Prohibition of Excessive Rigor in Religion

The Shaykh : For example, the one who rides a mount from here to Makkah for Hajj is being overly rigorous. This is being overly rigorous if he is able to ride, for example, in a car or an airplane. And this leads us to the discussion of whether Hajj on foot is better than on a mount, and so on, chaining the topic together. Some people may assume that Hajj on foot is better. Why? First, because it involves more hardship, and second, because there are hadiths indicating that for every step toward Hajj, one gets such and such. But none of these hadiths are authentic, and therefore nothing should be built upon them. As for saying that it involves more difficulty and greater hardship, and thus the reward is higher and greater, we also say that it is not from the Shari'ah for a person to make himself perform the most difficult and arduous form of worship. What is mentioned in some books is that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said This is a weak hadith. "Ahamdaha" means "the most arduous of them." But there is an authentic hadith that some may assume means the same as the weak hadith, namely his statement (peace be upon him) to the Lady A'ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) when she performed Hajj with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) as a tamattu' pilgrim. Then menstruation overtook her before she could perform the 'Umrah of Hajj. Her story is known to you. So when he (peace be upon him) came to her and found her crying because of the onset of menstruation, he said to her هذا شيء كتبه الله عز و جل على بنات آدم فاصنعي ما يصنع الحاج غير ألا تطوفي و لا تصلي This is something that Allah the Exalted has decreed for the daughters of Adam. So do what the pilgrim does, except do not perform tawaf and do not pray Then she became pure at 'Arafah and performed the rites of Hajj. So her tamattu' Hajj became a qiran Hajj or an ifrad Hajj, because she did not perform the 'Umrah of Hajj, but she was excused by the excuse of menstruation. And when he (peace be upon him) completed all the rites of Hajj, and performed the tawaf al-ifadah, and then the tawaf al-wada', the call to depart and travel to Madinah was announced. So A'ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said, "O Messenger of Allah, will the people return with a Hajj and an 'Umrah, and I return with a Hajj without an 'Umrah?" The narrator of the hadith, who is Jabir ibn 'Abdullah, as I recall, said, "And the Messenger of Allah (may Allah have mercy on him) was merciful and gentle, so he ordered her brother 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Abi Bakr to ride behind him on the camel and take her out to al-Tan'im, and she would perform the 'Umrah from there. And he said to her (peace be upon him), and here is the point إن أجرك على قدر نصبك Your reward is according to your effort This hadith, in its indication, points to the opposite of the weak hadith أفضل الأعمال أحمدها The best of deeds are the most arduous of them because that one is general, whereas our hadith here is restricted to the incident of A'ishah, when she stopped near Makkah and was preparing to enter and perform the 'Umrah with the tawaf of 'Umrah, when menstruation overtook her. Meanwhile, she went out with her brother outside Makkah to al-Tan'im, which is in the permitted area, and then returned and performed the tawaf and sa'y. So he said to her (peace be upon him) إنما أجرك على قدر نصبك Your reward is only according to your effort. The point of this hadith is that it is not permissible in the Shari'ah for a Muslim to intentionally perform worship in the most difficult manner. Rather, the opposite is correct. يريد الله بكم اليسرى و لا يريد بكم العسر Allah intends for you ease and does not intend for you hardship[Al-Baqarah 2:185] Therefore, if a person eating cannot, for one reason or another, eat with three fingers, it is better for him to use a spoon, because the spoon is one of the means and material causes that are similar to the causes of riding. If a Muslim uses it to mean relief from difficulty, this is something that Allah the Exalted loves, as he (peace be upon him) said, even if not on this occasion إن الله يحب أن تؤتى رخصه كما يحب أن تؤتى عزائمه Indeed, Allah loves that His dispensations be observed as He loves that His default rulings be observed.Sahih Ibn Hibban 6:48 Then I observe, and this is perhaps the final point, that those who eat with the hand and not with three fingers are forced during the meal to drink. They take the cup with the left hand because the right hand is all grease, and they place it like this, then they contrive and drink, claiming that they drank with the right hand!

The questioner: Peace be upon you.

The Shaykh : And upon you be peace. Welcome, Ahmad. I wanted to mention this, and the reminder benefits the believers.

The questioner : Our Shaykh, following the example of our Lady A'ishah, we performed 'Umrah once with a group in a bus. The bus driver, after performing 'Umrah, went outside the boundaries of the Haram, exited the state of ihram, then returned a second time and performed 'Umrah, then went out again and performed 'Umrah. Hehe, seven times.

The Shaykh : Yes.

The questioner : And I recall that he cited a hadith as evidence that our Lady A'ishah exited the state of ihram and then returned to the Haram again!

The Shaykh : We say that this 'Umrah is the 'Umrah of the menstruating woman, and men do not menstruate, praise be to Allah. Hehehe.

The questioner : By Allah, our Shaykh, the topic of Hajj, the topic of staying overnight or praying the two rak'ahs of Fajr in Muzdalifah.

The Shaykh : ... .

The questioner : My brothers, the guides, our brothers, I mean, they took them by force. They didn't let anyone stay more than an hour there. So, glory be to Allah, our Shaykh, what do these people need? To burden them with this from the time?

The Shaykh : There is no one but my brother, I mean, the buses today lifted them up.

The questioner: Allahu Akbar.

The Shaykh : ... .

The questioner : I performed Hajj and that's it, it's over.