Part Four: Traveling Abroad.
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh : As for the fourth category, those who travel abroad, those who travel abroad are divided into two categories.
Either one travels to the lands of disbelief, where one hears nothing but the trumpets of the Jews and the bells of the Christians, where one hears no dhikr, no adhan, or anything else, and no congregational prayers are held except in specific corners for some of the Muslim communities there. Such a person is a loser who has lost both this world and the Hereafter.
First: he will spend large sums of money on this.
Second: he will thereby strengthen the economies of the disbelieving states, because they earn a great deal of money from tourism in the houses they rent, in food and drink, in clothing, in what is bought from their lands as gifts, and in other large, substantial amounts of money that are spent. In whose pockets does it go? In the pockets of the Jews and Christians, or the polytheists.
Also, a greater harm than this is that he may acquire their morals and manners, and return to his people with the manners and morals of these disbelievers. And perhaps the matter is greater than that; perhaps he believes that the religion of the Christians, the religion of the Jews, and the religion of Islam are one thing, as the wrongdoers who are disbelievers without doubt have said. That is, any person who equates the religion of the Jews and Christians with that of the Muslims is a disbeliever, because if he equates them among these religions, it follows from his equating that the religion of the Christians is acceptable to Allah and that the religion of the Jews is acceptable to Allah. And Allah the Exalted says in the Qur'an:[Ali 'Imran 3:85] And He the Glorious and Exalted says: [Al-Ma'idah 5:3] And He the Exalted says: [Al-Bayyinah 98:6] Where is their destination? [Al-Bayyinah 98:6] So the religions of the Jews and Christians today are false religions, not acceptable to Allah, and their deeds are lost deeds. [Al-Kahf 18:103] From whom? [Al-Kahf 18:104-105] It may occur to you that they are people of religion and we are people of religion, and there is no difference between us and them except like the difference between the Hanbalis, the Shafi'is, the Malikis, and the Hanafis. This happens with some people. And perhaps he says, if these people are enjoying this great blessing and this great luxury, then they are on the right. And he brings up doubts from the Qur'an. So the danger of going to the lands of the disbelievers is a great danger, along with what it contains of developing their economy and raising their heads, which is not befitting for a Muslim to do.
How many categories are these?
Those who devote themselves to seeking knowledge, those who travel to Makkah and al-Madinah, those who travel to the outskirts of the country, those who travel outside the country. And we said that those outside the country are divided into two categories: a category that travels to the lands of the disbelievers.
And another category travels to some of the Arab countries. And there is no doubt that traveling to some of the Arab countries is easier than traveling to the lands of disbelief, without doubt, because most of them are Muslims, or the majority of them are Muslims, or all of them are Muslims. So traveling to them is much easier, but it is worse than traveling to our country, the outskirts of the country. And that is because traveling there requires, or does not require, that you photograph your daughters, your sisters, and your wives who travel with you. It requires a lot of expense, and perhaps there are theaters for them in some of the countries and things you do not approve of, so a person falls into their trap and their shirk.
Either one travels to the lands of disbelief, where one hears nothing but the trumpets of the Jews and the bells of the Christians, where one hears no dhikr, no adhan, or anything else, and no congregational prayers are held except in specific corners for some of the Muslim communities there. Such a person is a loser who has lost both this world and the Hereafter.
First: he will spend large sums of money on this.
Second: he will thereby strengthen the economies of the disbelieving states, because they earn a great deal of money from tourism in the houses they rent, in food and drink, in clothing, in what is bought from their lands as gifts, and in other large, substantial amounts of money that are spent. In whose pockets does it go? In the pockets of the Jews and Christians, or the polytheists.
Also, a greater harm than this is that he may acquire their morals and manners, and return to his people with the manners and morals of these disbelievers. And perhaps the matter is greater than that; perhaps he believes that the religion of the Christians, the religion of the Jews, and the religion of Islam are one thing, as the wrongdoers who are disbelievers without doubt have said. That is, any person who equates the religion of the Jews and Christians with that of the Muslims is a disbeliever, because if he equates them among these religions, it follows from his equating that the religion of the Christians is acceptable to Allah and that the religion of the Jews is acceptable to Allah. And Allah the Exalted says in the Qur'an:
And whoever desires other than Islam as religion - never will it be accepted from him
وَمَنْ يَبْتَغِ غَيْرَ الْإِسْلَامِ دِينًا فَلَنْ يُقْبَلَ مِنْهُThis day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favor upon you and have approved for you Islam as religion.
الْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ وَأَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعْمَتِي وَرَضِيتُ لَكُمُ الْإِسْلَامَ دِينًاIndeed, they who disbelieved among the People of the Scripture and the polytheists
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ وَالْمُشْرِكِينَin the fire of Hell, abiding eternally therein. Those are the worst of creatures.
فِي نَارِ جَهَنَّمَ خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا أُولَئِكَ هُمْ شَرُّ الْبَرِيَّةِSay, [O Muhammad], "Shall we [believers] inform you of the greatest losers as to [their] deeds?
قُلْ هَلْ نُنَبِّئُكُمْ بِالْأَخْسَرِينَ أَعْمَالًا(104) [They are] those whose effort is lost in worldly life, while they think that they are doing well in work." (105) Those are the ones who disbelieve in the verses of their Lord and in [their] meeting Him, so their deeds have become worthless; and We will not assign to them on the Day of Resurrection any importance.
الَّذِينَ ضَلَّ سَعْيُهُمْ فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَهُمْ يَحْسَبُونَ أَنَّهُمْ يُحْسِنُونَ صُنْعًا * أُولَئِكَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا بِآيَاتِ رَبِّهِمْ وَلِقَائِهِ فَحَبِطَتْ أَعْمَالُهُمْ فَلَا نُقِيمُ لَهُمْ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ وَزْنًاHow many categories are these?
Those who devote themselves to seeking knowledge, those who travel to Makkah and al-Madinah, those who travel to the outskirts of the country, those who travel outside the country. And we said that those outside the country are divided into two categories: a category that travels to the lands of the disbelievers.
And another category travels to some of the Arab countries. And there is no doubt that traveling to some of the Arab countries is easier than traveling to the lands of disbelief, without doubt, because most of them are Muslims, or the majority of them are Muslims, or all of them are Muslims. So traveling to them is much easier, but it is worse than traveling to our country, the outskirts of the country. And that is because traveling there requires, or does not require, that you photograph your daughters, your sisters, and your wives who travel with you. It requires a lot of expense, and perhaps there are theaters for them in some of the countries and things you do not approve of, so a person falls into their trap and their shirk.