Jamal Zarabozo – A Guide for the New Muslim Part 5
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the importance of embracing Islam, including complete bathing, removing hairs, and circumcision of issues. They emphasize the need for individual mental and emotional involvement in achieving the spiritual, and discuss rewarding actions for their good deeds. The speakers also touch on issues related to conversion to Islam, including problems with marriage, and the importance of history and changing behavior. They stress the need for individuals to address past mistakes and change their behavior to reflect on past actions.
AI: Summary ©
Come to LA wa salatu salam ala nabina Muhammad or Sharon,
Sharon, Mohammed Abdullah
about.
So now, after we've had that introduction
to stomach law,
and some of the terms and concepts that you'll have to get used to,
we're now ready to discuss some of that other actions that are related to
the act of embracing Islam and and the testimony of faith.
In particular, there are three acts
that are often associated with the embracing of Islam. One is what we could call a complete bathing, where the person washes his entire body.
Secondly, is removing all of one's hairs from his pre Islamic days.
And thirdly, is circumcision the
issue of circumcision.
Now, before we discuss each one of these separately,
it is important to note that
none of these actions, however, should lead to a delay of a person's embracing Islam.
Even if we conclude, or even if some scholars conclude that these actions are to be done, in relationship to the testimony of faith,
and reality, none of these should delay a person's accepting of Islam.
In fact, once a person has decided to embrace Islam,
and to become a Muslim,
then the events of his embrace embracing Islam and his dis, declaring his faith should not be postponed for any reason.
Some people postpone it to a more appropriate time or so they can announce it, or have the person come, for example, after the Friday prayer and have everyone see it and so forth.
This is actually incorrect, because nobody knows what's going to happen to that individual, he could die today, tonight, whatever,
and he is delaying an action that he has to take.
So, therefore, once a person has made the conclusive decision, that he wants to become a Muslim, then, as I said, his embracing of Islam should not be delayed for any reason whatsoever, even these other actions that are related to the embracing of Islam,
they may not be feasible at the time that he wants to become a Muslim. So therefore, they should not cause them any delay.
So let us discuss these three actions.
The first one, as we said,
is a complete a complete bailing.
So here, obviously, when an individual is embracing Islam
is embarking, virtually upon a new life. And therefore this act of taking a complete bathing,
it is a kind of washing away of all of his previous sins and all of his previous beliefs, and so forth.
Now, there's four opinions among the scholars actually concerning this act of abating taking a complete washing before embracing Islam.
So even this action itself, this is like your first example of where the scores might differ.
And of course, here Our goal is not to go into details on these issues, but to make a conclusion but at the same time, I don't see any harm and in presenting a kind of discussion that you're going to hear a lot once you become Muslim.
As I said, sooner you can get used to it. And also the Sunni view is presented to you in a way that will be clear to you and your mother better for you.
So some scholars say that this bathing is obligatory upon anyone who embraces Islam.
And this opinion is found in the medical school we mentioned remember we mentioned the four schools the medical school is one of them. And it is also well known opinion among the handless. By the way, even within school, one school scores many times will differ with one
another view is that this bathing is not obligatory under any circumstances.
Also, have you found with the template school, some say it is obligatory, some say it is not obligatory at all.
Third view is that it is recommended for anyone who embraces Islam.
And this is one of the views of the Hanafi, Maliki and hanbali schools.
And a final view holds that this act of bathing is
Only recommended unless an individual is in a state of sexual defiant defilement.
Or a woman who has previously experienced menstruation or postpartum bleeding.
In these cases, the bathing is going to be required to enter into the state of ritual purity, which is a requirement for the prayer.
Part of the reason for the difference of opinion on this issue is that we find some reports from the processor.
Some reports from the process in which he told specific individuals who are embracing Islam to perform a complete bid.
Now, as I mentioned earlier,
humbleth is part of the legacy of Islam that the Muslim scholars did not just take any report that came from anybody about the process.
But they studied and they analyze each of the individual reports. And they laid down stringent conditions before accepting the reports and basing our religion and basing our beliefs upon such such integration.
So with respect to these reports,
in which the prophet SAW Selim has ordered some individuals to bathe upon entering into Islam, you'll find that all of these reports have some defects to them. And so therefore, the specialist in this field of headache specialist in this field have declared a number of them have declared these headed, or these reports to be weak.
In addition to that, we have the fact.
And this is a well established fact that numerous people embraced Islam during them the process of them.
And there is no record of the process that I'm giving a general order or general understanding that all of these people have to be as part of the process
of becoming a Muslim.
So therefore, even if these reports, maybe there's some authenticity to them, they could be understood as meaning that this is an action that the processor has recommended, and not something that he has required.
Now, at the same time, the new Muslim is going to be required to perform prayers at something.
And so therefore, in order to perform the prayer, it is a requirement that someone that the individual is in a state of purity.
And this act of bathing itself, by the way, when you bathe to be in a state of purity, it requires the intention. In other words, you are bathing for this purpose of to purify yourself, as opposed maybe to just simply sitting under the water and washing yourself without any clear intention in your mind that this is why you're cleaning isn't.
So therefore, if someone
and this is probably the strongest view among the scores, if if someone has some he's sexually defiled, in other words, he had some sexual experience before Islam, or if a woman has, has experienced menstruation or postpartum bleeding, and all of these cases, in order for that person to become pure, then the person has to make a complete bathing before the birth.
So therefore, based on all of the evidence that is available on this issue,
and this is how the Muslim scholars have to reason they have to bring together all of the evidence,
it can be concluded that
after making one's declaration of faith, it is recommended, we can say probably, but it is definitely not an obligatory act that the person
performs this act of baiting. But as we said, if there's some reasons that before the prayer that needs to be done, then that case it will become obligatory.
And as I said, this, this bathing if it is to be performed with an individual does go ahead and perform this bathing as a recommended act. Again, it should not be considered a mere ritual without any significance. But the person actually has a kind of a spiritual rebirth. And he is sitting about on a transformation of his life. And as we referred to earlier, probably his new life is going to be very different from his previous pattern of life. And so therefore, like what we see in in many different aspects of Islam, he should prepare himself mentally, and emotionally and physically, because Islam, as we said, encompasses all of these different
parts of the human being, all of these different facets of his life. And so therefore, to be complete Muslim, you have to
involve all of these different aspects of your life in your Islam.
And so therefore on all these different levels, emotionally
You know your attachment to Islam mentally what you believe about Islam and even physically cleaning yourself, all of these actions inshallah
work together to bring about the new the new life of the Muslim who was just converted to to Islam.
And after he beats
it'll matter metaphorically is now removed
and shall all the different types of physical impurities that he has had maybe still on him, and is now ready to venture venture on his new path.
And also to be on the also to be on the safe side. before performing prayer, it is best done for these individuals, as I said, who met these conditions, to bathe to make sure that they are definitely within a state of purity by the time that they perform their first fruit.
The second aspect I mentioned was removing all of one's hairs from pre Islamic deaths.
And this is also based on a narration from the prophecies that I'm in which the brother said, as reported to have said to a man who had just embraced Islam, removed from yourself or shave off of yourself, the hairs from the time of disbelief.
And this narration again, is not, has not met the standards, the stringent standards that the scholars have placed upon the narrations from the Prophet system. So therefore, it is not an acceptable proof in Islamic law.
And again, we see that this was also not something that was a wonderful practice during the time of the Prophet system, or afterwards.
Now, there are some scholars who look at this narration and say this might be recommended for someone
concerning whom the hairs that he had was had something of religious significance. For example, the Sikhs, as you know, they grow their hair, and this becomes actually a religious act on their part to leave their hair growing. And so therefore, they would they would argue that, in that case, since it had a religious significance for the individual that it should be removed. But again, there's nothing there's nothing in the text that would lead necessarily to this conclusion. And furthermore, as I said, the narration itself is not an authentic narration.
Since it is not an authentic narration, there's no need to try to make some legal conclusion from it.
And there's also a question of circumcision.
And some of those narrations, they mentioned that the processor told the New Muslim to remove his hair as of Islamic days, individuals also told to get circumcised.
And there's also another narration that says that whoever embraces Islam is to be circumcised, even if he is of older age.
Again, these narrations, the majority of the scholars have headed they do not accept these narrations, you might find a particular school credit sometimes who accepts and they shouldn't eration like this, but in general disclosures have said that these are not verified narrations of the processor?
There's no question that circumcision though is an established practice of Islam. It is either considered obligatory or an emphasize recommended act among the scores.
However, there is no proof to show that once or at the time that someone becomes a Muslim, that he must immediately fulfill this act.
And furthermore, you know, if there are some reasons, for example, if the cost of it is prohibitive, or if someone fears some harm coming to him from this action or something of that nature, although now it's pretty much a safe and safe medical procedure, then again, would not necessarily be the case that every Muslim would have to do this. But it is, as I said, it is part of Islam. And you can find authentic evidence showing that this is part of the practice of the Muslims and part of the practice of Muslims actually, since the time of Abraham peace people.
Now once a person becomes and Muslim,
it is clear from many headaches of the process,
that there are special rewards.
And there are special circumstances for the individual embraces Islam.
For example,
in general, when a person embraces Islam, obviously most cases when an individual embraces Islam, his past is filled with evil deeds and maybe some good deeds, you know, sins and good deeds and a lot of things that he did, and an ignorance and so forth. And so the problems are seldom has explained what is going to be now the status of those actions, what, what is left and what's going to have some effect upon him concerning those actions that he performed before Islam.
In this collection of Hadith by Buhari
One that I showed you earlier, spoke about in an earlier lecture.
A person came to the process
and said, O Messenger of Allah, what do you think about the acts of worship that I used to perform in the pre Islamic days, including freeing slaves, and keeping the ties of kinship and giving charity?
Will I receive any reward for that?
And the policy, so let me set a slimmed Alabama set of I like I'm in
the process of them said, You have embraced Islam, upon what good you had in the past.
So the prophet SAW Selim did not explicitly tell him,
that all of those good deeds will still be acceptable, and so on. But he simply said that you have embraced Islam, with what you had done in the past.
So one interpretation of this Hadith, given by the scholars is that the individual will be rewarded for the good that he did in the past.
And this reward the reward for those actions that he did, obviously,
one of the conditions for an action to be accepted by law is that the action is done properly and done solely for the sake of Allah.
But due to his action of embracing Islam, then he'll always receive a reward for all of those good deeds that he did before he became,
in general these conditions of doing an action purely for the sake of Allah and making sure it is correct. According to the revelation of Allah. In general, these actions are missing and anomalous.
He doesn't have that real purity, most non Muslims right are committing shift. And so therefore, he really doesn't have that purity of intention. And it doesn't really know or is not really concerned with the revelation from God, in most cases, that our motto Quran or the sin of the process, and and since he's not Muslim, and so therefore, since these are generally missing, the actions should not be acceptable.
But one interpretation of this Hadith, the prophet SAW cinemas it Yes, the individual, due to his embracing of Islam will receive a reward. And Allah subhanaw taala will accept all of those deeds that he did before becoming. However, there's other ways that this idea has been interpreted.
And one explanation is that those good deeds
have developed in the individual, a good character.
And those good deeds have demonstrated a leaning towards doing good,
and this good character and this inclination that he has in Him,
He will benefit from these two things. Now while he is a Muslim.
And in fact, this tendency towards doing good This may have been obviously what led him to Islam in the first place.
And in fact, it might have even been because of those deeds that he did. That also kind of without a blessed him by guiding him to Islam.
So here the Prophet says to them, as we said, the process of them did not explicitly say that is going to that individual is going to be rewarded for those deeds that he did for us. But those good things that he did, this is what according to this interpretation, this is what actually led Allah subhana wa tada to bless him and guide him to Islam.
There is yet another interpretation
and that is that Allah subhana wa tada is going to reward that person for those deeds that he did before Islam, but the reward for those deeds will be only in this world.
And this is in fact part of the great mercy and the great justice of Allah subhana wa tada that he does not allow any good deed to go unrewarded.
Although such good deeds, although such deeds when they're done by non Muslims, they may not meet all the conditions of being rewarded and accepted and pleasing to Allah subhanho wa Taala and the hereafter, Allah in reality does not ignore them, and it gives to such and it gives to those unbelievers, provisions and rewards in this life. So, the problem is, I Selim has described in another in a number of Hadith, the prophet SAW Selim has described it, Allah subhanho wa Taala does not roll anyone.
And so therefore, if a catheter does a good deed, then he is rewarded by some provision in this life.
while of course with respect to the believer, some of his reward will be preserved or reserved for the gift but the disbeliever will be rewarded in this life.
Actually, there is another
Have you the processor of another statement of the process of them that clearly states
that if a person converts to Islam
and does his best to excel in Islamic Islam proper and good and complete this way, then he will be rewarded for the deeds that he performed before becoming Muslim.
And maybe this Hadith, this other statement of promise I certainly can understand the previous statement in the light of this statement.
This is a special bounty that Allah subhana wa tada has chosen to bestow upon those people who accept Islam. And of course Allah subhanho wa Taala bestows His bounty upon him over he was
so the prophets I seldom said either Aslam a lot for Hassan al Islam who kept the lower level cooler has a net in Canada has left her yet Andrew colusa, yet in Canada has left her.
So the province I sent him this it says that if a servant accepts Islam,
and makes his Islam good,
so there is a condition here.
Some people they accept Islam, but they don't bother really, you know, they just make the Shahada and then really there's not much change in their life or anything different for them. But here the Prophet says to them, explicitly says, the husband is level that he makes is that Islam good. It makes the effort to do what is proper in Islam, and it becomes a true and real must.
So for that person, Allah will record for him every good deed that he performed before his Islam, and Allah will erase for him every evil deed that he did before Islam.
And then in the same Hadith, the prophet SAW said him describe how Allah subhana wa tada treats the actions of the Muslim. And he says, Then after that everything will be according to a retribution for every good deed, he will be recorded tenfold up to 700 fold. And for every evil deed, he will be recorded Similarly, one for it, unless Allah overlooks at first.
So this shows that in fact, the shows that in fact,
if a Muslim person embraces Islam,
and his Islam is sincere and real, and he makes his Islam good, then Allah Subhana Allah will give him the special reward
by rewarding him for what he did before Islam.
And this means that he must remain away from those evil deeds, especially those evil deeds that he did before Islam.
This Hadith in Sahih, Bukhari and Sahih Muslim these two collections that we discussed earlier in which even the companion the Prophet says, and I'm asked to process him
if they were going to be held accountable for the deeds that they performed in pre Islamic times.
And then the prophet SAW Selim said, when x and affiliates lamb a lamb you eartha Bhima Amma from Jamia woman as a filly slammy over the bill, I will will ask
again here the process of them said Massena, the one who does well in Islam, the one who excels in Islam, he will not be accountable for those deeds that he did prior to Islam.
As for the one who does evil, the one who does not do well with respect to Islam, he shall be held accountable for what he did in pre Islamic times, as well as in Islam.
There's also a hadith and collection of akhmedov. And Hanban is the scholar that we spoke about before a scholar of Hadith and also one of the one of the cofounders of one of the schools of thought,
and his collection of Hadith known as the Muslim.
There's a hadith in which the prophets are certainly speaking to one of his companions. His name is Ahmed. He said tomiyama
Amma alimta under this lever. A Jew Boomer can have a home in a room,
or ama, did you know that Islam wipes away all of the sins that weren't performed before it?
So here in this Hadith, the process Adam is speaking generally that Islam wipes away all of the sins that came before.
But this hadith is to be understood, again in the light of the other Hadith that we've been discussing.
If a person completes Islam and works to make Islam proper and correct, then it is true, all of his previous sins will be erased and overlooked. However, if he continues to perform evil acts, and does not actually care about Islam and make his Islam proper, then his previous acts will not will not be overlooked.
Furthermore, there's an even stronger passage in the Quran.
Allah subhana wa tada says in the Quran
and those who do not invoke any other gods along with Allah,
nor kill such life as a lot is forbidden, except for just cause nor commit illegal sexual *. And whoever does this shall receive the punishment.
The torment will be doubled to him on the Day of Resurrection, and he will abide there in disgrace
except those who repent and believe and do righteous deeds, for those Allah will change their sins into good deeds and a lot of forgiving, Most Merciful.
Some scholars understand this hadith to mean that in reality, Allah subhanho wa Taala will take those previous evil deeds and turn them into good deeds, after the person believes and repents and changes his way. While others say that it means that the person will then be guided to do good deeds in this life.
And yet, another understanding of it,
perhaps one of the stronger ones is within the Hereafter, these evil deeds will be transformed and the person will be rewarded for them due to the worry, and the concern and the remorse that he suffered because of them after becoming a Muslim, or after repenting, anytime someone repents.
Whether we're talking about repenting from evil deeds, or whether we're talking about changing one's life and realizing that one has been ignorant of a law or has not been worshipping Allah subhanho wa Taala properly, anytime one repents, one still, in general, one still feels
a great deal of sadness, and a great deal of concern
about those actions that he did which were incorrect, even after repenting, this may still be present in somebody's heart.
And this is this is a result of a belief
and a being from being so sorry for the fact that you disobeyed God in the past. And so therefore, according to this interpretation, because of this concern that the individual has concerning these deeds, Allah will show mercy upon him by transforming those evil deeds into good deeds for him on the day of June.
So we see that the most the new Muslim convert
has in front of him, a very great opportunity has in front of him or her obviously a very great opportunity.
He or she has been given the opportunity to have all of their previous ills and all of their previous sins immediately cancelled,
while still being rewarded for the good that they did before embracing Islam.
This is all part of Allah's grace and mercy.
But again, it is conditional.
It is conditional upon the fact that you take your Islam seriously.
You change because of Islam, and you practice Islam, and you try your best to become a true Muslim.
And you refrain from those sins and evils that you practice before
you're Muslim.
And if you don't do this, if you allow yourself to fall back into doing the same kind of evil sins, and not changing your life, even though you've made the Shahada, even though you've accepted Islam, then you're going to miss out on a very great opportunity and you're going to harm yourself greatly by making yourself liable for the sins and the actions that you did before embracing Islam.
In addition, there's also a verse in the Quran
and another Hadith, this deal specifically with the members of the People of the Book,
who convert to Islam.
These are the people who believed in the earlier books in the earlier prophets.
And then they took the necessary step of also believing wholeheartedly in the prophet SAW Salem and the Prophet Mohammed. And the final revelation that in fact, in reality, their books and their prophets reporting.
So they did not remain content just in following Moses and rejecting the problem system or following and rejecting the problem Hamas acidum but they obviously recognize the truth of the problem homosassa them and they recognize the fact that it is their obligation to therefore now follow this prophet whom they recognize to be a true prophet.
And they can't be just sit back and say no, I'm just happy following and
so because they have done this
because they've done this Allah subhanho wa Taala refers to them in the Quran, Allah subhana wa tada says,
and indeed, now we have conveyed the word in order that they may receive admonition.
those to whom we gave the scripture before. They believe in it, meaning the Quran and when it is recited to them, they say we believe in it really, it is the truth from our Lord. Indeed, even before it we have been from those who submit themselves to Allah.
These these people from the Al Khattab, these will be given the reward twice over because they are patient and they repel evil with good and they spend out of what We have provided them. So here in this verse, Allah subhana wa tada speaking to those people believed in the earlier books, and when the Quran came to them, they believed in it as they should. And so therefore, out of arrogance, or pride or envy or whatever, they did not stick with what they had before but they recognize the truth and they submit it to the truth. So listen to what Allah will give them a double reward. And in fact, the prophets I said, I'm also said the last the tune lahoma Dr.
Roger luminesce kitabi am and I've been the B M and A B Muhammad Sallallahu sallam. The prophet SAW Selim said, there are three categories of people who will receive two rewards.
And among those three, he said, a believer from the people of the book, who believed in his prophet, and then also believed in Muhammad to receive towards.
So hamdulillah
as we said, Allah subhana wa tada and his mercy, He bestows his favor upon whom He wills, He has opened this door for converts to Islam, and especially for converts from the people of the book, and he will reward them.
Now, upon becoming Muslim, obviously, people don't become Muslims in a vacuum, they were living a life before.
We have now spoken about Islam, his view of the deeds that they perform beforehand, whether they were good deeds or whether they were evil deeds,
but obviously an individual and it becomes a Muslim, he doesn't just become Muslim with the deeds that he performed beforehand.
But many times it becomes a Muslim also possessing some wealth, he might he or she may also become a Muslim while being married and having a family and so forth. And therefore, these are some also of the important
questions that we have to ask What does Islam say about these
facets of a new Muslims life?
So for example, what about a person who converts to Islam?
And what about the wealth that he had prior to becoming a Muslim?
It is very possible
that at least some of his wealth that he has upon bracing Islam came from an Islamic sources.
It might have been dealing in all sorts of things before he was Muslim, he might have owned for example liquor store,
or he might have had his money and then banks and then be taking interest off it and so forth. So it is very possible that he has
some of his wealth from sources which are not considered liquid
intimate in Islam.
So now the question is what should the new Muslim do
with this wealth?
There is already in his possession at the time that he becomes a Muslim.
The general rule is that any wealth that the individual has in his possession at the time of his conversion, remains his property, regardless of how that wealth was gained, as long as it was gained in a legal fashion, according to the laws,
according to the laws that Congress was living under, before Islam,
so in other words, if it was illegal, if it was something stolen, and that was illegal before Islam, well, he doesn't. By becoming Muslim, now this becomes legal for him.
But if he did something which was legal in his society,
then he's not held responsible for the fact that he was not applying the laws of Islam, before it became.
So for example, let's read what Allah says in the Quran.
Those who after receiving direction from the Lord, desist and stop, they shall be pardoned for
what they did in the past.
So this verse, it can be understood from this verse, that Allah subhanho wa Taala overlooks and pardons the actions that a person before performs before the rulings of Islam reach him. And before these rulings become obligatory.
Obviously during the time of the process,
there are numerous people who embraced Islam.
And yet, there's no record whatsoever of the process. And I'm asking any of them about the wealth that they had and their position, and how did they obtain such wealth.
In fact, even marriages that took place before the conversion, as we'll talk about were not questioned or examined to see if they meet the conditions of an Islamic contract.
And in fact, we can find various reports that demonstrate that the problem is I said, I'm explicitly approved of the Congress keeping their wealth and their position.
In reality for most people, again, except for those things, which were illegal even before they became Muslim. For most people, they were thinking that they are earning their living and getting this money in a way that is proper and pure, and there's nothing wrong with it. So therefore, they will not be held responsible for that.
This will be different, for example, than a Muslim who is dealing in alcohol and who should know better who know or who knows better, and yet, he still continues to profit from dealing in alcohol. This is not excusable, but the one who didn't know. And the one who doesn't feel that these laws are obligatory upon him.
This is different, he may keep that one, the Muslim who's selling and getting money from alcohol, even after he repents, he should not keep that one. So there's a clear difference here between a convert and what you did before is Islam and a Muslim who was doing wrong.
However, the situation though, is different.
If the Convert has, at the time of his conversion, not yet received
money that would come from an islamically legit legitimate source.
Okay, so for example, let's say like, I sold some alcohol to some store.
And I sold it to them on July 1, and they have six months to pay me. So it's going to be do the payment is going to be due on December 1.
And in the meantime, let's say in September,
the one who sold the alcohol,
the one who was waiting for his money converts to Islam.
Now someone might look at this and say, Okay, well, you know, the contract took place before Islam and so therefore, he can take that money in December when they pay him.
But in reality, though,
he no longer has the right to accept that money. Because as recorded in that verse in the Quran, now he has received the direction from Allah subhana wa Tada. Now he knows the truth and he knows the guidance. He knows what is right and what is wrong. And so now he must desist. He must refuse this money.
So now the admonition has come to him and now he's no longer excused.
And so therefore, he cannot accept anything now which is illegal.
This example the process I sent him,
he abolished all of the interest bearing agreements
that the people had made in Mecca. During during the speech in Mecca, he abolished all of the interest bearing agreements that the people had made before embracing Islam, he said, this is all wiped out.
So this shows again, that even though a contract
may have taken place before embracing Islam,
once, and the person has not yet received the money from that contract, once he becomes a Muslim, and once he realizes that this world is no longer legal for him, then he does not accept this money at all.
Because now, the situation is completely different. Now, he believes that that money is haram, that he now he believes that their money is forbidden for him. And so therefore, they, in fact, he himself did not want to receive it. You know, if the physics lab is true, and this belief has really entered into this heart, then now he doesn't even want that money that's come from selling alcohol.
He should feel bad that he ever sold alcohol in the first place. And so now How is he going to really accept that money? Now, this is a sign that something is not quite right, if he wants that money from selling something that he sees is completely wrong.
Now, obviously, in contracts and contracts nowadays,
it may not be feasible for him to cancel the contract, right? how's it gonna? how's it gonna do that call some corporations say, okay, you don't have to pay me
may work between the individuals, but that probably is not going to work with contracts or it will be may cause more difficult. So if he ends up receiving that money, then the best thing for him to do maybe is to give that money away, or maybe to give it to a mosque and tell him this money is from illegal sources, and they might have some special funds, some special ways that they might use. We'll come back later in the series inshallah discuss other issues related to interest bearing contracts, because it's obviously very important for every Muslim to know this.
So that is with respect to the wealth.
And as I said, also, many times when someone embraces Islam, someone embraces Islam with a family already already has a wife, maybe children, so forth.
And now, now the question is, what's going to happen here?
Now, there's no question that Islam
accepts or firms the marriages that take place, outside of Islam,
or before a person embraced Islam.
There's numerous evidences for this in the Quran. For example, Allah subhanho wa Taala refers to the wife of a bola. This was the uncle the promises that are more opposed his mission, and was clinging to his disbelief. And so therefore, his marriage and obviously also obviously, was in a state of disbelief, and yet still, Allah subhanho wa Taala refers to his wife as his wife. So in other words,
it is accepting these kinds of marriages that have nothing to do with the conditions of Islam. The Quran, Allah subhanho wa Taala refers to the wife of Pharaoh.
Numerous companions of the Prophet SAW said him were born, for example, before the coming of Islam, and they were considered legitimate children
of their parents after embracing Islam, there was no question. There's no question of concerning these marriages. And in fact, the process will have never ordered his companions to get remarried after the two remarry one another after they embraced Islam. In other words, their marriage was simply accepted.
And in fact, the Prophet says that I've never even asked him about the circumstances of their marriage.
So in other words, if a marriage is considered valid, now there's some exceptions to this as we'll talk about.
If a marriage was considered valid,
by a perfect by persons, by the conference, previous religion, or by the Congress, previous law, and so forth, then his marriage will also be considered legitimate and Islam.
If someone had legitimate children recognized by the law before as before Islam, then they will consider be considered his legitimate children in Islam.
If you had a legitimate children before Islam, then obviously those children will remain legitimate after his embracing.
The one exception to this one important exception to this is for example, if
if the pre Islamic marriage
is a kind of marriage that is completely prohibited in Islam.
So for example, among the Persians in ancient times,
used to, it was considered permissible for a brother and sister to get married.
So this kind of marriage is absolutely prohibited in Islam. So this kind of marriage would be negated by snap, these two are no longer considered be considered married as soon as they become Muslim, this marriage is absolutely forbidden.
Similarly, if if, for example, someone comes from a culture in which there's no limit to how many wives he may have, if he embraces Islam, with more than four wives, then and there's different opinion about exactly what must be done, whether he chooses from among them or whatever. But in any case, any any any number of before is not acceptable in Islam. And steps will have to be taken to decide which four he would remain with. That's not a big issue. Unless maybe you're from Utah. But otherwise, I don't know that being a big issue here in the United States are not discussed at any, any further.
However, obviously, there's some other important issues related to conversion to Islam and marriage. Now, if a husband and a wife both embrace Islam at approximately the same time, then the marriage remains intact, and there's no problem, there's no need to take any further steps. And we say, you know, approximately at the same time, that's not going to be possible for them to embrace Islam at exactly the same time, there's some delay in one way or the other, it's not the big issue.
If a man
converts to Islam while being married to a Christian or Jewish woman,
then the marriage also remains intact, and there's no further steps that need to be need to be taken.
those cases are clear and there's no problem with those cases.
However, there are some problematic cases.
two cases in particular, number one is a male convert,
who was married to a woman who is not
Jewish, or Christian or accepting Islam,
in general in Islam, and Muslim male, may be married to a Christian woman or Jewish woman or another Muslim, obviously.
But beyond that, he's not allowed to marry those other people who are committing shift or they have no religion or anything of that nature. So this is a problematic is
the second problematic cases if a female converts to Islam, and she's married to a non Muslim male, obviously, if a female converts to Islam and she was already married to a Muslim, that's not, that's not a problem. That's not an issue. But if a female converts to Islam, and her husband is not Muslim, that this is a problematic case.
There are some verses in the Quran which are very pertinent to these issues. Allah subhanho wa Taala says,
are you who believe when believing women come to you as immigrants examine them? In other words, examine their belief, Allah knows best as to their faith. Then if you ascertain that they are true believers, do not send them back to the disbelievers. They are not lawful as wives for the disbelievers nor are the disbelievers lawful, in other words as husbands for them
so unbelieving woman cannot be a disbelieving man's wife, okay. She is not lawful for them and they are not lawful for her. And another Rasul Allah subhana wa tada says,
Do not marry polytheistic women until they believe
worse until they have the proper belief. And indeed a slave woman who believes is better than a free polytheistic woman, even though she even if she pleases,
and do not give you dollars in marriage, to pause polytheistic men until they believe,
and truly a believing slave is better than a free polytheistic man, even if he pleases you, those men in the polytheists invite you to the fire. But Allah invites you to paradise and forgiveness by his leave, and makes the sign clear to mankind that they may remember.
According to the scholar even
when a woman married to a non Muslim converts to Islam,
the end the marriage becomes suspended and non binding.
When a woman converts to Islam, and her husband is not a Muslim, and is not embracing Islam,
then the marriage becomes suspended and non binding. In other words, she is no longer that man's wife in the sense of it is no longer permissible for her to have marital marital relations with them and is no longer financially responsible for her. And so
however,
the woman has an option here, she's fruit free to choose between ending the marriage.
And if she ends the marriage.
This means now she is free to marry anyone else. If she takes the steps to end the marriage, she's now free to marry anybody else. Or
she may decide to wait
and keep that marriage suspended.
And if she decides to wait, then no longer no matter how long the wait might take.
If that man if her husband embraces Islam, then the two of them can be reunited automatically without any new marriage contract or, or any need to to any special action.
Again, even if the event of the man's Islam takes place many years later, the two of them can be
reunited together, if she has taken that option of suspending the marriage and not canceling.
And this view is based on what happened actually during the time of the processor.
The processor, his own daughter, her name was Xena.
she embraced Islam, but their husband
refused to do so for many years.
Then finally, after six years, he came to Medina and the province has said and reunited the couple without a new marriage contract or without the dowry.
So in the case of the woman, again, when she embraces Islam,
for marriage contract now becomes suspended non binding,
she is free, either to take the steps to cancel the marriage, and therefore she can marry somebody else. Or she's also free to wait. And in the meantime, she is no longer the man's wife in the sense that they cannot continue to have sexual relations and they cannot continue to be men and wife. But if at any time the man decides to embrace Islam, then they can be reunited. There's no new marriage contract, there's no
there's no process that they have to go through whatsoever.
Now in the case of a man embracing Islam and his wife not being a Muslim, or a Jew or a Christian,
but in this case, his retaining his wife
will be harmful to her because he will not be allowed to have marital relations with her or to treat her as a full wife. So therefore, this case is different from the case of the woman. In this case, the marriage comes to an end if the woman refuses to embrace Islam. And Allah subhanho wa Taala says in the Quran,
likewise, do not have the disbelieving women as wives.
Another thing that commonly occurs when someone embraces Islam
is that people change the names upon embracing Islam.
This is in the United States, for example. This has become a common practice and there's many reasons there's many reasons why people do this.
Sometimes for example, it is done. So the comfort zone
Congress feels more attached and affiliated with the Muslim community.
And so the obvious question that arises, is this changing of the name? Is this required by Islam? Or is it recommended? Or is it simply permissible? Remember, we talked about the five rulings.
So obviously, the changing of Islam might be something and the changing of the name might be something required,
or recommended or simply,
in reality, there's no evidence whatsoever in Islamic law, that requires a person who has embraced Islam to change his name to what you could call an Islamic name.
This, the exception to this would be if his name has something improper to it from an Islamic perspective. For example, if his name was the slave of Jesus, the servant of Jesus or something of that nature, or his name has a bad meaning to it.
Then in one case, if his name implies something which is completely unacceptable in Islam, then it will become obligatory upon him to change. If his name is just something that has a meaning that's not very good, then it will be good for him to change, but even then, I may not be considered obligatory, to change it.
And also beloved Philips
and his book tafsir, surah, 200. Also, he points out something very important, a mistake that many converts make.
And that has to do with changing one's last name, the family name.
And this does not seem proper, as he argues in his book, this does not seem proper whatsoever.
Because we find, for example, in the life of the prom system, he changed some people's names, if they had a name, which was which, which was not good.
He changed the first names, but he never changed. You know, if you look at some of the companions of the process, and you look at their names, you'll find some names that they have in their in their lineage, which are actually names of shut up the shops, for example, the worship of the Son, and so forth.
The process that have never changed any of the father's names, he never changed the travel name, he never changed the family name whatsoever.
And when you do that, when you change the family name, then you are distorting who you really are, because now people can no longer recognize and this is a very emphasized aspect of Islam, that you have to have family ties, I mean, you have to be recognized as who you're from, even if your father is not Muslim and so forth, is still your father. And so therefore, you cannot really change those names and distort to your from or deny who your father is and so forth. So, as Bill of Rights, it is not proper to change the last name to change the family name. If you want to change the first name.
That is acceptable. If you want to change the first name that is acceptable, nothing wrong, nothing wrong with that, although it certainly not required.
Probably it is closer to just being something permissible. If you want to leave your name as it is, there's nothing wrong with your name. Then you just keep your name as it is