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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

A group of about thirty young men will go to a farm on Friday. Is it permissible for one of us to deliver the sermon (*khuṭbah*) and lead us in the Friday prayer, or is it necessary to go to the nearest mosque?

All praise is due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon our master, the Messenger of Allah.
The Friday prayer (Jumuʿah) is not obligatory upon a traveler, whether his journey is long or short, if he leaves his place of residence before the time of Fajr begins, according to the Shāfiʿī school. If, however, he sets out on his journey after the Fajr adhān, then he is obliged to perform the Friday prayer, whether in his own town or in any town where the Friday prayer is held.
It is stated in Bushrā al-Karīm (Vol.1/p.383), one of the books of the Shāfiʿī school: “[The Friday prayer] is not obligatory upon a traveler on a permissible journey, whether long or short, if he departs from his place of residence before dawn.” End quote.
Accordingly, if you set out on your journey after Fajr, you are obliged to perform the Friday prayer in the mosque. The same applies if you set out after that, since you would not have fulfilled the conditions for the validity of the Friday prayer, among them: that it be attended by forty men who are free, adult (bāligh), sane, and settled residents of the place where Friday is held. It must be held within a cluster of connected buildings, whether a city, a village, or a district (liwāʾ), for what counts is the gathering of the buildings. And Allah Almighty knows best.

Is a person rewarded for refraining from all that breaks their fast when required to do so, and is it considered a valid fast?

If a person eats or drinks thinking that Fajr has not yet arrived, but then someone informs them that Fajr had already begun, they must refrain from eating for the rest of the day and make up the fast later.
If they observe the required restraint (imsak), they will be rewarded for obeying the command because fulfilling an obligation brings reward.
However, this is not considered a valid fast in terms of rulings. For example:
● It is not disliked (makruh) for them to use a miswak after noon.
● They are not encouraged to hasten the breaking of the fast at sunset.
● Other fasting-related rulings do not apply to them.

Is it permissible for a wife to refuse to go to bed with her husband (for sexual intercourse)?

It isn`t permissible for her to do so unless for a sound reason.

What is the ruling on performing the night prayer (*qiyām al-layl*) between the first and second adhān of Fajr? And which is better: delaying the prayer until shortly before the Fajr adhān, or performing it earlier than that?

 

All praise is due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon our master, the Messenger of Allah.
The time for night prayer (qiyām al-layl) begins after the Maghrib prayer and lasts until the second adhān of Fajr. The best time for it is the last third of the night, and best of all are the fourth and fifth sixths of the night. If the night is divided into two halves, the latter half is better.
Whoever intends to pray at night is encouraged to delay the Witr until he has prayed the night prayer. If he knows that he will not wake up, it is better for him to pray and perform Witr before sleeping, so that he does not miss both the night prayer and the Witr.
It is stated in Mughnī al-Muḥtāj (Vpl.1/p.462): “I say: The voluntary prayer of the night, that is, the absolute voluntary prayer (al-nafl al-muṭlaq), is better than the absolute voluntary prayer of the day, because of the report in Muslim: ‘The best prayer after the obligatory prayer is the night prayer.’ In another narration of his: ‘In the night there is an hour that no Muslim man meets while asking Allah for any good of this world and the next except that He gives it to him, and that is every night.’ It is also because the night is a time of heedlessness. I restricted the voluntary prayer to the absolute kind following the commentator, although what the ḥadīth and the underlying meaning require is that the night rawātib be preferred over the day rawātib, since the jurists preferred the two rakʿahs of Fajr over everything except Witr. The middle of the night is better than its two ends if it is divided into thirds, because heedlessness is greatest then and worship is hardest. If he wishes to pray during some third, the best is the fourth and fifth sixths, based on the ḥadīth in the two Ṣaḥīḥs: ‘The most beloved prayer to Allah the Exalted is the prayer of Dāwūd: he would sleep half the night, stand for a third of it, and sleep for a sixth.’ Then the latter part is better than the first if he divides it into two halves, because of the saying of Allah the Exalted: ‘And in the hours before dawn they would ask forgiveness’ [al-Dhāriyāt: 18], and the report of the two Shaykhs: ‘Our Lord, Blessed and Exalted, descends,’ meaning His command descends, ‘to the lowest heaven when the last third of the night remains, and says: Who calls upon Me, that I may answer him? Who asks of Me, that I may give him? Who seeks My forgiveness, that I may forgive him?’”
It is also stated in ʿUmdat al-Sālik (p. 60): “It is better to perform it [the Witr] immediately after the sunnah of ʿIshāʾ, unless he has tahajjud, in which case it is better to delay it so that he performs Witr after it. If he performs Witr and then wishes to pray tahajjud, he prays two rakʿahs at a time and does not repeat the Witr, nor does he need to cancel it with a single rakʿah before the tahajjud. It is recommended that he not deliberately pray after it.”
Qiyām al-layl is a term applied to any prayer performed at night. Tahajjud, on the other hand, refers to the night prayer that follows sleep, whether it is prayed after Maghrib or after ʿIshāʾ, or the prayer performed after ʿIshāʾ without sleep. On this basis, the Witr is also called tahajjud, since it is only prayed after ʿIshāʾ.
It is stated in al-Majmūʿ (Vol.4/p.84): “The sound position, as stated in al-Umm and al-Mukhtaṣar, is that the Witr is called tahajjud.”
It is stated in Nihāyat al-Zayn (Vol.1/p.114): “Among the absolute voluntary prayers is qiyām al-layl. If it is performed after sleep, even during the time of Maghrib and after having prayed ʿIshāʾ early (taqdīman), it is called tahajjud.”
And it is stated in Ḥāshiyat al-Bujayrimī ʿalā al-Khaṭīb (Vol.1/p.418): “His statement: ‘(the night prayer)’: the genitive construction (iḍāfah) carries the sense of fī, meaning a prayer in the night. His statement: ‘(it would be more fitting)’: the reason it is more fitting is that the night prayer includes both tahajjud and other prayers.” And Allah Almighty knows best.

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