My parents want to send me to observe I'tikaaf in Musjid Nabawi in Madinah Munawwarah.

Answer

You may accept the offer of your parents and go for I'tikaaf in Madinah only if they insist. However, you should try to convince them that it will be infinitely superior and they will gain considerably more thawaab if they contribute the money to a worthy Islamic Cause or if they give the money to a few hard-pressed Muslims who are battling to make ends meet, or if they pay the debts of genuine debtors. Should they donate the money to the poor or to a truly worthy Islamic cause, they will acquire the thawaab of many Hajj and Umrah.

Spending so much money just to observe I'tikaaf in Madinah in this age of sin – sin from the time you leave home until the time you return –is not intelligent. The Shariah does not require undertaking a disastrous journey – spiritually disastrous – for observing I'tikaaf which is not incumbent. You can observe I'tikaaf in any local Musjid. It is truly wasteful, unintelligent and callous to squander so much money for an act which the Shariah does not command, especially at a time when the Ummah is suffering under the yoke of poverty and jahaalat, and when the entire journey from start to finish is plagued with haraam.

A man came to Hadhrat Bishr Haafi (rahmatullah alayh and said: "I have saved 200 Dinars (gold coins) with the intention of going for Hajj (i.e. Nafl Hajj). What do you advise?"

Hadhrat Bishr: "Do you intend going for a tour or for thawaab?"

The Man: "For Thawwab." Hadhrat Bishr: "Give the 200 dinars to 10 Fuqara or to ten Yataama (Orphans) or to ten persons who find it difficult to make ends meet for their families. Then, I assure that you will obtain the thawaab of 200 Maqbool Hajj."

The Man: "Hadhrat my heart is set on going for Hajj."

Hadhrat Bishr: "The money you have earned is from a haraam source. As long as you do not squander it in haraam, you will not gain peace."

When wealth is earned in haraam ways, it is also spent in haraam avenues. Allah Ta'ala does not bestow the taufeeq of virtue to a man whose wealth is haraam. Such a man thus craves for squandering his ill-gotten gains in haraam avenues – in waste, in buildings, in mansions, in so-called nafl 'umrah/hajj', in haraam wedding receptions, in haraam so-called 'walimahs', in riya (ostentation/show), in pride and in many other haraam ways which all will be strung around his neck on the Day of Qiyaamah.

The man who had sought advice from Hadhrat Bishr was insincere when he stated that his intention was to gain thawaab from Allah Ta'ala. If this was truly his intention, then it was most unintelligent to decline an act which will accrue for him the thawaab of 200 Maqbool Hajj, and that too without the hardship of an arduous journey which could be plagued with danger and sin. Instead of tripudiating with joy and delight at the prospect of acquiring the thawaab of 200 Maqbool Hajj, he was contented with the 'thawaab' of one dubious Hajj which may have been not Maqbool (i.e. unaccepted and rejected). Thus, the man's shaitaaniyat and nafsaaniyat had been confirmed by his own rejection of 200 Maqbool Hajj offered to him on a platter.

This is the condition of the vast majority of people going today for Umrah and Nafl Hajj. They labour in self-deception. In fact they struggle with their conscience to deceive themselves about their own self-deception because deep down in the corners of their hearts they know why they are going. Their niyyat is anything but Ridha-e-Iaahi (Allah's Pleasure).

Performing Ishraaq Salaat is the equivalent of one Hajj and one Umrah. Yet, we find innumerable miserable miscreants spending tens of thousands of rands for a tour to the Holy Cities ostensibly to perform Umrah, but they abstain from Ishraaq Salaat. A man whose brains are not deranged will not throw into the drain a Hajj and a Umrah which he could daily obtain by performing Salaatul Ishraaq.

Then there exists the other type of shaitaan who goes for Umrah and Nafl Hajj, but at home he is grossly disobedient, insolent and insulting to his aged parents. He has become the mureed of his wife who commands him in a variety of ways to terminate his relationship with his parents. He whirls and swirls between kufr and Imaan, and he hovers on the brink of Jahannum for breaking the heart of his parents. What relationship does such a shaitaan have with Umrah and Nafl Hajj when he is not interested in gaining the thawaab of innumerable Hajj and Umrah on a daily basis whilst at home? Remember that Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) said that a glance of affection cast at a parent is the equivalent of one Hajj and one Umrah. The Sahaabi asked: "What if I cast many glances at them?" Nabi-e -Kareem (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) said that he would receive the thawaab of many Hajj and many Umrah equal to the number of glances of love he showers on to his parents. Everyone is required to do muraaqabah (meditation and (misguidance) are in the forefront of the Umrah and Nafl Hajj racket. They live in luxury, devour luxury, look askance at the wealthy to sponsor Hajj and Umrah tickets for them, indulge in chaaplosi (flattery) of the wealthy, and abstain from Amr Bil Ma'roof Nahy Anil Munkar in so far as their wealthy contributors are concerned.

Instead of being the noble Officers in Allah's Department of Amr Bil Ma'roof Nahy Anil Munkar which their status demands, they have become chapraasis (peons) of the Ahl-e-Dunya (the wealthy men of the world). May Allah Ta'ala have mercy on this orphan and forlorn Ummah of this day.