How Cultural Misunderstandings Change Islamic Rulings

We are at the very tail end of the parts of which is really a more expansive chapter of authored by we were discussing his physical descriptions his physical traits the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam and we reach to the very end just a few more sentences left in that chapter after which we will move to the chapter regarding his miracles.

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Tells us where we left off last week with regards to the description of the Prophet sallallahu alam's cloth clothing what he would most prefer to wear with regards to color and with regards to style of clothing he says he the most preferred type of clothing that he would wear was Al is what we refer to commonly as a thob and this is something that is a very long shirt it's exactly what I'm wearing here this is very similar to the cut of a and he preferred white clothing is that which is pin stripes he liked pin stripes in his clothing this was most predominant ly made in Yemen he tells us that often the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam length of sleeves would usually be to his wrist likewise on occasion the prophet s would wear a which is kind of a a Long Jacket is a loin cloth and this is what was most commonly worn in the time of the prophet sallallah wasam a loin cloth is the lower part of what we wear what men wear in in it's wrapped around and tied at the waist likewise is the part that goes over the over the shoulders and on occasion he would wear two pieces of green and he liked the color green and on occasion he had worn a Juba which is a long a long cloak but the sleeves of this jell were particularly tight and narrow and so when he would make W when he wore this particular jba he would usually lift it and to get his hand out rather than lift the sleeve all the way.

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Up tells us that on occasion the prophet sallam was narrated to have worn a black turban and usually he would leave or he would bring the ends of the turban out to the back and they would hang between his shoulder blades but this isn't his most common color of turban most common color was white as we mentioned before but he tells us here meaning on occasion it has been narrated seldom that he wore a black turban it's been narrated that he did likewise has been narrated to have worn of different types of cloth so he's worn cotton likewise wool likewise that which is made of sh sh is the the skin the hide the hair of goats goat hair likewise he did wear a ring and this is an issue that the scholars debate is it considered the Sunnah for a person for a man to wear a ring what's apparent is that the prophet s. wasam began to wear a ring constantly after his migration to Medina when he migrated to Medina and he started to be in a role of governance and he had a seal a seal was on his ring that he would you know place his his seal on different letters that would be sent out to to his platoon leaders to his generals to other Statesmen Etc and so usually a king or a leader or a judge or anyone who had a seal would usually wear it as a ring so that it could not be stolen or that his seal or signature if you will be forged so that you know no forgeries would come out in his name and so he began to wear this ring it was first of gold after this this was abated and it became Haram for men to wear gold and only for women to wear gold and so then he had this ring made out of silver and he wore it s now the most correct way to view this is that if a person has a seal or something that is denoting Rank and wears a ring in that regard then this would be the Sunnah otherwise otherwise it is merely mu it is permissible for a man to wear a ring of silver it's never been narrated that the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam authentically wore any jewelry other than a ring likewise it has never been narrated authentically that he wore any jewelry made of any precious metal other than gold and silver gold at the beginning in the early days of Islam after this it was abated as is in and so all of the companions the men they stopped wearing gold and they started to wear silver as for you know bracelets necklaces things that these are not things that he was ever narrated to have worn likewise a lot of us we get our we get incorrect F wrong Impressions about how people dressed and spoke and behaved in the time of the prophet sallallah alaih wasallam and we imagine things that are incorrect for instance because of certain television shows certain series that were made in the Arab world in the last 10 20 years some of them depicting the companions some of them depicting some of the greater names of Islam and the greater characters of Islam in these television shows in these movies men are often depicted to dress a certain way or to have or Adorn themselves with certain jewelry like earrings it's actually a common misconception amongst many people that men wore earrings in the time of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam this is not narrated anywhere this is something that was specific to women in the time of the Prophet s. wasam and not even all women just usually women that were from more prestigious backgrounds who would have money or resources to pierce their ears men did not wear earrings and you know some of these shows they have like even some of the mushin the polytheists the non-muslims or even some of the Muslims on occasion and the Rings or the earrings they would be wearing these very long earrings or these big hoop in one ear a pirate or something and none of this is correct this is a common misconception these are not things that were traits of the Arabs at that time in the way that they dressed likewise he wore Al Al is also misunderstood amongst a lot of Muslims is a kind of sock it's a footwear that's made out of hard tanned leather now notice the words that I chose there hard tanned leather when we often think about leather socks is referred to as leather socks some people or in some it is only permissible to wipe over your Footwear if you are wearing leather socks but not on Cotton for instance and so many people buy purchase go out looking for leather socks so that they can wipe over their socks especially in the winter and the problem here is a misconception and a misunderstanding of what a is in the time of the Prophet sallallahu alaih wasallam a leather sock would be worn in place of shoes they're not worn together a person would not wear a hoof and then wear a Nile on top of it leather socks are hard tanned leather that when you they when you set it up it stands up on its own a pair of boots that's how it would look the soles of this leather sock would be very hard and and so these leather socks that would be worn in the time of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam the narrations in bukari and Muslim and many of books of narration that discuss leather socks H and is translated as leather socks in our time because these things don't really exist in our area they don't it's not really something that's worn anymore we have shoes now that have soles we can't really imagine wearing socks without shoes we begin to misunderstand and we begin to extrapolate our our culture and our clothing and our dress and superimpose it on to the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam time this is important why is it important it's important for us when we read about any of the descriptions of the Prophet sallam any of the descriptions of clothing or anything that that we understand it properly correctly this it's been you know 1500 years and clothing has changed a lot since that time very rarely will we find clothing that is I identical or even in many cases close to that of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam time our clothing is pretty much usually mass-produced it is designed to work within the ecosystem of our environment our environment is one that is very soft very easy it is not the environment of the desert the heat the sand the ruggedness of that time know for instance person goes and buys a pair of shoes most of us probably have I don't know 10 15 pairs of shoes most people in our in our time and place this is the norm and then people wear different shoes every day you know whatever their outfit is or or whatever but if a person were to wear the same shoes every single day they wouldn't last 2 three months because they're made cheaply and they're made just to get from the house into the car and from the car into the house maybe walk up the sidewalk for a block or two and that's the most walking we do we're walking around in the mall you know we don't even walk through the grass in our Footwear our shoes our clothing couldn't be more different than that of the time of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam when you read that the prophet sallallah alai wasallam had two when you read that he had two or three cloaks that's it that's all he had he had one for special occasions and one that he wore all the time that's it just one or just two or some of them would would only have one one outfit that they had to wear and when they were washing it they're naked they would take it off in pieces to wash it right but those things were handmade they were made durability person could wear them and walk through the desert and these things would would be able to tolerate that kind of abuse and that kind of strenuous environment our clothing not so much if a person wore the same shirt every day about a week week and a half it'll start falling apart because they're really just not made for that even if washing washing your clothes too much will make it fall apart I mean they're made to kind of disintegrate as we wear them very cheap made mass produced anyways this is the environment that we have chosen as Humanity to live in right now but this is a very different environment than the time of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam if we want to discuss something of how he dressed how things were especially if it has to do with a ruling of Islam like for instance the H right so in in in many and the and other others it's not permissible to wipe over anything less than a leather sock right and so in certain mids and certain communities is a very serious thing for them there was an occasion where I went to a mid in in New York City and it was a there's a group of very extreme Brothers there that were practitioners of the Han and it was Winter I had a pair of socks on I was making W I was just stopping off in the Masid to pray and leave and as I'm making wo this brother comes in and starts yelling at me I mean really just yelling at me and telling me you can't wipe over your cotton socks they're made out of cotton and all the and you don't have and you're not even making and just goes on and on about this whole and so in trying to discuss this with him he just he didn't want to hear it but it was so bad that when I tried to to stand in the row to make Sal they actually took me physically out of the row and put me all the way at the end in the back so that I'm not in the row because in their mind I'm praying without wo if I'm praying without wo I shouldn't be praying in the row I'm going to break the ranks ordering on Insanity so the idea was all of them were wearing these leather socks understanding the H to be a leather sock in our culture when we say the word socks socks are worn alone or are they part of are they part of are they worn on their own or do we wear them with something we wear socks with shoes we don't have in our culture any type of socks that are worn alone right whether they're leather or otherwise we have shoes we have sandals we have socks socks go with shoes right and so in their mind when they read the word Hof and it's translated then into English as leather socks what comes to mind a soft leather that I can wear with shoes and so we start making these leather socks and we start to think that these are the Sunnah this is what the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam wore and this is a gross misunderstanding of What Not only the narrations but also a gross misunderstanding of of the of the knowed Malik yes they spoke about but they also went into great detail even in their time discussing what exactly are the parameters of a what is a so some of them say you have to be able to walk at least a half mile without it falling apart some of them say when you stand it up it stands up on on its own some of them say you have to be able to walk at least 9 miles Etc they have different parameters that they mention because clothing changed even in those 200 years after the prophet sallallahu alaih wasallam passing the point here that we're making is we do not ever want to base Islamic rulings on translation of Islamic texts from Arabic to English right it's it's already as difficult difficult enough to properly understand the context of the Quran and Sunnah in Arabic let alone let it be translated and then try to derive rulings from those translations this is the position of scholarship is what Scholars are for we take what they say and we follow that in obedience to Allah subhanahu waala unless it's known to be a mistake of a particular scholar that's it this is our position as the general masses of the Muslims so again this is not a leather sock it's a Footwear in the time of the Prophet sallallahu alaih wasallam that would take the place of shoes a person is either wearing a h or he's wearing a a shoes he's not wearing these this hoof and then putting that into his shoe it wasn't even possible Right very hard leather tanned leather that they would use to walk for miles and miles and walk through the desert and they would go to Wars and so forth and these things and it's also been authentically narrated that the companions notably some of the wives of the Prophet s. wasam and also sons of the companions such as abdah abdah ABB and others that they would wear cotton socks and they would wipe over these cotton socks even though that's not what we're discussing now just to clarify that anyhow likewise the prophet s. wasam was narrated to have worn shoes so he was narrated to have worn the leather Footwear he was also narrated to have worn shoes and shoes at that time were usually made out of hide right so I'm usually using camel hair or something that and were a little bit more durable and they were usually used more for cold in order to insulate the feet and act as a better insulation and more warmer for a person than than just the thin thinner leather leather.

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Of we are now in the chapter we've gone through the character the physical characteristics of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam we've gone through the character of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam now we are going through some of his miracles that he performed during his lifetime there's a few introductory things that we have to kind of understand before we get in get into this chapter the first thing is that miracles of the Prophet sallallahu alaih wasallam are of two main types there are those which are Miracles with regards to information or meanings and there are Miracles which were physical physical Miracles things that things that otherwise should not be able to happen would happen physically to the physical world around us but if we try to go through all of the Miracles of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam that were narrated all of them authentically and all of them that were mentioned in the Quran we would not be able to very easily put a number on them mentions that they are in the thousands right and that's not just counting what happened during his time but also what happened after his time why because in the any Miracles that happened with the companions let's say some one of the companions has something miraculous happened to him or someone who's not Muslim sees something miraculous in the absence of the prophet sallallahu alaih wasallam and then comes to find out or is led to Islam through this this is considered the scholars consider this to be a miracle of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam why because he is the purpose the reason for this happening likewise Miracles that happened for the companions either during his lifetime or after his passing these are also considered of the Prophet Muhammad's Miracles likewise any Miracles that happen throughout the Muslim umah after his time why because these miracles happen as a result of f following the prophet Sall alai wasam so they are considered of his miracles another thing to to understand this issue of Miracles and that is that the purpose of a miracle in the time of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam in the Quran and the Sunnah the main purpose is to affirm and substantiate the prophet Muhammad's claim to prophethood this is the point and so when a prophet comes to his people he has Miracles that are performed for him or that he is a able to perform in order to prove the validity of his prophethood he comes and says I'm a prophet and otherwise there wouldn't anyone could claim to be a prophet but in order for people to reasonably distinguish charlatans from those who are genuinely Messengers or prophets from Allah that these Miracles are performed right and these miracles do not are not in any way similar to the kind of trickery or slight of hand that soothsayers and wizards and witches and stuff do this is very different another thing about miracles is that these Miracles are performed by Allah subhanahu and it is not necessarily it is not necessary if we understand that the reason for the miracle the purpose of the miracle is to prove the validity of his prophethood any Miracle should suffi suffice it doesn't have to be a miracle on request right so for instance many of the disbelievers they would those who are trying to bely the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam would come to him and demand that he do a very specific thing right so we're living in the desert make it into a jungle let's see make the desert into a jungle and put some rivers over here and put another River over here right this is not a request or a demand that needs to be honored in the case of a miracle why because the whole point of a miracle is not to change the nature of the world for people to live in the point of a miracle is to prove the validity of a messenger's prophethood that's it so anything that is beyond the scope of possible physically possible to the world as we know it to be will suffice any of these things is good enough right as for performing a miracle based on a demand or a request this is a different thing Prophet sallallahu alaih wasallam may see it appropriate to ask Allah subhanahu waala to honor a particular request and be considered a miracle or not but this in no way takes away from the validity of his prophethood because a person who disbelieves after seeing the proof after seeing the proof the evidence of a messenger or a prophet's prophethood this person who in spite of seeing these proofs these evidences refuses to believe they have already made their mind up that they're not going to believe doesn't matter what they see or what they're shown and so they will latch on and hang on to any argument to reject the the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam message any argument so for instance if he were to do everything they requested they would say well it's you know you say you come from Allah but it sounds to us you just do what whatever we say right we ask you for something and you do it you must be a magician or something not a messenger because a messenger doesn't get to do what he wants to Allah's discretion so now it's you're honoring our requests or our demands too much or it would be the opposite right we asked you to do this you didn't do it therefore you're not a Prophet this is this is a fruitless Endeavor to try to satisfy the demands of someone who has already decided no matter what they see they're not going to they're not going to believe they're not going to accept so the Miracles of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam are not by demand or by request they are to the discretion of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Allah subhanahu wa taala tells us this in in the Quran very clearly he says.

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Subh so Allah subhah waala says they the antagonists of the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam they say if only he could provide us with a miracle to prove the validity of his claims he's provided them with many miracles but they decided that those are not the right Miracles that they want they want specific Miracles so they would ask for certain things some of them asked for the day of judgment to commence seriously they came to him and they said if you're truly a prophet make the day of judgment happen now and put us in hell this was their request it's Insanity right and so they claim that he did not provide them with Miracles and what they mean is Miracles according to their discretion Allah subhanahu wa tal said say to them that the Miracles are to the discretion of my Lord I I am just a Warner and one bringing Glad Tidings for those who believe this is not to my discretion it's not something that I get to decide the prophet sallallahu alaih wasallam doesn't decide the Miracles that he performs anymore than he decides what the Quran will say these are all to Allah subhanahu waala and his discretion he chooses What miracles to show What miracles to refrain from.

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Etc.

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Another thing to take into consideration is that in the later texts of Islamic scholarship people began referring to Miracles as Miracles is translated to Miracle in the earlier texts in the Quran in the Sunnah Miracles are not really referred to with that wording usually they're referred to as signs or evidences right which is what they are inshallah next week we will take a deep dive into the specific miracles of the prophet.