What Does It Mean to Make a Habit of Seeking Out Dispensations?
Answered by Shaykh Yusuf Weltch
Question
What does it mean to make a habit of seeking out dispensations? Is it following one’s whims to take a dispensation to memorize the Quran while menstruating, if one’s memorization is affected by the menstruation?
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate
A better way to word the prohibition of making a habit of seeking dispensations is the constant seeking of dispensation without real need or benefit.
A person may need to take a dispensation frequently because of real need or benefit and this is not prohibited. [Ibn ‘Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar]
On the other hand, someone may not have a legitimate need or benefit but is always seeking the easy way out via dispensations. This second scenario is what is prohibited. [Ibid.]
Example
A person may, for instance, be too lazy to perform wudu when they pray. Due to this, they are always seeking out scholarly opinions and dispensations to feed into their laziness. This is sinful. [Ibid.]
Taking Dispensation Regarding Memorization
The Maliki opinion regarding a menstruating woman memorizing the Quran is a dispensation that many scholars mention as a solution for someone who is finding it very difficult to memorize or retain their memorization due to menstruation.
This would not be considered following one’s whims, if one finds a similar difficulty in memorizing due to menstruation.
Hope this helps
Allah knows best
[Shaykh] Yusuf Weltch
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Shaykh Yusuf Weltch teaches Arabic, Islamic law, and spirituality. After accepting Islam in 2008, he completed four years at the Darul Uloom Seminary in New York, where he studied Arabic and the traditional sciences.
He then traveled to Tarim, Yemen, where he studied for three years in Dar al-Mustafa under some of the most outstanding scholars of our time, including Habib Umar Bin Hafiz, Habib Kadhim al-Saqqaf, and Shaykh Umar al-Khatib.
In Tarim, Shaykh Yusuf completed the memorization of the Quran and studied beliefs, legal methodology, hadith methodology, Quranic exegesis, Islamic history, and several texts on spirituality. He joined the SeekersGuidance faculty in the summer of 2019.
