Why Islamic Law Isn't As Strict As You Think
Exceptions to Najasah (Impurity) in Islamic Law: Context, Necessity, and the Principle of Ease
Summary
This lecture covers Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) regarding the concept of najasah (impurity) and its exceptions based on context and human need. Sh. Ali Mashhour begins with a brief acknowledgment of a security incident at the Islamic center and school, then transitions to a detailed discussion of how Islamic law treats physical impurities differently based on circumstances and practical benefit. The lecture explores multiple examples including women's clothing, hunting dogs, house cats, domesticated donkeys, and prohibited animals like hyenas, demonstrating that Islamic rulings are not purely based on physical properties but on context, necessity, and the principle that Allah has not burdened humanity with undue hardship (wa ma ja'ala alaykum fi deeni min haraj). Sh. Ali Mashhour emphasizes that all permissible sea creatures exemplify this principle of ease and that the entire fiqh framework is founded on preventing inconvenience to believers.
Note: This transcript was generated using YouTube's automatic captioning, with AI-assisted cleanup for readability. It may contain inaccuracies due to background noise, audio quality, or limitations of the transcription software — particularly during Arabic recitation. Listener discretion is advised; please refer to the original video for precise wording.
Islamic center there and school. no children were harmed and you know from what I understand the attempt was to access the school but alhamdulillah it was locked down properly and rendered inaccessible. having said that, we have hired armed security for the remaining four school days here so we've only got a few more days left of school so for that time we'll be keeping the especially during Dhuhr salah and during the daytime we won't be using the usual sandbag, you know, keeping it propped open. We want to keep it closed and probably hereforth it's not really a good practice to have a door that locks automatically but then you know, propped open anybody could just get in so we're going to keep monitoring the situation but we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to.
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Brothers who were who were killed in the altercation. Nas'al Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
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You know, sometimes it's like you live in a place this and it feels like you know, being chosen for martyrdom is so far-fetched and then it comes right to your doorstep, right? And it's like subhanallah. you almost you can't help but feel a bit of jealousy. Continuing in Kitab So, we discussed yesterday the the relative purity of the tail of a woman's dress with respect to the tail of a man's clothing. And we said that this is one of the instances where a woman's dress is given a pass because of the circumstances and because of the precedence of the greater good, which is concealing the aura, right? Concealing the zina. And so, even though Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala of course knows that a byproduct of having a longer tail is that it will be more prone to dirt, more prone to a najasah. However, the Sharia weighs the weighs the evils of both. So, it weighs the personal evil of a najasah on a part of the clothing and the public evil of and and personal evil of a woman's awrah in public being exposed and gives precedence to the public awrah being exposed as being more important. And so, that is the greater evil, so it is pushed away and hence we are left with a more minor This does not apply to a man. And this is one of the instances where something like a najasah will be different for a man than it will for a woman in this kind of instance. Which is very interesting because in even a najasat, there are exceptions. So, we understand that even a najasah is not a purely physical thing. Another example of this. The benefit of a hunting dog and the ease that it allows the Muslimin and the human being. This outweighs the otherwise najasah of the saliva of a canine. Correct? This outweighs it. So, now the saliva of a canine that is taught and hunts only for its master and kills only for its master or any other kind of predatory animal. It's not only for dogs. If a person could train a leopard to do it hypothetically, if a person could train a hawk I know in some of the Khaleeji countries, right? they to train hawks and and and and eagles and so forth to hunt. All of these things these are considered exempt. They're no longer najis. They are no longer najis. Why? It's the same physiology. If we were to take the saliva of a hunting dog to a chemist and the saliva of a stray dog and compare them in test tubes and compare the chemical composition. Would there be a difference? Probably. Probably not. Be this is from a dog and this is from a dog. So, it is not purely what? It is not a purely physical thing. Likewise, najasa of animals which we use. Okay? Animals which are used as almost a servant. So, for instance, we took that one of the types of najasa is.
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The the waste and the saliva and the blood and so forth of an animal which is otherwise prohibited to eat. Correct? But then we have something a house cat. The prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam, it fits the general rule. Correct? It fits the general rule. However, it is it is an exception to the general rule. Why? The prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam's commented on the house cat and said, He said, "It is not filthy." meaning it's saliva, because it is considered to be amongst the tawwafīn, meaning the servants that serve the human beings good. So, having a house cat in the house for pests and so forth, some scholars mention even if the if the cat is lazy, even if it is a coward and runs from pests,.
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Occupied, cuz it's cute and cuddly and right? It is exempt. All right. Another example is the domesticated donkey. It's prohibited to eat a domesticated donkey, right? It is halal in the.
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Mentions that the prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam prohibited the meat of domestic donkeys. And not only that, but it was so severe that even the pots that they were cooked in Sallallahu alaihi wasallam were attended to. However, would it be possible for us to use a domesticated donkey and be completely separate from it and not get any of its saliva or any of its hair or any of its sweat on us? Not possible. How are you going to ride it? How are you going to benefit from it in this instance? So, it is overlooked. Right? It is overlooked. Even if the physiology may be physically the same, and this is an important point that a lot of us may find difficult to understand because we live in a time that is so materialistic. We are obsessed with the material. We are obsessed with numbers. We are obsessed with the apparent. Right? There is a difference between our judgment with Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala and the purely physical and the purely material. So, these types of animals immediately are exempted. Why? Because of the context that these animals exist in. For instance, one of the types of animals for us to are that the general rule of an animal which is prohibited to eat. Do we know what the general rule is? We will get to this in the chapter regarding al al al at'imah in the book of of food and the types of meat which are prohibited. But what is the type of animal which is generally prohibited for us to eat? Right. Sabu sabu dhunabin aw makhlab muftarish right? Is any animal that is a beast, is a land dweller beast, means it's a carnivore, right? It has prey. It is on the on the food chain hierarchy, on the food chain, and it has either fangs or claws that it uses to hunt with or talons. So, this makes it prohibited to eat something an eagle, to eat something a hawk, or to eat something a leopard, or to eat something a lion, right? Or a bear. All of these things have fangs or claws or talons or all all three or all two, correct? However, the hyena is exempted from that. Hyena? Sheikh Ali hyena? Yes, I How does that fit into the rule into the into the general principle? It seems to not fit. That is an exception that is given by Allah. Why? Because of the context of place where hyenas are predominantly found in the Arab Peninsula. People there are dying of hunger. Right? And hunting is scarce. And so, the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam gave the companions an allowance to hunt hyenas and continue to eat hyenas. Now, when I was growing up, they old-timers would tell us that hyenas, only the right side of the hyena is halal. I'm not making this up. This is real Palestinian sawalha lore right there that I'm putting on you. The right side of the hyena. I don't know which one is the right side. As a child, this always confused me. Is it my right or the hyena's right, right? But it's the right side. There's no such rule in Islamic law. It's either permissible or impermissible. Right? It all has the same circulatory system. It all has the same But that doesn't seem to fit the rule. Why? Because not only does it have canines and not only is it a carnivore and a beast, but it also usually is a scavenger. Correct? It's usually a scavenger and it has abilities akin to a vulture with respect to rotted meat and so forth. But this is an allowance that the prophet Alaihi Wasallam gave. This is not a purely physiological thing and there's no set rule. The rules are set with respect to the experience of the human being in any set environment. Right? So he gives us general rules and one of those general rules from all of these we come out with an ultimate rule with which is And so the general rule that all of these things they seem to be exceptions to the rule, but really they're not. They all fall under a general higher rule and that is when things become difficult for the person, they are made purposely easy by Allah Subhana Wa Ta'ala. Whenever the human being finds in a situation where he would be highly inconvenienced if not burdened, Allah comes to relieve that in order for a person not to be able to survive for a day or a week or a year, but to thrive for decades or even generations in any given environment. Subhanallah. Which is one of the reasons why anything that is in the sea is permissible to eat. Anything in the sea. The The scholars tell us even if it has the appearance of a pig, even if it looks a human being. As a matter of fact, some scholars have mentioned mermaids in their books of fiqh. Does this mean that mermaids exist?
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Come up with these, you know, say, "Hey, I saw this creature. It was half human and half fish, and it had teeth such and such, and it looked just a human being." And if it becomes so prevalent, the scholars may address it in their books. Right? That's not a testament that it exists, it's a testament that if it were to exist hypothetically, this is the law of Allah subhana wa ta'ala with respect to this with respect to this creature, whether it is mythological or otherwise. Right? So, ultimately, all of the sciences are the science of fiqh. This whole book is founded on the essence, the essential principle of wa ma ja'ala alaykum fi deeni min haraj. This entire book, this entire science is founded on the principle of Allah has not placed in Allah has not placed any undue out of the norm burden or inconvenience upon the human being in Islam. Now, the word haraj doesn't just mean burden. A burden is al-kulfa or al-kell, right? That's why we call it sinnet taklif. Al-haraj is an inconvenience. So, there are rules and there are laws, but ultimately even those laws of prohibition are all anchored in what? And this rule is said by the scholars of usul al-fiqh, it is worded as itha daqa al-amr ish ittasa'. Itha daqa al-amr ittasa'. So, we will continue from there tomorrow.
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