Tuesday 25 October 2011

He is outwardly Muslim but he rarely attends the mosque; should we think badly of him?

 

There is a man who claims to be a Muslim. He is from a European country and lives in a Muslim country. He rarely attends the mosque to pray, and when I say to him, “I do not see you observing the prayers on time,” he says that he prays at home. It should be noted that his residency visa and passport still show him as a Christian, but he says that he has a certificate which proves that he is a Muslim. What are our duties towards this man?.

Praise be to Allaah.
 

 

Those who claim to be Muslim should publicly practise the
rituals of Islam and adhere to its laws as much as they can. If a Muslim
claims that he is doing acts of worship such as prayer and giving zakaah, he
should be believed and what he says should be accepted. 

All we know is what people show outwardly, and our Lord has
not commanded us to look into people’s hearts, because no one can do that. 

The basic principle is that everyone who utters the
Shahaadatayn should be regarded as a Muslim, so long as he does not do
anything that nullifies his Islam. 

It was narrated that Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with
him) said: When the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
died and Abu Bakr was appointed as caliph, and some of the Arabs reverted to
kufr, ‘Umar said: “O Abu Bakr, how can you fight the people when the
Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:
‘I have been commanded to fight the people until they say Laa ilaaha
ill-Allaah (There is no god but Allaah), and whoever says Laa ilaaha
ill-Allaah, his wealth and his life are protected from me except in cases
dictated by Islamic law, and his reckoning will be with Allaah’?” Abu Bakr
said: “By Allaah, I will most certainly fight those who separate prayer and
zakaah, for zakaah is what is due on wealth. By Allaah, if they withhold
from me a young goat that they used to give to the Messenger of Allaah
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), I will fight them for
withholding it.” ‘Umar said: “By Allaah, when I saw that Allaah had opened
Abu Bakr’s heart to the idea of fighting, I knew that he was right.” 

Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 6924; Muslim, 20. 

Al-Haafiz ibn Hajar (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: 

Al-Khattaabi said: This hadeeth indicates that whoever
appears outwardly to be a Muslim, the outward rulings of Islam apply to him,
even if he is inwardly a kaafir. 

The difference of
opinion has to do with one whose corrupt beliefs are discovered and he shows
that he has recanted; can that be accepted from him or not? As for the one
whose position is unknown, there is no dispute that the outward rulings
apply to him. End quote. 

Fath al-Baari, 12/279, 280 

Since you do not know whether this man holds any corrupt
beliefs and he has not done anything that nullifies Islam, no one has the
right to accuse him of not being a Muslim. The basic principle is that he is
as he appears to be. 

Read the following hadeeth and ponder the discussion that
took place between the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) and Khaalid ibn al-Waleed (may Allaah be pleased with him): 

It was narrated that Abu Sa’eed al-Khudri (may Allaah be
pleased with him) said: A man with sunken eyes, high cheekbones, a prominent
forehead, a thick beard, a shaven head and a waist-wrapper that was tucked
up, stood up and said: “O Messenger of Allaah, fear Allaah!” The Messenger
of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Woe to
you! Am I not the most entitled of all the people of earth to fear Allaah?”
Then the man turned away. Khaalid ibn al-Waleed said: “O Messenger of
Allaah, shall I strike his neck (cut off his head)?” He said, “No, for
perhaps he prays.” Khaalid said: “How many are there who pray and say with
their tongues what is not in their hearts?” The Messenger of Allaah
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “I have not been ordered
to search people’s hearts.” 

Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 4351; Muslim, 1064 

It was narrated that ‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Utbah said: I heard
‘Umar ibn al-Khattaab (may Allaah be pleased with him) say: “People used to
be judged by the wahy (revelation) at the time of the Messenger of Allaah
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), but now the wahy has
ceased. Now we will judge you according to what we see of your outward
deeds. Whoever appears good to us, we will trust him and draw close to him,
and what is in his heart has nothing to do with us. Allaah will call him to
account for what is in his heart. And whoever appears bad to us, we will not
trust him and we will not believe him, even if he says that inwardly he is
good.” Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 2641. 

Undoubtedly prayer is the best of a person’s deeds, so if you
have seen him praying – even if that is only rarely – then he has shown you
that he is Muslim, so he should be trusted and believed. You should honour
this man and help him to apply the teachings of Islam and teach him the
rulings of sharee’ah, including the importance of prayers and of offering
prayer in congregation in the mosque. Show him the good attitude of Islam,
and if he is not sincere then perhaps he will be influenced and will become
sincere both outwardly and inwardly. 

And Allaah knows best.

The things Muslim should do. We as Muslim should give our first priority in learning quran and do quran reading to seek the right path of Islam and through the quran teaching we can achieve the goal of our life and the deputy to guiding our kids to learn Koran that we should fulfill with perfecting kids quran recitation power and knowledge in Islam and also motivate our children’s to do quran memorization and then guide them to learn holy Quran tafseer  so they could understand the quran in Arabic and the quranic translation and also let or kids to listen quran from top quran reciters to get them inspired. at last I would pray for all my Muslim brothers and sisters that may Allah accept there Dwas and prayers and inspire you with the teachings of our holy prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) so let us join hands and spread the knowledge that every Muslim is born to spread the knowledge of Islam now a day many online quran tutor are available for kids and elders to learn tajweed quran and with exact pronunciation and perfect the quran recitation online with qualified teaching staff  who can guide then with there experience and knowledge and the write teachings to help us in achieving the path of Jannah so learn quran and its teaching and spread the word of Allah

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