Yasir Qadhi – Ask Shaykh YQ #100 – Is ‘Meditation’ Considered a Ritual Or Not

			Brother soul bond from New Jersey asks that is meditation, as practiced by modern practitioners
allowed in the Sharia? Or is there some overlap with rituals of other faiths. He then says that
there are many recent studies that acknowledge that there's a lot of positive results, some, it
helps in in mindfulness and stress and being focused and well being. So the Islamic ruling on
meditation as it is practiced in our times,
		

			one
		

			out of seven, me, Paul Bailey in Asia, know he lay him first.
		

			The answer to this in a nutshell is that there is no doubt that rituals of another faith are not
allowed for us to do anything that is inherently a ritual. And therefore, for example, to bow down
in front of an idol, for example, to show servitude to another god, or to do anything that is
uniquely characteristic of another faith, another outfielder, another religion, that is a symbol of
their religion. So for example, it would not be allowed for a Muslim to, for example, wear a cross
because that is something that indicates faith that is against our faith. So clearly, anything to do
with the rituals, or the theology or the specific practices of another religion would not be
		

			permissible for us, it would either be how long at the very least, or it would might even be a type
of differential depending on many other factors. At the same time, that is one understanding at the
same time, cultures, habits, cuisines of any civilization, the default is that these are permissible
and halaal. And therefore, how one dresses, the colors of one's dress, the style of one's dress, the
eating, that are cuisines that might happen, the language that we speak, our hand gestures, for
example, all of these are cultural and the shitty I did not come to dictate any one culture over any
other culture. So this is something we should all know by now, the issue comes, there are some
		

			aspects that are somewhat in the middle, there are some things that people do that are perhaps a
little bit in rituals, and perhaps a little bit in culture. And therefore we need to in those gray
areas, be a little bit more careful and examine what exactly is being asked about in this particular
		

			instance, the the the type of meditation, or the origins of this practice might, for example, be
with certain strands of Buddhism, there's no question that certain, you know, or religions have a
type of meditation that is ritualistic in nature. Now the question that I'm asking you, is that the
type of meditation that you are practicing? Is it something that is completely separate and distinct
from what has originated from another faith? And that is meant to achieve a type of enlightenment?
Ie it is a spiritual journey for the people who practice it? Is it somehow related to that? Or is it
disconnected from that? So if a person sits down before going to work for a few minutes, and just
		

			clears his or her mind up and just focuses on the day plans out? What am I going to be doing, for
example, you know, I don't see any problem with that. At the same time, if you're going to adopt a
certain posture and start uttering certain rituals in ancient Sanskrit or whatever, then clearly,
you have crossed over to something that is ritualistic in nature. And therefore I would put the
question back to you and ask yourself that when you are doing what you are doing, is there an
element of another ritual and other civil another faith tradition involved? Or is it simply a means
of just cleansing your mind and focusing for the day and making sure that you are better but let's
		

			say prepared for the day, and if that is the case, then at some level, we all meditate, like we just
take a moment and we didn't begin our task and whatnot. At some level, every one of us does that.
Having said that, I would also say that the media has its own mechanisms that are definitely far
better. And this reminds me your question actually reminded me of, even to me as routine is the
famous student of his visited him in the early morning, and he said that he'd been Tamia was sitting
after fudger for many hours doing his dicker and his quote on and then when he finished, he turned
around and he said, You know, this is my spiritual food. If I don't get my food for the day, I
		

			cannot be productive for the rest of the day. And so we have our own mechanisms and may I suggest to
you that early morning is a time that you should do your Quran, and you should do some Vicar you
should just sit alone cut off from any you know, noise, any iPhone, anything, just literally sit
after slightly fudger do some Quran, do some Vicar and that meditation, quote unquote, will be
infinitely better and actually prepare you for the day spiritually and mentally and that will be
something that will be in control.
		

			With the sooner because that is exactly what our profits are the law Why do you set them did that he
would sit after slotted ledger and he will do his car and this was the practice of many of the
righteous. So I advise you to do that. Even though as I said, if you simply cleanse your mind and
focus and concentrate in and of itself, you may call it what you will all of us do it at a certain
level and it wouldn't be permitted to do that. And Allah subhanho wa Taala knows best