your questions answered


Q.How does one know that the time of Maghrib Namaz has arrived?

A. A redness appears on the eastern horizon after sunset and it is followed by darkness. When this redness disappears in the sky over one’s head, then it indicates the beginning time for the Maghrib Namaz.

Q. Is it permissible to avoid taking an obligatory bath mainly because of the coldness of water?

A. The obligatory bath cannot be avoided due to the coldness of water. Tayammum can only be resorted to in sickness which will be aggravated by the bath, or lack of sufficient time to take bath and offer the prayers on time, or because of lack of water or when only ‘najis’ (unclean) water is available.

Q. Will the fast of a person be valid if he/she eats or drinks something unintentionally?

A. If while eating and drinking, a person realises that it is Fajr, he should throw the food out of his mouth, and if he swallows it intentionally, his fast is void. But if a person eats or drinks something forgetfully during the day time his fast is in order.

Q. When someone comes to Makkah to perform the rites of Hajj on behalf of another (i.e. as a naib), himself lacking the capacity to perform Hajj, and thus acquires the capacity to perform Umrah Mufradah, is it obligatory for him to perform the umrah?

A. Apparently, umrah mufradah does not become obligatory for the naib, whose duty is to perform umrah tamatto. However, it is better for the naib

Your Questions Answered

Answers by Allama Sayyed Mohammad Moosawi Saheb

who thus becomes capable to perform the umrah mufradah for the sake of caution (ehteyaat).

Q. Is it obligatory to pay khums on what is given as gift or prizes?

A. Giving a gift or a prize is included in annual expenditure and it is not necessary to pay khums on it, provided it is not beyond his (i.e. the giver’s) status.

Q. Why does not the Holy Qur’an give strong emphasis to support father-in-law and mother- in-law? Because a married women will never be able to support her father and mother if her husband does not like it.

A. A woman, married or unmarried, is never expected to support any body. She is to be supported by her father or her husband.

Q. Which is the oldest existing book written by a Sunni scholar about Imam Mahdi (a.t.f.s.)?

A. In all probability it is the book called “Fitan Wa Malahem” written by the Sunni scholar Hafez Noaim bin Hammad (died in 227 A.H.), who was the teacher of Bukhari and others. Three copies exist in India, Syria and England respectively.

Q. Is it permissible to use perfume or scent which contains spirit?

A. Yes. It is allowed to use it as perfume.

Q. Girls without hijab and carrying candles are surrounded by men doing Maatam during the ‘Shaam-e-Gharibaan’. Is it permissible?

A. If the girls are above 9 years of age, it is not at all permissible for them to appear without hijab before Na-mahram men.