Q. We did the pilgrimage this year in the Ifrad method. Many of our companions said that we did not have to do the sa’ie after the tawaf of ifaadah. So, we went on 10th Dhul Hijjah to Makkah and did the tawaf of ifaadah without the sa’ie. However, things were such that when we went back to Mina we lost our way. Therefore, on the following day, we took a bus back to Makkah and we did the tawaf of ifaadah again followed by sa’ie. We spent the whole day in Makkah and returned after Asr prayer. We missed the stoning that day and we did it the following day for both days. We left Mina straight to Jeddah without doing the tawaf of farewell. Please comment.
A.K.S (Mrs), Jeddah
A. The simple answer concerning the sa’ie is that there is only one sa’ie duty for pilgrimage and one for Umrah. Therefore, a person who does the pilgrimage in the Ifrad method, i.e. doing the pilgrimage on its own without the Umrah, should do one sa’ie only. This sa’ie may be offered either after the tawaf of arrival or after the tawaf of ifaadah. Therefore, your companions who were arguing that there is no sa’ie after the tawaf of ifaadah must have done their sa’ie after their first tawaf, which is known as the tawaf of arrival. If you did that, you did not need to do another sa’ie. If you did not do it after the tawaf of arrival, then you must do it after the tawaf of ifaadah.
Assuming that you needed a sa’ie, you have done it the following day. The tawaf you did the first day counts as the tawaf of ifaadah and the one you did the following day counts as a voluntary tawaf, for which you earn a reward, God willing.
The delayed stoning is all right according to the Shafie and Hanbali schools of thought. There is no compensation needed for that.
The tawaf of farewell is a duty, even to people residing in Jeddah. Those who go to Jeddah straight from Mina, because of the overcrowding in Makkah should come back a few days later and do this tawaf. They should not delay it beyond the end of the month of Dhul-Hijjah. If they do not do it, they need to compensate for it by slaughtering a sheep in the Haram area and distributing its meat to the poor of that area.
A woman and her zakah
Q.1. A woman has about 250 grams of gold jewellery, of which she normally wears about 40 percent. Is the remainder liable to zakah? If she has money, which is less than the threshold of zakah, does she add that to the value of the rest of her jewellery when calculating zakah? If she has no income of her own, can she put aside a small portion of the money her husband gives her every month in order to pay her zakah?
Q.2. What should women wear or not wear under their top clothes during the period of ihraam, or consecration in pilgrimage?
Q.3. Does the takbeer we say after obligatory prayers during the Eid of sacrifice apply also for Eid Al-Fitr? If so, for how long?
Abdulmajid,Riyadh
A. The first thing to say to this reader is that zakah is payable on the different types of money or property one holds, as long as they are liable to zakah, with only one threshold of zakah to be passed. The threshold, or nisab, is an amount that is exempt, and it is equivalent to 85 grams of gold, but it does not necessarily have to be in gold. If one has the value of that amount in cash, goods for sale, shares and stocks, etc. he or she has to pay zakah. Thus, a man or a woman who has over the threshold of zakah calculates their zakah liability, on their zakah date, by adding up what they have in cash, shares, savings, merchandize, animals, agricultural produce, etc. and pay zakah for the lot.
The reader seems to be confused between the value of this threshold, which is normally expressed in terms of gold, and the jewelry his wife has. A woman’s jewelry has a special status. It is treated as personal effects, like her clothes and similar stuff. Hence, it is normally exempt from zakah. The only conditions for that exemption to apply are: 1) that it should be for personal use; and 2) that its amount is reasonable for women in her social status. The first condition excludes jewelry held by a jeweller, even when the jeweller is a woman. Such jewelry is liable to zakah because it is, in this case, commercial merchandize. Similarly, jewellery held as a form of personal savings is liable to zakah. The second condition is that it should not be excessive. Most women have only a reasonable amount. In this woman’s case, it is certainly reasonable to have 250 grams of jewellery. Women in the middle of the social ladder normally hold more than this.
Zakah is a personal duty. A woman who has the threshold of zakah should pay her own zakah from her own money. If her husband decides to pay it on her behalf, he is making her a gift. But she may not ‘save’ from the household expenses her husband gives her in order to pay her zakah, unless her husband is aware of that and he agrees to it. The woman in this case is worried because she has a small amount of money and she fears that it would dwindle. My understanding is that she has no zakah to pay, because her jewellery is exempt and the rest of her money does not add up to the threshold.
A.2. A woman in ihraam or consecration wears all her normal clothes. She is only required to leave her face and hands uncovered. She may not cover these while she is in ihraam.
A.3. The takbeer, or glorification of God for the Eid Al-Fitr, which ends fasting in Ramadan, applies only to the eid prayer itself. It precedes the prayer and ends with the start of the sermon after the prayer. In the eid of sacrifice, it begins with dawn on the day of Arafat and continues to the Asr prayer of the last day of the eid. That makes five days in total. It may be said after prayers and at any other time.
A teacher and his girl students
Q. 1. In reply to an earlier question, you said it is permissible for a teacher to be married to his girl student. I have no problem with that except to say that a teacher would not have decided to marry a student of his unless he has watched her and admired her for sometime. Such a decision is not taken overnight. Hence, a question may be raised concerning such period and what happens between them. Your approval indirectly offers a green signal to go ahead with love and then marriage. The whole idea should be discouraged. Please comment.
Q.2. It was reported in the Indian press that in an area that recently experienced a strong earthquake, all buildings in a certain village were destroyed except for the village mosque. What do you read in that?
M. Anvardeen, Riyadh
A. The first point I would like to say is that an answer is given according to the question put. I am not one to inquire into people’s motives and inner intentions. That is something known to God and He deals with His servants accordingly. Since the teacher wants to marry the girl, there is nothing wrong with that. Why should we go into the details of how he came to this decision? We are not required, or indeed permitted to inquire into that, except for a headmaster or someone in authority trying to ensure that people within the school do not overstep the Islamic limits.
Moreover, it is wrong to be suspicious of others simply because they express an intention of marriage. Of course people would like first of all to make sure that the person they are marrying satisfies their hopes. This applies to both man and woman. Hence, Islam permits a serious suitor to look at the woman he intends to marry in a way he is not supposed to do with others. The Prophet told Jabir, one of his companions who was looking for a wife: “If you can see of her what encourages you to marry her, do so.” Jabir says that he watched her from his hiding place so that she was not aware of him. Then he proposed to her, putting the proposal to her father.
Sometimes we read Islamic teachings in a very restrictive manner, particularly when it comes to man and woman relations. Islam is very clear in its approach. It cultivates into its followers, men and women, a sense of modesty and a high moral standard. It then allows them a reasonable space to move in. When one wants to get married, of course both he and his prospective wife should know each other. Hence, they are allowed to meet within clearly drawn limits so as to be sure. If it so happens that one finds himself in a situation to know someone well, as in the case of a teacher and student, or colleagues at work, there is nothing wrong in that, provided that they take the right move, with a serious proposal put through the family. God says to the Prophet: “No other women are henceforth lawful to you, nor are you allowed to replace any of them by other wives, even though their beauty should please you greatly.” (33: 52) In this verse God mentions the possibility that the Prophet might admire the beauty of women whom he could marry, except for this order restricting him to the wives he had at that time. I think the language of this Qur’anic verse is self-explanatory.
A.2. The only significance is that the mosque was more solidly built than the houses of the village. If it was of the same type, it would have been devastated by the earthquake. There is no immunity for mosques against natural forces, except through God’s will.