Q.1. I am traveling to another country where I will be arranging things in a house bought by our family. I expect to be there for 3-4 months. Should I shorten my prayers there, as per the concession for travelers? If so, what about voluntary prayers, or Sunnah?
Q.2. Could you please tell me something about taqleed.
B. Yusuf
A.1. As you know you will be staying for such length of time, when you arrive at your other place, you are actually intending to settle. You are in the same position as a resident. So you pray your prayers normally, shortening none of them. You have the concession of shortening and combining prayer on the day of travel, until you settle down at your destination. But once you are settled, you are a resident.
The case would have been different if you did not know the length of your stay. Suppose you expect to finish your business in a week or two. In this case, you are considered as a traveler. Even when the two weeks are over and you find yourself obliged to extend your stay by another one or two weeks, then you continue in the same status as a traveler. Suppose this continues for several months or a year, but you are always unsure of how long you are staying. If you are simply attending to some business that could finish in a few days or a few weeks, you are in the status of a traveler, until you go back home, or you change your plans and settle in the place where you happen to be.
A.2. I am not sure what you are asking about. The term taqleed means following someone else’s example. In a religious sense, it means following the guidance given by a scholar. However, in some uses, it means that a follower of a particular school of Fiqh decides to follow the views of another school because he finds it more suitable to his circumstances. There is no harm in following the views of any scholar, provided that one is aware of the basis of the view and is convinced of its validity.
As for your other question, breast-feeding that has an effect on marriage permissibility should take place before the child reaches two years of age, and should be given in at least five full feeds.
When this takes place, the child is considered as a son of the woman who breast-feeds him, and her children are the child’s brothers and sisters. All her relations are related to him in the same way as they are related to her own offspring.
If the breast-feeding takes place after the child has passed two years of age, or if it was in a quantity less than five full feeds, then it has no effect.
Buying a House on Mortgage
Q. Could you please tell me whether buying a house on mortgage is permissible, considering that this is the only way I can buy a house for my family’s living.
A. Shikak, USA
A. The European Council for Islamic Rulings, presided by Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, a leading authority, has published a ruling that it is permissible for Muslims living in Western countries to use the facility provided by banks and building societies to buy a house on mortgage. The two provisos the council makes are that the house is for one’s family’s living and that there is no comparable way for buying a house that meets Islamic requirements. The council bases its ruling on the fact that owning a house is a necessity for living, and the alternative of renting a house does not provide a satisfactory solution.
There is no doubt that the council’s ruling is right, and it answers a long-felt need of Muslims not only in the West but also in many other parts of the world. However, I feel that an added reason for considering the mortgage facility permissible to use is that the borrower gets more than the amount of the loan that he pays back in a higher amount. He gets the full ownership of the house he buys, although, apart from the mortgage loan, he puts in the price of only a share of it. He also uses the house for the duration of the loan. Both these are quantifiable benefits, which are always greater than the increase in the amount he pays back on his loan.
Leaving an Unacceptable Job
Q.1. A person is working in an entertainment company that provides all types of channels. He wants to leave his job as he considers it unacceptable from the Islamic point of view, but the company would not release him to a different employer. He is the only wage earner in his family, and if he leaves, both his parents and his own family would suffer. What is he to do?
Q.2. After the death of a relative, people organize some functions after 3 days and after 40 days, inviting relatives, neighbors and friends, and distributing food. Is this according to Sunnah or not?
A. Hussain
A.1. As this person is the only wage earner in his family, he must not leave his job until he has secured an alternative. However, he must try his best to secure a different job that gives him satisfaction and a reasonable salary. He may try to speak to his employer and explain why he wants to leave, or he may get a prospective employer to take up his case with his present employer. If all routes are closed and he must remain with this company, then he should try to move to a job that does not involve anything forbidden. He should continue to try to move into something better and more acceptable from the Islamic point of view, praying to God to help him to find a more suitable job.
A.2. All these customs and traditions are cultural, not Islamic. This is why you do not find them practiced in the same way in all Muslim countries. In Islam, death is considered the beginning of a new phase, not the end of all life. Therefore, our attitude should be one of total acceptance, as this is part of God’s will. We pray for the deceased, but the customs done by people on particular days and anniversaries are un-Islamic. A deceased person is no less in need of our prayers on the fourth, 12th or 50th day of his death than the third, 10th or 40th day. Nor do anniversaries signify anything from the Islamic point of view.
