As for travelling during this month to countries to which one ought not to travel, it entails a waste of wealth. Moreover, we hear that some people go abroad, frequent swimming pools, theatres, and places of amusement, while their wives appear unveiled, exposing their hair, upper chest, arms, and the like—may Allah protect us. Are such people anything but among those “who exchanged the favour of Allah for disbelief”?

The proper response to this blessing is for a person to increase in gratitude to Allah and to treat his family well. But what is the ruling on one who says, instead, “My wife and I will go for umrah”? We say: this is good in one respect and not good in another. Apparently, its origin has been taken from the non-Muslims, for we have not known of this practice in the times of the earlier scholars or in the era of the righteous predecessors, nor have the scholars discussed it. Thus, in this respect, it has been adopted from the non-Muslims.

From another perspective, I fear that, as time passes, people will make marriage a cause for the prescribed legitimacy of umrah, until it is said: “It is recommended for everyone who marries to perform umrah.” In that case, we would be assigning to an act of worship a cause that is not sanctioned, and this is problematic. For as time passes, circumstances change and the earlier basis is forgotten. Therefore, we say: make your honeymoon in your own room, in your own home; make its sweetness last a lifetime, not merely a month; and praise Allah for well-being.

“She does not become lawful through anal intercourse, intercourse under a mistaken assumption, ownership of a slave woman, or an invalid marriage; nor through intercourse during menstruation, postnatal bleeding, consecration for pilgrimage, or an obligatory fast. If the thrice-divorced woman, who has become unlawful to her former husband, claims—after having been absent—that she married the man who made her lawful to her former husband and that her waiting period from him has ended, then her former husband may marry her if he believes her and this is possible.”

His statement, “nor through anal intercourse”: this has already been discussed.

His statement, “intercourse under a mistaken assumption”: mistaken assumption is of two types: a mistaken assumption concerning a marriage contract and a mistaken assumption in belief. A mistaken assumption concerning the contract means that a man enters into a marriage contract with her which later proves to be invalid. A mistaken assumption in belief means that he has intercourse with her, thinking that she is his wife, when there is no marriage contract. Thus, she does not become lawful through intercourse under a mistaken assumption.