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Statement of the Iftaa` Department on the Tourism Brochure Concerning Umm al-Raṣāṣ
Author : His Eminence Noah Ali Salman
Date Added : 02-11-2026

Statement of the Iftaa` Department on the Tourism Brochure Concerning Umm al-Raṣāṣ

 

Muslims are united on nothing as they are united on the love of Allah and His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), and on supporting Islam and the Muslims.

When the offensive cartoons against the Prophet Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) were published, Muslims of every school and persuasion rose to condemn that crime.

A few days ago, a tour guide noticed a phrase in a tourism brochure that insults, in an unjustifiable way, our master Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him). This guide, may Allah bless him, promptly informed the responsible authorities. The Minister of Tourism was notified, condemned the matter, and formed an investigative committee to determine who was responsible for the error.

The Iftaa` Department was among the first to draw the Minister’s attention to this matter, but in our own manner, which relies on reform through quiet means without publicly shaming anyone. The Minister informed us, before others, of the formation of this committee. Statements then followed from every quarter, disassociating themselves from the brochure and from the erroneous information in it. When the investigation ends and the person responsible is identified, any citizen may file a case in the name of the public right under the Sharīʿah against whoever insulted the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family). The laws in force in our country punish this.

This swift response from official bodies and the public shows that Islam is protected and defended by everyone, and that an insult to it and to its symbols is an insult to all, especially to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), for whom we would give our lives and souls, and whose family line provides the leadership by which this country is honored.

In summary, the offensive content of the brochure is this: describing the area of Umm al-Raṣāṣ, near the city of Mafraq in Jordan, it said: “In this place the Prophet Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him) met the Christian monk who taught him the virtues, or principles, of tawḥīd (the oneness of God).”

This refers to the Prophet’s (peace and blessings be upon him) journey to al-Shām (Greater Syria) with his uncle Abū Ṭālib before prophethood, when he was twelve years old. Historians doubt that this meeting took place.

What those who have spoken on this matter overlooked is that whoever prepared the brochure, whether Muslim or non-Muslim (and most likely non-Muslim, since the Ministry of Tourism clarified that it was prepared by an external party), implicitly acknowledges that tawḥīd was the religion held by the Christian scholars. So where did the Trinity come from? That is a different story.

Even if the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had heard something about tawḥīd from that monk, Islam does not stop at the doctrine of tawḥīd. The Noble Qur’an and the purified Sunnah address every matter of life and set out the way of life that Allah intended for all people, in acts of worship, transactions, ethics, and international relations. The Qur’an also speaks of events that took place later, such as the Night Journey and Ascension (al-Isrāʾ wa’l-Miʿrāj), jihād, and the victory at Badr, and so on.

It is slander, and a contempt for people’s intelligence, for anyone to think that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) learned all of this in a passing encounter at the age of twelve.

What the narrations say, if they are authentic, is that the monk recognized the signs of prophethood in our master Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), as described in the books in his possession. He feared for him from the Jews and advised his uncle Abū Ṭālib to take care for his safety. This is reasonable, for Allah the Exalted says of the People of the Book {what means}: “Those who follow the Messenger, the unlettered Prophet, whom they find written in what they have of the Torah and the Gospel” [al-Aʿrāf/157].

In more than one verse, Allah the Exalted informed us that the People of the Book who have preserved Allah’s covenants recognize the Prophet Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) as they recognize their own sons. Researchers, Muslim and others, have produced books collecting what remains in the Jewish and Christian scriptures of glad tidings of the Prophet Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), among them a book translated into Arabic under the title ʿĪsā Yubashshir bi-Muḥammad (“Jesus Foretells Muḥammad”).

In any case, we thank the tour guide who noticed this error offensive to the Prophet Muḥammad (peace and blessings be upon him), and we thank everyone who rose to defend Islam and its Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) for the sake of Allah. Islam will remain honored and protected, by Allah’s leave, in fulfillment of His promise. The Exalted has said {what means}: “It is He who sent His Messenger with guidance and the religion of truth, to make it prevail over all religion, even if the polytheists dislike it” [al-Tawbah/33].

Two matters remain:

First: It is not permissible to rush into issuing rulings of disbelief (kufr) against individuals, because declaring someone a disbeliever (takfīr) is a grave matter. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Whoever says to his brother, ‘O disbeliever,’ one of them has incurred it.” There is a great difference between saying “this statement is an act of disbelief” and saying “this person is a disbeliever.” The judgment on individuals is issued by the judge after the grounds for it are established by legitimate means. Refuting a statement of disbelief, however, is permissible for all people of knowledge.

Second: It is not permissible for anyone to regard himself as the sole protector of the Islamic religion, because in doing so he reduces the number of Islam’s supporters. All of us are protectors of the Sharīʿah and its people.

I thank those brothers who regard the Iftaa` Department and the Department of the Chief Justice as bodies to which such matters may be brought for redress, and not as bodies that fall short in protecting religious rites and need someone to prompt them to do their duty. We live up to our brothers’ good opinion in what we see as right and correct, but each of us has his own approach. We prefer to handle matters calmly, for that is more likely to bring a response. May Allah protect us all.

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Summarized Fatawaa

The Jurisprudential Significance of the Ḥadīth: "Whoever says, at the conclusion of the Fajr Prayer, while crossing his legs, before speaking..."
"Whoever says, at the conclusion of the Fajr prayer, while crossing his legs, before speaking: 'Lā ilāha illā Allāh, waḥdahu lā sharīka lah, lahu al-mulku wa lahu al-ḥamdu yuḥyī wa yumītu wa huwa ʿalā kulli shayʾin qadīr' ten times — ten good deeds will be recorded for him, ten bad deeds will be erased from him, he will be raised ten levels, he will spend that day in protection from everything disliked and guarded from the devil, and no sin will be able to befall him on that day except associating partners with Allah" — does this noble ḥadīth apply to the imam, and what is meant by "extraneous speech"?

All praise is due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon our master the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
It is recommended for both the imam and those praying behind him to recite, immediately after the final salām, the specific remembrance reported in the sunnah to be said before turning away from one's place of prayer. The imam then leaves his praying spot, and the act of "turning" is fulfilled when the imam faces the congregation — even without physically leaving his spot — by positioning his right side toward them and his left side toward the qiblah, and this applies even while he is engaged in supplication.
Al-ʿAllāmah Ibn Qāsim al-ʿAbbādī states in his Ḥāshiyah ʿalā al-Tuḥfah (Vol.2/P.105): "It is most virtuous for the imam, once he has given the salām, to rise from his place of prayer immediately afterward." He adds that an exception must be made for the remembrances that are specifically required to be recited before he turns away. He then notes, citing Sharḥ al-ʿUbāb: "Yes, an exception to this rising immediately after the salām applies to the Fajr prayer, due to the authentic report that the Prophet ﷺ, when he prayed Fajr, would remain seated until the sun rose." He further cites, from al-Khādim, the ḥadīth concerning one who recites, at the conclusion of the Fajr prayer while still in the position of crossing his leg to rise: "Lā ilāha illā Allāh, waḥdahu lā sharīka lah..." and the rest of the well-known ḥadīth. He comments that this makes explicit that this particular remembrance is to be recited before the worshipper turns his legs to leave, and the same applies to Maghrib and ʿAṣr, as reported in those contexts as well.
What is meant by "speech" in the relevant ḥadīth is extraneous worldly speech that is not called for after the prayer and for which there is no legitimate excuse. The remembrances reported to be recited upon concluding the prayer, however, do not fall under this category of extraneous speech, since they are themselves required by the sharīʿah.
Al-ʿAllāmah ʿAlī al-Shabrāmalsī states in his Ḥāshiyah ʿalā al-Nihāyah (Vol.1/P.551): "If someone greets a person with salām while he is occupied with reciting this remembrance [i.e., 'Lā ilāha illā Allāh...'], should he return the greeting — without this causing him to forfeit the promised reward, since he is engaged in an obligatory matter — or should he delay returning the greeting until he finishes, this being a legitimate excuse for the delay?" He continues: "I say: the more likely view is the former, and the prohibition on speech is to be understood as applying to extraneous speech for which there is no legitimate excuse. Based on this, should the worshipper give precedence to this remembrance ('Lā ilāha illā Allāh...') or to reciting Sūrat al-Ikhlāṣ ('Qul huwa Allāhu aḥad')? This requires consideration, though it is not unlikely that the remembrance takes precedence, given that the Lawgiver urged hastening to it through his words 'while crossing his leg.' This is not considered ordinary speech, since it is not extraneous to what is required after the prayer."
Accordingly, it is recommended for both the imam and those praying behind him to recite this remembrance and to give it precedence over the other remembrances of the prayer, ensuring it is said before they move from their place. And Allah the Almighty knows best.

What is the ruling on the cessation of blood after (40) days from delivery, but later continued sporadically during two days of Ramadan?

Once postpartum bleeding (Nifas) ceases, and the woman is certain that it won`t reoccur, then she becomes ritually pure and so she is free to make Ghusl (purificatory bath), pray, and fast. If the bleeding reoccurs before fifteen days from its cessation, and before the end of (60) days after delivery, then the ruling on postpartum bleeding is effective, and her fasting and prayer are null and void, thus she must make up the fasting that she missed and not the prayer during those particular days.

What is the ruling on one who vowed not to speak to a certain person, then forgot his vow and spoke to him?

 

All praise is due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon our master, the Messenger of Allah.
Whoever swears an oath or makes a vow to abstain from something has a choice: if he wishes, he may keep to his vow, or if he wishes, he may offer the expiation of an oath (kaffārat yamīn). The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “The expiation for a vow is the expiation for an oath.” Narrated by Muslim. This type of vow is called a nadhr al-lajāj (a vow made in stubbornness or anger).
If a person makes a vow and then forgets it, nothing is due from him, for forgetfulness is among the excuses that lift legal responsibility (taklīf) from a Muslim. This is based on the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): “Actions are judged only by intentions, and every person will have only what he intended.” [Narrated by al-Bukhārī]. There is no intention for the one who forgets or errs. It is also based on the report: “Indeed, Allah has pardoned for my Ummah mistakes, forgetfulness, and what they are compelled to do.” Narrated by Ibn Mājah and others, and graded authentic by Ibn Ḥibbān and al-Ḥākim.
It is stated in ʿUmdat al-Sālik (p. 243), one of the books of the Shāfiʿī school: “Whoever swears, [for example], ‘I will not enter the house,’ and then enters it forgetfully, ignorantly, under compulsion, or being carried, he does not break his oath.” And Allah Almighty knows best.

What should someone do if they fasted for only 28 days in their country and then traveled to a place where Eid has already been declared?

If a person fasts in their country and then travels to another country where Eid has been declared, they must celebrate Eid with the people of that country.
● If their total fasts add up to 29 days, nothing is required of them.
● However, if they have only fasted 28 days, they must make up one day after Eid, because an Islamic month cannot be only 28 days.

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