Pages

Monday, June 03, 2013

Preserving your Summer Holidays/Summer Vacation

Shaykh Muhammad bin Saaleh al-‘Uthaymeen
[May Allaah have Mercy on him him]

Oh People! Fear Allaah, the Most High and know that the time has been proportioned and it is a storage for you deeds, so meet time with good deeds before it disappears from you. Verily, every day, rather every hour, rather minute, rather every moment that passes, escapes from you and it will never come back. Every day, every hour, every minute, every moment that passes you shortens your life and hastens you to towards your end.
So pay attention, Oh Slave of Allaah to this reality! It is nothing but hours and moments, then before you know it, it will turn into death and regret because of the fact that you missed the opportunity to do good deeds in the time that you had been favoured and blessed with, wishing you had occupied your time with righteousness. This is the reality that most people are negligent of, so pay attention to this point!

Oh people! Teachers and students amongst us have their holidays approaching during these days, which the end of the academic year and the beginning of the summer holidays. So we should look and see how we should prepare to spend our holidays?  
There are some people who spend it in their countries (i.e. Muslim countries), they don’t leave nor travel however they use their time wisely during this period.

This lecture is targeted at those people, those who seek to who wish to seek to build, those who want a beneficial holiday, a holiday that will bring about benefit in their lives and their religion, either by them revising issues of knowledge, or that they gather to attend lectures, or that they spend their time in the libraries to increase in knowledge, or that they spend their time doing something that will benefit their Dunya, such as being with their families and the likes.
And there are others who spend their holidays travelling, going to Makkah or al-Madeenah, and how a wonderful journey that is. They go to Makkah or al-Madeenah, either to perform ‘Umrah or to perform as-Salaah in these places, visiting the grave of the Messenger [Peace and Blessings of Allaah be Upon him] after he has prayed in the Masjid (i.e. his intention is to travel to al-Madeenah for the Masjid and not to solely visit the grave), then these are from the most virtuous of deeds. He has spent but he has built something with it. From an ‘Umrah to an ‘Umrah is a expiation of sins, praying in Masjid al-Haram is the best place to pray (in the world) and it is a place that has been singled out with great virtue.

I want to deliver my message to those who want to go to Makkah and al-Madeenah, sincerely for Allaah, the Glorified and the Exalted. Those who wish to perform these deeds being eager to do it with conformity with the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allaah [Peace and Blessings of Allaah be Upon him] and following his guidance.  This is because acts of worship cannot be considered as being correct unless if they meet two fundamental principles; 1) Ikhlaas, that one is sincere in doing it for Allaah, the Glorified and the Exalted, Alone and 2) that it conforms with the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allaah [Peace and Blessings of Allaah be Upon him].
Those going must make sure that they are eager to pray as-Salaah on its proper time, shortening when they leave their cities until they reach their destination, except if they pray behind an Imaam during their travels who prays in full then they must also pray in full.  Upon reaching the destination, one must pray with the congregation but if they miss the congregation then they may shorten, the Salaat which are usually four Rak’aat are shortened to two Rak’aat.

So there are two types of people during the summer holidays, those who travel and those who stay in their home cities.
As for those who travel, then there is one type of travellers who travel for a particular place such as Makkah or al-Madeenah.

The second type of traveller is one who travels for a Shar’ee purpose, such as one who travels to seal ties of kinship or to seek knowledge or visit a poor person or even to spread good amongst people.
The third type is one who goes to preach to people about their religion.

The fourth types of people are those who travel because Allaah has made it easy for them (i.e. not for the sake of worship); and these are two types of people; those who travel for the sake of relaxation. This is a favour from Allaah that the person has taken, so this is permissible, in fact this person is helping the country’s economy by travelling domestically, so this person helps the citizens of the country by helping circulating money domestically. However, this person must be advised to Fear Allaah and remember to fulfil what is obligatory upon him and to stay away from sins, and to stay away from things that will immature and that will deteriorate his intellect.
As for the other type of people who travel (i.e. not for the sake of worship) then they are who fall into a really dangerous area; to travel abroad to the lands of the non-Muslims. Lands which have been ruined with Kufr, insanity, lewdness, the intoxication of intellect, the corruption of hearts, places where you don’t hear the Athaan or the Salaah is not held in congregation, instead, you see the symbols of the Jews and the Christians so this person comes back with his opinions polluted because of this journey. His Eemaan has weakened, he has wasted his wealth and his intellect has been snatched away from him because of the Fitnah of what he has witnessed there, because of desire in seeking the splendour of this life of the Dunya.

This person is like one who changes the favour of Allaah upon him (i.e. being in a Muslim land) for something that is less (i.e. travelling to a non-Muslim land)! He took the favour of Allaah of Rizq and he used his wealth and his health to disobey Him! So this person is a loser in the Dunyaa and in his Deen! Not only this, those who go there strengthen their economy and they enter into their countries seeking to have a good time, whilst their countries (i.e. Muslim countries) are suffering from illnesses, entrapped by those over them.
So the one who has intellect must take caution and not to be from these people!

And know! Those who travel to those lands, even though their bodies find enjoyment because of what they do there, their souls are being shattered in the process, their wellbeing is being taken away from them because of the tiredness they face from their distorted opinion and intellect (that has resulted from them travelling there). They even face worries and depression when they are forced to go back to their countries!
It may even be that they return with their minds stained and tarnished by what they hear and from the lewd manners they have witnessed’. There is no doubt, that going to such places and seeing these things will have an effect on the hearts of the children that travel with them, because children have a characteristic of not forgetting what they see and hear.

So they need to Fear Allaah and command themselves! Fear Allaah in your families! Fear Allaah in your communities! Verily, these types of pollution and contamination will affect others when they come back to their countries, their other family members, their neighbours and others they meet. So it upon us all to do what we can to stay in our country so that it doesn’t get polluted with the likes that those people bring from the lewd manners that they end up promoting.
My brothers! Be cautious against this! Warn your brothers! Stay in your communities, there is a great form of protection by doing this. By Allaah! This is a huge disease and even though you may not know it now, this pollution that these people bring will have an impact, if it’s not in a year then in two years but there will be an impact!

I end my speech with what Allaah, the Most High, has commanded His Believing Servants, where he said:
O you who believe (in the Oneness of Allah - Islamic Monotheism)! Eat of the lawful things that We have provided you with, and be grateful to Allah, if it is indeed He Whom you worship

[al-Baqarah 2:172]
Abridged from Here:

No comments:

Post a Comment