When conflicting hadith accounts collide, which one prevails?

Chapter of fasting. We discussed a lot of what had a lot of the things with regards to fasting. A lot of the rulings, a lot of the narrations, etcetera. However, we did not conclude all of what Ibn nu Kaim Rahim spoke about with regards to fasting. And there is some follow up as well that is involved. And that is that what days are preferable for a person to fast, what days are impermissible outside of the month of Ramadan? This is something important for us to continue even though the month of Ramadan for this year is now behind us.

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You know, kiss my wife or fondle my wife while I'm while I am fasting. The prophet allowed him to do so. And another came to him and asked him the same question. And he prohibited him. He said, no, that's not permissible. And so, the narrator concludes that the person that asked him and he allowed him was an elder, elderly gentleman and the person that he prohibited, the same thing, was a young man. This narration is collected by Abu Daud Rahima Allah in the book of fasting of his and it is an inauthentic narration. It is narrated with an acceptable chain of transmission from the prophet yet we can still understand the spirit of this narration even though it is inauthentic, there are other verses in the Quran narrations that do articulate a similar meaning. What is the reason? Well, it's you know, the the spirit of the narration is that a person who is older, if he were to kiss his wife or if he were to touch his wife, you know, a hug or something while they are fasting, he will be able to control himself and not let it go beyond that because what's prohibited is intercourse. While a person is fasting. And so, the older person, a person who is an old man, usually is more capable of containing himself and containing his urges. Whereas a young man maybe newly wed, maybe has a very strong perhaps insatiable desire and if this person were to kind of open that can of worms, they would not be able to unring that bell per se. That's a kiss would lead to you know, that which would be a major sin in Islam which is intercourse during the day of Ramadan. For the, for one who is fasting and so, this spirit is correct and that is that if a person is unable to contain himself and this thing will directly lead them to that which is haram or most likely lead them to that which is haram then it becomes haram in itself. Whether the person is old or young. There's not really a a set difference. Human beings, they vary. They're hormone, their hormones vary their the their, you know, their libido or their drive varies and so, some are more able to discipline themselves and contain themselves while others are not And so, if a person understands from himself that he is unable to control himself, then, that would become impermissible if it certainly or most certainly will lead to that which is haram and this goes with everything. It's not just in fasting. This is a general rule. Allah Allah said to Adam and do not come near this tree. What is prohibited is eating from the tree. But he prohibited them from coming near the tree because coming near it will directly result in them falling into that which is haram. So this narration is inauthentic. However what we can take away from this and what the scholars have driven home in the spirit of such narrations is that if a person is unable to contain himself, then this may become haram whereas a person who is able to control himself, then there is, in essence, nothing wrong and it does not interfere with a person's fast to kiss or or do any of the things that a husband and wife would usually do as long as there is no intercourse involved And Quran Al.

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Specific way, eating or drinking, anything intentionally or that which takes the place of eating or drinking or that which goes the path of food and drink. This will break a person's fast and we discuss this in detail in our previous discussions. We're just going over it because Allah mentions it here as part of the book. Another thing that he mentions is that Al Hijama, cupping will break a person fast, cupping. What is cupping? Cupping is a prophetic medicine where a person will have blood drawn. So, the area that they are cupping will, you know, there will be suction and then, a razor will be used to let the blood and then more suction and it will it's called blood letting or cupping. And this is something that the scholars of Hadith on whether or not it breaks a person's fast. There are few narrations in this regard Number one, there's a narration that Al Imam Al Bukhari Rahima Allah mentions in his in his authentic compilation. But he mentions it without a chain of narration. Which means that it's not part of Sahih Al Bukhari. You know, Sahih Al Bukhari, what is Sahih Al Bukhari or the narrations that he mentions with his chains of narration, right? There are chains of there are other narrations that he'll just mention in passing but he won't mention a chain of narration because they don't meet his criteria. One of these narrations is that the prophet did cupping while he was fasting. That's how the narration goes. He did cupping, blood letting while he was fasting. In other narrations, it was that he did this cupping while he was in Ihram. So, the narrators differ on what the narration actually is. Difference of opinion. Al Imam Ahmed Rahima Allah. his opinion with regards to this narration is that blood letting will break a person's fast. There's another narration in a that states that the prophet said that the person who does the cupping and the person who receives the cupping, both of them have in their fast. This narration is also a point of discussion amongst the scholars of Hadith and its meaning is also a differed upon. The opinion that is most sound that the majority of the scholars hold is that blood letting will not break a person's fast in and of itself. Meaning, if a person, you know, why is this important. It's important because a lot of things are derived and based on this kind of narration. is the prophet saying that blood letting, cupping in and of itself breaks a person's fast even if it's just a few drops, even if it's just a little bit. it's known that for instance, if you were to eat a big meal eat a big meal and then you go to do this cupping. You go to do this blood letting or even if you go to draw blood, you will not be able to get very much blood at all because most of the blood rushes to the stomach to help with the digestive process. So, is there a difference? If a lot of blood comes out or even if just a little bit or the mere action of blood letting will break a persons fast The opinion that the majority of the scholars hold is that blood letting will not break a person's fast. In and of itself. Meaning that it, the action itself, if you have blood drawn, if you bleed, if you have a tooth pulled, then you start to bleed, or if a, if you get a cut and you bleed a lot, does this break your fast? The answer is no. This will not break a person's fast in and of itself. For person goes to donate blood. Will that break their fast? No. In and of itself, it will not. However, if a person bleeds out or if a person, you know, has some kind of accident or if a person has blood drawn and they become dizzy and they become weary and they and a person has to break their fast to eat, to regenerate their body. So, the the blood letting itself does not break a person's fast. Whereas, a person may need to break his fast for some other reason but the blood itself coming out of the body will not break a person's fast in the opinion of the majority of the scholars. He says in the Quran, indicates that intercourse will break a person's fast and it is not known that any scholar has ever differed on this issue. No scholar in the history of Islam who was notable. Has been known to say that intercourse will not break a person's fast. All of the scholars agree that intercourse will break a person's fast. He says and it's not authentic what has been narrated with regards to all the narrations regarding which is coal in the eye that this will break a person's fast. There are some narrations that putting something in the eye ran for a woman makeup or for a man, you know, coil or eye drops or something of that sort, that this will break a person's fast. Why? Because sometimes a person may use something in his eye and kind of have a taste of it in the back of his throat. Feel some of that eye drop had reached to the back of his throat. Will this break a person's fast? No. There's no narration that is authentic regarding anything the regarding the eye being a path that will break a person's fast. What do we mean by path that will break a person's fast? Well, we said what leads into the into the stomach, right? So, a path that leads into the stomach is the mouth, a path that leads into the stomach is the nose, right? But the eye is not a path that leads to the stomach. I mean, there maybe some residual thing that may you know, find its way into a person's throat but it's not an a normal to the stomach. So, it is not something that is considered to break a person's fast. Ibn Then goes on to mention some of the times when it is most preferable for a person to fast. And in San you know Ramadan Adel Suyam Islam.

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You know, optional fasting What is the best time to fast? A person can essentially fast any day of the year. There are certain days when it is prohibited to fast. We will get into those days inshallah. But for the most part, aside from these five or six days which is prohibited for a person to fast. An optional fast. And a person can fast any day. You can fast Monday. You can fast Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. You can fast. However, what is preferable? If I wanted to choose a day or if I wanted to choose a month or if I wanted to choose a series of days then, which of these times is preferable for me to fast? He mentions fasting the month or the 10 days of the The companions differed. Some of them said, he fasted the first 10 days of the meaning, day one through day nine including the day of Arafah. It's referred to as the ten of the just in a general generalized fashion. Otherwise, it's actually nine days because you're not going to fast the day of Eid which is the tenth day, right? So, some of the companions said, yes, he fasted. These 10 days of the hijjah. While other compan said, no, he did not fast, right? This is a difference of opinion amongst the companions Some of them said he fasted, others said, no, he did not fast. This is something that is rare. It's not common in narrations that the companions the.

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Doesn't happen often This is very rare actually. However, it does come up. where a companion will say the prophet did not do this. And another companion will say, he did do this. If we are at that crossroads, and we are unable to harmonize the two statements. We're not a to harmonize those two statements. They are mutually exclusive. They are opposing statements. One says, he did it, the other says he didn't. What do we do in this case? So, we have kind of a checklist. Number one, we look at the chains of narration. We see, are the chains of narration authentic? Are they correct? Now, I'm I'm obviously talking to you about what the scholars do. When I say we, I mean, the the the that the scholars go through We look at the chain of narration. We make sure that both are authentic narrations because if one of them is weak and the other is authentic, we take the authentic, right? So, if both narrations are authentic, Then, we go to the second level and that is trying to harmonize the two statements. I need to try to make peace, make harmonize where both statements are used. If this is not possible, then, we have a third and final stage where I have to choose one. One can be, has to be correct and the other has to be correct. It's not possible for yes and no to be both correct at the same time, right? In in the exact same way. So, Ibn Kayim, he gives us a very valuable principle and that principle states that in this rare occasion if one says this did not happen and the other says, this did happen then, we take the one who we give precedence to, the one who affirms that action. The one who says, I saw him do this, that narration, that statement takes precedence over, he never did this Because which one is more general. He never did this. That's a much more broad statement, correct? As opposed to someone saying, I saw him do this. That's much more specific and in Islamic logic, Islamic logicians, Yani, Ali Osul, they mentioned that. That which is specific, takes precedence over that which is general. Let's give an example of this. So, There's a narration in which He says, I saw the prophet while we were travelling and we came over this area and it was kind of an inhospitable area. It was where the it was the the mezbola is the place where you know, the the community, the the the village, they all throw their garbage. It's the the village dump if you will. And the prophet needed to relieve himself. However, if he were to sit to relieve himself it was more likely that he would soil his clothing, soil himself, and so says, I saw him, that he stood covering his private parts and and relieved himself. Meaning, you're a nation, right? So, Hadefa said, I saw this. We were traveling. We were going to war and a journey and I saw him do this. I, Ishel on the other hand, she said, the prophet never himself standing up. It never happened Whoever tells you that he did is wrong. So, now we have Hadefa saying, I saw this happen and Aisha saying, he never did this. We go through our checklist, right? Number one, we have to check on the chain of narration. Both of them are authentic. We have number two, we have to harmonize, right? Well, Isha, the way that she said it it's not possible to harmonize this narrations because Aisha said, whoever tells you he did is wrong. Heather. He said, whoever tells you this, doesn't know what he's talking about. He's wrong. So, it's not possible to harmonize between the statement of and the statement of Aisha. But the question here has to come up. Was Aisha with the prophet every single time he went everywhere. It's not possible. She she was not, right? Yeah. So, is it possible that I, Isha, spoke about what she always saw every time she witnessed the prophet relieving himself or speaking about it or teaching it. It was always sitting down. Is it not possible that she spoke about what she saw and it was so overwhelmingly so to the point where said, he never did this and if anyone tells you that he did otherwise, they are wrong. We understand from this that in normal circumstances, he would never urinate standing. If he had an option, that would not be his choice. However, Hudaifa tells us of what he saw. And was clearly not there in that incident. Therefore tells us here He says, the one who affirms the action we give precedence to that testimony over a person who who completely negates its existence because negation is more general than affirmation. Affirmation is more specific. So, we conclude from these two narrations of that the of the prophet is that he would under normal circumstances, hardly ever, if ever, relieve himself standing. He would always sit. However, under pressing circumstances, he may veer from that but that is definitely the exception and not and not the norm. Do we derive from this that it is impermissible for a person to relieve himself standing even if they can sit? No. Person can relieve himself in any way that he chooses as long as he does not soil himself or soil the area, etcetera However, there is a difference between that which is permissible and that which is the and we spoke about this in detail previously. Allah was sown.

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First month which is the month of Muharam. The tenth day is referred to as meaning the day of the tenth. This tenth day is a day of fasting for the Muslims. It had a history, Ashurah. Ashura was fasted by the Muslims before fasting the month of Ramadan became obligatory. fasting the month of Ramadan became obligatory in the second year after Hijra. the first year when the prophet first arrived to Medina saw that the Jews of Medina would fast the day of Ashura, the tenth day of the first month, the month of Muharam. And so he asked them why do you guys fast this day? And they informed him that this is the day that marks the day when Allah parted the sea, the Red Sea, and delivered Musa and his people, Beni Israel from the clutches and the bondage of, of Firaun, and destroyed. It was on that day, the tenth day of the month of Muharam and so it is a grand day and so we, it is a day of majesty, so we fasted Out of thankfulness to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for that deliverance. The prophet said, we are closer to Musa than you are. We are closer to Musa. Ila Musa. We are closer to Musa than you. Meaning, in our religion, in our following, we are more similar to Musa than those who after and lost his tradition, his legacy and so the prophet fasted the day of Ashurah and he also commanded the Muslims to fast Ashura. Fasting Ashura at the beginning was obligatory. It was obligatory Ramadan. It was and we discussed this previously. Then, later on, when Ramadan was made obligatory, fasting the month of Ramadan was made obligatory with its conditions and its regulations, Fasting the day of Ashura later was made into something which is preferable for a person to do. It is preferable to fast the day of Ashura. It's not obligatory. The prophet was asked about the day of Ashura. He said, fasting the day of Ashura, its reward is that a year passed of sins will be forgiven. A years past of sins will be forgiven. Meaning, minor sins. Major sins. They have other rulings. Major sins, a person has to repent for major sins, minor sins, according to the opinion of the majority of the scholars. Now, Fasting the day of Ashura Why was it obligatory and then later something that is preferable and then later, it had another change which is just before the prophet died. In the last year of his life, he was reminded that the Jews fast Ashura as well along with the Muslims. They all fast together. And so, the prophet said as is indicated by even Abbas that if I live till next year in I will fast a day along with it. Meaning a day before it or a day after it. However, he did not live till the next year. So, we kind of have three stages here for the day of Ashura. and unfortunately, we have run out of time inshallah next week. We'll continue our class and we will discuss this. A person may say, I need, we're talking about fasting, fasting is finished. Let this is not just about fasting Ramadan. We're still in the chapter of fasting and fasting is a pillar of Islam and it has rulings for Ramadan and outside of Ramadan. Muhammad Ali, he was.