Continuation of the discussion on the ruling regarding the parents of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). And who are the people of the period of ignorance?

The Shaykh : The objection raised by some people regarding this hadith is not a scholarly objection, but rather an emotional one. This emotion leads some people to strain themselves to escape the implication of this hadith. How, my brother? The mother of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), the master of mankind, how can she be in the Fire? We must now remember a verse and a hadith. The verse is and the hadith is . In a poem, do you remember? It says that Islam raised the status of Salman, who was Persian, and lowered the status of Abu Lahab, who was Qurayshi. Why? Because this one is a disbeliever and that one is a believer. So and . The doubt raised by some of these emotional people is that the mother of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and the father of the Messenger died before his mission, and this is a correct statement. So how are they punished? How can they be among the people of the Fire? They state explicitly that those who were before the Messenger are from the people of the period of ignorance, and the people of the period of ignorance are not punished. Here lies the precision in the matter: Who are the people of the period of ignorance? The people of the period of ignorance are those to whom the call of the Messenger did not reach. But the people of the period of ignorance are not those to whom a Messenger did not come. I hope you distinguish with me between the two matters. The people of the period of ignorance are those to whom the call of the Messenger did not reach, not those to whom a Messenger was not sent. Is the difference between the two expressions clear?

The questioner : Now, our Shaykh, in this passage

The Shaykh : This is us, Muslims today. Did a Messenger come to us? We are Muslims in this century, and no Messenger came to us, but the call of the Messenger came to us.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : So, it is not necessary for the people of the period of ignorance to have a person who is a Messenger come to them, but it is important that the call of a Messenger not reach them. So, if there are people in every time and place to whom the call of the Messenger did not reach, they are people of the period of ignorance, not that a Messenger did not come to them in person. We did not have a Messenger come to us in the person of the Messenger. He said . After Muhammad, there is no Prophet. But, praise be to Allah, His call reached us. We received it. Do you see? What about those in the North Pole and the South Pole today? For those who study geography, the earth is spherical and has two poles, a North Pole and a South Pole. Do you think there are not people there who have not heard of Islam or anything about the Prophet of Islam? It is possible. These are people of the period of ignorance. As for us, we are not from the people of the period of ignorance. The call of the Messenger came to us. This is the Qur'an, this is the Sunnah, and praise be to Allah. Now, were the Arabs in the pre-Islamic age of ignorance, setting aside this specific topic for now, were they people of the period of ignorance, or did the call of Ibrahim (peace be upon him) and Isma'il (peace be upon him) come to them? Did it come to them? And the Ka'bah, which is a historical landmark for those who study antiquities, is said to be the oldest landmark on the face of the earth. This noble Ka'bah, by the honor Allah bestowed upon it, was built by Ibrahim (peace be upon him) and his son Isma'il, as in the Qur'an and so on. Then the Arabs inherited this worship from their father Ibrahim (peace be upon him) until the time of the Messenger. They used to perform Hajj and 'Umrah. This means they were upon a Shari'ah and upon a message. So they are not people of the period of ignorance. Therefore, opposing this hadith, and other hadiths with similar meanings, such as his saying (peace and blessings be upon him), as in *Sahih Muslim* . Naturally, a person is grieved for his father . It is as if he is saying, who are you to me, and who is your father to my father? Nothing is remembered, neither you nor your father. Yet my father, I am the master of mankind, so he is in the Fire. Why? He (peace and blessings be upon him) said, and this is one of the hadiths that confirms that the Arabs before the mission of the Messenger were not from the people of the period of ignorance. A questioner asked him about his father as well, so he answered with a general answer different from the previous one. He said to him . A third and fourth hadith, for example, is that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) . Meaning, these two who died in the pre-Islamic age of ignorance. The mule heard the punishment of the grave, so it brayed and ran away. If it were not for the fact that you bury your dead, meaning, if it were not for my fear that if I let you hear the punishment of these two who died in the pre-Islamic age of ignorance in shirk and misguidance, if it were not for my fear that if I let you hear their punishment you would die from terror and fear such that none of you would remain alive to bury the dead, I would have let you hear the punishment. So, these hadiths are mass-transmitted on the subject that those who died before the mission of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) are not from the people of the period of ignorance, because the people of the period of ignorance are not punished. This is the first point.
And secondly, what we mentioned regarding their inheritance from their father Ibrahim (peace be upon him) of some acts of worship, including Hajj and 'Umrah, and even tawhid (the oneness of Allah), where they used to circumambulate and say what Muslims say today. But they added a misguidance from their misguidances. When they circumambulated, they would say, "Labbaik Allahumma labbaik, labbaik la sharika laka illa..." The Messenger used to hear them and would say to them, "Cut it off, cut it off," meaning, do not add. "Say, 'Labbaik Allahumma labbaik, labbaik la sharika laka.'" What were they saying? "Illa sharikan tamlikuhu wa ma malak." So the Messenger would say to them, "Cut it off, stop, do not add, because this is shirk (associating partners with Allah)." So the Arabs in the pre-Islamic age of ignorance are not people of the period of ignorance, but rather the call of tawhid, the call of Ibrahim and Isma'il (peace be upon them both), reached them. So it is not permissible for a Muslim except to submit in submission to these authentic hadiths and say as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said in some authentic hadiths when they returned from a battle with captives from the disbelievers, men and women. And the Messenger and his Companions saw a woman searching anxiously for her nursing infant. When she found it, she took it and held it to her chest. So he (peace and blessings be upon him) said . This is Allah, when He rules with justice that people deserve the Fire, it is not for us to be more merciful than the Most Merciful of the merciful. This is the clear misguidance. So, it is not befitting for a Muslim except to verify what was mentioned earlier. And I conclude this speech with his saying . We do not have expertise in this, but in conclusion, I say that we do not recommend stirring up this topic.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : We do not recommend stirring up this topic because it touches the emotions of many people who act without knowledge. But if we are asked, it is obligatory for us to answer, because Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has taken a covenant and a pledge from everyone who has any knowledge to clarify the knowledge and not conceal it, as is in the text of the Qur'an. And the Messenger confirmed that with the authentic hadith . Yes, what do you have?

The questioner : O Shaykh, there is another issue. Some people, O Shaykh, resemble us. They want to stir up the common people. So, for example, if we were asked such a question and did not answer on the basis that we know their intentions, meaning, not on the basis of concealing knowledge, is this not permissible?

The Shaykh : The matter varies from place to place, and it is not correct to give a general answer. Yes.