The conditions for travel to Lands of the Kuffar and the Ruling concerning money spent in tourism
Posted Aug 12, 2009 by Aboo Thaabit with 6 Comments
From the Amir al-Mu’meneen Abu Hafs ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab bin Nufayl bin ‘Abd-ul-’Uzza bin Riyaah bin ‘Abdullah bin Qard bin Razaah bin ‘Adeyy bin Ka’ab bin Lu’ayy bin Ghaalib Al-Quraishiy Al-’Adawiy, radiya’llahu ‘anhu, that he said, “I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, saying, ‘Actions are only by intentions, and every man has only that which he intended. Whoever’s emigration is for Allah and His Messenger then his emigration is for Allah and His Messenger. Whoever’s emigration is for some worldly gain which he can acquire or a woman he will marry then his emigration is for that for which he emigrated’.”
Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen – May Allah have mercy upon him- made clear concerning the hadith about the Hijrah, that it is not allowed to travel to the lands of the Kuffar except under three circumstances.
These three are:
- That he has knowledge so that he might be able to ward off any doubts that will inevitably face him, because the Kuffar will put forward towards the muslims doubts concerning their Religion and their Messengers and their Books and their Manners, and in everything they will put doubt so that the human being is left unsure and in doubt. And what is known is that a human if he doubts anything from amongst the things one has to be absolutly certain then such a person has not fulfilled his obligation. So as for belief in Allah and His Angels and His books and His Messengers and in the last day and the Qadr its good and its evil then this is from amongst the affair which require certain belief and if one was to doubt anything from amongst it then he would be a Kafir.
- That he has with him religion that will protect him from the lusts, because a person who does not have religion when he travels to the lands of the Kuffar he will be overwhelmed and this is due to the exposure he will face there, everything from Alcohol and Zina to Sodomy and its likes.
- That he is in dire need of such a journey, for example he might be ill and needs to travel to such a country for treatment (because that type of treatment cannot be found in any muslim country) or that he is in need of [worldy] knowledge that cannot be found in any muslim country or that he is specialising in particular field or he makes such a travel because of business needs, he travels accomplishes his business and then returns. What is important is that there is a need for this kind of travel.
So because of this in my opinion [the opinion of Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen] the people who travel to the lands of the kuffar solely for tourism I see them as sinful. And every cent they spend for this journey then this is Haraam and it is misplacing their wealth and they will be held accountable on the day of Qiyamah when there will not be any space to move about nor any place for leisure.
Asalam Alaykum
I think this reasoning is too simplified, you have to think about other reasons about travelling to kuffar lands as well.
Allah has created everything on this earth and told us to ponder on His creation, what about muslims who visit different parts of the world purely to see Allah’s creation and ponder over it?
I don’t look at it as travelling to kuffar lands I look at it as travelling to other parts of Allahs world, InshAllah in the future I’d like to see the northern lights from canada or iceland, I’d like to visit Masjid Al Aqsa and the Dome of Rock in Jerusalem, I’d like to see Mount Everest etc. Theres plenty of Allahs creation I’d like to see, if I have the means.
I think these things should be atleast be considered before coming to the conclusion that it is haraam and sinful.
And the shaykh has only mentioned one circumstance, the other two are conditions that should be met regarding a persons state.
Wa Alaikum Assalam Warahamtullahi Wabaraktuh
It is haraam for the Muslim to travel in kaafir lands in general, because of the evils that will affect the Muslim’s religious commitment and attitude as the result of mixing with those nations who pay no attention to religion and morals, especially when there is no need for him to travel for medical treatment or business and so on, rather it is just for leisure and for fun. Allaah has made the Muslim lands spacious, praise be to Allaah, and He has placed therein wonders of creation so that there is no need to visit the kaafirs in their lands.
Please read this to get a deeper understanding of the issue.
http://www.islam-qa.com/en/ref/87846/tourism
Asalam Alaykum
JazakhAllah for that link, this is mentioned on the page:
“5. Finally, siyaahah in Islam also includes travelling to ponder the wonders of Allaah’s creation and to enjoy the beauty of this great universe, so that it will make the human soul develop strong faith in the oneness of Allaah and will help one to fulfil the obligations of life. Relaxation is essential to enable one to strive hard after that.”
I understand from the article that the negative of visiting some societies outweighs any benefit you can recieve from there, so those places must be avoided. But I still think that there are plenty of places on earth which are almost deserted, the places may be run by a kaafir Govt, but the societies and its evils will be too small to effect someones imaan and religious commitment. For example I visit somewhere like Greenland, Its the size of Africa, It has a population of 50,000 majority of which live in one city, how likely is it that any evils there can effect my imaan? Its too minute of a society to have any impact. Do we have to avoid whole continents because of kafir Govt’s? I can safely say that a muslim country like pakistan easily is more of a harmful society than somwhere like greenland.
I’d appreciate it if you could find some more articles on this
JazakhAllah
Wa Alaikum Assalam Warahmatullahi Wabaraktuh
Yes but you have to understand in what context that extract is from. The article makes it quite clear that travelling to non muslim countries should only be done due to an important reason.
Also it is not an issue of evaluating whether greenland is a threat to your emaan or not, the scholars have looked into the matter and made a legal verdict and it is not befitting for laymen like me and you to oppose it.
And what should be kept in mind is that there is no sin bigger then Kufr and Shirk, and this is what these countries have fallen into, thus any muslim country regardless of what sins they may possibly fall into (apart from shirk and kufr) then they will always be a better place for muslims to live in then any other non muslim country.
This issue is infact linked to al-Walaa wal-Baraa, which in turn is linked to Tawheed the fundamental of our Religion, a good book to read regarding this is Shaykh Ibn Taymiyyahs ‘al-Furqaan bayna awliyaaa al-Rahmaan wa-awliyaa al-Shaytaan’
BaarakAllahu Feek
I would put one more condition: that the person be married.
I believe shaykh Albani gave an in depth answer as well…