Beacon Of Guidance
Peace be upon you Huzoor. Peace be upon you as well. My question is that our religion is Islam, however some people mix traditions with religion. What should we do to incline more towards religion? Our religion is Islam. Where do we learn about Islam from? By reading the Holy Qur’an and
So, the Holy Qur’an is a source right? Then we have the Sunnah [practice] of the Holy Prophet (sa) and then we have Hadith, alright? The Holy Prophet (sa) practically demonstrated the commandments, that are mentioned in the Holy Qur’an and explained various things by his own actions,
Or by way of his instructions which are mentioned in the Ahadith. The fundamental objectives of Islam are to develop a relationship with Allah the Almighty, to worship Him and to fulfil His due rights. Then, we ought to fulfil the due rights of one another as well.
You ought to fulfil the due rights of mankind, fulfil all of your social obligations and display exemplary morals. These are the things that religion tells us to adhere to. Aside from this, there are various traditions and practices which have entered into one’s culture.
The Asians of India and Pakistan used to co-exist with Hindus and Sikhs, and so certain aspects of their culture have been adopted by them [i.e. the Muslims]. Certain traditions or rituals related to the marriage ceremony, have crept into [the Islamic culture]. Allah the Almighty states
That the Nikah is the formal announcement of one’s marriage. However, in our culture, if we take marriage as an example; there is a tradition that has started that after marriage, a separate event of Rukhsatana [bidding farewell to the bride] takes place. However, one can bid the bride farewell after the Nikah as well.
It is not necessary to go all out and have separate functions for everything, like a separate Mehndi function, a separate wedding function and so on and so forth. In Islam, the Nikah is the formal announcement of marriage and then there is the Walima.
These are the only two practices that are proven from the time of the Holy Prophet (sa). Similarly, Islam states that we should wear clothing that is modest. This is also a commandment of the Holy Qur’an as well that, we should dress modestly and wear the Hijab.
Men and women should keep their distance from one another. This is the teaching of Islam. This has nothing to do with culture. But when there is a need, there can be interaction and communication with one another. For example, if a girl is working in the field of research,
And there are other [male members of the team] carrying out research with her, both can communicate with one another in order to obtain knowledge. Other traditions are such that have been taken from here and there. There are so many countries in the world, there are so many different kinds of people,
And there are different nations who have different non-religious traditions. There are various African tribes that have their own traditions. It is necessary to explain to them, that they ought to abandon the traditions that clash with the commandments of Allah the Almighty. They ought to protect themselves from committing Shirk.
The fundamental objective [of a Muslims] is to establish the sanctity of Allah the Almighty, and to refrain from Shirk. Aside from Shirk, if you wish to follow certain traditions which are good, whilst keeping the fundamental commandments of the Holy Qur’an in mind, you may do so, alright?
However, to say to a British woman who becomes an Ahmadi, that you must act upon such and such things when they’re not a part of the Islamic teaching, and when they’re actually a part of your culture, that is wrong, alright? Similarly, you should not say such a thing to African women either.
There are various African traditions, but as long as they don’t associate any partners with Allah in them, and don’t do any kind of Shirk or if they don’t take them away from basic morals, then they may act upon them whilst living in their culture, alright?
So, there are various fundamental things in different cultures which are also good, and so they may follow them if they don’t directly clash with the teaching of Islam. My name is Dr Basil Ahmad Mahmood, I am a Waqif-e-Nau and I am specialising in general medicine and cardiology. Huzoor, during emergency duties
I am unable to perform my prayers. I therefore perform them all together after a late shift, or when I have a night shift I come having offered the prayers at home. So do my prayers still count? The fact of the matter is that if there is an emergency at hand
Due to which you missed the prayers and combined four at once then that is fine. Just like in the time of the Holy Prophet (sa), there was a battle all day due to which prayers couldn’t be offered. Thus the Holy Prophet (sa) combined three prayers in the evening
And offered Zuhr, Asr and Maghrib. Some say that he also offered Isha In any case, that was a state of emergency. If you are on emergency duty in the hospital and are sitting there, it is not necessary that you are actually engaged in any emergency work. They may have you on stand-by
So that if there is any emergency they can call upon you. In this case you should take a prayer mat with you and even while on duty if you tell someone [about the prayer] no one will stop you; when it is time [for prayer] you can lay the prayer mat on the ground
And you can combine two prayers. If there is an emergency [while you are praying] then it is even permissible to break one’s prayer for a great need such as saving human life. Thus you can break your prayer and tend to the patient and if it takes time then it is permissible
To collectively offer the prayers once you return. But it is wrong to pre-emptively think that since you are on emergency duty you should combine all the prayers before leaving so that you are then free from this obligation. You should inform the staff in the medical room that you are about to offer prayer,
And there should be no reservations against this; and if any emergency arises, they should call out to you, and you will break your prayer and immediately tend to the matter. Alright? It is permissible for one to break their prayer in order to save human life. But to think that because something might happen
And there might be an emergency at night you should combine the prayers beforehand then this practice is incorrect. If your duty begins at 10 in the morning and you are immediately presented with an emergency case and then a second and third case right after and now it’s 7 or 8 in the evening
With the entire time of 6, 8 or 10 hours having been spent on duty then in that case it is permissible for you to combine all the prayers. You should begin work by praying to Allah the Almighty that there is no emergency in the first place;
It is possible that your prayers result in you remaining unoccupied since there are no emergencies. It is possible that Allah the Almighty saves people from harm due to your prayers. Alright? This mind set of pre-emptively combining the prayers as a precautionary measure for something which has remote chances of happening
And something about which you have no knowledge. You don’t have knowledge of the unseen do you? Only Allah the Almighty has knowledge of the unseen and He alone knows how many patients there will be. You will certainly be able to find some slot in between. How long will your prayers be?
If you combine two prayers it will not take you more than ten minutes.