Is it permissible for a person in the state of ihram to kill ants?
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The questioner : Is it permissible for a person in the state of ihram to kill ants?
The Shaykh : ... the state, and also the place, except in one case. From here, it is understood from the wording of If the ants are extremely harmful to the pilgrim, then it is permissible, as well. However, in general, it is not permissible to kill ants, even when not in the state of ihram, even in that place, unless they are harmful. Anything that is harmful, for which no text has come permitting its killing, is not to be killed directly and immediately, except after we are unable to drive them away by peaceful means; that is, like an enemy, you repel them with what is best, like a raging enemy, you repel them with what is best. If you cannot do so except by killing them, then you kill them, and there is no power and no strength except with Allah. But to kill them outright is not permissible. There is a hadith in Sahih Muslim that we must listen to, from Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Sahih Muslim 2241b.
And in a narration:Sahih Muslim 2241a. A nation of nations that glorifies Allah. Allah rebuked the Prophet, even though he was stung by an ant, bitten by it. Allah rebuked him for harming at least one ant, the one that harmed you, harm it. But all this land belonging to the ants, of course, everything is according to its measure; so ants have villages. They speak of ants in the lands of Sudan, and those lands are very large in size, and they have organized houses similar to bees. The important thing is that Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has made clear to us in this hadith, on the tongue of the Messenger (peace be upon him), and it is in "Sahih Muslim," that the reason for the impermissibility of killing ants is that they are a nation of nations, nations like you; [Al-Isra 17:44]; so it is not permissible for us to kill except the harmful one, and when? When we are unable to get rid of its harm, when we have no way to get rid of the harm of this harmful one, we kill it, and we kill the aggressor and the transgressor, and no more.
The Shaykh : ... the state, and also the place, except in one case. From here, it is understood from the wording of
The stinger
العقورAn Apostle from amongst the Apostles of Allah encamped under a tree, and an ant bit him, and he commanded his belongings to be removed from underneath the tree. He then commanded and it was burnt, and Allah revealed to bin):" Why one ant (which had bitten you) was not killed?"
نزل نبيٌّ من الأنبياء تحت شجرة فلدَغَتْه نملة ، فأمر بجهازه فأُخرِجَ من تحتها ، ثم أمر بها فأُحرِقَت ، فأوحى الله إليه فهلَّا نملة واحدةAnd in a narration:
An ant had bitten a Prophet (one amongst the earlier Prophets) and he ordered that the colony of the ants should be burnt. And Allah revealed to him:" Because of an ant's bite you have burnt a community from amongst the communities which sings My glory."
أنَّ نملة قرصت نبيًّا من الأنبياء ، فأمر بقرية النمل فأُحرقت ، فأوحى الله إليه أفي أَنْ قرَصَتْك نملة أهلكْتَ أمَّة من الأمم تسبِّحAnd there is not a thing except that it exalts [Allah] by His praise, but you do not understand their [way of] exalting
وَإِنْ مِنْ شَيْءٍ إِلَّا يُسَبِّحُ بِحَمْدِهِ وَلَكِنْ لَا تَفْقَهُونَ تَسْبِيحَهُمْ
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.