Feels no incentive not to go to strip clubs or drink alcohol
Fatwa No: 89466

Question

My friends and I are Muslims studying in the United States. Most of them drink, and all of them go to strip clubs every few weeks. So far have fought temptation and I have done well so far. My question is, what stopping my from doing what they are doing if all of our sins will be forgiven if Allaah gives me time to go to Hajj? We are all 19 – 21-years-old.
Technically, I could join them at the strip clubs and drinking parties, yet be no different than anyone else after Hajj. There is no incentive for me not to do that.

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.

 

You and your friends have to know that drinking any kind of intoxicants and fornication or adultery are great major sins. Allaah says (which means): {And come not near the unlawful sexual intercourse. Verily it is a Faahishah (i.e. anything that transgresses its limits; a great sin) and an evil way (that leads one to Hell unless Allaah forgives him/her).}[17: 32]. Moreover, the Prophet said: "Allaah cursed all kinds of intoxicants. He cursed its distiller, the one it was distilled for, the one who drinks it, the one who carries it, the one to whom it is carried, the one who sells it, the one who consumes its price, and the one who buys it." [Ahmad and Abu Daawood] Therefore, it is an obligation on whoever has committed any of the above sins to repent to Allaah before it would be too late for him. Allaah says (which means): {And of no effect is the repentance of those who continue to do evil deeds until death faces one of them and he says: "Now I repent", nor of those who die while they are disbelievers. For them We have prepared a painful torment.}[4:18]. Therefore, if you have not committed any of those abominable acts, you have to praise and thank Allaah and stay away from an environment that might lead you to commit such sins instead of thinking about committing them and hoping that Hajj expiates all the sins. How can you be sure that you will live long enough to perform Hajj? The angel of death could take your soul while committing a sin and you would die while performing bad deeds. The Prophet said: "Every person will be resurrected upon the state he died." [Muslim]

Furthermore, you have to know that the scholars differed about whether Hajj expiates great major sins. The Hajj that expiates the sins is an accepted one, but how could you know whether or not your Hajj was accepted? So you have to fear Allaah and not expect something which you might not be able to achieve. Indeed, such hopes are nothing but steps of the devil who draws the person step-by-step to commit sins and obnoxious acts. Allaah says (which means): {O, you who believe! Follow not the footsteps of the devil. And whosoever follows the footsteps of the devil, then, verily he commands Al-Fahsha' [i.e. to commit indecency (illegal sexual intercourse, etc.)] and Al-Munkar [disbelief and polytheism (i.e. to do evil and wicked deeds, to speak or to do what is forbidden in Islam, etc.)}[24:21]. Allaah also says (which means): {… and promise them. But Satan does not promise them except delusion.}[17:64]. Moreover, if you know the torment that Allaah has prepared for a person who committed fornication or adultery, or consumed intoxicants, you would not think about committing these sins. The Prophet said: "Whoever drinks an intoxicant until he becomes drunk, his prayers will not be accepted for forty days, and if he dies because of drinking intoxicants, he will enter Hellfire." Another narration reads: "If he drinks again and again until the fourth time, Allaah has promised to make him drink from the pus and sweat of the people of Hellfire….". On the night of Israa', the Prophet saw a hole like an oven, with a narrow top and wide bottom, and the fire was kindling underneath that hole. Whenever the fire flaired up, the people were lifted up to such an extent that they are about to get out of it, and whenever the fire got quieter, the people went down into it…"[Al-Bukhari] So fear Allaah, brother, and remember that you will stand in front of Allaah naked and bare-footed, in a day equal to 50,000 years in length.

Finally, we ask Allaah to purify your heart and help you guard your chastity [from committing illegal sexual intercourse].

Allaah knows best.

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