Fatwa ID: 04942
Answered by: Maulana Naieem Mohammad
Question:
I’d like to know if this narration is authentic and to confirm if secluding yourself as per the Hadith is a necessity in the Deen to achieve Jannah
I found this piece whilst reading a publication on the Internet and it confused me.
Hadhrat Ibn Mas’ud (radhiyallahu anhu) states that Rasulullah (Sallallahu alayhi wasallam) said: “Soon will there dawn an age on people when no one’s Iman will be safe, except he who takes his Deen and flees from city to city, mountain to mountain and from cave to cave like a fox attempting to escape the clutches of a hunter (in hot pursuit).”
The Sahaabah asked: “O Rasulullah! When will such a time dawn?
Rasulullah (Sallallahu alayhi wasallam) said: “When sin will be committed in the pursuit of rizq and when abstention from nikah will be lawful.”
The Sahaabah enquired: “We have been commanded with nikah. How will abstention therefrom be lawful in that age?”
Rasulullah (Sallallahu alayhi wasallam) said:
“At that age parents will be the cause of a man’s destruction. If a man has no parents, his wife will be the cause of his destruction. If he has no wife, destruction will overtake him from the side of his close relatives.”
The Sahaabah asked: “O Rasulullah! How will they destroy a man?”
Rasulullah (Sallallahu alayhi wasallam) said: “His relatives will criticize him because of the paucity of his earnings. As a result of their pressure, he will transgress the limits in the pursuit of opulence and become audacious in the commission of haram. In the pursuit (of more wealth) he will destroy himself and his Deen.”
Rasulullah (Sallallahu alayhi wasallam) also said:
“After the second century, the noblest person will be he whose burden is the lightest.”
When the Sahaabah enquired about the meaning of the “lightest burden”.Rasulullah (Sallallahu alayhi wasallam) said:
“The person who has neither wife nor children nor wealth, his reckoning will be the lightest.”
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
Answer:
Due to the above hadeeth having a few contradictions it indicates that there is some weakness in the hadeeth itself. These contradictions will be discussed below:
The Shariah has been established to fulfill and protect the basic rights of human beings. Amongst these rights is the right to procreate or carry on preserving and increasing the population of humanity. Such a right is practiced through Nikaah/marriage.[1] The above narration clearly gives contradiction to the practice of marriage and encourages fear and doubt instead of hope in marriage.
There is a narration which mentions- Abu Sa’eed al-Khudri (r.a.) said: The Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.) said: “Soon there will come a time when the best wealth a Muslim will have will be sheep which he will take to the mountaintops and places where rain falls, fleeing for the sake of his religious commitment from tribulation.”[2]
This hadeeth tells us that it may be better for a person to seclude himself with a little bit of wealth and his deen, but the permissibility is given only when the deen of a person is threatened [3] and he does not find any Muslims with which to keep his company. This is not the norm of our society, and the permissibility is given only for a short time and not permanently as the Prophet s.a.w. has stressed upon the impermissibility of secluding ourselves like Christian monks.
In the western world, there are numerous Muslim communities and Masaajid present. Imagine if a person secludes himself, then what will happen to his Salaat in Jamaat or his Jummua? The Shaytaan is a wolf for men, and the wolf attacks the lonely sheep who strays from the flock.
In conclusion, it will not be permissible for a person to isolate themselves when there is no threat to his Deen and there is the freedom to establish Salaat in the Masaajid and practice Islam openly. This is the closest way to reach Jannat.
Only Allah knows best
Written by Maulana Naieem Mohammad
Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah
Darul Ifta Birmingham
[1] Maqaasid Shariyyah pg 26 to 28
[2] Bukhari Kitab ul Fitan # 7088
[3] Fathul Baari 13/42
