What is the ruling on traveling to foreign countries for leisure?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : To foreign countries without need, except for the sake of pleasure.
The Shaykh : Or sightseeing, which we see is not permissible for a person to travel to foreign countries for the sake of leisure, because that is a waste of money. The expenses are very high. Very high, in terms of plane tickets and great expenditures.
Then, in that, there is also a path for a person to [fall into] the religion of a person, for many people have traveled to foreign countries for leisure, committed open sinfulness there, and returned with hearts different from what they left with. This is a serious matter that a person must be cautious of. It has come in the hadith from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in the story of the Dajjal that .
So it is obligatory for a person to stay away from the causes of fitnah (trial, discord or temptation). What I see is that it is not permissible for a person to travel to foreign countries for the sake of leisure, because I have known, and according to what I hear, that the people who go in this manner return changed in their morals and their religion, along with what happens of spending vast sums of money in this travel?
The Shaykh : Or sightseeing, which we see is not permissible for a person to travel to foreign countries for the sake of leisure, because that is a waste of money. The expenses are very high. Very high, in terms of plane tickets and great expenditures.
Then, in that, there is also a path for a person to [fall into] the religion of a person, for many people have traveled to foreign countries for leisure, committed open sinfulness there, and returned with hearts different from what they left with. This is a serious matter that a person must be cautious of. It has come in the hadith from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in the story of the Dajjal that
Whoever hears about him, let him stay away from him
من سمع به فلينأ عنهLet him stay away from him,
فليبعد عنه،For the man comes to him while he sees that he is a believer, then he does not cease with him until he follows him because of what he sees of doubts
فإن الرجل يأتي إليه وهو يرى أنه مؤمن، ثم لا يزال به حتى يتبعه لما يرى من الشبهاتSo it is obligatory for a person to stay away from the causes of fitnah (trial, discord or temptation). What I see is that it is not permissible for a person to travel to foreign countries for the sake of leisure, because I have known, and according to what I hear, that the people who go in this manner return changed in their morals and their religion, along with what happens of spending vast sums of money in this travel?
Source
دروس وفتاوى المسجد الحرام لعام 1406هـ - 8 — binothaimeen.net (1:29:56)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.