The Ruling on the People of the Interval and the Children of Polytheists
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh, what is the correct and stronger position regarding the ruling on what is disliked?
Answer:
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. There is no doubt that questions about lengthening the garment and letting it hang below the ankles, and questions about shaving the beard, are important questions for the general public. They are important because these matters exist among the Muslims, and one must repent from them and warn against them, because they are sins in which one should not be lenient. It is obligatory for anyone who falls into any of these to repent to Allah the Exalted and Majestic, and Allah accepts repentance from His servants. It is not permissible for him to persist and remain in his sin, or to imitate the people who have fallen into it. This is not permissible for a Muslim.
As for the issue of the question, which is the ruling on the people of the interval (al-fatra) who were not reached by the call, the people of the interval are those who were not reached by the call of the messengers, such as if they lived in isolated lands to which the call of the messengers did not reach. These are the ones about whom Allah the Exalted says in the Qur'an:[Al-Isra 17:15] So the one to whom the call did not reach, his case is left to Allah the Glorious and Exalted. The most correct opinion regarding them is that they will be tested on the Day of Resurrection. A messenger will be sent to them on the Day of Resurrection in the vast plains of the Resurrection, so whoever obeys him will enter Paradise, and whoever disobeys him will enter the Fire, because the vast plains of the Resurrection and everything before the judgment is a place of obligation.
And it is possible that the children of polytheists who died as young children, and those to whom the call of the messengers did not reach, the most correct opinion regarding them is that they will be tested on the Day of Resurrection; they will be commanded and forbidden, so whoever obeys Allah will enter Paradise, and whoever disobeys Him will enter the Fire. Yes.
Honorable Shaykh, what is the correct and stronger position regarding the ruling on what is disliked?
Answer:
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. There is no doubt that questions about lengthening the garment and letting it hang below the ankles, and questions about shaving the beard, are important questions for the general public. They are important because these matters exist among the Muslims, and one must repent from them and warn against them, because they are sins in which one should not be lenient. It is obligatory for anyone who falls into any of these to repent to Allah the Exalted and Majestic, and Allah accepts repentance from His servants. It is not permissible for him to persist and remain in his sin, or to imitate the people who have fallen into it. This is not permissible for a Muslim.
As for the issue of the question, which is the ruling on the people of the interval (al-fatra) who were not reached by the call, the people of the interval are those who were not reached by the call of the messengers, such as if they lived in isolated lands to which the call of the messengers did not reach. These are the ones about whom Allah the Exalted says in the Qur'an:
And never would We punish until We sent a messenger.
وَمَا كُنَّا مُعَذِّبِينَ حَتَّىٰ نَبْعَثَ رَسُولًاAnd it is possible that the children of polytheists who died as young children, and those to whom the call of the messengers did not reach, the most correct opinion regarding them is that they will be tested on the Day of Resurrection; they will be commanded and forbidden, so whoever obeys Allah will enter Paradise, and whoever disobeys Him will enter the Fire. Yes.
Source
الفوزان -أشرطة- أسئلة وأجوبة من دروس التوحيد - أسئلة وأجوبة - الفوزان - ٥ — archive.org (34:05)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.