Unrestricted Q&A with MALM PT1

Alhamdulillah. for inviting me to just participate really in this in this evening that you you know of questions, answers, discussions, whatever is involved.

I'd like to remind us all of a hadith where the messenger of Allah sallallah.aii wasallam teaches us that there is no gathering which is better than a gathering in which Allah is being glorified and being praised and that people get together for that sole purpose. And the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam mentions and the angels they surround such a gathering and they continue to do so as they rise above and it mentions in the hadith until they return to

Allah and and Allah asks that you know why have these people gathered and and the hadith is very popular and in it Allah subhana ta mentions that if they remember me I remember them in a gathering which is much greater. And also it ends with an amazing part that that that these are such a people that whosoever partakes in that gathering is also blessed

that that these are a people who whosoever kind of partakes that there may have been some people that just thought look let me just sit in even though this is a gathering of knowledge and they may may have thought I'll I'll just sit in I might not be too interested but I'll just sit in And the hadith mentions that even that person is saved from kind of damnation or wretchedness or and you would say by contrast blessed for being in that gathering.

So these are some of the some of the traditions we see in another hadith that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam says that when a person sets off to seek some knowledge that that the angels they lay out their wings for this person to kind of walk over obviously unknowing I mean the person doesn't know that that that's what's taking place in this realm but that is what's happening out of pleasure that this person is seeking knowledge and and seeking knowledge

doesn't have to mean in a uh like a longitudinal sense it doesn't have to mean that oh to seek knowledge I have to go off on an island course or a MUI course or I'm going to go away for years and then I'm seeking knowledge that is obviously seeking knowledge but it can even mean to just clarify one question to seek an answer to one particular point anything like it is still seeking knowledge and we see that this dean is one that has if anything you know if you could take a look at all of the um the

type of the type of emphasized guidance or the emphasized guidelines that we have in this deen. Those points which have been you imagine you were to select something that this deen is almost symbolic for. One of those things would surely if not at the top of the list or amongst them would be seeking knowledge. that this dean it began with the revelation read in the imperative sense in a as a command that read as in that is the beginning that is the inception.

So and and then this dean it sets off it it puts into motion a tradition of learning a culture of enlightenment that changes the it changes the way the world actually exists. I mean changes the face of human history as we have as as we've come to know it now. I mean it changed everything that and a lot of that was done so because people were inspired by the Islamic tradition of let's go out and learn.

So, alhamdulillah, may Allah subhana ta bless um everybody here and wherever they may be in enabling uh Muslims to seek more knowledge to kind of one to be enlightened and to enlighten others to kind of spread and take the word as far as it may go. Now, I can see this is an excellent uh suggestion right here.

I think if I just put this on uh cap of questions. So I was just saying one of these should just say that can I ask a question that's right. Okay. So let's go through some of these. I've I've been subtly warned actually about maybe I don't know what type of questions to expect but I mean what's life if not lived on the edge?

You've got to ask I suppose at some point right now there's going to be another question another issue of handwriting and me being able to decipher it. That's fault. The fault lies with me. That's uh there was an African man who had this sounds like a a bit of a poem. There's an African man who had over a 100 wives.

He mentioned that this was halal as if as as if did not say in as it did not say in the Quran that there is a limit of four wives. Is this true? What a question. To start off to kickstart and there was a man with 100 wives. Did he count them to 100 and just stop there?

9900 because I've hit the century. This is it. He's like uh 365 divided. So now right okay well before people start to envy this guy the point is 100 wives. Uh the question is is this permissible?

He obviously believed it was now in the Quran the question the question states that he says that it's not clear in the Quran that there's a limit that is true to some extent that the the verse in the Quran that marry as you what what appeals to you from the women um in twos or threes or fours You see, it's not actually saying 2, three, or four.

It's saying in twos, in threes, info. It's not saying it's saying, you know, this type of counting is usually in where there's, you know, there's twos over here, there's twos over there, there's threes over here, threes. It's that type of uh enumeration, that type of counting. Most of the understood this to mean this was restrictive that the fact that Allah subhana ta said and in fours meaning marry them in fours in threes in twos but stopping at four because Allah only

kind of counted out to four. That is how the majority of the have understood these verses of the Quran. Sorry, this verse of the Quran and the general guidance surrounding this. Um, some people have questioned that some of the have questioned things like that, saying that this isn't specifically uh I mean it's not it's not conclusively clear.

So if I if I put it like that it's better that although it does imply but it could also be that this was an example that like if I'm saying yeah you know take this if you want two three four what do you what do you want so in that example I'm not limiting it to four like many people use that when they say you know what what do you want do you want two do you want three do you want four like some people historically said this is what Allah was saying in the Quran he was mentioning them as in It was not restricted to it was just an example.

Some people historically tried to say oh you can have twos and three and they try to add them together and say you can add up to well twos and that's a a much weaker position a very I mean I think one odd you know person did say something like that that was in deemed incredibly weak by the in the hadith we do from the sunnah we have a hadith where the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam mentioned to some companion in Medina when when the prophet had migrate.

And later on when these rulings were there who had 10 wives at the time and he said that choose four and let the remaining go. Now that hadith is one of the type of core evidences that the majority of the am cling to and hold on to in saying that four is the evidence. I mean that is four is the restriction.

Um some like I mentioned those who question it. Amongst them were people like the the not I mean not so classic yet not too recent. Imam Shokani uh is amongst those who who who who challenges this whole concept of it being limited and he says that there is no he doesn't feel that there's any definitive evidence in the Quran or Sunnah that hadith is questioned that he says that the hadith isn't I think he questions the chain and he was a scholar of hadith on that particular chain uh as far as the what he also uses to contrast

or this this general ruling is the life of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam. Now he says that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam had more than four wives which everybody accepts but most people most have understood that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam had four wives as an exception for the prophet like that the prophet was told in the Quran there were certain things and then he was told and now you know you don't take any more wives and so on and there were certain things as is in the verse of the Quran.

Now he argued that if that nowhere did the prophet specifically say this is just for me. So it was a bit of a debate although this debate isn't actually that common in Muslim societies. It's not people don't normally in Muslim societies um it's not usually usually they don't have like 10 wives or 15 wives. They don't usually you there is this um type of prevailing narrative that Muslims are allowed to marry up to four wives and that's the prevailing narrative within most Muslim cultures and communities whether they practice it or not but that's the prevailing type of narrative.

So maybe this person from like that is not the popular position that is not what the fatwa is given by and that is not what people will generally say like if he went to most said you know is I I got 100 wives I want to marry 100 women am I okay to do so uh they they wouldn't generally I don't think most people would ever say yes to him although he does have some Islamic precedent and he does have some fatawa of some isol is isolated examples historically that argued for it in saying that it's not so it's not a totally alien position within

Islam although it's not a mainstream view either so I hope I mean I will also say you see people and I mean because the reason I'm saying I'm going to go through is obviously questions tonight sometimes it is difficult to be very clear on saying something outright as this is haram. this is this this is this and I know I have at times been uh critiqued for things like this and people have said you know you don't you got to make it haram you got to say it is like that it's got to say to the extent that what somebody say

that I've yet to hear what is it Miy saying this is haram right but the thing is you see this isn't actually up to me this is what the Sharia teaches us now if If you read the lives of the of the Salaf, if you read the lives of the Sahabah, the especially when when Sharia is being documented, you'll see very few of them using words like haram.

They quite often will just say, "Oh, I don't like it. That's discouraged. That's this." And then as time goes by, people start to use this more and more until it becomes very common. And the irony is now we reach an age where you are actually critiqued for not using it. for not declaring things to be haram, you're actually criticized. Whereas if you look at the the s of the you know the biographies of the they would not say something is haram.

I mean you can read the fat of Imam Malik most on a few things they might say. They would just say I don't like this or this isn't good. It isn't good for you. It's discouraged or you should avoid it or it's better to avoid. they would avoid haram like saying that as much as they can because Allah says like do not you you know just you kind of say things as you describe them with your tongue

that you you know declaring this to be haram or whatever you are actually making lies against Allah that people have to be very careful that One thing we do know is that things by default are permissible and that is conclusively I mean that is what what we believe generally I mean some people may question that I accept there is a discourse and a debate to it but the general understanding we believe it conclusively that things by default are permissible now to override it and say it's haram we should have an equally conclusive evidence in saying so like a clear verse of the Quran or a very clear hadith like let's say the prophet

sallall alaihi wasallam said in the hadith he he had uh a gold item and and let's say silk and he's referring to this for men and saying that this gold is haram for for the men of my um and the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam has clearly declared it haram we clearly we clearly declare it haram we just repeat what the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam said now there's many things in which we don't have that clear guidance sometimes you have implications you have like you know people are the inferences we can you know we can take inferences.

We can do that. But we have to just be weary. And I know people are sometimes maybe trigger happy on the whole haram thing. I personally do disagree with that concept in just, you know, just saying haram haram haram. It's it isn't something that should be taken lightly. But I mean the irony is, you know, to say halal halal is is generally not taken lightly by people, but it should be.

Let's move on to the ah the question what are the best books on the lives of the Sahaba in English. Ah you've got me with that last you know the last part the English um a lot of my my reading is generally in Arabic. So the Islamic reading uh so I'm not actually up to date with what's been printed in English and stuff like this es Islamic type of texts.

I know in Arabic there's there's I know in English there is going to be a lot out there especially on the lives of the Sahaba. In Arabic there's some awesome um basic text which are things like there's a book known as Sahaba that um pictures if you like or from the lives of the of the Sahaba. There's one followed up called it is I mean it is excellently written.

It's it's very eloquent yet simple but amazingly eloquent. The Arabic in it is awesome. For people who also want to polish upon the Arabic at the same time. It is written by a contemporary. Uh in English you've got me. I I don't know. I know there's books like the lives of the Sahaba have been translated into English. I don't know if that is the best on it. I'm sure there's a lot now available.

Um, even online. Um, as long as I mean, if you start reading just critiques and stuff like that, that might be weird. I mean, avoid things like that maybe to start off with. And but if you're just reading about the lives of the Sahaba, you'll find, I'm sure, uh, plenty of resources online. I mean, I'm not sure if even on u not sure if on Aisha's website there is something on the Sahaba as well, but I mean you could maybe take a look.

So, I'll have to that's all I can say on that. And by the way, if there are other questions, you know, as I'm saying things, if there's questions stemming from what I'm responding to, just just raise your hand or just speak out. Inshallah, if you miss fast during pregnancy or breastfeeding, what is the ruling on making them up? Okay, that is that is a very good question.

The general madhab allows uh the general rulings permit a woman not to be fasting if she's pregnant or breastfeeding and and they instruct her to make these fasts up later on. Now, That is a well-known position within the matab within most maths. Okay, that is the well-known position within the maliki as well.

Although they draw a distinction sometimes between the uh the mother who's feeding the child, breastfeeding and the pregnant woman between should one of them be giving a fya as well or not. and and that's just a distinction between who is ill and excused and and they're just trying to it's it's not something clear but it's just there some itad on where do we place this person on the spectrum now having said that I have answered previously that in my understanding um the Sharia is based on I mean that is

the Sharia is all about musla for people welfare for people seeking out the welfare. Now we have the un the understanding which is transmitted from Abbas and that their understanding of this masah is that since a woman when she's pregnant and Ramadan kicks in that obviously most likely I mean she may not be able to it's very likely she may not be able to keep the fasts then now it's also very likely that the following year she will be feeding that So that means that it's going to be

difficult for her to keep the fast then. So that's 2 months gone. Then there's a great possibility that she may be pregnant again. There's a possibility I mean and plus usually a lot of um statistics will show as well following pregnancy the fertility rate is usually higher than it is in just gen generally speaking. So there are great chances and this is why you see you know especially in other parts of the world that people they'll pregnancies usually follow quite you know one after the other quite quickly.

Now if that's the case then the woman I mean for years she'll be missing fasts. So like if one year let's say she she's pregnant then she's feeding then she's pregnant again now she's feeding that one then she so you've got years which are piling up to kind of make up for now what Abbas and have taught us and transmitted is and Omar is from you know those people who have influenced the school of Medina that a woman under these circumstances does not have to make up her past that she

um it is if she does alhamdulillah that's good that's you know very good and you know it's highly rewarding if she doesn't she must give a fya in its place so what they did understand what the fya is um the type of um almost compensation what she offers the monetary type of um I in its place like an almost like an experation of it.

So she's she's not fasting in in place of that she she pays a certain amount of money to the poor. Usually what she'll do is the fya is uh a meal to a poor person for a day and it will be an average meal. So it's not something which is so expensive. It's not um I mean as an example you could say let's say somebody within three4 pounds or3 pounds could generally get a meal.

Here within the UK, you could get something. Yeah. I did hear somebody said because of the day, somebody I heard that said that it had to be every meal of that day. Feed them for the day. So, not just one meal, but no. I mean, no, the the thing that would be way too much. And um that would be way too much. I mean because you you got to consider the numbers as well because it's not one day that they're feeding for they're feeding for um you know 30 days or whatever it is how many other days it's not usually the general understanding is it's a meal and this is why the fya is actually set at even on

these calendars that you get during Ramadan and stuff like this they will write that the fya is 34 pounds or whatever it is and that is what they usually state so it is a meal that is an average a person could get a you know reasonable meal it doesn't mean they're going totally be doesn't have to be 99 p you know chips but it doesn't have to at the same time it doesn't have to be like a proper like an exquisite type of meal that they're spending 1520 to have a meal.

It's just something where which an average person could go out and they could eat comfortably within three four pounds. They could get something and that's so that would cover a meal and she would have to pay that. She would have to feed the the poor I mean whether she actually feeds them or pays somebody to feed that's fine. Say that again. One person for one day for one person for one day. Now if that does the question then I have been asked sometimes and it's not normally the default ruling for this in my understanding is that will

be dis disagreeing with myself the the default ruling would be that would be the the price the price of the land that the person is in. So like if you're within the UK and that's where you're missing your fast, you would pay the kafara or the fya in this case of the of the UK price.

So what it would take for a meal here. So whereas let's say if you said somebody could get a meal comfortably in Pakistan for let's just say 50 rupees 60 rupees which is going to be what 30 40 p. So you're going to say well I'm going to count by pennies. I'm not going to you can't because you're not obviously over there. you're over here. So, it would be by the default location where you are. I have been asked by people, well, you know, some people have had so many outstanding that the costs are kind of a bit unbearable.

Uh, in those situations, if the costs were unbearable, I mean, if it was something systematic, then it shouldn't be unbearable. I mean, if it was like a like if a woman was pregnant and she thought, well, I can't fast and I'm going to give the fidia. Well, in that year, 30 days is not that much and she can cope with that. But if she had kind of just accumulated 10 years or 8 years or 6 years to make up in one go and now she's saying, well, £34 per day and that's 30 times this and now you've got all this money and she hasn't got that money.

Well, I think in that in that position there's you can handle this either a she can split the payment to when she can make it. So if she can for example pay for this much now and then when she gets let's say in two three months time she gets another100 pounds which she can pay then you know for feeding so many more poor people and she can split it up like that. If that was difficult as well, the reason I'm saying this is because I had been asked this uh once by by somebody.

If that was difficult then may you know inshallah based on the understanding of Musla that if that she may go by the price of a another country which she's feeding the poor people in that country by. So imagine she said well okay I'll ask somebody in another part of the world to feed some people there. uh and that would be considerably cheaper now because obviously the price would vary significantly.

So as a last resort she may just resort to something like that which would help her a lot because the thing is the dean is about ease but it should not be about seeking shortcuts. It shouldn't be because at the end of the day, this is Allah's dean. And if you're trying to con anybody or you're trying to deceive anybody, it's really, you know, you're trying to deceive Allah. You know, Allah say that they're trying to deceive Allah.

And the only person that they're deceiving is themselves, but they think they're deceiving Allah, but they're not. Like if if Allah has said, look, you know, do this, fast this, people don't want to fast. People think, oh, what the hell, you know, it's going to be long. It's going to be like this. It's going to But people have to do it. You know, they think, look, Allah has commanded and so we're going to do it. You know, people have all kinds of, you know, I got to suffer in this, I got to suffer in that.

I'm going to, you know, people if if you go to the gym, people are like, what the hell? I'm going to lose all my gains. I'm do this. I'm just saying this is this is the type of stuff that goes through people's minds and they're thinking there's people who actually don't actually fast because they don't want to lose their gains during the I'm serious. That is uh now the point is that this is the type of stuff going but people still fast and look exceptional hours within the UK recently that so if you have been let's say blessed to be exempt then you should kind of do it to an outstanding ability if you can because at the end of the day it's for

Allah it's not for anybody else right okay that said you just say what muslah means welfare and benefit like welfare and benefit for uh like that the dean is always the the objective of the dean is to seek the welfare of mankind and humanity. It has not come to to the detriment or to to harm humanity.

So all of the the commandments within the Sharia are here for some type of welfare or another. Even if there's a bit of so for example somebody might say well fasting you know makes me suffer because I'm thirsty and I'm hungry but it still has it will have an um like ani like from the an esqueological type of welfare and it will also have some worldly welfare as well. We may just not know it.

Nowadays they've said you know so many things that people research. I'm just saying nowadays they say, "Oh, people who have fasted so much that it kills off all these cancerous cells and it does this and it does that." Obviously, we're coming across some of this research today. People for hundreds of years haven't known stuff like this. But they've did it believing that there must be some in it. There must be some uh benefit and welfare in it. So, okay.

So, I hope it's answered that I have. So just to summarize that question and the answer that is it I mean what must a woman do under these conditions well she according to the general position she should make up the fast if she can so if it's just like a year or something like this if she can do it she should do it if she feels it's unbearable for whatever reason it's piled up there's too many um in that case she may I do believe it's it's permissible to take that understanding that has been taught to us by Abbas and that she can just pay the fya instead in its place and you know and not have to actually make them up if

it's unbearable. All right, let's see what we got. Yes. Is selling drugs haram? Selling drugs haram. Be careful about haram.

Was this a Is this a sting operation? Move in. Move [Laughter] in. Um, I mean, take it that we're talking about drugs as in the understanding of drugs. And we're not talking about medicinal type of stuff. And I don't mean medical marijuana. Uh, we're talking about actual drugs.

Then yes, it is haram. Um, The the thing is there you go to all those people who have eagerly waited for years for me to say something haram. Well, drugs are haram. I mean the thing is that the I don't want to get into such a um a technical type of debate.

There has been some debate over from an Islamic perspective. I don't mean from a let me clarify this. I don't mean from this from a state or legal perspective. Uh there has been some debate some tiny debate sometimes scholars have discussed uh are there to some milder version let's say where you've got the class of drugs the milder ones although now I think things like let's say marijuana where do people place these on the the scale of being haram or just very macar there's been some um small discussion at times amongst because people

historically didn't necessar necessarily consider that to be uh as because it didn't they didn't have this culture like the way there is today of like smoking weed and stuff like this. It wasn't that although weed and these type of things have been around for I mean they've been around forever and in some cultures you will see that people mix them in drinks and they do stuff. So even in uh you know in India, Pakistan, they actually mix the the the leaf into into milk and stuff like this and but in other places as well they have used them but they've not actually had this type of recreational culture that exists today of drugs in in the way people everybody needs a quick fix or people

need this fix. It hasn't existed quite like the way we're facing it today. So the general ruling that people have given is that it is haram. uh all of them obviously the severe classes uh unquestionably just because of the amount of damage that they do things like heroin um the the the type of loss of life or even and I don't just mean by the loss of life as in somebody has died which it does it does cause death on many occasions but even the loss of the the loss of you know qualitative life like people who have become addicted to stuff like this it ruins

destroys their families. It tears them apart. It te it destroys and debilitates that individual. Seldom do they I mean people do kind of rehab habilitate and stuff like this. They do go through rehab but quite often people are not unsuccessful in doing things like this and you see sometimes and there's been so many movies made on stuff like this so many documentaries so many where people have had so much potential and you know they've been completely destroyed in life because they ended up getting on the wrong type of drugs and and the reason why

amid on the side of caution I say but they've decided to go on the side of caution declaring all kind of drugs to be haram because usually those people who end up on things like heroin don't usually start on heroin. They don't usually say I know I just want to go out and get some heroin. They usually start on something very mild and and you know and it kind of builds it works it its way up and then they think, "Oh, I need something stronger, something stronger, something stronger." And then and it destroys everybody that it touches.

you know, things like I think things like heroin are an absolute kind of curse in society and stuff like that that they would kind of destroy everybody that they would kind of touch really and so and it is unfortunate that it has affected Muslim communities as well. Um, and obviously the lesser drugs to a greater extent has affected Muslim communities to the the extent that they probably I don't want to say that they're a household item, but I mean the the lesser drugs are so accepted within our communities almost which is unfortunate but it is the I mean it's the status quo which needs

challenging. So, so that's yes the answer is that it is haram and obviously selling kind of perpetuates with the whole the whole culture. I think from a a different philosophical perspective not from an Islamic just to disclaimer that it would be the debate of legalizing drugs is actually an interesting one. I I I think it would actually eliminate a lot of uh harm especially some levels of drugs then as opposed to not legalizing it because it would eliminate this whole culture of a certain portion of drug dealing and the whole things that because drug dealing on its own isn't just a simple culture of drug dealing.

It has a lot of things involved with it. A lot of um there's a lot of power. There's a lot of obviously money and other things that are involved as well. Gang violence and all this type of stuff is involved. But that's another debate I suppose argued by the state of is it Colorado? But okay, moving on.