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Examples of Alleviating Hardship
Under category :
Alleviating Hardships
3673
2007/11/29
2024/12/18
examples of alleviating hardship:
the noble quran speaks about the attributes of the illiterate prophet mohammad, peace and blessings be upon him, that are written in tawraah (torah) and injeel (gospel). it explains that amongst the most important attributes of mohammad, peace and blessings be upon him, is that he made the religious rulings easy for the people. allaah the almighty says:
{and relieves them of their burden and the shackles which were upon them.}[1]
muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, relieves the children of israel from the burdens and shackles that allaah the almighty knew that they will be imposed on them due to their disobedience. so the illiterate prophet relieves them from these burdens when they believe in him.”[2]
allaah the almighty, who is merciful to his worshipers, does not charge a soul except with that within its capacity. he has conferred on his worshippers the gift of alleviating hardship from them. allaah the almighty says:
{allaah intends for you ease and does not intend for you hardship.} [al-baqarah: 185]
amongst the examples of alleviating hardship is exempting women from the obligation of performing jumu‘ah and congregational prayers (exempts women from performing prayers in the mosque). also, the child, insane and sleeping persons are exempted from making the obligatory rulings applicable on them, such as hudood (prescribed punishments), some of the people’s rights such as the right of qasaas (retribution), right of the prescribed punishments of qathf (accusing chaste womenwith fornication). maturity and sanity are necessary in all of these matters. it is also stipulated in the prescribed punishment of fornication four witnesses to decrease the cases of obligating punishment as a kind of alleviating hardship. it stipulated, due to the severity of stoning, that the person should be married, and as a kind of alleviating hardship for unmarried man. the poor guardian is excluded from the impermissibility of eating from the wealth of the orphan as a kind of alleviating hardship. so he is permitted to eat from it but in a reasonable way.[3] still, there are many other examples.
the prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, used to, as a legislator, alleviating hardship for the people regarding rulings as much possible as he could. there are many situations for this in his sunnah and biography. he also used to avoid what may be a cause of imposing new obligations that may be difficult for muslims. moreover, he used to avoid making something that implies hardship and difficulty for muslims[4] because they adhere firmly to all of his acts to follow his footsteps.
amongst this is that he, peace and blessings be upon him, used to urge his companions to avoid the complicated juristic questions or that entail actions so that they may not be imposed on them due to their question. for example, a man asked him about hajj: “is it every year?” then he, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “if i said yes it would be obligatory and you would not be able to do it. so, be content what i leave with you.”[5]
he, peace and blessings be upon him, also said: “were it not that it would be too difficult for my nation, i would have commanded them to use the siwaak (tooth-cleaning twig) at every wudoo’ (ablution).”[6]
he, peace and blessings be upon him, said to some of his companions: “why did you come without using siwaak? were it not that it would be too difficult for my ummah, i would have imposed on them using siwaak as i imposed wodoo’ on them.”[7]
abu hurairah, may allaah be pleased with him, narrated that the messenger of allaah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “were it not that it would be too difficult for my nation, i would have commanded them to delay ‘ishaa’(night) prayer and use the siwaak at every prayer.”[8]
he, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “had not i thought it hard for my nation, i would not have remained behind any sariyah, (army-unit).”[9]
‘aaishah, may allaah be pleased with her, said: “the prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, went out from me, while he was happy, but he returned to me while he was sad. he said: ‘i entered the ka‘bah, i know beforehand about my affair what i have come to know later i would not have entered it. i am afraid i have put my nation to hardship.”[10]
by entering the ka‘bah, he fears that this action may be hard for muslims to do because it may not be available to all people.
it was narrated that ‘abdullaah ibn ‘amr ibn al-‘aas, may allaah be pleased with them, said: "during the hajjit al-wadaa‘ (farewell prilgrimage), i saw the messenger of allaah, peace and blessings be upon him, stopped at mina; people started asking him questions. a man came to him and said, ‘i got my head shaved before slaughtering.' he, peace and blessings be upon him, responded: ‘slaughter [now] and there is no harm.’
another man came and said, 'i have slain the sacrificial animal before throwing the pebbles.' he, peace and blessings be upon him, said, ‘throw the pebbles [now] and there is no harm [in what you have previously done].’ so, on that day, when the prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, was asked about anything [from the rituals] done before or after [its stated time], his reply was, 'do it [now] and there is no problem.'”[11]
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[1][al-a‘raaf: 157]
[2]sayyid qutb; fi thilaal al-quran, soorah al-a‘raaf, interpretation of verse no. 157.
[3] refer to mawsoo‘at al-kiwait, arabic root of taysar.
[4]as he, peace and blessings be upon him, used to do in not going on performing taraweeh prayer in ramadan so that people may not believe that it is obligatory.
[5]it is saheeh (authentic) hadeeth reported by muslim, in the chapter of obligation of hajj is once in the lifetime no. 2380.
[6]it is saheeh (authentic) hadeeth reported by muslim, in the chapter of siwaak no. 370.
[7]it is saheeh (authentic) hadeeth reported by ahmad, sheikh shaakir deemed it saheeh in his comment on al-musnad 3/246-248 and the second part of the hadeeth is in as-silsilah as-saheehah no. 3067.
[8]it is saheeh (authentic) hadeeth reported in mishkaat al-masaabeeh (vol. 1/p. 81) no. 376.
[9] it is saheeh (authentic) hadeeth reported by al-bukhaari, in the chapter of ja‘aail and al-humlaan fi as-sabeel no. 2750.
[10]reported by abu-daawood, in the chapter of entering ka‘bah no. 1734, at-tirmithi no. 799 and ibn maajah 3055.
[11]it is saheeh (authentic) hadeeth reported by al-bukhaari, in the chapter of giving fatwa while he is riding camel and the like. no. 81.
