A mention of a story illustrating the importance of jurisprudence in answering questioners, and that the questioner should be directed to what benefits him.

The Shaykh : Yesterday, I received a phone call, of course, from some of the good Salafi women, and we can call them da'iyah (female callers to Islam). A woman died here, and some of her family are here and some are in the West Bank, especially her eldest brother who is there. The one here wants to bury the deceased here, but her eldest brother sent a message—look at the foolishness and ignorance—saying that if you bury her here, meaning in Jordan, he will come and take her out of her grave and bury her there. The important thing was that the question was whether this deceased woman, who was in the hospital in the refrigerators, had been washed in the hospital and it had been about two days, and coincidentally the borders were closed, then Saturday came, the Jews' holiday, and so on; meaning it was delayed for days. So the question was whether she must be washed a second time?
I answered the questioner—and she is one who has a strong connection with us on the scholarly side—and I said to her: Let them ask if it is permissible to transfer her to Jerusalem before they ask if she must be washed a second time or not? And I remembered on this occasion a hadith in Sahih Muslim about a man from the people of Iraq who came to Abdullah ibn Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him). He said to him: I see the fly landing on my garment—meaning there is impurity in its legs—; does this have an effect? He said: "O people of Iraq, you are not burdened with the major sin, but you are left with the minor one! I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: . So I remembered the hadith on the occasion of the question, and I explained to the sister—she is willing and walking with us on the straight path, if Allah wills—that their understanding is not to ask this question, but to ask if it is permissible to transfer this corpse, especially since it has been two or three days, to the West Bank? = -- ... -- = So I told the questioner that you must advise them not to take her to the West Bank. The answer was that in truth I advised them, but they have no willingness; because their eldest brother is pressuring and threatening them with this threat. I said to her: In any case, you go back and repeat the advice, and tell him on my behalf that he is not answering this issue because you are asking about the small thing and leaving the important, big thing!!

The questioner : Like the people of Iraq.

The Shaykh : Like the people of Iraq! After a while, the phone rang, and it was the daughter of the deceased, repeating the same question. And, praise be to Allah, she is clearly skilled at going around and around, meaning; she wants to get an answer from me on whether we wash her or not? And I am telling her: It is not permissible to transfer her. When you decide to bury her here, at that time I will give you the answer. She goes around and around forever, as we learned in Syria: "Stay in your place." She is in her request and I am in my answer to her. After a while, she called my wife, this same second questioner. I heard the question and saw the same topic. I said to my wife: She asked you an hour ago, and we gave her the answer that the issue is not whether she should be washed a second time or not, but it is not permissible to transfer her. I asked her: Did you not ask your husband an hour ago? She denied it. Then we found out that she lied; because the first one called us and we understood from her that she was the same questioner.
So, glory be to Allah! The important thing in the matter is that a person asks about the more important thing, not the thing that is not important, but far less so. My wife, of course, had an opinion that corresponded to her culture and so on. She said: What is the obstacle? We can tell her whether to wash her or not? We said to her: In that case, if we gave her the answer, they would not take the initiative to care about the issue.

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : Yes, and therefore we do not give them this answer; because it helps them in good by giving this answer. And based on this approach, the scholars say: Not every question has an answer. What should the person be? Wise. For example, His saying (Glorified and Exalted is He)—and this is among the evidence they use for this principle: . What was their question? Why does it become a crescent and grow and grow and become a full moon? An astronomical issue. What does it matter to this questioner to know the precision of this transformation that Allah made a cosmic law in this world? But the important thing is that you know the wisdom behind it, from which legal rulings follow. So the answer was contrary to the questioner's request. And thus we should observe this Quranic etiquette, and not give an answer to every question, but direct to what is more important or significant. I do not know what the occasion was that led us to this point. Were we speaking on the pulpit, perhaps?

The questioner : On the pulpit.

The Shaykh : Yes, so the pulpit should not be moved; it should be cut off; because if we move it, it means we supported the new religious innovation!

The questioner : In truth, in the current situation, with the presence of the imam, if he advances to this niche... the row... meaning this mihrab is coming out of the mosque.

The Shaykh : This is a correct statement, my brother, but we do not value material savings if they contradict religious principles. I remember well that Western clothes now, especially some clothes related to women, have economic savings, but this is contrary to the Shari'ah; so what is the value of this saving?!

The questioner : One does not look at the zakah of his wealth and see economic savings; there is a lot of it!!

The Shaykh : This is the intention; we do not want to look at the issue materially!