What is the Shariah's view regarding tourism?

Answer

Tourism is part of satanism. It is a sinful merrymaking activity of the kuffaar which Muslims too have adopted. The further away Muslims drift from the Deen, the more they display their kufr tendencies acquired from their western kuffaar masters whose cult of life they have adopted 100%. In the words of Rasulullah (Sallallahu alayhi wasallam): Muslims will emulate the Yahood and Nasaara so much that even if they enter into a lizard's hole, Muslims will follow suit. In other words, if the west says that faeces is gold, Muslims will accept and adore the faeces.

Hadhrat Abu Hurairah (Radhiyallahu anhu) narrated that Rasulullah (Sallallahu alayhi wasallam) said: "Safar (journey) is a portion of athaab (punishment)." In one Hadith it is mentioned: "Safar is a portion of the Fire."

The punishment and fire will differ for different types of journey. However, for the vast majority of today's holidaymakers, tourists and mock 'umrah' tourists, these journeys are loaded with haraam, fisq and fujoor. A journey nowadays is an excursion of sin. The traveller plunges into sin from the time he leaves home until his return. It is sin and transgression all the way along the journey.

Total intermingling with the opposite sex, wholesale neglect of Salaat, trapped in fisq and fujoor at airports, hotels, and even in the Haramain Shareefain, consuming mushtabah and haraam food, etc. are regular and permanent sins in which travellers nowadays have to participate.

Passport and visa photos for touring and nafl umrahs are also haraam. It is not permissible to indulge in haraam for the sake of a Nafl ibaadat. Wasting large amounts of money aggravates the villainy of journeys and the intensity of the athaab and naar. While millions of the Ummah are languishing in abject squalor, poverty, hardship, sickness, lack of shelter, etc., affluent Muslims satanically enjoy themselves by squandering the ni'mat of wealth on luxuries and haraam sightseeing and merrymaking journeys in kuffaar style.

The degree of shamelessness of men and women on board the plane, in the airport lounges and hotels brings out their evil lusts and even kufr which they struggle to conceal at home. The men who are supposed to be the mahrams for their womenfolk are transformed into shameless swines along the journey. Their Imaani ghayrah (honour) is completely abandoned on the journey. For their wives and daughters to intermingle with strange fussaaq males is an accepted norm on the journey. Such men are described in the Hadith with the term "dayyooth" (cuckold). However, the purport of the word is better conveyed and understood from the word, swine.

Supposedly 'pious' men deceive themselves by soothing their conscience with the Zakaat and other charity they dole out. They believe that the large amounts they squander on these journeys are justified and permissible since they do pay their Zakaat, etc. This is a shaitaani deception. Even if all Muslims all over the world contribute all the money they waste for the aid of the suffering Ummah, then too, the needs of the unfortunate suffering members of the Ummah will not be fulfilled.

Once a man came to Hadhrat Bishr Haafi (Rahmatullah alayh) and said that he had saved 200 dinars (gold coins) for a Nafl Hajj. He had come seeking advice. Hadhrat Bishr asked the man to state whether he planned to go on the journey

for merrymaking or for the acquisition of thawaab (reward). He promptly responded that his intention was thawaab.

H a d h r a t B i s h r (Rahmatullah alayh) said: "If your intention is thawaab, then I shall advise you with a better way of gaining the reward of 200 accepted Hajj. Distribute the 200 dinars to either ten orphans or ten widows or ten hard-pressed families, and I assure you of the thawaab of 200 Hajj."

The man said that his heart was set on performing Hajj. Hadhrat Bishr then said: "As long as you do not waste the money in haraam avenues, you will not derive peace."

He implied that since the money was not acquired in a halaal manner, this man will not derive satisfaction as long as he does not waste it on the haraam merrymaking tour which he described as Nafl Hajj to soothe his conscience. Thus, those who squander money on these haraam merrymaking tours should understand that there is considerable contamination in their wealth, hence they incline towards the shaitaaniyat of israaf. The Qur'aan Majeed describes them as Ikhwaanush shayaateen (brothers of the devils).

Every Muslim knows that Hajj constitutes one of the Five Fundamental Pillars of Islam. It is Fardh once in a lifetime for the Muslim who is able to reach Makkah subject to certain conditions of the Shariah. Despite the fundamental importance and significance of this Fundamental act of Ibaadat, it will not be permissible to undertake the Hajj journey if it involves the commission of sin, e.g. neglect or missing Salaat or indulgence in any prohibition. The Fuqaha decreed in this regard:

"It is mentioned in Al- Mudkhal: Our Ulama say: When the mukallaf person knows that he will miss even one Salaat if he proceeds for Hajj, then verily Hajj is waived. Elsewhere it is said: If performing Hajj is not possible except by expelling Salaat from its time (i.e. making it Qadha) or something similar (i.e. committing sin), then Hajj is waived."

Al-Barzali narrating from Al-Maazari said: "If he (the traveller) will commit neglect of Salaat such that its time lapses or even performs its substitute (i.e. Salaat in the sitting position), in the wake of the Hajj journey, then most certainly this journey is not permissible, and the obligation of Hajj is waived for him."

At-Taadali narrating from Al-Maazari said: "Verily, Istitaa'ah (i.e. the condition of ability to go for Hajj) is to reach the Bait (Ka'bah) without hardship together with safety for oneself, one's wealth and the ability to execute the Faraaidh (acts of Ibaadat), abandonment of extremes and abandonment of sins."

Ibnul Muneer mentions in his Mansik: "Know that destroying (i.e. not performing on time) even one Salaat is a colossal sin. The virtues of Hajj do not compensate for it (for this loss). In fact, it (Salaat) is greater than it because it is of greater importance. Therefore if dizziness is the norm for the traveller on sea or on the land even if for one Salaat (i.e. due to this ailment he will miss a Salaat), then Hajj is haraam for him, i.e. if he can reach Makkah only by neglecting Salaat. ….

"Whoever knows that if he goes on a sea voyage (even air or land travel), he will be affected by dizziness (or any other sickness) which will mentally impair him or cause unconsciousness, causing him to neglect Salaat or abandon Salaat totally, then there is no difference of opinion (among the Fuqaha) that it is not permissible for him to undertake the journey. The journey of a person of this type is only nafsaani lust. In fact, it is an inspiration of shaitaan.

Al-Barzali said: "Our Shaikh Abu Muhammad Ash-Shabeebi narrating from Taalib said: "The Shayaateen (Devils) of the east and the west became involved in a dispute. Who among them are the greatest deceivers (misleading people)? The devils of the east said to the devils of the west: 'We are greater than you in deception because we incite a man to commit sin and perpetrate prohibitions in the abodes of the Ambiya (in the Holy Places).' The Shayaateen of the West responded: 'We are greater (in the art of deception). We find a man with his wife and children performing the Fardh Salaat, paying Zakaat and practising other acts (of virtue). He is in a state of comfort and his Angels are with him.

Then comes along the (Hajj/Umrah) agent enticing people to travel to the land of Hijaaz (for Hajj and Umrah). Then we (the devils of the west) goad and induce him to come out (i.e. undertake the journey). Thus he emerges for the journey. From the day he leaves (his home) we induce him to neglect the Faraaidh and to violate the prohibitions (of the Shariah) from the day of his departure until the day of his return to his family. Thus, he is in loss regarding himself and his wealth in the east and the west.

Then the Shayaateen of the East acknowledged the superiority of the Shayaateen of the West in the art of deception."

Al-Barzali said: "Verily, I have witnessed some of this in my Hajj journey. We seek safety from Allah."

(Mawaahibul Khaleel)

This is the Shariah's position regarding journeys for even the Fardh ibaadat of Hajj. If the journey entails missing Salaat or the commission of haraam, then it will not be permissible to undertake the journey. When such is the view of the Shariah regarding Hajj, then what does the Imaan of a Mu'min dictate regarding merrymaking tours, deceptive nafl Umrah and the three haram merrymaking tours?

The Fuqaha have explicitly stated that it is not permissible to go for Hajj even if just one Salaat will be missed or made qadha on the journey. Now what is the state of affairs nowadays when people embark on these merrymaking fun tours dubbed with Deeni desig-

nations?

The Shayaateen of the West are great conspirators just as are the people of the West. These devils involve these tourists in haraam from the day they depart from home until the day they return. Wholesale neglect of Salaat is the norm. In a plane full of men and women ostensibly going for Hajj or Umrah, only a few venture to perform Salaat on the plane. Most of these tourists remain in their seats like kuffaar. They display total indifference to Salaat.

Then they indulge gluttonously in the mushtabah, filthy and haraam food served on the plane. They devour the impure foods like animals. All purdah vanishes. For these tourists it seems that there is no need to observe purdah. Men and women freely mix and converse in the plane and at the airports. In the plane, men and women line up intermixed at the toilets. Every vestige of haya (shame) is effaced. It is as if they are w i t h o u t I m a a n . Rasulullah (Sallallahu alayhi wasallam) said: "Haya is a branch of Imaan." But these male and female tourists labouring in the deception of going for ibaadat, stand against one another in the queue at the toilet. A woman emerges from the toilet with a man standing against the toilet door.

At the immigration and custom points, when checking in and being searched, fisq and fujoor prevails. It the transit lounges and in the hotel foyers and lifts, fisq and fujoor reign. They claim to be going for Umrah/ Hajj, but they squander the time in malls and merrymaking places. It is nothing but compounded fisq and fujoor.

Even in the Haram Shareef, fisq and fujoor prevail. Men and women freely mix. The amount of haraam photography taking place is absolutely shocking and lamentable. Huge sums of money are wasted on these haraam tours while millions of the Ummah are suffering in extreme straits of poverty and misery.

It is clear that the earnings of these people are either doubtful or haraam, hence they have strong inclination to waste the money thereby becoming the "brothers of the devils". Almost every step of this touring is haraam just as the Shayaateen of the West say. They have succeeded in their nefarious plot of ruining the akhlaaq and Imaan of Muslims with these haraam tours.

The Ulama or socalled Ulama are also trapped in this shaitaani snare. They are deaf and blind. They fail to hear and see the evils of these journeys. They come within the purview of the Qur'aanic aayat:

"Verily, the vilest of creatures by Allah are the deaf and the blind who have no intelligence." The Qur'aan says that they eat "like animals". Only those whose Imaan has been defaced by nafsaani lust fail to see and understand the villainy of these haraam tours.