The Answer to Those Who Interpreted the Saying of Allah the Exalted (There is no compulsion in religion) as Permitting Smoking and Singing Provided There Is No Harm
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. Some people interpreted the saying of the Exalted and Glorious,[Al-Baqarah 2:256], to mean that you are free to smoke, but you must not exhale the smoke in a way that harms others.
The Shaykh:
What Allah willed.
The questioner:
You are free to listen to songs, but after knowing that they are forbidden, you do not raise the volume of the recorder. Is this interpretation correct? And does it apply to the verse?
The Shaykh:
This is a statement about Allah without knowledge, interpreting the words of Allah without knowledge, and may Allah protect us from that. This is not the meaning of the verse. You are not free; you are a servant who follows what Allah has told you and obeys Him by doing it. This is the meaning. This is the meaning: you are free. Freedom is to be liberated from following one's desires. True freedom is to be liberated from following desires, to be liberated from worshipping other than Allah, Mighty and Majestic, to be liberated from seeking submission to this world and preferring it over the Hereafter. This is the meaning of true freedom: to be liberated from these types of false slavery into the servitude of Allah, who created you, provided for you, and commanded you to worship Him, Glorified and Exalted is He. This is the meaning of freedom. Yes.
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. Some people interpreted the saying of the Exalted and Glorious,
There shall be no compulsion in [acceptance of] the religion
لَا إِكْرَاهَ فِي الدِّينِThe Shaykh:
What Allah willed.
The questioner:
You are free to listen to songs, but after knowing that they are forbidden, you do not raise the volume of the recorder. Is this interpretation correct? And does it apply to the verse?
The Shaykh:
This is a statement about Allah without knowledge, interpreting the words of Allah without knowledge, and may Allah protect us from that. This is not the meaning of the verse. You are not free; you are a servant who follows what Allah has told you and obeys Him by doing it. This is the meaning. This is the meaning: you are free. Freedom is to be liberated from following one's desires. True freedom is to be liberated from following desires, to be liberated from worshipping other than Allah, Mighty and Majestic, to be liberated from seeking submission to this world and preferring it over the Hereafter. This is the meaning of true freedom: to be liberated from these types of false slavery into the servitude of Allah, who created you, provided for you, and commanded you to worship Him, Glorified and Exalted is He. This is the meaning of freedom. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، [716 -1024] الجواب على من فسر قوله تعالى (لا إكراه في الدين) على جواز التدخين والأغاني مع عدم الأذية — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.