In the Name of Allaah…

Shaykh Saalih al-Fowzaan (may Allaah preserve him) said:

From the aspects of the pre-Islaamic period of ignorance (jaahiliyyah) that the Messenger of Allaah (may Allaah raise his rank and grant him peace) opposed them in was their attempt to draw near to Allaah in worship by whistling and clapping. Allaah, the Most High, has said:

( وما كان صلاتهم عند البيت إلا مكاء وتصدية )

( Their prayer at the House (the Ka’bah) was but whistling and clapping ) [8:35]

This means that the polytheists would only try to draw near to Allaah at the prestigious Ka’bah by whistling and clapping…

…They would do this at the House (the Ka’bah), calling it “prayer”, thinking to draw near to Allaah, the Exalted and Most High. It was just one of the ways the devils of mankind and Jinn had beautified for them.

We know this because worship is something only done according to what Allaah, the Exalted and Most High, has legislated, and thus it is towqeefiyyah (restricted). People may not introduce any idea they personally like, nor anything they learned from someone else, which was not legislated by Allaah to be an act of worship done for Him, having no basis in the Islaamic legislation.

From this (Verse) we can derive the impermissibility of two things – whistling and clapping, even if a person did not intend them to be acts of worship. That is because it is an imitation of the polytheists (in their specific acts of worship).

Clapping has only been made permissible by the Prophet (may Allaah raise his rank and grant him peace) for women, specifically when there is a real need, like alerting the leader (of congregational prayer) about something he has forgotten in the prayer, since her voice may cause temptation among males (not from her family).

It is not permissible for a man to imitate the disbelievers, nor may he imitate the women by clapping. Since clapping is not even permissible (for men) when needed to alert the imaam about something he has forgotten in the prayer – he instead says “subhaan Allaah” – then it should be understood that it is even more clearly impermissible to clap without any real need.

In this is a clear refutation of those men who clap (applaud) at parties, imitating the disbelievers.

Source: Sharh Masaa’il al-Jaahiliyyah (p.104-105)

Translated by: Moosaa Richardson

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