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It is Discouraged to Kiss when Greeting one another
Author : The General Iftaa` Department
Date Added : 17-10-2022

It is Discouraged to Kiss when Greeting one another

 

All perfect praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds; may His blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Mohammad and upon all his family and companions.

People have been asking about the ruling of Sharia on men kissing men and women kissing women when meeting and greeting. This question is posed due to what is being said about transmission of infection as a result. In short, this issue boils down to the following:

This act of kissing-regardless of infection-is discourged by Sharia except in exceptional cases. A man asked: "O Messenger of Allah! When a man meets a brother or a friend, should he bow to him?" He said: "No." The man asked whether he should embrace and kiss him? The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) replied: "No." He asked whether he should hold his hand and shake it? The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) replied: "Yes." [At-Tirmidhi]. This is what the companions (May Allah be pleased with them) used to do. Anas reported: "If the companions of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, met each other, they would shake hands. If they had returned from a journey, they would embrace each other." {At-Tabarani}. This narration shows an exceptional case in which kissing is allowed. However, Sharia discourages Muslims to kiss every time they meet.

Nonetheless, if this kissing entails the possibility of infection, then it isn`t allowed by Sharia since the Prophet (PBUH) forbade letting sick camels graze or drink with healthy ones. If this is the case with animals, then people are more entitled to observe such precautionary measure.

Accordingly, we advise all citizens to suffice with shaking hands when visiting during Eid time, and this is the customary practice of many advanced Muslim countries. As people say, what counts is the feeling that people have in their hearts towards one another since kissing someone while hating them or being afraid of catching infection doesn`t befit human beings. Let`s make this happy occasion an opportunity to get rid of this bad habit of kissing except in exceptional cases, such as kissing someone who came after a long journey. The Messenger of Allah kissed Jafar Bin Abi Talib between his eyes when he came from Abyssinia after having migrated to it for many years. However, even in such cases, if a person is coming from a country with a pandemic, then this kissing should be avoided.

Finally, it is good to remind that low morals are more infectious than diseases, so beware of them, and we wish you a happy Eid.

 

General Iftaa` Department.

 

 

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Summarized Fatawaa

What is the ruling on swallowing saliva while fasting?

It is permissible for a fasting person to swallow their saliva because avoiding it would cause undue hardship and excessive strictness in religion. Islam discourages such excessiveness since Allah the Almighty intends ease for His followers and does not intend to put them in hardship.

I`m infatuated with a man, is it permissible for me to make supplication that he falls in love with me and becomes my husband?

Islam has honored women by being proposed to by men, and not the other way around, so it is inappropriate for a woman to propose to a man since one who hastens in asking for a thing prematurely shall be punished by deprivation. In fact, such a phenomenon is the result of unlawful mixing between the two sexes.

What is the virtue of performing ‘Umrah in Ramadan?

Ibn ‘Abbas narrated: "When the Prophet ﷺ returned from his Hajj, he said to Umm Sinan Al-Ansariyyah: ‘What prevented you from performing Hajj?’ She replied: ‘Abu So-and-so (referring to her husband) had two camels—he performed Hajj on one of them, and the other was used to irrigate our land.’ The Prophet ﷺ then said: ‘Performing ‘Umrah in Ramadan is equivalent to Hajj with me.’" [Narrated by Al-Bukhari]
The Prophet ﷺ also said: "An ‘Umrah in Ramadan is equivalent to a Hajj." [Narrated by Al-Tirmidhi]
For those who miss the opportunity to perform ‘Umrah in Ramadan, there are many other ways to earn great rewards. One of them is praying Fajr in congregation, then remaining in the mosque remembering Allah until sunrise, and praying two rak‘ahs.
The Prophet ﷺ said: "Whoever prays Fajr in congregation, then sits remembering Allah until the sun rises, and then prays two rak‘ahs, will receive the reward of a complete Hajj and ‘Umrah—complete, complete, complete." [Narrated by Al-Tirmidhi]

What is the ruling on forgetting an integral of the prayer?

Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon our Master, the Messenger of Allah.
 
Whoever forgets an integral (Rukn) of the prayer and remembers it before reaching the equivalent point in the subsequent unit (Rak'ah), must return to it (i.e., perform it) and complete his prayer, then perform the prostration of forgetfulness (Sujud al-Sahw) at the end of his prayer. However, if he remembers it after reaching the equivalent point in the subsequent unit, the Rak'ah in which the integral was forgotten is invalidated, and the current unit takes its place; he then completes a full Rak'ah to compensate and performs the prostration of forgetfulness.
 
It is stated in Nihayat al-Muhtaj ila Sharh al-Minhaj (Vol.1/P.543): 'If he becomes certain at the end of his prayer, or after the Salam—provided the interval is not long according to custom and he has not stepped on an impurity—that he omitted a prostration from the final Rak'ah, he must perform it and repeat the Tashahhud, as his previous Tashahhud occurred before its proper place. If the omission was from a Rak'ah other than the final one, he must perform a full Rak'ah, because the deficient unit was completed by a prostration from the subsequent one, rendering the rest of that subsequent unit void.' And Allah the Exalted knows best.