Benefits and Explanation of the Hadith: (… The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: If one of you intends to approach his wife, let him say: In the name of Allah, O Allah, keep Satan away from us…)

The Shaykh : This hadith indicates that it is not disliked for a person to remember Allah when he has uncovered his private parts, because he cannot have intercourse except by doing so, and he will say, “O Allah, keep Satan away from us and keep Satan away from what You have provided for us.” He will thus remember Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and supplicate to Him. One might ask: Is it possible that this is said before he prepares for intercourse? Meaning, if he resolves to have intercourse before preparing, he says, “O Allah, keep Satan away from us,” and so on. It is said: Yes, this is possible, but the first possibility is closer: that he says it when he is fully prepared. His saying (peace and blessings be upon him), “In the name of Allah,” is a prepositional phrase (jar wa majrur) connected to what? To a deleted verb that is estimated based on the context of the action, so the estimation here is: “In the name of Allah, I will have intercourse” or “I will mount.” “O Allah, keep Satan away from us and keep Satan away from what You have provided for us” means: keep Satan away from us so that he does not participate in this, and keep Satan away from what You have provided for us. What is meant by this? It means the child. For this reason, he said: And his saying, “Satan will never harm him,” posed a difficulty for some scholars, who said that a person may be constant in this remembrance in every act of intercourse, and yet among his children there may be one who is an open sinner or worse than an open sinner. They answered this with two responses: The first response is that the meaning is that Satan will not harm him when he stabs him at birth, because no newborn is born except that Satan stabs him, except for ‘Isa ibn Maryam (peace be upon him). So the meaning is that he is safe from his stab, so it does not harm him; if he stabs him, it does not harm him; if he stabs him, it does not harm him. The second view is more correct: “Satan will not harm him” means in leading him astray. But the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned the cause, and a cause may have a preventer. As he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: And just as a child inherits from his father, if he differs from him in religion, what happens? He does not inherit. It is said that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) explained the cause to encourage us to perform it, and this cause may fail to occur due to the presence of a stronger preventer. This is the most correct view: if it happens that someone says this when approaching his wife, and then among his children there is open sinfulness, lewdness, or the like, this does not contradict the hadith, because the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) explained the cause, and a cause may have a preventer, just as giving birth is a cause for inheritance, and yet a child may exist who does not inherit. If someone asks: Does the woman say it? The answer is no. The apparent meaning of the hadith is that it is the man who says it. And the child is composed of what? Of the man’s fluid. So this is specific to the man. Yes.