Shaykh Saalih Ala Shaykh was asked:
Question:
We hear some of the youth saying: “When we were in Jahiliyyah (the Times of Ignorance), we did such and such”. And “in the days of Jahiliyyah such and such occurred”. And “before the Hijrah (migration), we went and such and such occurred to us”. What is the ruling on uttering these words?
Answer:
“This utterance using these words Jahiliyyah and Hijrah in the likes of our days, that is after the emergence of Islam and the shift of the people from Jahiliyyah to Tawheed and Islam, is not permissible and not allowed. This is because the word Jahiliyyah, if it is generalized, is used to mean the Jahiliyyah before the Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) was sent. However, if he ascribes that to ignorance (الجهل ) and not to Jahiliyyah which was the time period before the Prophet (ﷺ), then that would be agreeable. If he said: “In the days of ignorance (الجهل ) we used to do such and such” and ” In the days of ignorance (الجهل ) such and such occurred”. This is agreeable. As for saying we were in Jahailiyyah, that is, meaning the time before he was upright, then this is not justified due to the departure of Jahiliyyah which was the time before the emergence of Islam.
Likewise the term Hijrah with this generalization is not correct because there is no Hijrah after the conquest [of Makkah]. However there is Jihad [striving in the path of Allah] and intention”*.
[Sharh Masaail al-Jahiliyyah no. 20]
Translator’s Note:
* The last statement of the Shaikh is taken from the following Hadith:
لاَ هِجْرَةَ وَلَكِنْ جِهَادٌ وَنِيَّةٌ
“There is no migration (after the Conquest), but Jihad (striving in the path of Allah) and good intentions”
[Bukhari no. 2783]
Hafidh Ibn Hajr rahimahullah said:
“That is: the conquest of Makkah or the intent is more general than that. It is an indication that the ruling of other than Makkah in that regard is like Makkah. It is not obligatory to migrate from a land which the Muslims have conquered…”
[Fathul-Bari (6/190)]
Imam Nawawi rahimahullah said: “Our Companions and other than them from the Scholars said: migration from the land of war to land of Islam will remain until the day of judgement. They interpret the Hadith with two interpretations. One of the interpretations is that there is no migration after the conquest of Makkah because it has become the land of Islam. So it can not be imagined that it is migrated from. The second and it is the more correct meaning/interpretation is that the migration which is virtuous, important, and desired and by which its people are distinguished with an apparent distinction has ended with the conquest of Makkah. The people who have migrated before the conquest of Makkah have gone because Islam has become strong and mighty after the conquest of Makkah with an apparent might unlike before the conquest”
[Sharh Saheeh Muslim (6/335)]
Translated by
Faisal Ibn Abdul Qaadir Ibn Hassan
Abu Sulaymaan
