Benefits of the Hadith (If any of you finds something in his stomach and it becomes unclear to him . . . ).
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The Shaykh : Among the benefits of this hadith is that Islam wants its followers not to remain in anxiety, confusion, and doubt, because if a person follows this principle, he finds rest, but if he submits to illusions and whispers, he becomes weary. So we say: Rest, if you are in doubt and it is unclear to you, the original state is the continuation of purity.
And among the benefits of the hadith is that if it becomes dominant in his mind that he has broken his state of purity, he is not obligated to perform ablution, because the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) conditioned the obligation of ablution on a certain matter, which is hearing a sound or smelling a smell, and not otherwise. Accordingly, one does not act on a dominant suspicion here. That is, if it is unclear to a person whether something came out of him or not, whether it is wind, moisture at the tip of the penis, moisture at the ring of the anus, or something similar, and it is unclear to him and it becomes dominant in his mind that it came out, he should not pay attention to it until he is certain.
Among the benefits of this hadith is that mosques are not a place for ablution, and the custom in the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) was that there was no ablution in the mosques, due to his saying: meaning to perform ablution.
But if a place is prepared for ablution in the mosque and it does not cause harm to the people of the mosque, there is no harm in performing ablution there. However, if there is no prepared place, such as if one comes to the cooler, for example, which is in the middle of the mosque and performs ablution, that is not permissible because of the defiling of the mosque, either by this man or by those who follow this man’s example. And because the water in the cooler, if a person draws it, will reduce the cooling, especially in the days of summer, so this would be using the water for other than what it was endowed for.
So, if the one who performed ablution doubts the breaking of the ablution, does he act on this doubt?
The student: No.
The Shaykh : He does not act on it. And is he sinful if he does not pay attention to it?
No, rather this is the Sunnah, and this is what a person should follow.
The scholars built many issues on this hadith regarding divorce and other matters, divorce and prayer and other than prayer, meaning there is no chapter in Islamic jurisprudence in which you cannot find a branch for this hadith.
So among that, if someone said: If this bird is a crow, then my wife is divorced, and the bird passed by and he did not know what it was, is she divorced?
The student: No.
The Shaykh : She is not divorced. Why?
Because we are in doubt; we do not know this bird. So if we are in doubt, the original state is that there is no divorce. And it is not said: that scrupulousness is to divorce, because this is not scrupulousness. Scrupulousness is to adhere to the Sunnah. Now, if the one who doubted the breaking of purity said: I will drive away the doubt with certainty, and I will break my purity, is this an innovation or a Sunnah?
The student: An innovation.
The Shaykh : This is an innovation without doubt, because the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) directed you to something other than this. Because some people, when they doubt the breaking of the ablution, go to break the ablution intentionally, thinking that they will find rest, but that is not the case; they will not find rest. When Shaytan overcomes a person to the extent that he does such an act, he will not find rest. And likewise in divorce, some people have whispers, then they doubt whether they divorced their wife or not, and they say: So I will find rest and divorce her. This is a mistake. Rather, rest is in following the Sunnah, which is remaining on the original state.
And among the benefits of the hadith is that if it becomes dominant in his mind that he has broken his state of purity, he is not obligated to perform ablution, because the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) conditioned the obligation of ablution on a certain matter, which is hearing a sound or smelling a smell, and not otherwise. Accordingly, one does not act on a dominant suspicion here. That is, if it is unclear to a person whether something came out of him or not, whether it is wind, moisture at the tip of the penis, moisture at the ring of the anus, or something similar, and it is unclear to him and it becomes dominant in his mind that it came out, he should not pay attention to it until he is certain.
Among the benefits of this hadith is that mosques are not a place for ablution, and the custom in the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) was that there was no ablution in the mosques, due to his saying:
So he does not leave the mosque
فلا يخرج من المسجدBut if a place is prepared for ablution in the mosque and it does not cause harm to the people of the mosque, there is no harm in performing ablution there. However, if there is no prepared place, such as if one comes to the cooler, for example, which is in the middle of the mosque and performs ablution, that is not permissible because of the defiling of the mosque, either by this man or by those who follow this man’s example. And because the water in the cooler, if a person draws it, will reduce the cooling, especially in the days of summer, so this would be using the water for other than what it was endowed for.
So, if the one who performed ablution doubts the breaking of the ablution, does he act on this doubt?
The student: No.
The Shaykh : He does not act on it. And is he sinful if he does not pay attention to it?
No, rather this is the Sunnah, and this is what a person should follow.
The scholars built many issues on this hadith regarding divorce and other matters, divorce and prayer and other than prayer, meaning there is no chapter in Islamic jurisprudence in which you cannot find a branch for this hadith.
So among that, if someone said: If this bird is a crow, then my wife is divorced, and the bird passed by and he did not know what it was, is she divorced?
The student: No.
The Shaykh : She is not divorced. Why?
Because we are in doubt; we do not know this bird. So if we are in doubt, the original state is that there is no divorce. And it is not said: that scrupulousness is to divorce, because this is not scrupulousness. Scrupulousness is to adhere to the Sunnah. Now, if the one who doubted the breaking of purity said: I will drive away the doubt with certainty, and I will break my purity, is this an innovation or a Sunnah?
The student: An innovation.
The Shaykh : This is an innovation without doubt, because the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) directed you to something other than this. Because some people, when they doubt the breaking of the ablution, go to break the ablution intentionally, thinking that they will find rest, but that is not the case; they will not find rest. When Shaytan overcomes a person to the extent that he does such an act, he will not find rest. And likewise in divorce, some people have whispers, then they doubt whether they divorced their wife or not, and they say: So I will find rest and divorce her. This is a mistake. Rather, rest is in following the Sunnah, which is remaining on the original state.