necessarily taahir for Muslims. Assuming that the recycled water Q. I sell replica branded items which are unique because they are identical to the original ones. The items are of the same materials, the same stitching and same grade. It is almost indistinguishable from the genuine product. It is basically the exact thing. Only, it is not manufacture by the Brand company, but by replica artists. The original product costs R10,000 or more whilst the replica one costs R2,000. If I advertise these items as 'replica', I shall be reported and shut down by the Brand company. Secondly, potential buyers will think that the product is fake and will not buy. I have advertised the product without mentioning it is a replica or genuine. But I added: "100% Satisfactory Guaranteed or Your Money-Back". I am delivering the exact same thing to the buyer for substantially less. What is the Shariah's ruling? A. According to the Shariah if the replica is advertised as the branded product, it will not be permissible. Since it is deception, it is haraam to advertise the replica as being the original branded item. The fact that potential customers will avoid it, further reinforces that the sale is by deception even if the quality is superior to the original branded product. If a customer sees it and believes it to be the real 'genuine' product, then too it will be haraam to sell it whilst the customer dwells in deception. It will be Waajib to inform the customer that the item is a replica. The '100% Satisfactory Guaranteed…" assurance does not alter the Shar'i position. The sale is haraam. It was your obligatory duty to have enquired of the mas'alah before embarking on this venture. The excessive price and exploitation of the branded company do not mitigate the deception nor affect the impermissibility of the sale. It is compulsory to inform buyers that the product is a replica. Q. Is it permissible for a Muslim to sell football kits which have crosses inscribed? A. It is not permissible to sell football kits and sporting equipment even without crosses. Selling such haraam items with crosses is worse. It is an aggravated sin. Q. What is the position of Salaat performed with a football garment having a cross on it? A. Salaat performed with garments having crosses on them is not accepted. In fact, Salaat performed with lewd garments such as T-shirts and jeans is not accepted even if such clothing has no crosses. Q. Is it not permissible to eat anything until after the Eid Salaat, and if one is making Qur'baani, then one has to eat from one's Qur'baani animal? A. It is preferable (Mustahab) not to eat anything before the Eid Salaat on Eidul Adha, and to eat something from your Qur'baani animal. If it is difficult to practise on this Mustahab, then there is nothing wrong if one eats something else after Eid Salaat. It is quite possible that one may have to wait for many hours or even until the next day or the third day to obtain some meat from one's animal, especially if the Qur'baani is done by someone else who is catering for numerous people. Q. Is it necessary to recite Takbeer Tashreek also after the Eid Salaat? A. Yes, the Takbeer must be recited after the Eidul Adha Salaat as well. Q. Are the British Islamic banks in compliance with the Shariah? A. The so-called British Islamic banks operate in exactly the same haraam way as the South African so-called Islamic banks operate. All so-called 'islamic' banks throughout the world are humbug banks in terms of the Shariah. They are no different from the conventional capitalist riba banks which excissate the body of mankind from its life-blood. Q. Is it permissible to rent premises to a non-Muslim for operating a liquor store? A. It is not permissible to hire out premises for a liquor store. Q. Is it permissible to sell property to a liquor entity, e.g. SA Breweries? A. If one is sure that the property will be utilized for selling liquor or for any haraam purpose, then it will not be permissible to sell the property to such an entity. Q. I have accepted Islam. My mother is a non-Muslim. She has no other children. When she dies and if there is no one to attend to her burial, am I permitted to arrange for her burial? A. If the non-Muslim lady has absolutely no non-Muslim relatives or friends, etc. to bury her, then the Muslim son can arrange her burial without participating in the religious funeral rites. Q. Is it permissible for a male patient to be diagnosed by a female doctor? A. The world is infested with male doctors. There is an absolute glut of male medical practitioners. It is therefore not permissible for a female doctor to attend to a male patient in normal circumstances. Q. I said to my family that 'Muslim' bollywood film actors and actresses are not Muslims, and that actually they are devils who are Muslim by name. My primary reason for this claim is that they perform Hindu rituals in their film roles. Family members are annoyed with me. They say that I have no right to judge these actors and actresses. Did I err in saying they are kaafirs and devils? I am prepared to repent. A. Insha'Allah, you shall acquire great and abundant thawaab for having proclaimed the truth regarding these vile, immoral munaafiqeen and murtaddeen who masquerade as Muslims. Undoubtedly, the film actors and actresses are shayaateen. They are murtads for performing the Hindu rituals. Even if they perform these rituals by pretence or joke, then too they become kaafir. Your family members are plodding the path of deviation, and they have scant regard for the Deen and for Allah's Laws, hence they are annoyed with you. It is not a case of judging. It is a case of saying that a pig is a pig. If a pig is called a pig, one is not judging the pig. If Allah's Law says that one who indulges in rituals of shirk is a kaafir, then by proclaiming that person a kaafir, one is not judging him. One is merely echoing Allah's command. There is no need to make Taubah for having proclaimed the Haqq. Your family members have to make Taubah for having spoken in opposition to the Shariah by siding with murtads. Their Imaan dangles by a thread. Q. When does dawn start? Does Fajr begin with dawn? A. 'Dawn' is an ambiguous term. The time for Fajr begins at Subh Saadiq which is about 90 minutes before sunrise. This phenomenon is explained in more detail in our book, Kitaabus Salaat. The fast begins with the entry of Subh Saadiq. Q. A person intentionally broke fasts during several Ramadhaans. Will one Kaffaarah of 60 days and the number of Qadha fasts suffice to expiate him? A. One Kaffaarah suffices for any number of days of fasts destroyed during one Ramadhaan. If for example, 3 fasts were intentionally broken in one Ramadhaan, then one Kaffaarah plus three Qadha will suffice. If fasts were nullified in four Ramadhaans, for example, then 4 Kaffarahs have to be offered. The Kaffaarah penalty will apply if niyyat was made to fast the next day. If there was no niyyat, then only Qadha is applicable. Q. I have read a fatwa that tobacco is halaal. A. The fatwa legalizing tobacco is erroneous. The one who issued such a fatwa is extremely short-sighted and oblivious of the destruction tobacco inflicts to the health of human beings. Q. Is it allowed to give one's Zakaat to his poor relatives? A. If the family member is destitute or in debt, then you may give your Zakaat to such a person. However, a person may not give his own Zakaat to his wife, parents/grandparents and children/grandchildren. Similarly, a wife may not give her Zakaat to her husband. Q. Where were the nations of Aad and Thamood destroyed? A. The nations of Aad and Thamood inhabited parts of the country today called Saudi Arabia. They were destroyed in Arabia. Q. Is it correct that when Eid falls on a Friday, then the compulsion of Jumuah Salaat falls away? A. Jumuah remains Fardh even if Eid falls on a Friday. However, according to the Hambali Math-hab, it becomes optional. Q. Our new Imaam refuses to hold the asaa when delivering the Khutbah on Fridays. Is it necessary to hold the asaa? A. It is bid'ah to use the customary asaa during the khutbah. Q. Is it permissible to uncover one's aurah inside the house if one is alone? A. It is necessary to cover one's aurah even in one's own home in privacy. Q. Does sighting of the moon applies to only Ramadhaan and the Eid occasions? Is sighting of the moon during the daytime of the 29th day valid? A. Sighting of the moon pertains to sighting it only after sunset at the end of the 29th day of the Islamic month. Sighting during the daytime has no relevance in the determination of the Islamic months. Sighting of the moon applies to all the months. If at the end of the 29th day of the Islamic the moon is not sighted nor is there reliable information of a sighting from another place, then the month will have 30 days. After the 30th day, will begin the new month even if the moon is not seen at the end of the 30th day. An Islamic month never has 31 days. Q. In my cell there is no water for ghusl nor any place for making ghusl. What should I do regarding Fajr Salaat when I am in need of a Waajib ghusl? A. In your circumstances, clean off the impurity, then make Tayammum and perform Salaat on time. Then at the first available opportunity take ghusl (bath) and repeat the Salaat. Q. A lady is presently performing Hajj. Whilst returning from Arafaat to Muzdalifah, she began menstruating. Her flight back home is scheduled after three days. What is the Shar'i ruling with regards to the remaining rites of Hajj? A. The lady has to perform all the remaining rites of Hajj even in her state of menses. However, she may not perform Tawaaf Ziyaarat or any other Tawaaf in the state of haidh. Tawaaf-e-Wida' which is Waajib is waived for her. She is absolved of this obligation. But, Tawaaf Ziyaarat is Fardh and as long as this Tawaaf is not performed she will remain in the state of Ihraam even if she returns to South Africa, and she will thus be haraam for her husband until such time that she returns and executes Tawaaf Ziyaarat. It is imperative that she endeavours her utmost to delay her departure. They should speak with the travel agent, and even if it costs to delay the departure for another flight, she just has to do it. Assuming that they flatly refuse to change the departure date, then as a very last resort, she should make the Tawaaf and pay the penalty of the Dum which in this case will be a camel. The price of a camel nowadays is about R6,000. Therefore if possible to change the date of departure, it will cost substantially less, and also ensure that the Tawaaf is not discharged defectively. Q. The Ulama in our country are forming an organization to pool the Zakaat of the community. They say that we have to pay our Zakaat to the organization. If a person does not pay his Zakaat to the organization, but gives it to the destitute himself, will it be permissible? A. Whilst pooling Zakaat into a reliable organization is permissible, it is preferable and best for a person to distribute his own Zakaat personally. In the process of distribution, he should first give Zakaat to his destitute and needy relatives, then to his friends and those around him. If there are no needy persons in his family, etc., then he is free to give his Zakaat to the local organization if it is a reliable body, or he may transfer his Zakaat elsewhere wherever he wishes. No one can compel him to pay his Zakaat to a particular organization. Q. I came across a passage in a book in which the author says that those equipped with the qualifications of Ijtihad need not follow a particular School (Math-hab). They may derive the rules directly from the original sources (Qur'aan and Sunnah). He also says: "Similarly, those who are not fully qualified for the exercise of deriving rules, but are so well versed in Islamic disciplines that they can evaluate on different juristic views on purely academic grounds are not forbidden from preferring one school over another in a particular matter." Is the view expressed in this passage right? A. The author appears to be a moron, hence the display of jahaalat. The claim made in the passage is baseless. There is no Mujtahid in this age nor is there any Aalim who occupies the rank of even the fourth grade Ulama of former times. The one who made the claim dwells in massive deception. The Fuqaha of the Hanafi Math-hab who had issued Fatwa in conflict with Imaam Abu Hanifah's fatwa on certain issues did so on the basis of the Usool formulated by Imaam Abu Hanifah (rahmatullah alayh). Furthermore, they were FUQAHA in the truest sense of the term. They were not like the crank 'scholars' of our age. In this era an Aalim who is truly great and pious will be a staunch Muqallid of his Math-hab. He will not adopt the baseless advice proffered by the miscreant. Great Ulama such as Hadhrat Thaanvi, Hadhrat Gangohi, Allaamah Anwar Kashmiri and innumerable other outstanding luminaries of Islamic Knowledge who devoted their entire lives to teaching Hadith, Fiqah and Tafseer, remained staunch Muqallideen. There is no alternative to making Taqleed to one of the four Math-habs of the Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jama'ah. All ideologis beyond the confines of the Four Math-bas are dhalaal (deviation). Q. Does the rule of Ittisaal between the Fardh and Sunnat Salaat apply to Jumuah Salaat as well? If the Imaam engages in a long Dua, can I break away from the congregation to perform my Sunnah Salaat? A. Yes, the Ittisaal mas'alah applies to Jumuah as well. Yes, you should break away from the rest of the congregation who engages in long dua. It is necessary to engage in the Sunnah Salaat immediately after the short Dua after the Fardh Salaat.(Ittisaal in this context means to perform the Sunnat Salaat immediately after the Fardh Salaat without engaging in other acts of ibaadat. Only the short Masnoon Dua may be recited after the Fardh Salaat).. Q. Can we eat from KFC in Overport, Durban? My friend told me that it is owned by a Muslim and is SANHA approved? A. It is not permissible to eat at any KFC outlet wherever it may be. Regardless of SANHA's certification and regardless of the owner being a Muslim, the chickens are carrion. The chickens are haraam. SANHA's certification is a piece of scrap paper. It is absolutely worthless in terms of the Shariah. We have established with 100% certitude that the chickens certified by SANHA are all haraam carrion. Those who devour these haraam carrion chickens do so at the peril of destroying their Imaan as well as their physical health. These chemically pumped haraam chickens cause even cancer as well as many other serious diseases. Q. Are Ferrero chocolates and sweets halaal? A. All of these commercially prepared products contain emulsifiers, stabilizers and other ingredients camouflaged with chemical names and E-numbers. These ingredients may be of plant or animal origin. It is therefore not permissible to consume them Q. Can we consume products which contain the ingredient, shellac? A. Shellac is haraam, hence consuming any product containing this substance is not permissible. Q. I became pregnant. A month later I went to a doctor for a check-up. She found no foetus and no heart-beat. I went to another doctor who said the same thing. The doctor then prescribed a tablet to expel the remains. When I took the tablet the first time, I started to bleed. The tablet did not work properly the first time, so I took a second tablet. After the second tablet something came out. I was not sure if it was a foetus or the placenta, etc. Now the doctor says that everything is clear, and it will be just a little fluid. However, ever since that day I am bleeding. Which are my clean days (tuhr), and which are my haidh days? I am confused. A. The doctors with their haraam tablets have messed you up. They say everything is clear, but you are abnormally bleeding. How can everything then be clear? They may possibly have aborted a foetus which could have developed into a child. Rooh enters the foetus only on the 120th day (four months), hence it was not at all surprising for there to have been no heart-beat. Now look what the haraam tablets have done to you. The tablets have created unnatural, abnormal and harmful bleeding to you. You have to revert to your last aadat (haidh habit). If for example, your last regular period was the 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th day of the month, then these same dates during the subsequent months will be your haidh days, and the rest will be istihaadhah. For istihaadhah take wudhu for each Salaat time and perform Namaaz. When the time of that Salaat expires, your wudhu will end. Q. I forgot to perform the two raka'ts Salaat after Tawaaf. What should I now do? A. It is Waajib to perform the two raka'ts after Tawaaf. This Wujoob (compulsion) remains for lifetime. If one is still in Makkah, then one should perform the two raka'ts in the Haram. If one recalls the omission after having left Makkah, then perform the two raka't wherever one happens to be and repent for the sin of omission. Q. Is it permissible to manufacture cigarettes? A. It is not permissible to manufacture and sell cigarettes. Q. Please advise if it is permissible for a Muslim to display her unborn child on the new smartphones like on the Blackberry profile for all her contacts or BBM contacts to see? A. A Muslim does not require any measure of intelligence to understand the immorality of displaying to the public one's unborn child. It is absolutely obscene from an Islamic perspective. Allah Ta'ala has concealed the unborn within the sanctuary of its mother's womb where no eyes are allowed to fall on it. In contravention of this sacred privacy which Allah Ta'ala has bestowed to the unborn, the mother and whoever else is involved perpetrate the immoral act of making an exhibition of the foetus and of part of the woman's body which has to be compulsorily concealed at all times. This exhibition is totally satanic and haraam. Q. What does carrion mean? A. If you require the literal meaning of carrion, you will find it in any dictionary. We use the term carrion to describe the Shar'i term maitah. Maitah is haraam meat. Any animal killed in contravention of Islam's system of Thabah is Maitah. It is the equivalent of carrion or dead, rotten, diseased meat which followers of Iblees halaalizes, and which is unfit for even dogs. Q. A modernist deviate in Sri Lanka is propagating that the meat will be halaal even if a kaafir recites Tasmiyah when he slaughters the animal. He argues that the Qur'aan only mentions the Tasmiyah, not the faith of the slaughterer. Is there any validity in this argument? A. The animal slaughtered by a kaafir will be haraam carrion even if the kaafir recites Tasmiyah a thousand times. The Tasmiyah of the kaafir is not valid. The validity of the Tasmiyah depends on Imaan. The person appears to be extremely ignorant hence he claimed that the Tasmiyah of a kaafir is valid. The argument that the Qur'aan does not mention the faith of the slaughterer is absolutely corrupt and it portrays the gross ignorance of the person. Thousands of detailed masaa-il are not mentioned in the Qur'aan. The Qur'aan does not mention that there are five Fardh Salaat daily nor does the Qur'aan mention the number of raka'ts in every Salaat, nor does it mention the amount of Zakaat to be paid. In fact, the greater part of Islam's rules and regulations are not mentioned in the Qur'aan. It does not follow from this that five Salaat are not Fardh, and that the 2 raka'ts of Fajr, 4 raka'ts of Zuhr, four of Asr, 3 of Maghrib and 4 of Isha' are not compulsory. Brother, it is best not to discuss with such an ignorant person. The more you will discuss with him, the more stubborn and stupid will he become. Q. Is Salaat valid behind a teacher who compels students to shave their beard? A. Students with beards are adults or close to adulthood according to the Shariah. It is haraam to submit to the order of the evil teacher who forces his students to shave their beards. The Muslim students should rather accept being expelled from school. They should not disobey Allah Ta'ala at the behest of the evil teacher. Such a teacher should not be allowed to lead the Salaat. The teacher's act of compelling students to shave their beard is kufr, the effect of which is irtidaad. The teacher has become a murtadd. Salaat behind him is not valid. Q. What is the status of Tijaanis in Islam? A. Tijaanis are astray. The Tijaani faith is a cult of shirk and bid'ah. Q. Is Salaat performed with western dress permissible? A. Western dress is not permissible at any time. Muslims have to wear an Islamic dress. It is not permissible to emulate the dress-styles and ways of the kuffaar. The abomination of wearing kuffaar dress whilst performing Salaat is an aggravated factor of prohibition. Whilst it is Makrooh Tahreemi (repulsive and prohibited) to be clad in kuffaar attire during Salaat, the Salaat will be valid, if the ugly pants are not so tight as to reveal the shape of the aurah. If the ugly trousers reveals the shape of the aurah, the Salaat will not be valid. Q. The Imaam at our location mounts the mimbar immediately after the Eid Salaat. There is no opportunity after the Salaat to engage in a Dua. Is the Imaam's conduct proper? Some people engage individually in dua while the Imaam is reciting the Khutbah. Is this permissible? A. The Imaam's conduct is improper. The Imaam and the musallis should engage in silent Dua after the Eid Salaat. The practice of omitting the Dua and starting immediately with the Khutbah is not proper. Also, the practice of a congregational dua after the Khutbah is bid'ah, hence not permissible. It is not permissible to engage in private Dua and Thikr whilst the Imaam is reciting the Khutbah. It is compulsory to listen to the Khutbah. One may engage in private Dua after returning home. Q. I am a female scout. What is the Shariah's view? A. Being a scout-member is not for Muslim girls. It is in violation of the Qur'aan's command to women: "(O Women!) Remain glued in your homes, and make not a display of yourselves as the exhibition of the times of ignorance." Outdoor life is not for Muslim girls. Q. Is it permissible to eat eggs which are not free-range? A. It is best to abstain from all artificial eggs, that is, the eggs laid by incubated chickens pumped with chemicals and reared in cruelty and forced to lay eggs with cruelty and chemical feed. These diseased and poisoned eggs cause diseases. Q. What is the status of a Muslim woman who has married a Hindu man? Are the children of this union Muslims? A. A Muslim woman cannever be married to a kaafir man. She is living with the Hindu in zina. The children are illegitimate. If she believes that her 'marriage' is valid, then she is a murtad. If she accepts that she is living in adultery and that there is no marriage with the man in terms of the Shariah, and if she does not practise any Hindu rituals, then whilst she will remain a Muslim, her Imaan will be on the verge of extinction. If she rears the children as Muslims, they will be Muslim otherwise not. Q. An Aalim says that Surah Faatihah should not be recited in the third and fourth raka't of Fardh Salaat. Is this correct? Q. Some people have dressed their Qur'baani animals and place even hats on their heads. The animals are also painted in an assortment of colours. It is all part of the fun of the Day of Eid, they say. Please comment. A. Qur'baani is in commemoration of the supreme sacrifice of Hadhrat Nabi Ibraaheem (alayhis salaam) who had laid his son at the altar of sacrifice for the Pleasure of Allah Ta'ala. It was an occasion when the illustrious father drove the knife on the throat of his illustrious son at the command of Allah Ta'ala. Qur'baani is not a merry-making kaafir practice to be enacted in the manner in which the kuffaar behave during their Christmas festival season. Qur'baani is a serious and a holy practice. Dressing up Qur'baani sheep as if they are clowns to be subjected to mirth and laughter is haraam. It is an absolute mockery of the ahkaam (laws) as well of the spirit and ethos of Qur'baani to make clowns of the sacred Qur'baani animals. These are such animals which will transport us as swift as lightning over the Siraat (Bridge) over Jahannum. About these animals Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) said that every hair on their bodies and every strand of wool on their bodies is the equivalent of a virtuous deed. Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) said that even before the blood reaches the ground, Allah Ta'ala accepts the intention of Taqwa which underlies the sacrifice. The blood of these animals are being shed in commemoration of the Blood of Hadhrat Ismaaeel (alayhis salaam) who was offered as the supreme sacrifice of love and devotion. How then can a true Mu'min's Imaan tolerate this satanic mockery – making a mockery and making clowns of the holy Qur'baani animals? It is not permissible to paint these animals and to transform them into clowns The spirit of Qur'baani demands responsibility, dignity, decorum and devotion permeated by some grief in consonance with the natural sadness which Hadhrat Ibraaheem (alayhis salaam) must have undergone when he was taking his little son for the sacrifice, and at the time when he drove the knife on his son's throat. Q. Have you seen a series of programs called The Arrivals? These programs expose the secret societies of the Illuminati and Free Masons. In this program they mention 12 imaams who are direct descendants of Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam). Should we believe this? They control almost everything from the banking system to what is shown on television. Isn't it therefore good to know how they work? Should we not study these secret institutions? A. The Free Masons and the Illuminati devils are kuffaar. The concept of 12 Imaams is a baseless belief of the Shiahs. It has no reality. Yes, we know that these sinister kuffaar outfits are in control of the world. However, there is a fundamental issue which should not be forgotten, and that is the Controller is only Allah Ta'ala. The Qur'aan Majeed states: "Not a leaf drops ( from a tree) but He is aware of it." Even the dropping off of a single leaf or the direction in which the leaf turns in a breeze is with the direct intervention of Allah Ta'ala and within His knowledge. There are no accidents in Allah's creation. Everything down to the finest detail happens by the decree of Allah Azza Wa Jal. All these secret societies and all the political and natural upheavals we are witnessing on earth are all by the command of Allah Ta'ala. Even these secret societies operate according to the decree of Allah Ta'ala, and they follow the path set out for them in the Taqdeer of Allah Azza Wa Jal. We are required to do what we have been commanded and what is within our ability. We have to obey Allah Ta'ala and worship Him in the way He has commanded, then nothing can harm us. Allah Ta'ala says in the Qur'aan Majeed: "If you have Sabr and adopt Taqwa, then their plots will never ever harm you in the least bit." Whatever goodness or harm befalls us is only in the degree commanded by Allah Ta'ala, nothing more and nothing less. There is therefore no need to be perturbed about all the satanic forces surrounding us. We should concern ourselves with our moral reformation and spiritual progress. Develop Taqwa, obey Allah Ta'ala, and He will take care of us. A. Surah Faatihah should be recited in the third and fourth raka't of Fardh Salaat. If it is omitted, the Salaat will still be valid. Q. Whilst reciting Dua Qunoot in Witr Salaat, should the hands be folded or left at the sides? A. The hands should be kept folded even whilst reciting Qunoot. Q. Is it permissible to wear high hair-styles and ponytail style under the Hijaab? A. Wearing high hair styles under the Hijaab defeats the objective of Hijaab. It is haraam to wear such high and protruding hair styles under the Hijaab. Such females come under the curse of Allah Ta'ala and his Malaaikah. Q. Do jinns exist? What is the position of a person who denies the existence of jinn? A. Jinn is a species of Allah's creation. Denial of the existence of jinn is kufr. The Qur'aan confirms the existence of Jinn in many aayat, and so does the Hadith. The Qur'aan and Hadith are full of proof for their existence. Q. Is it permissible to participate in the radio competition regarding Durood Shareef? One has to inform the radio of the number of Durood one has recited. This is to reach the target of 50 million. A. The 'durood' competition being run by Radio Shaitaan is by inspiration of shaitaan. Ibaadat is being used for worldly and nafsaani objectives. Never participate in these nafsaani programmed. There is no thawaab for gratifying the nafs. Recite your Durood in the privacy of your home. Your ibaadat should be only between Allah Ta'ala and yourself. Ibaadat is not up for advertising. It is most despicable, vile and pure shaitaaniyat to advertise ibaadat. According to the Hadith, one of the signs of Qiyaamah is: "With acts of the Deen, the dunya will be pursued." This 'durood' debacle is one such example. Q. I have not had by baby vaccinated. Relatives and friends are urging me to get the baby vaccinated to protect the child from diseases. I need advice. A. Vaccination has been proven to be very harmful. Far from it preventing disease, it actually causes disease. Non-Muslim medical experts have written innumerable books proving the extremely harmful effects of vaccination. By vaccinating your baby, you will be harming her and exposing her to diseases. Ignore what the people are saying. It is not permissible to vaccinate. Q. Recently my friend informed me that he can travel through his rooh (soul) to see the unseen things such as the happenings during Abraha's attack on Makkah; calling the dead from the grave and conversing with them; talking with Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam), etc. Is this all true? Is it possible to travel via the soul into the distant past? This friend practises the Naqshabandi and the Chishti tareeqats. What is the Shariah's view? A. Your friend practises Satanism which he falsely describes as the Naqshabandi and Chishti tareeqahs. Do not be deceived by the shaitaani deception your friend is perpetrating. Such deceptions are by shaitaani manipulation. Even if he flies in the air and transforms stones into gold, speaks with the 'dead', etc., never be deceived by the progeny of shaitaan. Shaitaan aids his followers to demonstrate such 'supernatural' feats which are in reality pure deception. Q. One night at a very late hour my husband silently went into the room where our daughters were sleeping. From our bedroom I could see him in the mirror. As he approached the bed of one daughter, I yelled at him, and he quickly retraced his steps. It appears to me that he had an evil intention. Is our Nikah valid? I severely admonished him and warned him from entering the bedroom of the girls. They are now big and I don't trust my husband's nafs. He also kisses the daughters on their cheeks. I warned him, and said if he should kiss them on the heads. Am I right? A. The admonition you gave him is proper and was necessary. May Allah Ta'ala save us all from the Fitnah of our evil nafs and the traps of shaitaan. Your Nikah is valid. He did not do anything to invalidate the Nikah. If a man touches any bare part of his daughter's body with lust, only then will the Nikah becoming invalid. May Allah Ta'ala save you and your husband from such a satanic calamity. A father should not kiss his daughters on their cheeks. You were correct in advising him to kiss on the head. However, a man himself should understand his feelings. If he understands that the reason for wanting to kiss his daughter is the nafs, and that he had entered their bedroom late at night with evil designs, then it will be haraam for him to kiss his daughters even on her heads. You should also whisper to your daughters to be on their guard and not be alone with their father. Furthermore, they should dress decently and be properly covered when he is around. Q. Shiahs quote from Bukhaari and other Hadith kitaabs to support their belief of the 12 Imaams. They claim that the Hadith mentions 12 Imaams. What is the reality of this claim? A. Their stupid claim is devoid of reality. Firstly, Shiahs have no right to quote from Bukhaari Shareef and the other Hadith kutub of the Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jama'ah. Shiahs believe that these kitaabs consist of fabricated narrations. When a Shiah cites Bukhaari, ask the miscreant if he believes in the authenticity of Bukhaari Shareef. Obviously he does not. If he utilizes the accursed Shiah belief of holy hypocrisy (Taqiyah) to bamboozle you, and falsely says that he accepts the authenticity of Bukhaari, then he will have to concede that all the praises and accolades which the Ahaadith in Bukhaari confer on Hadhrat Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthmaan, Muaawiyah and the other Sahaabah (radhiyallu anhum) whom the Shiah brand murtad, are true and authentic, and this no Shiah will ever stomach. The 12 Khulafa mentioned in the Hadith refer to 12 Rulers (Khulafa) who have already passed away. The first four Khulafa (Hadhrat Abu Bakr, Hadhrat Umar, Hadhrat Uthmaan and Hadhrat Ali – radhiyallahu anhum) are included in the 12. The Shiah concept of 12 imaams is entirely something different. Their concept of imaams is a kufr concept. They believe that their imagined twelve Imaams were superior to even the Ambiya (alayhimus salaam), and that they used to obtain Wahi directly from Allah Ta'ala. Their claim is bunkum. Q. Two years after a khula' took place between my husband and myself, he denies it. He is now fabricating all sorts of stories and spreading false rumours. Please advise me what to do. A. Sister, you know the truth. It is between you and Allah Ta'ala, and even your ex-husband knows the reality. As long as you had given the true picture and correct information, you need not worry. Your Khula is valid on the basis of what you have explained to us in your letter at the time when we had ratified the validity of the Khula'. Now when you are sure that you had said only the truth, then you need not worry because your Nikah has ended with the Khula'. As such you are free to marry any other person. Q. What are the rules regarding a wild animal hunted and shot with a bullet? A. If an animal is shot with a bullet, then the only way it will be halaal is to make Thabah of it if it is found alive. If it is found dead, then it is haraam carrion. If the animal is shot with an arrow and if at the time of releasing the arrow, the Tasmiyah is recited, then the animal will be halaal even if found dead. However, if the hunter reaches it whilst it is still alive, then Thabah is obligatory. Q. The inmate Jamaat at a prison (in the U.S.) had expelled a brother who was openly associating with homosexuals and there were strong indications that he was indulging in this evil. He was banned from participating in Jamaat Salaat and Ta'leem classes. He has now repented, but the brothers still do not want to accept him in the Jamaat. What is the Shariah's ruling for him? Should we consider him a Muslim? A. Homosexuality despite the extremely grave nature of this abominable sin, is not kufr. As long as the man believes that his evil misdeed is haraam he remains a Muslim. To a greater degree is his Imaan valid when he says that he has repented. If he says that he has repented, then it is haraam to ostracize him. He has to be accepted into the Jamaat. No one has the right to prevent the repenter from being a member of the Jamaat. It is haraam to ban him from Jamaat Salaat and Ta'leem classes. Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) said: "The sincere repenter of sins is like one who has no sins." Q. When I perform Salaat alone, is it necessary to recite audibly during Fajr, Maghrib and Isha. The non-Muslim cell-mate becomes annoyed and complains of me disturbing his sleep. A. It is not compulsory to recite audibly if you are performing alone. You may recite silently. Q. When the Qur'aan Shareef had been burnt here in the U.S.A., a non-Muslim prisoner asked me to show him the Qur'aan. I gave it to him with the intention that he may possibly Islam. After handling the Qur'aan he returned it to me. Did I sin? A. Yes, you had committed a sin by giving the Holy Qur'aan to the non-Muslim to hold regardless of your good intention. Remember that when it is haraam for even a Muslim to touch the Qur'aan if he is without wudhu, how can it be permissible for a non-Muslim to touch the Qur'aan when he is perpetually in the state of janaabat which requires ghusl (a full bath) for purification? You should repent and not repeat the sin again. If a non-Muslim wants to see the Qur'aan, you should politely explain to him that even Muslims who are not in the state of ceremonial purity are not allowed to touch the Qur'aan. For this reason you may not give the Qur'aan to non-Muslims. Q. A U.S. prisoner wrote: Please give me some proofs to defend the Ahlus Sunnah against the attacks of the La Math-habis here in prison. A. There is no need to offer proof to anyone. You should adopt seclusion and concentrate on your moral and spiritual reformation and progress. By becoming embroiled in disputes with deviates, you will only disturb your peace of mind. Furthermore, due to your lack of expert Islamic knowledge you will not be able to adequately respond and silence the deviates. Every dispute with them will end in acrimony. It is unintelligent to debate and discuss with ignoramuses who are arrogant and uncouth in their conduct. From the manner in which they debate with you, you will recognize their crass uncouthness and how uncultured they are. This applies to a much greater degree to the La Math-habis in U.S. prisons. Q. I was told that according to the Qur'aan, Fiqh should be studied. Which aayat orders the study of Fiqh? A. The Qur'aan is replete with verses commanding the study of Fiqh. Fiqh in its original Shar'i meaning refers to the whole of the Islam, not to any specific section of the Deen. It covered the rules of the Zaahiri (external) acts such as Tahaarat, Salaat, Saum, Hajj, Jihad, Business, Farming, Social relations, etc., as well as the Baatini (spiritual acts), viz., Aqaaid (Beliefs), and Akhlaaq (Morality). The Qur'aan commands: "And, if you do not know, then ask the People of Thikr (i.e. the Ulama)." The term Fiqh is specifically mentioned in verse 122 of Surah Taubah. Allah Ta'ala commands in this verse the study of Fiqh. Fiqh in the Qur'aanic meaning and in the terminology of the Ulama of the first ages of Islam referred to the whole of the Shariah, not to a specific subject as it is known today. Q. If a person has ten years of Qadha to perform, should he perform the Sunnat Salaat or make qadha of the Fardh instead? A. Even if you have ten years Qadha, you still should perform the Sunnatul Muakkadah Salaat. Instead of Nafl, perform Qadha. Q. When a non-Muslim embraces Islam, is it incumbent for him/her to recite the Kalimah in the presences of witnesses? A. It is not necessary to proclaim the Kalimah Shahaadat in front of witnesses. It will suffice if you recite it audibly to yourself. Witnesses are not a requisite for the validity of Imaan. Q. What is Salaatul Awwaabeen and when should it be performed? A. Salaatul Awwaabeen is performed after the Maghrib Salaat. It consists of a maximum of 20 raka'ts. If one lacks the time or the stamina, even two raka'ts will be valid. However, the more the raka'ts, the more the rewards. Q. The Imaam did not sit in the third raka't of Maghrib Salaat. The Muqtadis too did not remind him of the error. However, he made Sajdah Sahw. Was the Salaat valid? A. If the Imaam did not sit in Tashahhud in the third raka't, then all four raka'ts become Nafl. The Maghrib Fardh has to be repeated. Q. Is it permissible to change the will of the deceased? A. Only if the will is in conflict with the Shariah, will it be permissible, in fact, compulsory, to change it to conform to the Shariah. Q. Some Maulanas say that the term 'haraam' should not be used to describe acts which are not based on Daleel Qat'i. They say that many of the things which The Majlis condemns as 'haraam' have no Daleel Qat'i basis. Has their claim any validity? A. These Maulanas need to be re-admitted to Madrasah to gain understanding of the kutub. It is demeaning to respond to such stupid criticism. The kutub of Fiqh as well as all the Urdu Fataawa kutub of our Akaabireen are replete with the term haraam which all the Fuqaha and Ulama use for prohibitions and reprehensible acts regardless of the technical Fiqh'i classification. It is clear that these Maulanas either are unable to read the kutub or they do not understand what they read. It is explicitly stated in Shaami as well as other kutub: "Every Makrooh is haraam." Q. Is Jihad also compulsory for women? A. Jihad and Tableegh to the masses are not obligations which Islam places on females. Islam has made incumbent Jihad and Tableegh on only males. Even Jumuah Salaat, Jamaat Salaat and Eid Salaat have not been made obligatory for females. Earning an income has not been made obligatory on women. It is the duty of the males of the family to maintain and support the womenfolk. These few examples should convey to you Islam's emphasis on females remaining out of the public domain. The role of the female according to Islam, is in the home sanctuary. Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) said that the "Jihad of women is Hajj". Q. Is Witr Salaat of the Hanafi valid behind a Shaafi' during Ramadhaan? And, what about a Shaafi's Witr behind a Hanafi Imaam? A. The Witr of a Hanafi behind a Shaafi' is not valid because of two reasons: (a) The niyyat of the Shaafi' is Sunnat which is in the category of Nafl whereas the niyyat of the Hanafi is Waajib. The Salaat of the one who performs Waajib is not valid behind a mutanaffil. (b) The Shaafi' performs two raka'ts and one raka't separately. There is no one raka't in the Hanafi Mat-hab. The Shaafi's Witr behind the Hanafi is valid. Q. Some say that Niqaab was Fardh for the wives of Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) and that it is Sunnah for all other Muslim women. Please comment on this view. A. What "some" say about the Niqaab is nonsense. Niqaab is compulsory for all women, beautiful or 'ugly'. Q. I have heard conflicting views about Molvi Ismail Menk of Zimbabwe. Should I listen to his bayaans? A. Ismail Menk is a Salafi masquerading as a Hanafi. Beware of his talks. Do not fall into his trap of deception. He, in fact Salafis, are like Shiahs. They have the common strategy of taqiyah in terms of which they conceal their true beliefs from the Ahlus Sunnah in order to gain converts to Salafi'ism. Do not listen to his bayaans. These half-baked Salafi molvies and sheikhs are ambassadors of the Saudi regime. They slink in the Muslim community and subtly propagate Salafi'ism. When they are in the presence of Hanafi Ulama, then like chameleons they are 'hanafis'. When they are with the ignorant masses, they inject the poison of Salafi'ism. Beware of the talks of these dacoits who ruin Imaan with their glib tongues and devious bayaans. Another devious Salafi outfit is the Al-Kausar group of dajjaals. Salafis, Shiahs, Bid'atis and modernists zanadiqah are all the agents of shaitaan lying in ambush to rob Muslims of their Imaan. Beware of all of these menaces. What is Thabah? Thabah is generally translated to mean 'slaughtering'. But the Islamic meaning of Thabah is much more than mere throat-cutting and killing of animals. The Yahood, Nasaara, and other brands of mushrikeen also slaughter and kill animals. However, their slaughtered animals are designated Ghair Math-booh by the Shariah. Ghair Math-booh means an animal which was killed by a method other than Shar'i Thabah. Slaughter is any form of barbaric killing of animals. All systems of killing of the kuffaar are described as slaughtering whilst not a single non-Muslim system is Thabah. The Islamic system is a sacred process which embodies the attributes of humanity and divinity. Thus Thabah is among the Sha-aair (salient and outstanding features) of Islam. Hence, if one sees a stranger killing an animal in accordance with the rules of Thabah, then according to Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam), he shall be proclaimed a Muslim without any need to investigate his beliefs. Only if any kufr is manifestly portrayed by the stranger will it be valid to label him a kaafir. The following are the essential requisites of the Islamic institution of Thabah: (1) The animal shall be handled tenderly It is not permissible to drag the animal to the place of slaughter. (2) The animal should be fed prior to it being slaughtered. It is improper to slaughter a hungry animal. (3) The knife must be exceedingly sharp. (4) The knife should not be sharpened in the presence of the animal. (5) The animal must not be laid prostrate whilst the thaabih (slaughterer) engages in sharpening the knife or in some activity unrelated to Thabah. (6) The Thaabih should not be a faasiq or an immoral person such as the slaughterers employed by all the chicken killing facilities and abattoirs, for these slaughterers hover on the brink of kufr on account of almost total abandonment of Salaat, including Jumuah and Eid. (7) The Thaabih must face the Qiblah when slaughtering. (8) The animal must be facing the Qiblah when it is being slaughtered. (9) The four essential neck vessels must be severed with one swift cut, and to make assurance doubly sure, another two strokes of the knife should be implemented. ( 1 0 ) T h e T a s m i y a h (Bismillaahi Allaahu Akbar) must be recited with lip and tongue movement at the precise moment of cutting. (11) All forms of stunning, electrocuting, drowning, and injury of any kind prior to slaughtering are Haraam. (12) All forms of post-slaughter injury such as stunning, etc., are Haraam. (13) The animal should be left to bleed and nothing may be done to impede the expulsion of the blood. Just as pre-slaughter stunning impedes the expulsion of all the blood, so too does post-slaughter stunning. These brutal injuries prevents total excissation of the blood. (14) Skinning may not commence whilst there is the slightest movement in the animal. These are the obligatory ingredients of the Islamic system of slaughter known as Thabah. It is not permissible to omit any ingredients from this list. It should be understood that just as human beings, animals too have Rooh (Soul). The transcendental acts of Tasmiyah and Qiblah have been divinely designed for the benefit of both the animal and the consumer. Allah Azza Wa Jal, the Creator of the animals and of human beings, is well aware of the welfare of His Makhlooq (creation). He did not design the Tasmiyah and the Qiblah in idle jest – Nauthubillaah! Both these rites are of fundamental importance and it is haraam to intentionally discard these acts. From the aforementioned list of factors, it is abundantly clear that not a single one of these Shar'i acts is complied with in commercial killing of animals. In other words, from A to Z, the killing systems of all commercial killing facilities are Haraam, hence the products of such systems are haraam, diseased carrion, not fit for even dogs. It is this type of carrion which outfits such as SANHA, MJC, ICSA, NIHT, etc. halaalizes thereby destroying the Akhlaaq (moral character and fibre) and Imaan of the community. Muslims should not acquit themselves like animals, devouring whatever is offered to them. Little do they realize the moral and spiritual destruction they cause to themselves by consuming all the haraam carrion –chicken and meat products – halaalized by the mercenary 'halaal' certificate vendors. Whilst these miserable entities have only money as their objective, the objective of Muslims is and should be obedience to the Shariah of Allah Azza Wa Jal. And, a primary demand of this Shariah is abstention from even consuming doubtful substances. According to the Qur'aan, those who consume haraam, follow in the footsteps of shaitaan. It is imperative to exercise pressure on the nafs and to cure it of the addiction of carrion-consumption. Q. Many people these days are resorting to self-reasoning, free-thinking and opinion. They read and come up with their own conclusions. They want to know the reasons for the mas'alas of the Deen. When they don't understand or if there is no explanation to satisfy them, they refute the mas'alah. What is the cause and remedy for this attitude? A. This is the age of atheism which is the product of the atheist system of western secular education. It is the age of kufr and ilhaad. These developments have been predicted by Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam). The era of ilhaad and kufr had in fact commenced in the very age of Khairul Quroon. Today it is a different kind of ilhaad and kufr. The thrust of western education is atheism. Imaan is corrupted and destroyed by western education. It is for this reason you will find numerous Muslims today questioning Deeni masaa-il. They want to know the reasons and the 'philosophy' underlying the masaa-il. They want to know why is this divine command so and what is the rationale for that Qur'aanic command and that Hadith, etc. If any of the ahkaam of the Shariah is beyond their corroded intellectual perception, they summarily dismiss it, and to camouflage their kufr, they attribute it to opinion of the Aimma-e-Mujtahideen. Hadhrat Mujaddid Alf-e-Thaani (rahmatullah alayh) said that questioning the reasons for the ahkaam is tantamount to rejecting Nubuwwat. The obligation of the Mu'min is to obey the Qur'aan and Sunnah, that is the Shariah, regardless of understanding or not understanding the reasons for the laws. Hadhrat Maulana Ashraf Ali Thaanvi (rahmatullah alayh) said that the doubts which modernists suffer (regarding Deeni ahkaam) have two causes: (1) Lack of respect for Allah Ta'ala, and (2) Lack of love for Allah Ta'ala. These doubts vanish once Azmat (honour/ respect) and Muhabbat (love) have been cultivated. By submitting to the Shariah and adopting the Sunnah, these two essentials are cultivated. The system and ethos of western education emphasize the rejection of Deen. Beliefs are antiquated issues in this kufr educational system of the west.. Almost all Muslims who had undergone the calamity of western indoctrination at academic level are in reality kaafir. They are in fact munaafiqeen masquerading as Muslims. They perform Salaat, fast, pay Zakaat, perform Hajj, etc., whilst their hearts reject almost all the detailed ahkaam of the Shariah. You will therefore hear these modernist zanaadiqah speaking about 'reinterpretation' and 'ijtihaad'. Every Tom, Dick and Harry among these modernists juhhaal whose Imaan has been destroyed by western education considers himself qualified to scrutinize and interpret the Qur'aan and Hadith whilst they are deficient in even Qur'aan recitation and basic Tahaarat masaa-il. Their stupidity precludes them from understanding that they are just plain morons. Those Muslim wasting their time, energy and brains sitting at the feet of kuffaar masters, spend half of their lives in the suhbat (companionship) of k u f f a a r, m u n a a f i q e e n, zindiqeen, fussaaq and fujjaar. These are their tutors. Is it now possible to expect any virtue from the protégés of Allah's enemies? Regarding the suhbat of fussaaq, fujjaar and kuffaar, Hadhrat Hakimul Ummat (rahmatullah alayhi) said: "Nooraaniyat (i.e. the Noor of Imaan) is extinguished by association with kuffaar and fujjaar (immoral persons). Zulmat (spiritual darkness) then develops. The knowledge which emanates from the niches of Nubuwwat contain Noor, and what emerges from the heart of a faasiq is zulmat (spiritual darkness and Satanism)." The attitude to which you have referred is kufr in disguise. May Allah Ta'ala save the Ummah from this greatest of all calamities in which millions of so-called 'enlightened' born Muslims are wallowing. Whilst they profess to be Muslims, they fail to realize that in reality they are Zindiqeen. Referring to the preponderance of munaafiqeen and zindiqeen in the Ummah of later times, Hadhrat Abdullah Ibn Umar (radhiyallahu anhu) said: "There will dawn a time when people will gather in their Musaajid and perform Salaat whilst not a single one of them will be a Mu'min." They will be professed Muslims whilst their hearts will "On the Day of Qiyaamah there will be people who will have marks on their foreheads (as a result of Sujood in abundance). They will be those who had spent the nights in Tahajjud Salaat. Night and day they had devoted to Ibaadat. However, the Malaaikah will be hauling them in to Jahannum." The companions of Hadhrat Ali (radhiyallahu anhu) who were with him on this occasion, asked in surprise: "What is the reason for this?" Hadhrat Ali (radhiyallahu anhu) replied: "Whilst they were engaged in their effort (of ibaadat), their Maqsood (Objective) was not Allah Ta'ala. They performed their acts of ibaadat to satisfy their own desires, hence it will be proclaimed: "Today, all of you enter into Jahannum! You have no relationship with Me (i.e. Allah Azza Wa Jal)." This Hadith has full applicability in the present age in which the dunya is being pursued with deeds supposed to be for the Aakhirah. Among the signs of Qiyaamah, it is mentioned in the Hadith that people will pursue worldly objectives with deeds of the Aakhirah (i.e. with ibaadat and Deeni activities) which will be utilized as a smokescreen for despicable nafsaani motives. All the so-called 'deeni' functions of merrymaking, the 'thikr' and sing-song (na't) sessions, the public thikr halqas and even madaaris are of this category of deeds which are perpetrated to deceive the ignorant masses for the acquisition of nafsaani and worldly designs and objectives. Q. The Saudis plan to build over the Mubaarak Grave of Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) with the excuse that the Musjid requires additional space. Why don't they demolish the Zionist hotel establishment that they have allowed into Madinah Munawwarah? The Muslim Ummah remains silent. How can we defend the honour of brother Muslims when we are unable to unite to defend t h e h o n o u r o f N a b i (sallallahu alayhi wasallam). It is the responsibility of the Ummah to react and protest the destruction of Islam's holy relics by the Saudi government. A. We have highlighted in The Majlis, a number of times the Saudi destruction of the holy relics of Islam. Over the years we have vigorously criticized the vandalization of Islam's holy relics by the Saudi kings. Many others too have protested. But, needless to say, all protests fall on deaf years. The Saudis are U.S. puppets and they allow the Hajj because of commercial objectives. If it was not for its commercial and other strategic value, the Saudis would have banned even the Hajj. They have already destroyed more than 90% of all the relics of Islam. They are now plotting to eliminate the last of these sacred remnants. Why would they ever dream of demolishing the Zionist and other kuffaar establishments in the Holy Lands? The Saudis dance to the pipe-tune of the Zionists and the U.S. It is the writ of the U.S. which determines the direction of the Saudi monarch. Muslims of the world fail to protest because their Imaan is dead. The unholy destruction plotted and executed by the Saudi regime does not concern Muslims. If the Muslims of the world unite and boycott going to Saudi Arabia for Umrah and Hajj, the Saudis will then sit up and listen. Only those on whom Hajj is Fardh should go. All others should boycott Saudi Arabia. Alas! What we are proposing is a cry in the wilderness. Furthermore, we know that it will fall on deaf ears. In the circumstances we can only do what is within our ability, and that is to speak against the evil and to make dua to Allah Ta'ala to remove this oppressive, faasiq, un-Islamic slave of America from the scene. May Allah Ta'ala supplant the fussaaq, fujjaar and kuffaar rulers and governments of Muslim lands with pious Sultans who will owe allegiance to a central Khalifah, a true Vicegerent of Allah Azza Wa Jal Q. What is Ilm Naafi' (Beneficial Knowledge)? A. Ilm-e-Naafi' (Beneficial Knowledge) is Knowledge which induces in a person the fikr (concern) for the Hereafter. It impels a person to implement the Shariah in practical life and to make the world subservient to the Deen. It creates life in Beliefs. It induces in man the perpetual fear and concern for Maut, the Qabr and Qiyaamah. Ilm-e-Naafi' is in reality the Noor of the textual knowledge of the Deen. It is the Knowledge which expands the breast of the Mu'min with the anwaar of Nubuwwat, and it transforms the spiritual heart (Qalb) into a receptacle for the anwaar which perpetually cascade from the Arsh of Allah Ta'ala, descending to earth searching for abodes in which to settle. And, the abodes for these celestial anwaar are the purified hearts of the Mu'mineen adorned with the blossoms of Ilm-e-Naafi'. Ilm-e-Naafi' as defined by Imaam Waki (rahmatullah alayh), the Ustaadh of Imaam Shaafi' (rahmatullah alayh), is "A Noor in the Qalb of the Mu'min, and this Noor is not given to a sinner." If the knowledge does not produce these results in a man, then such knowledge will be a calamity for him in the Aakhirah. Regarding Ilm-e-Naafi', the Qur'aan Majeed states: "Verily, of the servants of Allah, only the Ulama fear Him." From this it should be understood that if knowledge does not embed fear of Allah in the heart, it will be a calamity. And, there is no need to wait for Qiyaamah to see the consequences of destructive 'knowledge'. The thorns of knowledge which is a Wabaal (Calamity) are the droves of ulama-e-soo' which pollute the earth in this era. An irate Brother who performed Hajj this year, writes: "The Saudi authorities have installed standing urinals in Mina and Arafaat. Just imagine the obscene scenes! Men standing like animals with their ihram pulled up and urinating like asses in full view of the public. Even women pass by and view these horrid scenes of shamelessness being perpetrated in the holiest of lands – in Mina and Arafaat. How much worse and how much more shameless will Muslims become? THE MAJLIS COMMENTS: Brother, what you have beheld is simply the introductory steps to unimaginable immorality which still has to be implemented under the aegis of the vile rulers. Destruction of holy relics and substituting the relics with toilets and urinals is the Saudi style of emulating the U.S. kuffaar. Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) said that the time will dawn when Muslims will imitate and ape the Yahood and Nasaara to the extent of crawling behind them into even a 'lizard's hole'. If crawling into a lizard's hole, drinking urine and eating the faeces of swines become honourable and fashionable to the Yahood and Nasaara, the Saudis in particular, and the Muslims of the world in general, will consider the accomplishment of these feats honourable and fashionable. This is the state of the Ummah today. The public urinals and the lewd males in 'ihraam' standing like donkeys relieving themselves in full view of the public, vividly portray the filthy, rotten state of fisq and fujoor of the hearts of the rulers and the public. The Ummah is diseased – absolutely rotten and stinking. Whilst we lament these vile developments, we have to understand that Rasulullah's predictions must come to the fore. We are incrementally observing the materialization of Rasulullah's predictions. The moral degeneration of Muslims in general, and of the Arabs in particular, has not reached its limits at the bottom of the barrel. There is still a long way down the slippery meandering path in the abyss of immorality into which the Ummah is uncontrollably sliding to its destruction. The stage still has to be reached when Arab women will be "gyrating with their buttocks swinging around idols" – Hadith. Idolatry and immorality go hand in hand. There is one consolation in this scenario of filth, immorality, fisq and fujoor which the Saudi regime is nourishing – that is the collapse and annihilation of the Saudi regime are not in the too distant future. The Whip of Allah Azza Wa Jal will strike suddenly and swiftly and the Saudi regime will be relegated into oblivion in a remote corner of history. Dua is a very powerful weapon when it rises from the hearts of the righteous ones. The kuffaar superpowers will not be able to aid and sustain the Saudi regime when it is time for the decree of Allah's Athaab. The Qur'aan, warning all these tin-topped zaalim rulers, says: "For every nation there is an appointed time. When its appointed time dawns, neither will it be delayed or advanced by a moment." The current orgies of waste and immorality in which the Saudi regime is lost in a drunken stupor of bestial enjoyment, are simply in consonance with the following Qur'aanic aayat: "When We intend to destroy a city (or a community or nation), we command its affluent ones (to go wild with their evil and villainy), then they (recklessly) indulge in fisq in the city. Then the decree is established over them. We then utterly destroy the city (with its inhabitants). " The wheel of Saudi ruin and destruction is about to make its full turn. Q. In Pakistan the High Court has ruled that the husband does not have the absolute right and power of issuing divorce to his wife. The judge said that if the husband does not issue Talaaq during a tuhr (clean period) in which sexual relations did not take place, and if the Talaaq is not issued in the presence of two witnesses, then it is not valid. Please comment A. The judge who issued the haraam and baatil decree is a moron. He is a zindeeq. His baatil decree renders him a murtad. The jaahil does not know whether he is coming or going. It is indeed surprising that a chap who is unable to distinguish right from left is a high court judge. His stupid decree is ludicrous and laughable – laughable because every ignoramus in the street understands the gross stupidity of the secular judge who is a confirmed jaahil in terms of the Shariah. The ludicrous degree emanating from a court of kufr has absolutely no impact on the Shariahs ruling. The Talaaq remains valid. The stupid decree issued by the moron cannever abrogate the fourteen century Law of the Shariah. Regardless of the Shar'i violation which a husband may commit in his procedure of administering Talaaq, the Talaaq will be valid and effective although the husband will be sinful for having adopted the incorrect method for administration of Talaaq. The validity of Talaaq does not require witnesses as Nikah does. The judge is plain stupid hence his disgorgement of drivel. Although Talaaq should be issued during a Tuhr in which sexual relations does not take place, it is not a condition for the validity of Talaaq. Any misguided Muslim who follows the haraam and baatil ruling of the moron, zindeeq, murtad judge will be in flagrant violation of the Shariah of Allah Ta'ala. The final sickness in which Maut (Death) occurs is called Maradhul Maut. It is the illness from which a person does not recover. The Shariah does not fully recognize a person's monetary operations during Maradhul Maut. For example, gifts made to heirs during Maradhul Maut will not be valid. Charitable endowments made during this state if illness come within the scope of Wasiyyat which is effective in one third the value of the estate. An illness which lasts for a year or more will not be termed Maradhul Maut. When such a person's illness deteriorates leading to his death, the Maradhul Maut will be from the time of deterioration. If during an illness a person is able to perform Salaat as usual and is able to attend to other duties, then such sickness will not be Maradhul Maut. This person's Maradhul Maut will commence from the time his sickness deteriorates, confining him to bed. A sickness could be prolonged, extending over a period of years, e.g. a man has cancer for few years. However, he carries on normally with his daily activities. His Maradhul Maut will begin from the time he is incapacitated and confined to bed. By Ben Goldacre, Guardian UK Drugs are tested by the people who manufacture them, in poorly designed trials, on hopelessly small numbers of weird, unrepresentative patients, and analysed using techniques that are flawed by design, in such a way that they exaggerate the benefits of treatments. Unsurprisingly, these trials tend to produce results that favour the manufacturer. When trials throw up results that companies don't like, they are perfectly entitled to hide them from doctors and patients, so we only ever see a distorted picture of any drug's true effects. Regulators see most of the trial data, but only from early on in a drug's life, and even then they don't give this data to doctors or patients, or even to other parts of government. This distorted evidence is then communicated and applied in a distorted fashion. In their 40 years of practice after leaving medical school, doctors hear about what works ad hoc, from sales reps, colleagues and journals. But those colleagues can be in the pay of drug companies - often undisclosed - and the journals are, too. And so are the patient groups. And finally, academic papers, which everyone thinks of as objective, are often covertly planned and written by people who work directly for the companies, without disclosure. Sometimes whole academic journals are owned outright by one drug company. Aside from all this, for several of the most important and enduring problems in medicine, we have no idea what the best treatment is, because it's not in anyone's financial interest to conduct any trials at all. Now, on to the details. These are frightening results, but they come from individual studies. So let's consider systematic reviews into this area. In 2003, two were published. They took all the studies ever published that looked at whether industry funding is associated with pro-industry results, and both found that industry-funded trials were, overall, about four times more likely to report positive results. A further review in 2007 looked at the new studies in the intervening four years: it found 20 more pieces of work, and all but two showed that industry-sponsored trials were more likely to report flattering results. How does this happen? How do industry-sponsored trials almost always manage to get a positive result? Sometimes trials are flawed by design. You can compare your new drug with something you know to be rubbish - an existing drug at an inadequate dose, perhaps, or a placebo sugar pill that does almost nothing. You can choose your patients very carefully, so they are more likely to get better on your treatment. You can peek at the results halfway through, and stop your trial early if they look good. But after all these methodological quirks comes one very simple insult to the integrity of the data. Sometimes, drug companies conduct lots of trials, and when they see that the results are unflattering, they simply fail to publish them. Because researchers are free to bury any result they please, patients are exposed to harm on a staggering scale throughout the whole of medicine. Doctors can have no idea about the true effects of the treatments they give. Does this drug really work best, or have I simply been deprived of half the data? No one can tell. Is this expensive drug worth the money, or has the data simply been massaged? No one can tell. Will this drug kill patients? Is there any evidence that it's dangerous? No one can tell. This is a bizarre situation to arise in medicine, a discipline in which everything is supposed to be based on evidence. And this data is withheld from everyone in medicine, from top to bottom. Nice, for example, is the National-Institute the Health and Clinical Excellence, created by the British government to conduct careful, unbiased summaries of all the evidence on new treatments. It is unable either to identify or to access data on a drug's effectiveness that's been withheld by researchers or companies: Nice has no more legal right to that data than you or I do, even though it is making decisions about effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness, on behalf of the NHS, for millions of people. In any sensible world, when researchers are conducting trials on a new tablet for a drug company, for example, we'd expect universal contracts, making it clear that all researchers are obliged to publish their results, and that industry sponsors - which have a huge interest in positive results - must have no control over the data. But, despite everything we know about industry-funded research being systematically biased, this does not happen. In fact, the opposite is true: it is entirely normal for researchers and academics conducting industry-funded trials to sign contracts subjecting them to gagging clauses that forbid them to publish, discuss or analyse data from their trials without the permission of the funder. This is such a secretive and shameful situation that even trying to document it in public can be a fraught business. In 2006, a paper was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (lama), one of the biggest medical journals in the world, describing how common it was for researchers doing industry-funded trials to have these kinds of constraints placed on their right to publish the results. The study was conducted by the Nordic Cochrane Centre and it looked at all the trials given approval to go ahead in Copenhagen and Frederiksberg. (If you're wondering why these two cities were chosen, it was simply a matter of practicality: the researchers applied elsewhere without success, and were specifically refused access to data in the UK.) These trials were overwhelmingly sponsored by the pharmaceutical industry (98%) and the rules governing the management of the results tell a story that walks the now familiar line between frightening and absurd. SALAAT BEHIND DEVIATES Q. I have read in Aqeedatut Tahaawi and also in Mullah Ali Qaari's commentary of Fiqhul Akbar that the Ahlus Sunnah perform Salaat behind a man even if he is a faajir (immoral). However, I do not perform Salaat behind these deviant Salafis in prison because Az-Zabeedi' Al-Hanafi said that Salaat behind the Ahl-e-Hawa is Laa Ya jooz (not permissible). Please explain the conflict between our Hanafi Scholars on this issue. A. What you have read in Aqeedatut Tahaawi and Fiqhul Akbar is correct. That is the belief and practice of the Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jama'ah. It is the official position. Regarding Az-Zabeedi's statement, firstly, it does not say that Salaat behind the Ahl-e-Bid'ah is invalid. It says: 'La tajooz' which does not mean 'invalid'. The statement says that one should not perform Salaat behind them. Secondly, his advice is in conflict with the Jamhoor Fuqaha of the Ahnaaf.. Thus, we do not make amal on the obscure and rare opinion. Whilst we do not intentionally seek out a Bid'ati to follow in Salaat, nevertheless if we are in a situation where the Imaam is from among the Ahl-e-Hawa (people of nafsaani desire/ deviates), then we do not perform our Salaat alone. We join the Jamaat. In Musjdul Haraam in Makkah, and in Musjidun Nabawi in Madinah, the Imaams are generally Salafi. We join the Jamaat and perform Salaat behind them, and this is in accord with the Aqeedah stated in all our kutub of Aqeedah as you are aware. Thus, you may not utilize Az-Zabeedi's version to cancel the clear-cut ruling of the Jamhoor Fuqaha of the Ahnaaf. Salafis (Wahhaabis) are astray, but they are Muslims. We perform Salaat even behind them. However, if a Salafi who makes masah on ordinary socks leads the Salaat, and if we are aware of it, then we repeat the Salaat we had performed behind him, not because we believe him to be a kaafir, but because his wudhu is not valid. Q. Salafis propagate that it is kufr to make ta'weel (to interpret) the allegorical Qur'aanic verses whereas according to the Ahlus Sunnah it is permissible and sometimes even necessary to resort to ta'weel. I find it difficult to appropriately interpret certain aayat. A. You are not qualified to resort to Ta'weel. If you do not understand anything, seek guidance from the Ulama and do not distort any meaning with unqualified interpretation. This can be dangerous for Imaan. Even the Muqallideen Ulama do not resort to Ta'weel. We merely narrate the Ta'weelaat (interpretations) of the senior Ulama of bygone times. The Arabic text which you have quoted in your question No.5, clearly instructs you to refer to the Ulama who understand these issues. MATH-HAB Q. I am a follower of the Shaafi' Math-hab. However, for certain reasons I am inclining to the Hanafi Math-hab. Please offer some advice. A. You will be justified to come over to the Hanafi Math-hab, only if you lack expert guidance in the Shaafi' Math-hab of which you are a follower. You may adopt the Hanafi Math-hab only for a genuine Deeni reason, not for any worldly reason. If it is to gain sound knowledge for the purpose of practising, then your adoption of the Hanafi Math-hab will be correct. In fact, Imaam Tahaawi too was at one stage a Shaafi'. Later he accepted the Hanafi Math-hab. TAQDEER Q. Regarding Taqdeer, I have read that the Taqdeer which does not change is called T a q d e e r M u b r a m (Conformed Taqdeer). But Taqdeer Muallaq (Impending Taqdeer) Can change with Dua. Could you expound these concepts? A. Even Taqdeer Muallaq is an integral part of the all-embracing, eternal Taqdeer of Allah Azza Wa Jal. The Mubram-Muallaq exposition is a weak attempt to logically explain what is inexplicable due to its eternal dimension. In other words, in eternity Allah Ta'ala has always been aware that a certain act a million years hence will be changed and substituted with another decree. Brother, this is an issue which should not be probed in depth. The more you probe it, the more intricate and difficult it becomes. Created minds cannever encompass the eternal meanings of eternal issues – issues related to the Zaat and Sifaat of Allah Ta'ala. You tread dangerous ground when you attempt to enter into this minefield. Neither can we explain such issues satisfactorily, nor will we understand these issues in entirety even after entering Jannat. DIFFERENCES Q. Why are there so much difference among the Scholars on these issues of Aqeedah? A. All the finer and subtle transcendental issues pertaining to Aqeedah, Allah's Zaat and Sifaat – issues on which the Qur'aan, the Ahaadith and the Aathaar of the Sahaabah are silent, are products of the human mind. Thus, the opinions of the Scholars on such issues are essentially the products of their minds, not the products of Wahi. Differences are therefore natural and logical. Thus, the principle is always to find a reconciliation between the conflicting statements of the senior Scholars of the valid Math-habs. The following questions and comments are by a German Sister who had embraced Islam a few years ago. By profession she is a nurse, hence she knows what she is speaking on the subject under discussion. The Sister writes: "Below is a fatwa of permissibility of contraception. I read and hear all the time that contraception is permissible if the wife feels that she is not ready for children or if she is tired of childcare or if she wants to keep slim (but which will not happen because the weight gains naturally by taking anti-baby pills, etc.), or if she wants a time out after having children, or if the menstrual cycle is not regular. This (i.e. the pill for menses) is often resorted to here in Pakistan where the girls are told that this medicine is to regulate their menses, but they are not being told that it is the anti-baby pill and so on. I wonder how quick a fatwa of permission is given without the necessary investigation of the matter, substance, technique, etc. Here in Pakistan some of the Ulema in the Darul Ifta say that their job is only to look into the books, but not to investigate the practical issues and consequences of their fatwas given in haste. Well, what should we expect of the youngster Ulema spending time sleeping and want to be woken up at a certain time instead of doing work on research? Here, probably everywhere, the slogan is always…but the books say so, even if the matter is a completely different issue. I am suffering from the side effects of this horrid medication since I was put on the anti-baby pill by my mother on my first visit to a lady doctor back in my teenage days having the first boyfriend. First, unnatural massive hair growth everywhere and which does not stop; deepening of my voice (what this means for the emotions of a woman can be imagined); fainting spells, liver damage, spleen anomalies, blood clotting problems, never-ending migraines, brain problems, uterine cysts…the list goes on. With the pill, one could just manipulate one's menses as one wished. Oh! I did not like my menses occurring on a certain day, so I kept taking the pill. Now my body pays back the abuse I had inflicted on it, not knowing better at the time. I was fortunate not to have suffered an embolia so far. Since I became a Muslim I did not take this horrid stuff anymore. So, with this deluge of harmful side effects, how can the Ulema so simply just issue a fatwa of permissibility? Today it is so easy to obtain information via the internet. What should be the correct stance on this issue? COMMENT The fatwa to which the Sister refers is not being reproduced here. It is simply a humdrum fatwa issued by a mufti maajin without research and understanding. It ludicrously contends the permissibility of the horrible poison which the Sister describes. All your observations and comments pertaining to the pill and contraception in general are correct and valid. It is not permissible to indulge in these harmful, unnatural, poisonous horrid contraceptives and contraptions invented by the kuffaar at the insistence of Shaitaan. Your comments regarding the muftis of this day too are pertinent. Muftis are available nowadays for a cent. The word has become a joke. Just any fellow who has sat sleeping through a crash course of so-called 'ifta' is crowned a 'mufti' in this era although the poor fellow is unable to distinguish between left and right. Describing these mercenary 'muftis', radio 'muftis', television 'muftis' and riba-bank 'muftis', Allaamah Ibn Aabideen stated they are 'Haatibul lail', i.e. they gather firewood in the darkness of the night not knowing whether their hands fall on a snake or on najaasat. Then the great Allaamah adds: "Wail –Kul-lul Wail", i.e. total destruction and Hell for those who follow such moron 'muftis'. They blurt out just any drivel that their nafs pumps into their mouths. Their understanding of the kutub (books) is minimal and chaotic, and in deeds of virtue they are bankrupt. They consume mushtabah and haraam. This is the reason for the preponderance of fatwas of nafs which legalize even carrion, liquor, riba and these haraam unnatural contraceptives, the ruin of which you have spelled out and experienced, and from which you are to this day suffering. As you have correctly concluded, they just look into the books with their eyes, without their brains being operative. They have seen the Hadith pertaining to azal, and without research and reflection, they analogize the filthy kuffaar poisons such as the pill on the basis of azal, and fabricate a fatwa of permissibility. The shocking array of harmful effects has no meaning for their fossilized brains. They are too stupid to understand that dharar (harm/injury) is a factor of prohibition. Western kuffaar practices awe them, hence they dare not issue fatwas which will upset the modernist western establishment. They wallow in mental subjection. The smattering of book knowledge they have acquired is manipulated to portray this subjection with Islamic hues. Thus they cloak their fatwas of corruption with an external façade of religiosity. But even lay people like yourself see through the flimsy veil of stupidity which overhangs the moronic fatwas issued by the moronic (maajin) muftis. Contraceptives – the pill, the loop, the filthy zina condoms and the like are all haraam, and no amount of 'permissibility;' fatwas issued by moron 'muftis' can halaalize things, substances and institutions which operate in direct conflict with the natural laws of Allah Azza Wa Jal and the purpose of life on earth. No mind can ever imagine the stupendous Qudrat (Power) of Allah Azza Wa Jal. The mind boggling dimensions and objects of space which the atheist scientists have discovered and acknowledged are extremely infinitesimal in relation to what man does not know of Allah's creation. Hadhrat Ali Bin Abi Taalib (radhiyallahu anhu) narrated that there is one being whose name is Rooh. Allah Ta'ala has created him with 70,000 mouths. In every mouth there are 70,000 tongues. Every tongue has 70,000 lughaat (dialects). The wonderful being recites the tasbeeh of Allah Azza Wa Jal with all his tongues and dialects. With every Tasbeeh emanating from Rooh (alayhis salaam), Allah Ta'ala creates an Angel who will fly around among the Malaaikah until the Day of Qiyaamah. Subhaanallaah! According to Hadhrat Ibn Abbaas (radhiyallahu anhu), Rooh (alayhis salaam) has 10,000 wings. According to Hadhrat Mujaahid (rahmatullah alayh), Rooh (alayhis salaam) is not an Angel. He has the form of a human being, but is not human. He also eats and drinks. He is an entirely different, unique creation of Allah Azza Wa Jal. Besides this wonderful and gigantic being called Rooh (alayhis salaam), Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) explained that Rooh is a creation apart from the Malaaikah. The term, Rooh in this context is used in the same way as the word 'man' which refers to entire mankind. They dwell among the Malaaikah. They have features and limbs like human beings, and they descend to earth with the Malaaikah who are despatched by Allah Ta'ala on a variety of errands and duties. Hadhrat Abdullah Bin Buraidah (radhiyallahu anhu) narrated that the combined number – the total – of insaan (human beings) jinn and malaaikah (angels) is less than the number of the species called Rooh. They do not constitute even one tenth of the species Rooh. Here rooh does not mean soul. It is a different species of creation. Just as the jinn are invisible to human beings, so too are the Rooh invisible to the Malaaikah. Further, there is another species of Allah's creation called Karoobi. In number, the Karoobi is ten times more than the species Rooh. Only Allah Azza Wa Jal knows what else abounds in His creation. THE FUQAHA The Fuqaha were a special class of Ulama created by Allah Ta'ala to formalize and codify the Shariah. All the Fuqaha of this category flourished during the Khairul Quroon era. Regarding the Fuqaha, Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) had instructed his Sahaabah to deliver to others whatever they had heard from him because there will be many who hear the Ahaadith and understand it better than those who narrate it. This was a reference to the Aimmah-e-Mujtahideen and the Fuqha. Sulaiman Bin Mahraan (rahmatullah alayh) was among the Ustaadhs of Imaam Bukhaari (rahmatullah alayh). Once he asked Imaam Abu Yusuf (rahmatullah alayh) a mas'alah. Imaam Abu Yusuf was much junior in age to Hadhrat Bin Mahraan. The answer presented by Imaam Abu Yusuf amazed Hadhrat Sulaimaan Bin Mahraan who asked: "Where did you learn this mas'alah?" Imaam Abu Yusuf replied: "Hadhrat, I had heard this Hadith (on which the mas'alah was based) from you." Hadhrat Sulaimaan Bin Mahraan pleasantly commented: "I had memorized this Hadith even before you were born. But it is only now after you have explained it that I have correctly understood the purport of the Hadith. We (the Muhadditheen) are pharmacists whilst you (the Fuqaha) are the physicians. We gathered and memorized all these Ahaadith. But you (the Fuqaha) have understood the application of these Ahaadith." Q. It has all along been the practice of the government of Pakistan to print on the back of all currency notes a Hadith which says in Urdu: "Rizq-e-Halaal ain Ibaadat hai." (Halaal Rizq is ibaadat). The new notes issued by the government no longer carry the Hadith. A lawyer has therefore instituted legal action against the government. The relevant press report is as follows: "LAHORE: A senior lawyer has sent a legal notice to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Shamsad Akhter, demanding that she withdraws all new currency notes from the country within 30 days. The lawyer, Tariq Aziz, said that the new currency notes of all denominations did not carry the Hadith, which underlined the importance of earning money honestly. He said earlier all the notes carried the Hadith: "Rizq-i-Helal ain ibaadat hai" (making an honest living is a form of prayer). The lawyer said the SBP had withdrawn this important message without reason of rhyme – an act that was unlawful and illegal. He said that he would have the right to initiate legal proceedings if the bank did not withdraw the notes that were void of the message." (End of Press report) Is it not a good move by the government to dispense with the Hadith in view of the mishandling and disrespect shown to the Hadith when the notes are handled by all and sundry, even non-Muslims? What about women in menses handling the notes with the Hadith on them? Children do not know how to observe adab for the written Hadith. A. Women in menses may handle any Deeni book. They are not allowed to recite the Qur'aan nor to touch any Qur'aanic verse. It is permissible for a woman in menses to handle a currency note whether the Hadith printed on it is in Urdu or Arabic. Money is a ni'mat of Allah Ta'ala. It is also a bounty like a book. People are required to respect it when they handle it. In fact, money is so dear and beloved to people that its love leads to even killing one another to possess the money. Even wars are fought to possess this 'greatest love' of man. Children should be taught the adab of handling the notes in the same way as they are taught to respect the kutub of the Deen. How do children handle the Qur'aan Shareef and their Madrasah kitaabs? There is a sinister design of the government of Napakistan for having eliminated the Hadith from the new notes, and that reason, is the increasing atheism of the Pakistani ruling clique. They have an aversion for Islam, hence the removal of the Hadith. A Hadith appearing on currency notes issued by an evil, westernized so -called 'Muslim' government is not in consonance with the image which such a kufr government desires for itself. It should be understood that the government of Napakistan is a slave of the U.S. The primitiveness of Islamic issues is an embarrassment for the fussaaq, in fact Zindeeqs, at the helm of government in Napakistan. Thus, the elimination of the Hadith is not an insignificant issue which the woman in charge of the SBP has implemented to satisfy her whimsical fancy. It is part of a larger plot to eradicate Islam, and this sinister Yahudi conspiracy is being implemented gradually - very very slowly and imperceptibly with great patience. In the circumstances we agree with the action lawyer contemplates to institute. Health Zone: CONTROVERSY IN THE CHICKEN AND MEAT INDUSTRY by Naturopathic Health Advisor Rashid Abass - PORT ELIZABETH Cell 082 630 6056 Tel 041 4573794 www.myaimstore.com/rashid Email: rashid@isat.co.za "The chicken and meat are often badly bruised from injury, mostly from abuse by abattoir and chicken factory staff on these extremely sick chickens. Chickens, turkeys and cattle are mercilessly kicked at, grabbed indiscriminately and simply flung and bashed against the walls and stamped upon with boots as worn by the slaughter workers. I have personally been to a Muslim-owned chicken farm where the chickens are claimed to being treated more humanely: the expressive word being 'more' but not Islamically acceptable: the chickens were certainly not stacked tightly into bins and crates on top of each other as is routinely done at chicken factory farms. However, the chickens still looked extremely lethargic, looking just about alive; they could hardly walk properly and certainly were not able to be in fresh air and peck into the free open grass. Here too, chickens were dying at the rate of two to five a day amongst about 400 chickens of the rotating stock of the chicken farmer. Chicken is pumped with salt solution and arsenic to make the meat look attractively pink and larger in volume compared to the smaller-looking, more natural chicken which private slaughterers sell. In just a few minutes of cooking, the nice pink, water inflated meat reduces in volume and the consumer goes on to eat highly infected meat, full of anitbiotics, ammonia and other chemicals which settle into the cattle and poultry at these inhumane factory 'farms'. The risks of hormone-laden chickens are resulting in cancer, infertility, weak immunity and abnormally rapid growth and advanced puberty. Bi-sexuality is also another increasingly common trait in society. And when we consume haraam meat from this source, it affects the Imaan of the consumer and Allah's anger descends upon those of us who encourage and care to do nothing about this monstrous cruelty. The biggest cause of diabetes is truly excess consumption of meat, chicken, margarine, white refined foods and flours. 20gms of meat or chicken per meal is the safe permissible amount one should be consuming. Alloxin is a chemical used to whiten flour. Alloxin damages beta cells of the pancreas so that the pancreas is no longer able to produce blood sugar lowering insulin! As for our ladies obsessed with the use of most commercially-produced beauty products: 99% of such products have been unnecessarily tested in the cruellest manner with highly concentrated amounts of beauty care chemicals: the poor animals are subjected to immense burning of the eyes which are taped to keep the eyes open for at least 24 hours or longer. Imagine the absolute agony the poor animals go through for their entire lives. Allah's anger descends when such inhuman treatment is allowed to continue to gratify the nafasni desires of people who care not to find other ways of obtaining their sources of meat, chicken and such cruelly-- produced beauty products." IS WUDHU VALID? Q. A company in Poland has just invented a nail polish dubbed 'breathable'. Muslim females are buying and using this nail polish. They are being told that water penetrates the polish, wetting the nails, hence wudhu is valid. The manufacturing company explains that scientifically, water vapour penetrates to the nail, but actual water drops 'do not penetrate' When asked the difference between water and water vapour, the company said that water vapour is a different state/phase of matter other than water in liquid form. I contacted a local Imaam about this matter. His conclusion was: "There is room for debate, and I do feel inclined to its permissibility." If it is assumed that water vapour does reach the nails, but not the actual water, will wudhu be valid? Another scholar has this to say: "Now there is a solution. No, I'm not talking about henna. Most scholars advise it as a substitute while failing to realize just how different henna is from nail polish in the world of f a s h i o n a n d b e a u - ty………..Good news, Inglot Cosmetics, a company from Poland, has released a new line of polish called 02M that it has labelled "breathable nail enamel". It borrows a polymer used in some contact lenses which allows oxygen and moisture to penetrate to the nail…..One sister was told that water vapour reaches the nail but not water in its liquid form. The question then arises about whether water vapour reaching the nail suffices for wudhu?" In his conclusion, the scholar says: "It appears to me that there is a sound basis for believing the water seeps through to the nail when wearing 02M breathable nail polish. Perhaps not every brand which claims to be breathable meets this criteria and perhaps the nails need to be soaked in water for a few seconds. Nonetheless, the basis exists for permissibility….". ANSWER: The meandering, rigmarole argument involving Fiqhi technicalities and technological technicalities, is entirely unnecessary and deceptive. The issue concerns a vital issue – the validity of Wudhu and Salaat. The issue is too important to trifle with. If someone informs you that the glass of water you are about to drink contains a drop of a lethal poison which will instantaneously dispatch you into the bowels of death, we are sure that no one will drink the water even if the information is false. But with regard to vital matters pertaining to ibaadat and the Aakhirah, doubts, information, impermissibility rulings, and precautionary warnings are shrugged off. Whatever the nafs desires is fulfilled. It is surprising and preposterous that after more than 14 centuries of Islam's existence, completion and perfection, 'scholars' are still subjecting a simple issue such as Wudhu to ridiculous polemics, casting overboard the utmost and fundamental importance of the Fardh ibaadat of Salaat. There is no need to delve into the quagmire of juridical technicalities to gratify the haraam nafsaani desires of lewd women who wish to display their charms like prostitutes to all and sundry in the public domain. It is conceded by the liberals that nail polish is a requisite in the world of fashion and beauty which is a world of zina. In this haraam 'world of beauty and fashion', the female is required to make herself an exhibition of jaahiliyyah. For the attainment of this satanic goal by women who have no care for their Aakhirah, liberal 'scholars' bend far backwards to placate and gratify these women with fatwas of permissibility which provide impetus for public display of females whom the Shariah has designated Aurah from head to feet. The technical argument of water and water vapour in relation to the ibaadat of Wudhu and Salaat is moronic stuff. It is the ta'leem of shaitaan, designed to ruin the ibaadat of these unfortunate females who ply the trade of zina in public. Remember that Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) has explained a variety of zina dimensions, and he has described a woman with perfume outside the home as an adulteress. Confound the explanation of the Polish company. Their 02M is haraam. The Shariah requires water to be applied to every millimeter of the limb to be washed. Water vapour is NOT water. Islam does not fetter the Ummah with intricate technical details of atoms and molecules, and the rest of scientific bunkum which shaitaan whispers into the minds of the liberal, modernist 'scholars' who are astray and who mislead others. The Hadith predicts the utilization of these stupid and deceptive technicalities to hoodwink and mislead Muslims. In this age, such stup i d t e c h n i c a l a n d 'technological' arguments have been accorded the statuts of being muhallilaat (legalizers of haraam). Thus pictures of animate objects are legalized by labelling them photos, videimages, etc. Liquor is legalized with the name ethanol. Riba is legalized by calling it dividend, etc. Now water is described as water vapour. Those who claim permissibility for the 'water vapour' deception are not scholars. They are morons, for they lack even the understanding of the meaning of water in Islam. They are scandalously ignorant of the fact that Tahaarat is valid only with al-maaul mutlaq – natural water in the meaning of the Shariah. Only if the water retains its natural properties, in particular its property of flowing (sailaan), will the Shar'i definition of water be applicable. If the substance does not flow freely on the limbs, Tahaarat is not valid with such 'water'. When the natural properties of water change, it will not longer be termed al-maaul mutlaq in the Shariah. Whilst a change of some properties to a degree is acceptable, the sailaan should remain unaffected, and the water must be able to flow from the limbs in order for it to be known as water in Shar'i terms. Water vapour has none of the properties of al-maaul mutlaq. By no stretch of Shar'i logic can water vapour ever be termed water. When they are ignorant of even the meaning of water, their views and fatwas will be the opinions of juhala. They are astray and lead astray the dumb masses as mentioned by Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) – "Dhalloo wa adhalloo". These liberal, misguided scholars should issue a fatwa that for ease and comfort, the whole wudhu may be made with water vapour. Just invent a water-vapour contraption and let the vapour pass over the wudhu limbs and deceive yourself that you have wudhu and are performing Salaat with wudhu. Besides this, there is no absolute certitude regarding the permeability of the substance. Also there are other brands of the 'breathable' satanic substance which are not claimed to be permeable, and which will confuse the lewd women. Permissibility fatwas will make them more careless and addict the women to haraam and bestow religious acceptability to their exhibitions of jaahiliyyah. The women who have some concern for their Imaan and the Aakhirah should understand well that it is haraam to use this new satanic nail polish. Wudhu is Not valid. So too, Salaat will not be valid. A Brother who had intended investing in the company, Anglorand Islamic Investments, writes: "We took your advice and abstained from investing a huge sum of money with Anglo-rand, but it seems that they are confident of the correctness of what they are offering. See their letter of explanation. Is there a difference of opinion or misinterpretation?" Anglorand wrote back to the brother defending its so-called Islamic compliancy. Our response follows: What we had mentioned was the Law – the Shariah which was completed and perfected more than fourteen centuries ago. In view of the completion and perfection of Islam, it became the Final Law of Allah Ta'ala, hence Nubuwwat terminated, and no longer does the world require a new Nabi for promulgating a new Shariah. The explanation given to you by Anglorand is in terms of the Shariah pure drivel devoid of Shar'i substance. Whilst laymen may be bamboozled by the drivel couched with Islamic terminology, men of knowledge will understand the nonsense proffered. Let us briefly examine and comment on their statements for your benefit. (1) AAQIFI is not the Divine Shariah. The standards formulated by this entity are not necessarily compliant with the Shariah. (2) The first paragraph under the caption, Fiduciary Contract, is correct. (3) In the section under the caption: Exchange Contracts, the contention of a guarantee being permissible for a sale investment, is baatil (false and baseless). When an investment is made in a "sale" venture, it follows that money is invested in some form of business for gaining profit. Such investment may be in a Shirkat (mushaarakah) or Mudhaarabah enterprise. Guaranteeing profit in these ventures is haraam and the contract is invalid (faasid) as is mentioned in the statement under Fiduciary Contracts. It has not been explained what is meant by 'sale' in this context. They should be more specific and mention examples of the type of sales they have in mind, and to which the contended permissibility of guarantee is applicable. (4) If the investment is made in a business whose dealings pertain to only leasing vehicles, equipment, etc., the fact of profit still remains. An asset is leased to a customer who is not part of the business. He is a third party who leases a vehicle. The profit made from leasing the asset has to be shared. The profit is therefore acquired only by means of a mushaarakah or mudhaarabah contract between the investors who all invest capital in a mushaarakah enterprise, or the profit is divided between the investor and the manager of the business who does not invest capital. This is then a mudhaarabah enterprise. Thus, in any kind of business the profit can never be guaranteed. (5) Anglorand under its explanation of Guarantees, embarked on an exercise in redundancy because the validity of guarantee is not contested. What is contested is the misapplication of the principle of guarantee. Whilst guarantee is valid in the Shariah, it may not be extended to ventures which do not accept guarantees in terms of the Shariah. A guarantee which is permissible for example, is the assumption of another person's debt or to guarantee payment by a debtor. There is no relationship between future profits and guarantee. Neither profit nor the initial capital investment accepts the rule of guarantee. The claim that "guarantees encourage performance" is irrelevant when the guarantee is tendered in conflict with the Shariah and applied to a substratum in which the Shariah does not permit guarantees. Everything which encourages performance is not permissible in the Shariah. Haraam advertising and exhibiting the female body also encourage performance. But such kuffaar methods are not permissible. It is therefore highly incorrect to justify a faasid business venture on the basis of guaranteed performance and facilitation of dealings. (6) In addition, sight should not be lost of the actual so-called Shariah-compliant contract which is cluttered with terms and conditions which are unacceptable to the Shariah. The actual contract is not as simple as the advertising brochures proclaim. The contract documents are extremely complex, modeled almost 100% in compliance, not with the Shariah, but with conventional capitalist riba financial institutions. (7) Brother in the prevailing circumstances the best investment is gold coins. People who had purchased krugerrands five years ago have earned more than 100% profit when they sold their coins. Coins purchased a couple of years ago for R6000 are worth more than R15,000 today. Gold coins are a clean and fully Shar'i compliant investment. But on-line gold dealing is not permissible. No other investment pays such huge dividends as gold coins. QUESTION Some Madrasahs charge fees for pupils who pursue Islamic education at their institutions. The parents of some students who can afford the fees pay directly to the institution. However, there are many students from poor homes, whose parents are unable to pay the fees which are as high as R1,500 – R2,000 per student. Regarding the poor students, the Madrasah authorities 'pay' in the fees with Zakaat which is contributed to the Madrasah. What I want to know is ownership of the fees. Who becomes the owner of the fees which are collected in these two ways? Do the fees so collected become the personal property of the principal or the committee members running the Madrasah or do the fees remain Waqf funds to be used for the operation of the Madrasah? I have been told that the fees become the personal property of the principal. Is this correct? ANSWER It is important to understand that Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) said: "Recite the Qur'aan. Do not eat by means of the Qur'aan." In other words, the Knowledge of the Qur'aan Majeed should not be commercialized. Every branch of Islamic studies imparted by a Madrasah stems from the Qur'aan. During the Khairul Quroon era (the first three ages of Islam), there existed consensus on the hurmat (prohibition) of charging fees for teaching Islamic Knowledge, paying an Imaam and Muath-thin of the Musjid, etc. However, in the later centuries, when Taqwa and Tawakkul disappeared, personnel to perpetuate these vital Islamic services were no longer available. Circumstances then compelled the Fuqaha of the later eras to issue the verdict of permissibility of remuneration for Islamic services. Thus, paying Ustaadhs, Imaams and Muath-thins nowadays is permissible. No one is today prepared to render these Services of the Aakhirat gratis. In the light of the above, it will be clear that a Madrasah is not a money-making enterprise. The function of the Madrasah is not to enrich the principal or the group operating the institution. The principal and the ustaadhs are entitled to salaries. Due to lack of Tawakkul, the Madrasah managements nowadays charge fees. However, it is ironical that in the poor countries where the Madaaris are totally dependent on charity, education is free. Fees are not charged. On the other hand, in a rich country such as South Africa, where the institution enjoys the patronage of the wealthy who contribute large sums of money, fees are charged. All the Ulama who are operating Madrasahs and Darul Ulooms today in South Africa had acquired their Deeni Knowledge in India and Pakistan at Madrasahs where fees are not charged. Even the wealthiest students received free education at our Madaaris in India and Pakistan. Whilst we shall not venture to say that the fees being charged are haraam, we say that the fees do not become the personal property of the principal or of the group of persons running the Madrasah. The fees are Waqf funds which should be compulsorily used for the upkeep of the Madrasah. The staff – principal, teachers, workers, etc. – are entitled to salaries. The salary of the principal shall be similar to the wage paid to Ustaadhs. This is a principle formulated in the light of the meagre stipend which used to be paid from the Baitul Maal to the Khualafa-e-Raashideen. The Khulafa received a stipend which equalled the wage of a menial labourer or even less. Since the objective of the fees, induced by lack of Tawakkul and Taqwa, is the upkeep of the Madrasah, no member of the staff, the principal or anyone else, has the right to enrich himself from such Waqf funds. He may not deal with these funds as if it has become his personal property. If contributions from the public suffice for the expenses of the Madrasah, then it will not be permissible to charge fees. The Madrasah is not a commercial enterprise. The principal and Asaatizah should therefore beware of mercantile attitudes. The Asaatisah are not supposed to be mercenaries although it has to be conceded that this is precisely the objective of Madrasah personnel in this mercantile age. Madrasahs have become Signs of Qiyaamah. Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) mentioning the lesser Signs of Qiyaamah said: "Knowledge (of the Deen) will be acquired for purposes other than the Deen." Narrating a Hadith, Hadhrat Abdullah Ibn Mas'ood (radhiyallahu anhu), referring to the Signs of Qiyaamah, said: "The dunya (the world) will be pursued with the deeds of the Aakhirah, and Knowledge will be acquired for purposes other than the Deen." Fees becoming the property of the person who operates the Madrasah is in an entirely different scenario. It is a one-man initiative. A man or a woman operating from home conducts a class. This Ustaadh/ Apa is not supported by public funds. The public does not make contributions to the one-man class. Nor does the Ustaadh/Apa solicit funds from the general public. No one pays this Ustaadh/ Apa a wage. He/she teaches of his/her own initiative. Lack of Taqwa and Tawakkul constrains the Ustaadh/Apa to charge a fee. In this scenario the fees belong to the Ustaadh/Apa whose small Madrasah class is not funded by the Lillah and Zakaat funds of the community. But, where an institution receives huge contributions from the general public, it is not permissible for the principal to treat the fees as his personal property. In fact, the contributing public believes that the fees are for the upkeep of the Madarsah, not for the principal or management members to enrich themselves and to pocket the fees as if these funds are their personal property. For enrichment, other lawful avenues should be pursued. They believe that all their Lillah and Zakaat are for the upkeep of the Madrasah be bereft of Imaan. We are living in such an age of kufr today. All these modernist morons whose brains have been deranged by western secular indoctrination are bereft of Imaan, hence they dwell in bewilderment and confusion in an ocean of doubt and kufr.