Many people complain of boredom due to excessive free time, so what do you advise these people?
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The questioner : Many people complain of boredom due to excessive free time, so what do you advise these people? May Allah reward you.
The Shaykh : There is no doubt that boredom is a killer of the soul, a corrupter of the body, and a bringer of worries and sorrows. One of its greatest causes is what people are competing to do today: bringing servants into their homes until the women of the house have no work to do. You find the woman always in distress, sitting in one of the corners of the house, having nothing but worry, or going out to wander in the markets or to the neighbors, tiring them and boring them. If people were to be saved from these servants and the woman served in her own home, as was the case with the women of the Companions in the time of the Companions, and as is the case with people to this day, that would be better and more appropriate. In it is the preservation of a person’s wealth, the preservation of his honor, and the protection of his family from mental and physical emptiness.
Therefore, on this occasion, I advise my Muslim brothers not to bring in servants except for the most extreme necessity that cannot be averted except by doing so. As for if the motivation for this is to increase luxury and comfort, then this brings about much affliction and results in harms, unless Allah wills otherwise. This is especially true if they bring in a female disbeliever, for that is uglier, because a female disbeliever may have children who are deceived by her, or there may be children who have reached the age of discernment who ask, “Why does she not pray, not perform ablution, and not fast?” And there arises in their hearts a belittling of the religion and its practice, especially if she is not with a mahram (a relative one may not marry), for then the danger is greater and larger.
The important thing is that this is a problem in reality that cannot be solved except that the demand for these servants decreases and people return to their original state, except in the most extreme necessity where the presence of a servant is unavoidable. Yes.
The questioner : May Allah bless you for this blessed guidance. Also, from the questions of the listener, she says:
The Shaykh : There is no doubt that boredom is a killer of the soul, a corrupter of the body, and a bringer of worries and sorrows. One of its greatest causes is what people are competing to do today: bringing servants into their homes until the women of the house have no work to do. You find the woman always in distress, sitting in one of the corners of the house, having nothing but worry, or going out to wander in the markets or to the neighbors, tiring them and boring them. If people were to be saved from these servants and the woman served in her own home, as was the case with the women of the Companions in the time of the Companions, and as is the case with people to this day, that would be better and more appropriate. In it is the preservation of a person’s wealth, the preservation of his honor, and the protection of his family from mental and physical emptiness.
Therefore, on this occasion, I advise my Muslim brothers not to bring in servants except for the most extreme necessity that cannot be averted except by doing so. As for if the motivation for this is to increase luxury and comfort, then this brings about much affliction and results in harms, unless Allah wills otherwise. This is especially true if they bring in a female disbeliever, for that is uglier, because a female disbeliever may have children who are deceived by her, or there may be children who have reached the age of discernment who ask, “Why does she not pray, not perform ablution, and not fast?” And there arises in their hearts a belittling of the religion and its practice, especially if she is not with a mahram (a relative one may not marry), for then the danger is greater and larger.
The important thing is that this is a problem in reality that cannot be solved except that the demand for these servants decreases and people return to their original state, except in the most extreme necessity where the presence of a servant is unavoidable. Yes.
The questioner : May Allah bless you for this blessed guidance. Also, from the questions of the listener, she says: