Why Islam Protects Your Household Privacy
Privacy Rights in Islam and Understanding Hadith Book Classifications
Summary
This lecture discusses the ninth narration in the chapter on vigilance of Allah's observation from a hadith collection. The instructor examines a weak hadith from Sunan Abu Dawud regarding privacy in marital matters, explaining that a man should not be questioned about his discipline of his wife. The lecture provides important context about the different types of hadith books, distinguishing between authentic compilations (like Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim) and books of Sunan, which document various scholarly opinions and their evidences. The instructor explains that Abu Dawud's authenticity standards were lower than other scholars, resulting in some weak narrations in his collection, though the meanings of these narrations remain correct. The spiritual essence of this particular narration emphasizes the right to privacy in household matters and the proper channels (courts, elders) for addressing domestic concerns rather than gossip or prying.
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Alhamdulillah. Continuing.
[Silence]
In the chapter of vigilance of Allah's observation authored by Muhamad Ali al- Abu Zakaria he mentions the ninth narration in this chapter. This narration is on the authority of Omar.
[Silence]
Omar Hisa is what? His kuna. Yes. Correct. And his his date of death. Which year did he pass away? 12 and change. Yeah. So man, you're so close. What' you say?
[Arabic recitation]
So.
[Arabic recitation]
After the prophet's death. Sai wasallam. How long was his.
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10 years long along with 2 and a2 years of Abu Bakr's 10 years and change roughly 23 after hijra 23 after hijra he died at 63 the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam died at 63 Abu Bakr died at 63 Omar died at 63 Three. He narrates that the prophet Sam said. This narration was collected by Abu Dud which translates roughly to a man is not to be asked about his reprimand of his wife. Now this narration is not an authentic narration. It has weakness in its chain similar to the weakness found in the narration of Abu Bakr that we took before. weak. This weakness is slight, but notice what Noah always says here. I'm going to give you this point and I want you to remember it. Okay? If we were to say, what are the six references of hadith? What are the six what are referred to as the references of the books of what are they? Can we mention them? les alkari Muslim Abu DB. Okay. So those are the six books. If you hear a scholar say the seven books, it includes Musad Ahmed. If you hear them say the eight books, it includes but usually it is the six books. Okay, these six books, why are they called the six mother books of hadith or the six references or the six the six references. The reason is when we take all the narrations in these books and we take all of the mut meaning the words that are ascribed as being the prophet's words, the prophet's actions, the prophet's anything having to do with him. It becomes part of the sunnah and we remove repetition. Okay? And we remove chains of narration. This gives us the bulk majority of all of the prophet sunnah. Not all of it, not every last narration, not every last statement or action, but the bulk majority. Okay, this makes up the bulk majority of the prophet sunnah. The first scholar to consider these six books in this way is and after that all of the scholars followed in suit. Now these books are not all authentic compilations. Books of hadith are of different types. Imagine imagine tools. You have a ratchet, you have a a hammer, you have a screwdriver, you have a Phillips, you have sockets, you have wrenches, you have Okay, these books have different roles that they fill. The author intended this to be a tool for a specific task. Bkari and Muslim are authentic compilations. What does that mean? It means he compiled in his book. Every narration every narration in that book he is grading as authentic. Muslim did the same thing. Everything in this book is authentic according to the following set of criteria. Now the rest of the sun these are a different type of book are these books are referred to as what is a book of sunn it's a type of book of hadith book of sunnen is a book that essentially deals with aim rulings, okay? Rulings, woo, salah, fasting, etc. All the way through jihad, inheritance, from the beginning to the end, this is what it is dealing with. Now, the author of a sunn his job is to is to u compile compile as many as many sunen which is plural for sunnah as many sun as he can and then he'll mention a chapter. So for instance he'll say the book of salah then he'll mention chapters in that book this is the book of the times of salah this is the or this is the chapter of the time of the chapter of the time of the chapter of the time of etc. You get the point. And the point here is that the narration he'll mention is going to be the strongest narration in that subject and he will mention in his book as many said rulings and sunnen as he can whatever the scholars differ on. Right? So for instance, one of the things that the scholars have have mentioned, the jurists of Islam have mentioned is not using siwek, not brushing one's teeth. If you're fasting after the sun crosses noon, after noon, after the sun crosses its zenith, before you use after you don't, this is an opinion, okay? It's a it's a it's a claim made by some jurists. Where do they get this from? Well, they get this generally from the narration of the prophet sallall.aii wasallam that the smell of the stomach of a person who is fasting is more beloved to Allah than the scent of musk. We know this narration, correct? And so they say, when does this smell occur? It occurs most prominently after the first half of the day. Therefore, if a person brushes his teeth, he gets rid of this smell. No, we should keep the smell. This is a weak opinion. It is a weak opinion, but it's an opinion. So, what will the scholar who's writing a book on Sunn do? He'll mention that opinion and then he'll mention the strongest evidence used by jurists as an evidence for that opinion. He's not saying the opinion is correct. He's not even claiming the narration is cor is authentic. He is merely documenting this field the field of the field of. So Abu Dani he authors his book as sunani one of the most greatest scholars that have ever walked the earth. one of the most prominent students of Albkari rather one of the most prominent students of Imam Ahmed as well. He was old enough to have taken from Imam Ahmed as well. Now Abu Dani he authors his book and he includes narrations. He mentions their chain of narration. Is he saying that every time he he he documents an irration, is he saying it's authentic? No. No. He's documenting opinions and their evidences. That's it. Doesn't mean everything in the book is authentic. He is going to mention the strongest narration in that field. The strongest narration in that issue might be weak. The strongest narration in that issue might be very weak. We understand that. Therefore, the scholars of hadith have different types of books that they write. This narration we just heard is from Sunb Noahi died at what age? Anyone know? Mid4s. 45. Exactly. 45 years old. and he started officially seeking knowledge at the age of 18. He had memorized the Quran, but he hadn't studied yet. 18. That gives him how many years of studying? 26 years roughly because he went for Hajj with his father. When he's coming back 19 years old, he started seeking knowledge. About 26 years. 26 years in the world of scholars is a little toddler still that is in time. Okay. Now he managed to become a major scholar in that time. However, that usually is a very short amount of time and there's only so much you can do physically in that amount of time. And one of those things is go through every single narration that you use and authenticate it. How impossible would that be, right? You're writing a book Alm, okay? Just to get from the chapters of wudoo and so forth to the chapter of janaza, we've got 10 volumes. That's how big this book is. All right. How many narrations are mentioned in that book? Thousands. How could he possibly have time to authenticate every single narration? And some narrations are so particular that they may take weeks to authenticate and come to a conclusion on. Therefore, he has to rely on the authentication of what? Of others. And two of the major scholars that he relied on their authentication was Abu Di and is a little bit lax in his authentication. He might his his threshold for authenticity is much lower. It's easier. it's mo most of the scholars who are moderate would disagree with some of his authentications and so as a result of that the narration we heard yesterday or the day before he views this as acceptable the majority of the scholars of hadith views view this as what inauthentic Abu D is the same thing. He relied on Abu Dhistani that if Abu D didn't point out that a narration is flawed, he accepts it and this is due to his experience with Abi but he didn't specialize in the book and so weaken narrations found their way into his work. But as we said before yesterday, one of the most beautiful things about is that there are no narrations which are agreed upon as being rejected. There are no fabricated narrations. There are no extremely weak narrations. And the next thing is all of the narration's meanings are what? Correct. So the narration itself may not be authentic but the meaning is what is correct. This narration is inauthentic. The majority of the of hadith have graded this narration as being is but the weakness is slight but the meaning the spirits of the narration. A man is not to be asked why he has reprimanded his wife by the meaning of the narration. What is the spirit of the narration? The spirit of the narration is the human being, a couple, a man and his wife, they have a right to privacy. Prying into that is not the right of any other person. It is the right of the husband, the right of the wife. If there is a wrongdoing, then the proper channels for that is the court, the Muslim court. There are to be notified and brought into the situation and they then will investigate what is going on in that household. However, Tom, Dick, and Harry and the guy walking outside and the guy, this is none of the none of their business. People have an innate inherent right to privacy that is part of their dignity. And a man is the the sultan or the caretaker and the superior in his household. He has a right to that privacy and he has a right to that discretion and a mother with her children and so forth. Therefore, it is impermissible for a person to pry into those things. And if a person does, they are overstepping their bounds. Why does that fall into the chapter of vigilance of Allah? Is that as the prophet said in the narration we took yesterday, It is of the perfection and the discipline of a man's Islam that he leave off what does not concern him. If a person were to think that there is some kind of abuse or some kind in this case, they would go to the right channels or the the tribe of the the wife or go to the Muslim court system. They would go through that and make some kind of these are the ways the channels to go through that. Not seeing the guy down the road. You know what? I heard this and I heard that and I wonder what they're doing. I wonder what they're saying. This is not the proper channel and this is something that a person must be vigilant of.