The Ruling on Teaching the Ignorant How to Perform Ritual Purity and Prayer, and Other Matters
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
This questioner says: I have a grandmother who does not pray, and she is ignorant; she does not know how to read or write. How do I teach her prayer and teach her ritual purity? I observe that she does not even know the ritual purity prescribed by the Shari'ah due to her ignorance. Please clarify this for us, and will our conscience be cleared?
Answer:
You teach her. You teach her, or one of her children, or someone else. Teach her how to pray and how to perform the ablution. Knowledge is acquired through learning, and this is obligatory upon you. If she is ignorant, teach her. Allah has taken a pledge from those who possess knowledge to teach it. This is also a form of dutifulness to her. Therefore, it is obligatory upon you to teach her and guide her with kind words, gentleness, and forbearance, not with harshness or violence. Rather, you must be gentle with her, teach her, and direct her to what is good. This is a necessity for you. Yes. We seek help from Allah.
The presenter: We seek help from Allah. May Allah reward you with good, O Shaykh! Many people are lax in that they see their family and relatives making errors in acts of worship. How do you direct such people, O Shaykh?
The Shaykh: It is obligatory upon them to teach everyone under their care, and not to be lax in this matter. He teaches his daughter, and he teaches his sister. He teaches his grandmother and his mother. He teaches his maternal aunt. He teaches everyone under his hand, even the servants he has; he teaches them and guides them to the truth. Allah has taken a pledge from the people of knowledge to teach. Everyone who possesses knowledge is bound by a covenant and pledge to teach and to fear Allah. Even if he is not a scholar, but he knows what Allah has taught him, he knows the prayer and its manner... He teaches people; he teaches his daughter, his sister, his grandmother, and his mother. He knows that backbiting is forbidden, so he teaches them that this is not permissible. He knows that unlawful sexual intercourse is forbidden, so he teaches them that it is forbidden. He knows that intoxicants are forbidden, so he teaches them that they are forbidden. And so on, he teaches them what Allah has taught him. Because... there are two categories: a category that requires the people of knowledge because its evidence is obscure, and a category that does not require the people of knowledge because it is clear. The prayer is clear; the common and the specialized among the people of Islam who have learned and understood know it. The prohibition of intoxicants, the prohibition of unlawful sexual intercourse, the prohibition of undutifulness to the parents or one of them, and so on. Yes, the clear thing he teaches, and what is not clear he asks the people of knowledge about, then he teaches his family.
The presenter: May Allah reward you with good, O Shaykh.
This questioner says: I have a grandmother who does not pray, and she is ignorant; she does not know how to read or write. How do I teach her prayer and teach her ritual purity? I observe that she does not even know the ritual purity prescribed by the Shari'ah due to her ignorance. Please clarify this for us, and will our conscience be cleared?
Answer:
You teach her. You teach her, or one of her children, or someone else. Teach her how to pray and how to perform the ablution. Knowledge is acquired through learning, and this is obligatory upon you. If she is ignorant, teach her. Allah has taken a pledge from those who possess knowledge to teach it. This is also a form of dutifulness to her. Therefore, it is obligatory upon you to teach her and guide her with kind words, gentleness, and forbearance, not with harshness or violence. Rather, you must be gentle with her, teach her, and direct her to what is good. This is a necessity for you. Yes. We seek help from Allah.
The presenter: We seek help from Allah. May Allah reward you with good, O Shaykh! Many people are lax in that they see their family and relatives making errors in acts of worship. How do you direct such people, O Shaykh?
The Shaykh: It is obligatory upon them to teach everyone under their care, and not to be lax in this matter. He teaches his daughter, and he teaches his sister. He teaches his grandmother and his mother. He teaches his maternal aunt. He teaches everyone under his hand, even the servants he has; he teaches them and guides them to the truth. Allah has taken a pledge from the people of knowledge to teach. Everyone who possesses knowledge is bound by a covenant and pledge to teach and to fear Allah. Even if he is not a scholar, but he knows what Allah has taught him, he knows the prayer and its manner... He teaches people; he teaches his daughter, his sister, his grandmother, and his mother. He knows that backbiting is forbidden, so he teaches them that this is not permissible. He knows that unlawful sexual intercourse is forbidden, so he teaches them that it is forbidden. He knows that intoxicants are forbidden, so he teaches them that they are forbidden. And so on, he teaches them what Allah has taught him. Because... there are two categories: a category that requires the people of knowledge because its evidence is obscure, and a category that does not require the people of knowledge because it is clear. The prayer is clear; the common and the specialized among the people of Islam who have learned and understood know it. The prohibition of intoxicants, the prohibition of unlawful sexual intercourse, the prohibition of undutifulness to the parents or one of them, and so on. Yes, the clear thing he teaches, and what is not clear he asks the people of knowledge about, then he teaches his family.
The presenter: May Allah reward you with good, O Shaykh.
Source
binbaz.org.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.