How can the parents of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) be in the Fire, when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said

onAl-Halabi : A questioner asks, saying: What is the answer to the one who says: How can the parents of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) be in the Fire, when he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: ?

The Shaykh : This is a question lacking in jurisprudence. Is the intended meaning here religious kinship or biological kinship? Of course, the intended meaning is biological kinship. The brief answer is what is said regarding Azar, the father of Ibrahim (peace be upon him). What is said about him?

Another questioner : Abu Layla .

The Shaykh : So Azar, the father of Ibrahim, was a polytheist . This is the brief answer. As for the detailed answer, the discussion is long and very long. But we say: And our Lord, Mighty and Majestic, says: And the Messenger (peace be upon him), to whom the questioner came asking about his father, said:The questioner : He asked about his father, saying: Then, religion is not by intellect or emotion, but by following the rulings of Allah in His Book and the rulings of His Messenger in His Sunnah and His hadith. If a person were to address the legal rulings, even if he were the most knowledgeable person on earth after the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), this Islam would have suffered what the religions that came before it, such as Judaism and Christianity, suffered, let alone others like Buddhism and Confucianism and the like. But Allah, Mighty and Majestic, by His prior knowledge and prevailing wisdom, decreed that this Islam would be preserved until Allah, Mighty and Majestic, takes the soul of every believer with that gentle wind, so that no one remains on the face of the earth who says "La ilaha illa Allah," and upon them the Hour will be established. He decreed that this Islam would remain preserved in its two foundations: the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family). This and that were a protection for the Muslims so that they would not deviate in their religion to their intellects and desires, as happened to those before us who changed their religion and followed their desires and differed after the clear proofs had come to them. Therefore, it is not befitting for a Muslim, especially one who does not have a surplus of Islamic culture, when he hears a Prophetic report, to address it by raising issues and doubts like this question. What is in the hadith that "every kinship and cause is severed except my kinship"—this has a relation to procreation. We believe that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), as it came from him, was born from marriage and not from fornication. So his parents were protected from committing the sin of fornication and zina, so that their son, Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), would be of noble lineage. But this does not negate that at least his father and mother—we say at least—were from the people of the period of ignorance, meaning from the people of misguidance, meaning from the people of shirk and the worship of idols. This does not contradict that. And after that, I say that it does not contradict that he was from among those polytheists to whom the call to tawhid (the oneness of Allah) reached, and then they deviated in it along with those who deviated from it. They were many in the first age of ignorance, just as they are many in the age of ignorance of the twentieth century, as they say. And thus, there is no wonder that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said, in answer to the question of thatThe questioner : one who said: O Messenger of Allah, where is my father? He said: Then the man turned awayThe questioner : Naturally, we imagine this scene. We imagine it now that he returned sad and grieved for his father, because he was his son. And the Messenger (peace be upon him) was the most precise in observation and the strongest in insight. He said: So he told him, "My father and your father are in the Fire." No doubt, it saddens us that the parents of our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) are in the Fire. But his (peace be upon him) sadness for them is greater, and his being affected by it is much stronger than ours. But is not this submission from us, following the submission of our Prophet, to the ruling of our just Lord regarding the parents with this severe ruling for us and the just ruling for its issuance from our Lord regarding them, and it is so? Therefore, here this divine decree is a trial of the most severe types of trial for the Messenger originally and for his believing followers secondarily. Does the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) accept the qada' wa qadar (divine decree and destiny) of Allah, or does he say, "Why are my father and my mother in the Fire?" No, he accepts it without doubt. And we, following him, accept what he accepted of the qada' wa qadar of Allah. Then, the profound wisdom is that a person, with such a severe ruling on the emotions, the emotions of the Muslims, should return to himself and realize that the matter is entirely in the hand of Allah, and that no one there can influence Allah by his status or his rank. And as He, Blessed and Exalted, said: So, the decree of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, for such a matter—the parents of the Messenger (peace be upon him) were polytheists and in the Fire—is the greatest proof that the human intermediary between people and the Creator of people is of no benefit at all, because all authority, all authority, is in the hand of Allah, Blessed and Exalted. He is the Doer of what He wills. So here comes the previous verse that we mentioned: In it is the root of reliance on lineage. Because when the Muslim sees that the parents of the Messenger (peace be upon him) have this fate because of their disbelief, then no one will be deluded to say, contrary to what that Arab poet said. What did he say? Bring it so we can see.
We do not rely, even if our lineages were honored one day, *** On lineages, on lineages

The questioner : We rely.

The Shaykh : On lineages we rely. I remember it like this... We build as our forefathers built and we do as they did.

The questioner : ...

The Shaykh : ... Good, you are good with words. In the name of Allah. Bring the plate, there is no room now, my hand will burn.

The questioner : ... May Allah guide you.

The Shaykh : O Allah, guide us all. In the name of Allah.