Before you proceed please read :
In this we aim to post questions asked by Non Muslims during processions like street daw`ah and other instances when the time is short and the answer to be given has to be catchy and striking so as to both answer the question as well as grasp the attention of the non Muslim .
We fully acknowledge that many questions , rather all of them have alternate answers which could be very lengthy and sometimes need more than a verse or hadeeth to explain fully. However this is an initiative wherein we will try our best to keep the answers in line with the Qur`an and sunnah upon the understanding of the righteous predeceesors and also keep it short so as to help our brothers on street to be quick in answering. If you have any suggestions or constructive criticms then they are most welcome. These Questions are mainly picked up from personal experiences in dealing with Non Muslims and the nature of the questions can be from political to religious and you'll be amazed with the kind of questions some non Muslims ask. it is as if they are well versed with many other topics and thus they wanted more of a fatwa than a challenge. Also, it is the responsibility of the da`ee to convey the answers or use them to his advantage. we will only give you a chalkline , the rest is upto you .
Table of Contents of Part 5 of the Question and Answer series
Question 29 : Some people say if there is None like allah then how come both the human and the lord uses words of expression like Anger , strength. etc
Question 30: What does Islam say about Hygiene related issues?
Question 29 : Some people say if there is None like allah then how come both the human and the lord uses words of expression like Anger , strength. etc
Ans: Even though the word used may be the same yet the attribute isn't. For two apples to be same or similar they need to be APPLES. One cannot be an orange and then say both this orange and that apple are equal in shape or colour. Likewise allah answers these doubts by his own speech showing how there is a big difference between the human strength and the strength of the lord.
“…and they said: ‘Who is mightier than us in strength?’ See they not that Allah, Who created them was mightier in strength than them.” [Surah Fussilaat: 15]
Secondly one can also argue that we may to some extent know the limits of a human, such as a human cannot lift an airplane using his hands but what about the creator ? we don't have any accurate study or observation or analysis of his strength then how can you even question comparing allah's strength to his creation's strength?
Allah says :
“They have not estimated Allah His Rightful Estimate; Verily, Allah is All-Strong, All-Mighty.” [Surah Hajj: 64]
and
“Glorified is your Lord, the Lord of Honor and Power! (He is free) from what they attribute unto Him! ...[Qur`an]
Question 30: What does Islam say about Hygiene related issues?
Answer : It says many things the most powerful of all is that our prophet peace and blessings be upon him said Hygiene or cleanliness is half of faith (emaan) .
I’ll quote two small examples from the prophetic traditions to give a brief overview
I (Ibn al-Hanzaliyyah.) heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say: You are coming to your brethren; so tidy your mounts and tidy your dress, so that you appear distinct among people as a beauty spot (on a body). Allah does not like obscene words or conduct nor do intentional committing of obscenity.
[Ref: Sunan abi Dawood (4089), Mustadrak al-Hakim; Abu Nu`aym and elsewhere]
As a second example I request you to allow me to narrate this passage from an author of comparative studies on history
In her book Min al-riqq ila'l-sayadah, Samihah A. Wirdi says:
"There is no need for us to go back to the time of the Crusades in order to know the level of civilization in Europe at that time. We need go back no further than a few hundred years, to the days of the Ottoman Empire, and compare between the Ottomans and the Europeans to see what level the Ottoman civilization had reached.
"In 1624, Prince Brandeboug wrote the following on the invitations to a banquet that he
sent to other princes and nobles: Guests are requested not to plunge their hands up to the elbow in the dishes; not to throw food behind them; not to lick their fingers; not to spit on their plates; and not to blow their noses on the edges of the tablecloths.'"
The author adds:
"These words clearly indicate the level of civilization, culture, knowledge and manners among the Europeans. At the same time, in another part of Europe, the situation was not much different. In the palace of the King of England (George I), the ugly smell emanating from the persons of the King and his family overpowered the grandeur of their fine, lace-edged French clothes. This is what was happening in Europe. Meanwhile in Istanbul, the seat of the khilafah, it is well-known that the European ambassadors who were authorized by the Ottoman state be thrown into baths before they could approach the sultan. Sometime around 1730, during the reign of Sultan Ahmad III, when the Ottoman state entered its political and military decline, the wife of the English ambassador in Istanbul, Lady Montague, wrote many letters which were later published, in which she described the level of cleanliness, good manners and high standards among the Muslims.
In one of her memoirs she wrote that the Ottoman princess Hafizah had given her a gift of a towel that had been hand-embroidered; she liked it so much that she could not even bear to wipe her mouth with it. The Europeans were particularly astounded by the fact that the Muslims used to wash their hands before and after every meal. It is enough to read the words of the famous English nurse Florence Nightingale, describing English hospitals in the mid-nineteenth century, where she describes how these hospitals were full of squalor, negligence and moral decay, and the wings of these hospitals were full of sick people who could not help answering the call of nature on their beds . . .
[Ref: Samihah A. Wirdi, Min al-riqq il'al'sayadah, Damla Yayinevi No. 89, p. 28ff.]
It was written in one of the publishment in early 1880 or 90’s about paris :
In every street the pipes gushed out where decaying rat carcases drank everything in, tails dangling and whiskers bristling with greenish lumps. Bellies in the air, they floated amid apple peels, asparagus stalks and cabbage cores…it was like a vast infection of tooth decay, like the flatulence of a rotting stomach, like the emanations of a man who has drunk too much, like the dried sweat of rotting animals, like the sour poison of a bedpan…this avalanche of excretions tumbling down the length of the purulent streets…let off its nocturnal fragrances.(p 253)
[Ref: Barnes D S. The great stink of Paris and the nineteenth century struggle against filth and germs. Baltimore, MA: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006 ]
For details see : http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2652987/
As for hygiene in Islam it is a topic that requires volumes of pages to show how in each and every aspect of our daily lives, islam teaches us to be clean . From eating to shaking hands to after intimate relations, everything depicts hygiene.
For e.g about brushing our teeth, our prophet sallalahu `alayhi wa sallam set forth an example :
"The Messenger of Allah (Peace and blessings be upon him) never woke from sleeping at any time of day or night without cleaning his teeth with a siwak (a twig like object used to clean your teeth and gums) before performing ablution (washing the body parts as per the order and method of ablution)
[Ref: narrated by Ahmad (6/160) and Abu Dawud (1/46) in Kitab al-taharah, bab al-siwak]
