Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh...
Just a short one today, we continue with another 2 ayat of Surah Yusuf,
Ayat 11,
They said, ‘O our father, why do you not entrust us with Yusuf while indeed, we are to him sincere counsellors?’
The scholars derived five important points from this ayat,
Ayat 12
Send him with us tomorrow that he may eat well and play. And indeed we will be his guardians.
This ayat highlighted the permissibility of play and recreation.
Islam is complete and comprehensive – It addresses every aspect of our lives and our needs, including our need for diversion and recreation, providing for us lawful means to fulfil this need. In the Sunnah, we see the Companions participating in many different forms of lawful entertainment and play. They engaged in sports such as foot-races, horse-racing, wrestling and archery. They also told jokes and engaged in light hearted conversation.
A’isha RA relates about her husband, the prophet SAW: “ I swear by Allah that I saw Allah’s messengers standing at the door of my room while the Abyssinians were engaged in spear play in the mosque of Allah ‘s Messenger. He screened me with his cloak so that I could watch them perform. He stood there for my sake until I decided that I had enough.” Now just imagine how much time a young girl eager for entertainment would stand there watching. [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
Guidelines to follow when engaging in recreational activities.
The art of persuasion is also illustrated in this ayat :
Just a short one today, we continue with another 2 ayat of Surah Yusuf,
Ayat 11,
They said, ‘O our father, why do you not entrust us with Yusuf while indeed, we are to him sincere counsellors?’
The scholars derived five important points from this ayat,
- Planning must precede action
- The evils of emotional blackmail and its malicious nature
- Persistence on specific issue indicates the presence of an ulterior motives.
- The tongue is a medium of communicating our physical action and our internal desires, both directly and indirectly.
- Shaytan uses this methodology when attempting to misguide people.
Ayat 12
Send him with us tomorrow that he may eat well and play. And indeed we will be his guardians.
This ayat highlighted the permissibility of play and recreation.
Islam is complete and comprehensive – It addresses every aspect of our lives and our needs, including our need for diversion and recreation, providing for us lawful means to fulfil this need. In the Sunnah, we see the Companions participating in many different forms of lawful entertainment and play. They engaged in sports such as foot-races, horse-racing, wrestling and archery. They also told jokes and engaged in light hearted conversation.
A’isha RA relates about her husband, the prophet SAW: “ I swear by Allah that I saw Allah’s messengers standing at the door of my room while the Abyssinians were engaged in spear play in the mosque of Allah ‘s Messenger. He screened me with his cloak so that I could watch them perform. He stood there for my sake until I decided that I had enough.” Now just imagine how much time a young girl eager for entertainment would stand there watching. [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
Guidelines to follow when engaging in recreational activities.
- Our means of recreation and our entertainment must be completely free from anything that is unlawful in Islam.
- Recreation must never cause us to neglect our obligatory worship and our obedience to Allah
- Recreation and entertainment must not take up too much of our time. We should not engage in them to the point where it ceases to be beneficial.
- It must not become a habit to continually seek recreation and diversion.
- Recreation must not restrain or distract us from activities that would benefit us in our worldly or spiritual lives.
The art of persuasion is also illustrated in this ayat :
- To influence anyone to do something you have to build a rapport with them and use language to encourage them to agree with you.
- This is an important skill to possess when inviting and advising people in the matters related to the deen.
Now which one would you do today? To play or to persuade? :)
Wallahu'alam...