Birth Control and Contraception

First of all, it should be known that, one of the main aims of marriage in Islam is procreation. Islam encourages its followers to reproduce in large numbers in order to increase the size of the Ummah of our Prophet (Allah bless him & give him peace).

Allah Most High says in the Qur’an:

“So now hold intercourse with your wives and seek (the children) what Allah has ordained for you.” ( Surah al-Baqarah, V: 187)

In a Hadith recorded by Imam Abu Dawud, Imam an-Nasa’i and others, the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) said: “Marry women who are loving and reproduce in abundance, for I shall outnumber the other nations by you.”

It is clear from the above, that Shariah encourages its followers to abstain from practicing birth control, especially, when it is given a formal, organized and general approach. Therefore, one should refrain from practicing contraception unless necessary.

As far as the Shar’i ruling is concerned, there are two categories of birth control and the ruling of each is different. The ruling of each category is as follows:

1) Permanent Irreversible Contraception

This type of contraception is carried out when the couple decide never to have a baby. It is done with a sterilization operation carried out either on the man (Vasectomy) or the woman (Tubectomy) and renders the couple incapable of ever having children.

The ruling with regards to this is that, it is unlawful (Haram) to carry out such operations. There are many Narrations of the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) and clear texts of the Fuqaha (Jurists) which determine this.

The Companion, Sayyiduna Abdullah ibn Mas’ud (Allah be pleased with him) said:

“We use engage in Jihad in the company of the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) and our wives did not accompany us. We said: O Prophet of Allah! Shall we not castrate ourselves? He forbade us from doing so.” (Sahih al-Bukhari)

The great Hanafi Jurist, Allama Ibn Abidin (Allah have mercy on him) says:

“Castration of humans is Haram.” (Radd al-Muhtar).

Imam al-Ayni (Allah have mercy on him) says:

“Castration (and sterilization, m) is prohibited with the consensus of all the scholars.” (Umdat al-Qari)

However, in cases of extreme necessity, Irreversible contraception will become permissible. For example, a woman’s life is in danger or repeated pregnancies gravely damage her health, etc. This however, should be advised by a Muslim qualified doctor.

2) Temporary Reversible Contraception

There are many methods by which reversible contraception can be performed. Coitus interruptus (Withdrawal method), the pill, using of the condom, i.u.d, spermicidal, just to mention a few.

The ruling on reversible contraception is that, it is somewhat disliked (makruh tanzihan) if practiced without any reason. If there is a genuine reason, then it will be totally permissible with the permission of the wife. Some of the reasons (for the permissibility of reversible contraception), which the Fuqaha mention, are:

a) Physical state of the woman,

b) Weakness and illness,

c) The couple are on a distant journey,

d) The couple’s relations are unstable and divorce is likely,

e) Spacing out children in order to give them adequate care and attention,

If contraception is practiced due to a reason contrary to the teachings of Shariah, then it will not be permissible. Some of these reasons are:

a) Fear of poverty and not being able to provide,

b) For the fashion of keeping small families and imitating the Kuffar,

c) Being ashamed of having a girl,

There are many narrations from the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) which signify the permissibility of reversible contraception, but at the same time indicate it to be undesirable.

Sayyiduna Jabir (Allah be pleased with him) says: “We used to practice Coitus interruptus (Withdrawal method) while the Qur’an was being revealed. The Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) knew of this and did not prohibit us.” (Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim )

This has more or less been mentioned by the scholars in their books. (See Imam Nawawi in his commentary of Sahih Muslim, Mulla Ali al-Qari in al-Mirqat, Ibn Abidin in his Radd al-Muhtar and others.

For more details, please refer to my book on this subject titled Birth Control and Abortion (Revised Edition), available from the Darul Iftaa, Leicester, UK.

Source: http://attalib.blogspot.com/2009/02/birth-control-and-contraception-mufti.html

Divine Decree & Human Responsibility

Qur’an Recitaions

http://www.tvquran.com/Al-Minshawi.htm

The Five Categories of People who Pray by ibn Qayyim al Jawziyya

The first: The category of the oppressor to himself, the negligent one, one who is deficient in performing ablution for it, negligent with its appointed time periods, its boundaries and its pillars.

The second: One who preserves it appointed time periods, its boundaries, its outward pillars and ablution for it. However, he forsakes striving against his own self from whisperings and thinking to himself, and so is preoccupied with whisperings and thoughts. The third: One who preserves its appointed time periods, its pillars as well as strives against himself in repelling whisperings and distracting thoughts that overcome him, he is busy in striving against his enemy in order to prevent him from stealing his prayer, he is in prayer as well as Jihaad.

The fourth: One whom when he stands for prayer perfects its rights, its pillars and its boundaries. His heart is occupied with preserving its boundaries and preventing anything of it being lost, rather all his attention is directed to performing it as it should be, in its most complete and perfect form, his heart is occupied with the prayer and worshiping his Lord the Elevated with it.

The fifth: One who performs the prayer like the previous person, but in addition to this, he has taken his heart and presented it to his Lord. He looks at his Lord with his heart, fully concerned with Him, in utmost obedience out of love and reverence for Him, it is as if he sees and witnesses his Lord. All distracting thoughts and whisperings fade away and the veil between him and his Lord is removed. The difference between this person in his prayer and others, is greater and better than all that is between the heavens and earth, he is fully occupied and overjoyed with his Lord in his prayer.

The first category is punished, the second is held accountable, the third is pardoned, the fourth is rewarded and the fifth is brought close to his Lord, because he gains a portion of what made the prayer a delight to him. For whoever is delighted with his prayer in the life of this world, will be delighted by being close to his Lord in the afterlife as well as being delighted with his Lord in this life, and whoever is delighted with Allaah, everything would be delighted with him, and whoever is not delighted with Allaah the Elevated, his soul will be torn apart for the life of this world in loss.

It is narrated that when a servant stands for prayer, Allaah the Glorified says; “Remove the veil.”, and if the servant turns away He says: “Replace it.”

This ‘turning away’ has been explained as the turning of the heart away from Allaah the Mighty to other than Him. So if he turns away, the veil is replaced between him and his Lord and Shaytaan enters and presents worldly affairs to him, he shows them to him in the image of a woman. But if he turns with his heart to Allaah and does not turn away, Shaytaan would not be able to come between Allaah and that heart, he only enters if the veil is replaced. If he returns to Allaah the Elevated with his heart, the Shaytaan would escape, and if he turns away, the Shaytaan would return, such is his state with his enemy in prayer.

Toronto mosque offers ‘detox’ for Islamic radicals

In what is likely the first of its kind in Canada, a Toronto mosque is offering a “detox” program for young Islamic radicals who are sympathetic to the terrorist group al Qaeda.

Muhammed Robert Heft, a team member of the Specialized De-radicalization Intervention program, says the program is based on the idea that Islamic extremism can be fought by incorporating traditional teachings of the Qur’an into a “12-step Extremist Detox Program.”

Among the steps in the program offered at Toronto’s Masjid El Noor mosque:

• Finding common ground, “not fighting ground,” with other faiths
• In the “Open society of Canada,” how to reconcile “dogmatic idealism with pragmatic realism”
• Seeing the whole as one, and take into account “global challenges that affect us all.”
• Actively countering extremist ideology through “education, public speaking and writing.”

Source: http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090211/mosque_toronto_090211/20090211?hub=TopStories

Why read the Qur’an?

An old  American Muslim lived on a farm in the mountains of eastern  Kentucky with his young  grandson. Each morning Grandpa was up early sitting at the kitchen table reading  his Quran.  His grandson wanted to be just like him and tried to imitate  him in every way he could.

One day the grandson asked, “Grandpa! I  try to read the Quran just like you but I don’t understand it, and what I  do understand I forget as soon as I close the book. What good does reading  the Qur’an do?”

The Grandfather quietly turned from putting coal in the  stove and replied, “Take this coal basket down to the river and bring me back a  basket of water.”

The boy did as he was told, but all the water  leaked out before he got back to the house. The grandfather laughed and  said, “You’ll have to move a little faster next time,” and sent him back to  the river with the basket to try again. This time the boy ran faster, but  again the basket was empty before he returned home. Out of breath, he told  his grandfather that it was impossible to carry water in a basket, and  he went to get a bucket instead.

The old man said, “I don’t want a  bucket of water; I want a basket of water. You’re just not trying hard  enough,” and he went out the door to watch the boy try again.

At  this point, the boy knew it was impossible, but he wanted to show his  grandfather that even if he ran as fast as he could, the water would leak  out before he got back to the house. The boy again dipped the basket into  river and ran hard, but when   he reached his grandfather the basket was  again empty. Out of breath, he said, “See Grandpa, it’s useless!”

“So you think it is useless?” The old man said, “Look at the  basket.”

The boy looked at the basket and for the first time  realized that the basket was different. It had been transformed from a  dirty old coal basket and was now clean, inside and out.

“Son,  that’s what happens when you read the Qur’an. You might not understand or  remember everything, but when you read it, you will be changed, inside and out.  That is the work of Allah in our lives.”

Source: sent to me via email from my friend Syed Mahbubuzzaman. Thanks Syed!

A Mistake Worth Its Weight in Gold

A Mistake Worth its Weight in Gold

From the Original Arabic Piece by Adel bin Muhammad al-Abdul ‘Aalee

Translated by Abu Dujanah

One of the Salaf entered a field, hungry and tired, so he wanted to eat, and his stomach was ‘rumbling’. He saw an apple tree, and picked an apple to eat. He ate half of it under the protection of Allah, then he drank from the river near the field. After that, he suddenly realised that he was not aware of what he did due to his hunger, and thought to himself: Woe to you! How can you eat someone else’s provision without permission. In remorse he was determined not to leave the place until he found the owner of the garden, and confess to him that he had eaten his provision without his permission. He looked around and saw a house and went up to the door and knocked on it. The owner came out and asked him what he wanted. The Salaf said: “I was hungry and entered your garden and took this apple and ate half of it, then I remembered it was not mine, and I came to beg you to forgive me for this mistake.” The man replied, “I will not forgive you except on one condition?” So the Salaf asked (and he is Thaabit bin Nu’maan), “What is your condition?” The owner of the garden said: “I want you to marry my daughter.” The honourable Salaf without hesitation said: “yes, I will marry her”. The father of the girl then said: “I want you to know that my daughter is blind and cannot see, dumb and cannot speak, deaf and cannot hear.” The revelation shocked Thaabit bin Nu’maan and thoughts flashed through his mind – what a disaster – what’s he going to do? Then he remembered that the trials and tribulation he has to endure by accepting this woman as his wife, and taking care of her and serving her is better for him than to eat the food (sadeed) of hellfire due to the fact that he had eaten the apple without permission. He also realised that if he did not make amends, his days in the dunya are numbered. So he promised to marry the girl, and prayed for forgiveness and reward from Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. The day of marriage came, and the man was nervous and very worried: “How will I enter upon a woman who does not speak, see, or hear?!” What a dilemma, and he wished the earth would swallow him before that happened ( i.e. going the wedding ceremony), but he remembered Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’ala and said: “Laa Hawla wa laa quwata illa billah, wa inna lilah wa inna ilayhi raji’oon.” He went off to the wedding ceremony and when he arrived, his future bride stood up and greeted him, saying, “Assalamu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu.” When he saw her, it took his breath away and remembered what he had imagined of the hoor il-’ayn in paradise. Gaining his composure, he blurted out: “What is this? So you speak, see, and hear.” Thaabit bin Nu’maan then informed her what her father had to told him. She gave him the most beautiful smile and said: “My father spoke the truth and he didn’t lie.” “But why did he tell me things about you which are untrue? She replied, “My father said I am dumb, because I have never said a word which displeases Allah, nor have I ever spoken to a man whom it is not permissable to speak to. [He said] I am deaf, because I have never sat it in a place where malicious backbiting, gossip or tale-telling takes place. [He said] I am blind because I have never looked at a man who was not permissable for me to look.” So ponder how Allah Subhanahu wa Ta’ala united this pious woman to this pious man.!!

From Abdullaah Ibn al-Mubaarak who said: “It was said to Hamdoon bin Ahmad: ‘Why is it that the speech of the Salaf was more beneficial than ours?’ He said, ‘Because they spoke for the honor of Islaam, and for the deliverance of their own souls, and for the pleasure of ar-Rahman, and we speak for the honor of our souls, for seeking the world, and for the pleasure of the creation.”

The Heart

Argumentation in the Deen

Advice to the Seeker of Knowledge