Advice from the Shaykh to those who single out the twenty-seventh night for 'Umrah.
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The Shaykh : And do not tire yourselves either, for there is no benefit in standing [in prayer]. Sit down. May Allah reward you.
All praise is due to Allah; we praise Him, seek His help, and seek His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our own souls and from the evil of our deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides, none can mislead, and whomsoever He misleads, none can guide. I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah alone, with no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger. Allah the Exalted sent him with guidance and the religion of truth, so he conveyed the message, fulfilled the trust, advised the nation, and struggled in the cause of Allah with true struggle. May the prayers and peace of Allah be upon him, upon his family, upon his Companions, and upon those who follow them with excellence until the Day of Judgment.
As for what follows, before I speak about what I intend to address in this blessed gathering, I wish to offer the advice and convey the knowledge that it is obligatory for me to communicate. This concerns those who designate the twenty-seventh night as a time to perform 'Umrah and intentionally aim to perform 'Umrah on this night. I say to them: There is no authority from Allah for this. It is not in the Book of Allah, nor in the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), nor in the Sunnah of the Rightly Guided Caliphs after him. To our knowledge, none of the noble Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) intended to do so, nor did any of the Imams recommend it. It is merely a recent innovation that people have passed down from one generation to the next, and they have come to believe that 'Umrah on the twenty-seventh night has a special merit over other times. This is not correct. This is what I am obligated to convey to my Muslim brothers, for Allah the Exalted has made it obligatory upon the people of knowledge to clarify what they know of the Shari'ah of Allah. It is not part of the Shari'ah of Allah to single out the twenty-seventh night for 'Umrah. If anyone has knowledge of this from the Book of Allah, the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), or the Sunnah of the Rightly Guided Caliphs, let him guide us to it, for we are receptive to it and will hold fast to it. As for a person legislating for himself a form of worship that Allah and His Messenger have not legislated, based merely on emotion, this is not the practice of a Muslim. The Muslim is one whose faith increases when the verses of Allah are recited to him[An-Nur 24:51]. The specific act designated for the Night of Decree is standing in prayer. If there were anything else to single out the Night of Decree besides standing in prayer, the most merciful of creation to creation, and the most knowledgeable of creation regarding the Shari'ah of Allah, namely Muhammad the Messenger of Allah, would have clarified it. If the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) did not encourage his Ummah to perform 'Umrah on the twenty-seventh night, then we say: Either he was ignorant of it, which is far from him, or he was concealing what Allah revealed, which is also far from him. Where is the Sunnah that says, "Perform 'Umrah on the twenty-seventh night"? Where is the action of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) that he performed 'Umrah on the twenty-seventh night? He only said: Sahih al-Bukhari 1901 and he said: There is no doubt that the Night of Decree is in the odd nights of the last ten nights. It may be in an even night, it may be on the twenty-seventh, the twenty-eighth, the twenty-second, the twenty-third, or any night of the ten nights. However, the twenty-seventh night is the most likely, and the odd nights are more likely than the even ones. Nevertheless, every night of the ten nights has the potential to be the Night of Decree.
And thus the narrations reported from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) are reconciled. Was the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) not shown the Night of Decree and did he not see that he would prostrate in water and mud the morning after it, and was that not on the twenty-first night? This is established in Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, and others. The conclusion is that I am conveying to my brothers what I know of the Shari'ah of Allah: that the twenty-seventh night is not singled out for 'Umrah. Whoever singles it out for 'Umrah is considered to be legislating what Allah and His Messenger have not legislated. Let him prepare a correct answer for this when he meets his Lord on the Day of Judgment.
The Shari'ah is not based on desire. The Shari'ah is not based on emotion. The Shari'ah is what came in the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). I ask Allah the Exalted to make us all among those who see the truth as truth and follow it. O Allah, show us the truth as truth so that we may follow it, and show us falsehood as falsehood so that we may avoid it, and do not make it ambiguous to us so that we are misled.
I hope that I have cleared my conscience by what I have said and established the proof against those who heard it. I hope that my Muslim brothers will be as Allah described them:[An-Nur 24:51-52].
As for the topic of this gathering, the women spoke about jokes before I entered into the important subject that I intended to address.
All praise is due to Allah; we praise Him, seek His help, and seek His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our own souls and from the evil of our deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides, none can mislead, and whomsoever He misleads, none can guide. I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah alone, with no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger. Allah the Exalted sent him with guidance and the religion of truth, so he conveyed the message, fulfilled the trust, advised the nation, and struggled in the cause of Allah with true struggle. May the prayers and peace of Allah be upon him, upon his family, upon his Companions, and upon those who follow them with excellence until the Day of Judgment.
As for what follows, before I speak about what I intend to address in this blessed gathering, I wish to offer the advice and convey the knowledge that it is obligatory for me to communicate. This concerns those who designate the twenty-seventh night as a time to perform 'Umrah and intentionally aim to perform 'Umrah on this night. I say to them: There is no authority from Allah for this. It is not in the Book of Allah, nor in the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), nor in the Sunnah of the Rightly Guided Caliphs after him. To our knowledge, none of the noble Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) intended to do so, nor did any of the Imams recommend it. It is merely a recent innovation that people have passed down from one generation to the next, and they have come to believe that 'Umrah on the twenty-seventh night has a special merit over other times. This is not correct. This is what I am obligated to convey to my Muslim brothers, for Allah the Exalted has made it obligatory upon the people of knowledge to clarify what they know of the Shari'ah of Allah. It is not part of the Shari'ah of Allah to single out the twenty-seventh night for 'Umrah. If anyone has knowledge of this from the Book of Allah, the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), or the Sunnah of the Rightly Guided Caliphs, let him guide us to it, for we are receptive to it and will hold fast to it. As for a person legislating for himself a form of worship that Allah and His Messenger have not legislated, based merely on emotion, this is not the practice of a Muslim. The Muslim is one whose faith increases when the verses of Allah are recited to him
The only statement of the [true] believers when they are called to Allah and His Messenger to judge between them is that they say, "We hear and we obey."
وإنما كان قول المؤمنين إذا دعوا إلى الله ورسوله ليحكم بينهم أن يقولوا سمعنا وأطعناWhoever established prayers on the night of Qadr out of sincere faith and hoping for a reward from Allah, then all his previous sins will be forgiven
من قام ليلة القدر إيمانا واحستابا غفر له ما تقدم من ذنبهSeek the Night of Decree in the last seven nights of Ramadan, in the odd nights, and in the odd nights of the last ten nights.
تحروا ليلة القدر في السبع الأواخر من رمضان وفي الوتر وفي الوتر من العشر الأواخرAnd thus the narrations reported from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) are reconciled. Was the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) not shown the Night of Decree and did he not see that he would prostrate in water and mud the morning after it, and was that not on the twenty-first night? This is established in Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, and others. The conclusion is that I am conveying to my brothers what I know of the Shari'ah of Allah: that the twenty-seventh night is not singled out for 'Umrah. Whoever singles it out for 'Umrah is considered to be legislating what Allah and His Messenger have not legislated. Let him prepare a correct answer for this when he meets his Lord on the Day of Judgment.
The Shari'ah is not based on desire. The Shari'ah is not based on emotion. The Shari'ah is what came in the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). I ask Allah the Exalted to make us all among those who see the truth as truth and follow it. O Allah, show us the truth as truth so that we may follow it, and show us falsehood as falsehood so that we may avoid it, and do not make it ambiguous to us so that we are misled.
I hope that I have cleared my conscience by what I have said and established the proof against those who heard it. I hope that my Muslim brothers will be as Allah described them:
(51) The only statement of the [true] believers when they are called to Allah and His Messenger to judge between them is that they say, "We hear and we obey." And those are the successful. (52) And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger and fears Allah and is conscious of Him - it is those who are the attainers.
إنما كان قول المؤمنين إذا دعوا إلى الله ورسوله ليحكم بينهم أن يقولوا سمعنا وأطعنا وأولئك هم المفلحون ومن يطع الله ورسوله ويخشى الله ويتقه فأولئك هم الفائزونAs for the topic of this gathering, the women spoke about jokes before I entered into the important subject that I intended to address.