What is your comment on the tafsir books that were placed in cigarette cartons and have your name written on them?
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The questioner : Your Eminence, cartons bearing your name were distributed in the mosque on Tuesday, and they are cigarette cartons.
The Shaykh : What?
The questioner : Cartons were distributed in the mosque on Tuesday, and they are cigarette cartons—Marlboro. They are originally tafsir books on the inside, and on the outside they have the Marlboro cigarette brand. They came via the airport and bear your name. We ask you to notify your correspondents. May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : Tafsir?
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : What tafsir?
The questioner : The books that were distributed.
The Shaykh : I am asking, what tafsir?
The questioner : Tafsir of the Qur'an, and the cartons on the outside are advertising.
The Shaykh : I was not informed that there was a tafsir of the Qur'an inside.
The questioner : Al-Shawkani's tafsir, O Shaykh.
The Shaykh : Ah, Al-Shawkani's tafsir.
The questioner : They came via the airport.
The Shaykh : Yes, yes, may Allah reward you. They came to us from Jeddah, and I did not know what the cartons were, whether they were cigarette cartons or something else. But some of the brothers said so, and we told them: empty them into the room and remove the cartons. They are not ours. The book is not one of our writings; it is by Al-Shawkani (may Allah have mercy on him).
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good, O Shaykh. They came via the airport bearing Marlboro advertising and the name of Your Eminence, Shaykh Muhammad ibn Salih al-Uthaymeen.
The Shaykh : How did they come from Jeddah?
The questioner : Yes, from Jeddah, but via the Qassim airport.
The Shaykh : The Qassim airport.
The questioner : An ordinary person sees them!
The Shaykh : No, praise be to Allah, I am not a cigarette seller!
The questioner : But someone sees them!
The Shaykh : In any case, this is a mistake on their part. It is not permissible to place a tafsir of the speech of Allah in these cigarette boxes; they are not good.
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : Huh?
The questioner : Most books are like this.
The Shaykh : Larger, and perhaps as the brother said, even more so. May Allah grant us well-being! But what can we say? We say: if packages of books of this type come to us, return them?
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : As for what is packed, Allah knows the intentions. If they are cigarette cartons, he will not go looking.
The questioner : Via the airport and bearing your name.
The Shaykh : Nothing contradicts the fact that they came via the airport bearing my name and containing books or otherwise. Placing my name on these cartons is a mistake, but what can we do?
We tell the airport to return them? That is not possible. Rather, you know, may Allah reward you, that we consider smoking forbidden and we are not among its traders, praise be to Allah!
The questioner : Your Eminence, some students of knowledge stay up at night studying and miss the Fajr prayer. And if you advise them, they come to you with arguments that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) missed the Fajr prayer once, meaning they bring evidence that I cannot, I mean, refute.
The Shaykh : It is a mistake for a person to stay up at night in tahajjud or reviewing knowledge and then sleep through the Fajr prayer.
The Shaykh : What?
The questioner : Cartons were distributed in the mosque on Tuesday, and they are cigarette cartons—Marlboro. They are originally tafsir books on the inside, and on the outside they have the Marlboro cigarette brand. They came via the airport and bear your name. We ask you to notify your correspondents. May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : Tafsir?
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : What tafsir?
The questioner : The books that were distributed.
The Shaykh : I am asking, what tafsir?
The questioner : Tafsir of the Qur'an, and the cartons on the outside are advertising.
The Shaykh : I was not informed that there was a tafsir of the Qur'an inside.
The questioner : Al-Shawkani's tafsir, O Shaykh.
The Shaykh : Ah, Al-Shawkani's tafsir.
The questioner : They came via the airport.
The Shaykh : Yes, yes, may Allah reward you. They came to us from Jeddah, and I did not know what the cartons were, whether they were cigarette cartons or something else. But some of the brothers said so, and we told them: empty them into the room and remove the cartons. They are not ours. The book is not one of our writings; it is by Al-Shawkani (may Allah have mercy on him).
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good, O Shaykh. They came via the airport bearing Marlboro advertising and the name of Your Eminence, Shaykh Muhammad ibn Salih al-Uthaymeen.
The Shaykh : How did they come from Jeddah?
The questioner : Yes, from Jeddah, but via the Qassim airport.
The Shaykh : The Qassim airport.
The questioner : An ordinary person sees them!
The Shaykh : No, praise be to Allah, I am not a cigarette seller!
The questioner : But someone sees them!
The Shaykh : In any case, this is a mistake on their part. It is not permissible to place a tafsir of the speech of Allah in these cigarette boxes; they are not good.
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : Huh?
The questioner : Most books are like this.
The Shaykh : Larger, and perhaps as the brother said, even more so. May Allah grant us well-being! But what can we say? We say: if packages of books of this type come to us, return them?
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : As for what is packed, Allah knows the intentions. If they are cigarette cartons, he will not go looking.
The questioner : Via the airport and bearing your name.
The Shaykh : Nothing contradicts the fact that they came via the airport bearing my name and containing books or otherwise. Placing my name on these cartons is a mistake, but what can we do?
We tell the airport to return them? That is not possible. Rather, you know, may Allah reward you, that we consider smoking forbidden and we are not among its traders, praise be to Allah!
The questioner : Your Eminence, some students of knowledge stay up at night studying and miss the Fajr prayer. And if you advise them, they come to you with arguments that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) missed the Fajr prayer once, meaning they bring evidence that I cannot, I mean, refute.
The Shaykh : It is a mistake for a person to stay up at night in tahajjud or reviewing knowledge and then sleep through the Fajr prayer.