THE WRONG QUESTIONS?

In Islam we are encouraged to ask when we are in doubt about something, but is there such a thing as asking the wrong questions?

There are certain questions which have no benefit to the questioner. Was Yunus AS swallowed by a fish or a whale? Did Maryam AS have a normal term pregnancy or was it accelerated? Did the snake that Musa’s AS staff turned to resemble a python or a cobra? What colour was Nuh’s AS ark? Is jahannam actually a black hole?

When Rasulullah SAW passed us knowledge from Allah, he gave it comprehensively. He neither made mistakes nor forget to give us the knowledge we need for our goal in life – which is safe passage to the hereafter. When a detail is omitted, it indicates that such detail is irrelevant to the goal.

The Companions of Rasulullah SAW were the most pious people in the ummah after him. Yet, even they, with their piety and proximity to him, never raised superfluous questions. In fact, they were forbidden from asking unnecessary questions where the questioner had no genuine need for the answer, an injunction that originated from the Qur’an itself:

O you who believe! Ask not about things which, if made plain to you, may cause you trouble. But if you ask about them while the Quran is being revealed, they will be made plain to you. Allah has forgiven that, and Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Forbearing. Before you, a community asked such questions, then on that account they became disbelievers. (Qur’an 5:101-102)

The Prophet SAW taught his Companions adab or manner, and in the excellence of their manner, they never tried to enquire about anything that he did not share or talk about. They understood that if the knowledge was relevant, he would have shared it with them. Such traits, where one asks unnecessary, mocking or useless questions, are those of a hypocrite, who would prefer to debate and create division rather than to use the knowledge in a useful fashion to elevate their faith.

How does one know if a question is permitted? Most questions are permitted, for example if it relates to a ruling or to seek clarification on a point about our faith. However, questions for the sake of asking questions, on matters which are inapplicable to our lives, or irrelevant to our journey of iman and the betterment of ourselves, are prohibited.

Rasulullah SAW is the final Messenger and Prophet, the Seal of the Prophets who was sent down to us to complete and perfect the teachings of Islam. He received revelations from Jibril AS who in turn received the messages directly from Allah. There was a lot of knowledge that Allah did not emphasise upon. In these, Muhammad SAW shared nothing with us, and we do not have authentic hadith to back up many of our theories.

Yet today, we try to act clever. We open up topics which were never appropriate for discussion to begin with. We reach conclusions without any research or basis in Islam. We try to argue about unseen knowledge whereas such details will not increase our iman and will not benefit us dunia or akhirah.

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24 Comments

  1. Thank you!

    JazakAllah khair for this! If we busy ourselves with questions that have no benefit, we miss out on the important things.

  2. Jazakallahu khairan brother

    Jazakallahu khairan brother that is absolutely true
    May Allah swt increase us by his guidance the understanding of his deen

  3. jazakallahukairan

    It always good 2 inform ourselves about our deen(islam)and am really happy 2 be part of ”HADITH OF THE DAY”

  4. This is very important

    This is very important because as muslims we should believe in the unseen and avoid unnecessary and irrelevant questions. Thank you for the reminder.

  5. Jazakkalah Khairan

    Alhamdullilahi for being part ☀̤̣̈̇ƒ HOTD. This article will really help me $ friends ☀̤̣̈̇ƒ mine that always ask mysterious questions… Jazakallah Khairan

  6. Thanks for reminder. I think

    Thanks for reminder. I think the man can’t reach d deepest significant of d judgement of ALLAH so we should not quest d unseen in our short life time span.

  7. Wrong questions.

    I agree with the above teachings, however, my religion Islam is so full of people with little or almost no knowledge of Islam. Unfortunately, Islam is also full of people who distort both hadith and ayat to to their benefit. These people call themselves Ulema-e-Karaam to add holiness to themselves and try to propagate their own version of Islam. These so called Ulema-e-Karaams readily call others kafirs when a question is put before them. Very obviously, these people, especially those belonging to taliban and alqaida belong to his category. These people use the same hadith and ayat, but to achieve Saudi objectives aimed at destroying my country of origin (Pakistan). What does Quran and Hadith say particularly about such people who are killing everyone who does not agree with them?

  8. From Admin

    Asm
    Today we are at the end of time. We see what is happening in Islam when we go extreme right or extreme left. Either Islam becomes like you said, so-called so respected Ulama who give us their own view, and lead us astray. We have plenty of them to the point that Islam becomes a bunch of singing and dancing. This is completely not acceptable. And we have the other extreme, when Islam becomes a bunch of rules and regulations and any opposition has to be killed. They have their own verification and also they take the people astray. When you look today to all of the above groups, ideology, sects, cults, without mentioning names since there are too many of them, we lost the middle path. Now it is up to us as individuals to search for the middle path and try to live it, spread it or propagate it the maximum we can. Can we correct the whole earth? No way. Can we stop any evil or wrongdoer in any way? We can only do according to what Allah allows us to do and this is why today, I believe without any doubt that the ultimate goodness you can do to yourself and other is to spread the right path, the middle path, the one the majority of the ummah agrees about. This, little by little, will diminish the rest by the will of Allah. Again, remember each of us is responsible for himself and what we are spreading. This topic I believe should have a sense of urgency and responsibility and every guided soul wants to be saved and save others the maximum we can. May Allah make us among those. Remember that every day coming will be worse than the day before.

  9. ALHAMDULILLAHI ROBBIL

    ALHAMDULILLAHI ROBBIL ‘ALAMEEN! Dis is a good reminder, for i’v realy learnt from it. Jazak Allahu Khayr

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