What is the jurisprudence of balancing between legal interests? And what is the jurisprudence of the hadith of A'ishah: "If it were not that your people are newly converted to Islam, I would have demolished the Ka'bah."
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The questioner : And what is the jurisprudence of the hadith of A'ishah Sunan an-Nasa'i 2903Sahih (Darussalam) And is it possible to take this hadith as a rule for preferring the lesser of two harms or the greater of two benefits? For example, a person wants to apply the Sunnah of shaking hands, or rather, he does not shake hands with women; he does not want to shake hands with women because he knows that it is not permissible. So, a great problem stands before him: he is faced with two options, either to maintain his family ties or to shake hands. Some people tell him that cutting off family ties is a great harm, and averting harms takes precedence over seeking benefits, so you must maintain your family ties and shake hands. I do not know?
The Shaykh : Yes, I say this is speech... and that this hadith is evidence for this rule. But the problem is its application. When someone says that if he refrains from shaking hands with women, it necessarily leads to cutting off family ties, do you think that is correct, or is it an exaggeration and taking the least of the causes... for committing some violations under the claim that this leads to a greater harm than this violation? The rule is undoubtedly correct in theory, but the important thing is the correctness of its application. This is from one side. From another side, this door... its precise application opens a door for the caller... it is of great danger. You will leave the Shari'ah in this matter, then in the second, then in the third, and the matter turns into doing that to call people to Islam, only to find that he is drifting away from Islam in many of its rulings, conforming to the masses among whom he lives. I do not imagine this specific issue; I do not imagine a Muslim performing the duty of enjoining good and forbidding evil who falls between two harms, a major and a minor one, where the minor is shaking hands and the major is cutting off family ties. I do not imagine that this severance will occur, neither directly from his side, as is clear because he applies the Shari'ah, nor from the side of the others who are accustomed to the fact that there is nothing wrong with shaking hands. I recall now that when I was at the Islamic University, studying there for nearly thirty years, I learned that in some neighboring Arab countries, it is the custom in some tribes that when a stranger visits the home of a brother and a woman comes out and greets him, the completion of the greeting is that he kisses her, and that a man kissing a woman who is a stranger to him is absolutely nothing, because it is the custom of that tribe. One thing reminds me of another: there is a well-known Islamic party in Syria and Jordan, and perhaps in other countries, namely the Tahrir Party, which denied the door of blocking the means to harm absolutely. Based on this denial, they denied all means, even if it is more likely that they lead to a greater evil. Consequently, they permitted a Muslim greeting a non-mahram woman to shake hands with her, and they also permitted kissing her when greeting her with the Islamic greeting. But they said, and I hope you do not laugh, that it is permissible for him to kiss her on the condition that he does not kiss her with desire.
The seated people: They are laughing.
The Shaykh : The point is that the rule is correct in its origin, but the reality is that its application requires extreme precision. Therefore, it does not allow the application of this rule except for a man who is a scholar, knowledgeable in Islam, scrupulous, and pious; otherwise, his foot may slip, God forbid. And so, the answer is: the hadith is undoubtedly a rule, but who applies this rule? It is the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Not every scholar is measured by him, and I do not say every student of knowledge, and a fortiori, I do not say every Muslim. Rather, is the scholar and the scholar of the Book and the Sunnah measured by the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)? If this analogy is said, it is like measuring blacksmiths by angels. And as Ibn Hazm says in such cases, all analogy is invalid, even if some of it is true, but this is the very essence of falsehood. This is sound speech in its end, not in its beginning. Have I answered the question?
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.
were if not for the fact that your people have recently left
لولا أن قومك حديث عهد بالإسلام لهدمت الكعبةThe Shaykh : Yes, I say this is speech... and that this hadith is evidence for this rule. But the problem is its application. When someone says that if he refrains from shaking hands with women, it necessarily leads to cutting off family ties, do you think that is correct, or is it an exaggeration and taking the least of the causes... for committing some violations under the claim that this leads to a greater harm than this violation? The rule is undoubtedly correct in theory, but the important thing is the correctness of its application. This is from one side. From another side, this door... its precise application opens a door for the caller... it is of great danger. You will leave the Shari'ah in this matter, then in the second, then in the third, and the matter turns into doing that to call people to Islam, only to find that he is drifting away from Islam in many of its rulings, conforming to the masses among whom he lives. I do not imagine this specific issue; I do not imagine a Muslim performing the duty of enjoining good and forbidding evil who falls between two harms, a major and a minor one, where the minor is shaking hands and the major is cutting off family ties. I do not imagine that this severance will occur, neither directly from his side, as is clear because he applies the Shari'ah, nor from the side of the others who are accustomed to the fact that there is nothing wrong with shaking hands. I recall now that when I was at the Islamic University, studying there for nearly thirty years, I learned that in some neighboring Arab countries, it is the custom in some tribes that when a stranger visits the home of a brother and a woman comes out and greets him, the completion of the greeting is that he kisses her, and that a man kissing a woman who is a stranger to him is absolutely nothing, because it is the custom of that tribe. One thing reminds me of another: there is a well-known Islamic party in Syria and Jordan, and perhaps in other countries, namely the Tahrir Party, which denied the door of blocking the means to harm absolutely. Based on this denial, they denied all means, even if it is more likely that they lead to a greater evil. Consequently, they permitted a Muslim greeting a non-mahram woman to shake hands with her, and they also permitted kissing her when greeting her with the Islamic greeting. But they said, and I hope you do not laugh, that it is permissible for him to kiss her on the condition that he does not kiss her with desire.
The seated people: They are laughing.
The Shaykh : The point is that the rule is correct in its origin, but the reality is that its application requires extreme precision. Therefore, it does not allow the application of this rule except for a man who is a scholar, knowledgeable in Islam, scrupulous, and pious; otherwise, his foot may slip, God forbid. And so, the answer is: the hadith is undoubtedly a rule, but who applies this rule? It is the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). Not every scholar is measured by him, and I do not say every student of knowledge, and a fortiori, I do not say every Muslim. Rather, is the scholar and the scholar of the Book and the Sunnah measured by the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him)? If this analogy is said, it is like measuring blacksmiths by angels. And as Ibn Hazm says in such cases, all analogy is invalid, even if some of it is true, but this is the very essence of falsehood. This is sound speech in its end, not in its beginning. Have I answered the question?
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.