Ikram Hawramani's Blog, page 21

Is ghusl necessary if there is no ejaculation?

I sometimes masturbate my self and something like urine comes out is that the mani or Madi and most I perform guhsul jazakallah kairan

If it is manī then this requires ghusl. Manī (semen) is ejaculated in spurts and there is usually a feeling of pleasure when it happens. But if it is madhī then this requires no ghusl. Madhī is a mucus-like fluid that comes out slowly and continuously during sexual arousal.

Note that both manī and madhī are pure, so if they fall on clothing, one can still pray in those clothes without washing them, according to the scholarly opinion I prefer. But like I said, even though manī is pure, its ejaculation necessitates ghusl.

Should we advise others to avoid sin if it may bother them?

Sir, mostly sins make me feel disturbed but what influences me most is the relationship between boys n girls outside marriage. I feel disgusted hearing the terms 'boyfriend/girlfriend'. I'm part of certain Facebook groups where sometimes posts about one's relationship comes up… Sometimes they talk about their boyfriends. It makes me sad and angry. I consider it self harm and desire to advise them, but sometimes stop myself because they might not want it. I want to leave those groups, but I think I might help or guide them somehow by commenting. Can you please guide me what is better to do? Should I leave them and feel easy or should I keep striving? Can we advise someone if they are not asking for it?

There are countless ways to serve God. Advising others to avoid sinful behaviors is just one kind. I believe that it is far more beneficial to try to call people to be better in ways that pleases them and is likely to succeed rather than intentionally going into circles where the advice is disliked or laughed at. So I recommend that you do not waste your time with such groups. Advice generally works once a loving relationship has been built between you and the person. Giving advice on the Internet to a random audience that does not like you and admire you seems to be a waste of time. You would do much better to develop a talent that attracts people to you, then once relationships have been built, you can use them to try to influence them to be better. You can do that by becoming a novelist, artist, teacher, instructor, blogger, video maker, and so on. You should do something that benefits people and makes them like you. Do anything that makes the world a better place for people and you will get countless opportunities to influence them to be better. Giving advice without first working to be an admirable and lovable person is not going to do much good.

Can you continue praying tahajjud if you forget it sometimes?

Salam I just wanted to know if you forget to pray tahujaad namaz Can you still continue reading them..Because I was told that you have to constantly read them…

Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah,

The tahajjud prayer is a voluntary prayer that you can do whenever you are able. There is no requirement to do them constantly, and if you do not do it for a while you are always free to start again.

Why is shirk greatest sin?

Why is shirk greatest sin?

Because it goes entirely against the purpose of our creation. See this previous answer for more on that purpose.

Why did God create humans?

What’s the point of life? I can’t seem to find any meaning in it.

The universe is a factory for creating true friends of God. Think of what “true friend” means. A true friend is someone who loves you and trusts you even though they have no mathematical proof that you love them.

God throws us into a universe where we have no hard evidence of His existence. We get to know Him through the signs He shows us in our souls, in the universe and in scripture. We eventually develop an attachment to Him, while always being free to disobey Him, ignore Him, and pretend that He does not exist. Those of us who maintain His remembrance and serve Him like good servants, even though the Master seems “absent”, even though the Master is never there to force us to serve Him, prove by this that there is something to our relationship with Him that is more than mere forced slavery.

And it is this “more than slavery” aspect that justifies the universe. God could have created a world where He showed Himself and His angels to us and forced us to serve Him without choice. But He wanted more from us humans. He wants our relationship with Him to be a true love affair, filled with doubt, uncertainty, feelings of abandonment, pain, and always the choice of disloyalty. Those who make it through all of this while maintaining the purity of their heart and the innocence of their soul prove by this that they are more than slaves. And it is such people that God wants close to Him in Paradise; people who have proven that they are not mere robots serving Him, but people who could have disobeyed Him yet chose to serve Him.

If you were a powerful king, would you want to be surrounded by ministers and servants who served you because they had no choice regardless of their loyalty to you, or who served you because they loved you and because they proved their loyalty to you in the most difficult times when they had the choice to be disloyal? A wise king would only choose the second type of person to be his close companions.

Your lifetime is therefore an opportunity given to you for promotion; to be promoted into a close companion of the greatest king. As I have said elsewhere, even if the universe managed to create a single true friend of God, then that would justify the whole of creation.

The Islamic ruling on bowing to show respect

Salam. In Japanese culture, it’s normal to bow down to someone out of respect. As a Muslim surrounded by Japanese society, most of the times I did this too, but then u know, the feeling of guilt triggered. I know in Islam we’re ordered not to bow down to anyone other than Allah. How to deal with this?

Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah,

The only hadith we have that prohibits bowing when greeting others is found in al-Tirmidhi, Ibn Maja and the Musnad, but it comes through Hanzala b. Abdullah who is considered weak by many scholars. So there is no strong prohibition on bowing. Shaykh Faysal Mawlawi (from the European Fatwa and Research Council) permits bowing in sports like Judo as long as it is merely a form of greeting / showing respect.

References

Fatwa from IslamOnline that mentions Shaykh Faysal's opinion (Arabic PDF)

On my not answering questions

How come you’re not answering any questions?

Unfortunately I have had a bad episode of chronic fatigue that has disabled me from doing most kinds of work. Alhamdulillah it seems to be passing now. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Will a married couple be punished if they had premarital sexual intimacy?

if a man and a woman have sex before marriage and still marry eachother is allah still going to punish them

If they repent then there will be no punishment inshaAllah. Please see: How to repent from zina (sex outside of marriage)

Is dua mandatory before prayer (salah)?

selam Is this dua mandatory before prayer and if one is not native Arab speaker is it ok if u mispronounce sometimes by mistake. I have hard time with arabic. subhanaka allahumma wa bihamdika wa tabarak ismuka wa tala jaduka va la ilaaha ghayruka sorry if dua wa misspelled.

Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah,

That dua is not mandatory, and there is no issue with mispronouncing it. What matters is your sincerity and your understanding of the dua.

Question on her having a male friend

salam Alaykum, I have this friend who is a guy. but we are just friends. no more than that. we don't like each other. we talk about the people we find attractive. and we are there for each other when we need to talk. is this okay? wishes the best thank you

Alaikumassalam wa rahmatullah,

Please see this previous answer: Can a Muslim woman have male friends? The Islamic view of having friends of the opposite sex