Should he propose to her even though she is not sufficiently religiously committed, but she is well mannered and obedient?

One of my colleagues at work suggested his sister to me for marriage.
He knows the qualities that I am looking for with regard to religious
commitment and character, and he told me that she is not highly
religiously committed, butshe is very obedient and polite and she
wants to become more religiously committed. I went to see her and
during the discussion I found out that she wants to becomemore
committed and she loves the faith, and I felt comfortable with her.
But she was previously engaged. Can I ask her about the details of the
previous engagement andcan I ask her about her life before she
graduated from university and whether she used to mix with young men?
If I lower my expectationson the level of religious commitment that I
am looking for in return for a calm personality and good manners, will
that be regarded as going against the words of the Messenger, "Choose
the one who is religiously committed"? Please note that we share the
desire to build a family on the basis of faith and what is pleasing to
Allah, may He be glorified and exalted.
Praise be to Allaah.
Firstly:
You have no need to ask this girl about the details of her previous
engagement or the details of her life before she graduated from
university. In fact you have no right to do that at all. This is the
right of Allah and it is between her and Him. You have no rights over
her at this time such that you could ask her about that or demand it
of her. Rather you have the right to know only what is apparent from
her at present; if she appears to be good and righteous, then go ahead
and propose to her. But do notever ask her or try to find out about
her. And if she does not appear to be good, then forget about her and
do not ask her or try to find out about her.
There is no one among us who does not have anything in his past, or
even in his present, that he hopes Allah will forgive him for and
conceal it in this world and in the Hereafter.
Ibn 'Abbaas (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Allaah is
Forbearing, Compassionate towards the believers, and He loves
concealment. Narrated by Abu Dawood, 5192. al-Albaani classed its
isnaad as hasan mawqoof in Saheeh wa Da'eef Sunan Abi Dawood
Rather what you should do this the exact oppositeof that. What you
should do, if you come across a fault, is to conceal it as much as you
can, and not to look for faults when everything appears to be sound,
unless you are certain that there is some fauly.
Muslim (2590) narrated from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with
him) that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said:
"Allaah does not conceal aperson in this world but Allaah will conceal
him onthe Day of Resurrection."
Secondly:
If you like this girl's appearance and you sensethat she is obedient
and good-mannered and she wants to become religiously committed, and
you want to marry her, then there is nothing wrong with you proposing
to her and that is not contrary to the words of the Prophet (blessings
and peace of Allah be upon him): "Choose the one who is
religiously-committed, may your hands be rubbed with dust (i.e., may
you prosper)." If a woman, in addition to being well mannered and
having a good attitude, also has a sincere desire to adhere to the
rulings and teachings of Islam, then she is of good character and
religiously committed. Those who are of good character and religiously
committed vary and the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon
him) did not describe a specific level of that. Rather he said "Choose
the one whois religiously-committed, may your hands be rubbed with
dust (i.e., may you prosper)" after saying "Women may be married for
four things: their wealth, their lineage,their beauty and their
religious commitment."
The hadeeth was narratedby al-Bukhaari (5090) andMuslim (1466) to
encourage suitors to look for women who are religiously committed
rather than others.
If the girl is as you have described, then we hope that your marrying
her will be good for both of you and that Allah will help you both in
that.
You could also seek the help of her brother and your relationship with
him to make up what she may be lacking of knowledge and good deeds
during the engagement period.
And Allah knows best.

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Can Jinns harm humans?

With regard to the jinn harming humans, this is proven to happen and
it does happen. Protection against that is attained byreciting Qur'aan
and adhkaar (dhikr) prescribedin sharee'ah.
Shaykh Ibn 'Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:
"Undoubtedly the jinn canhave a harmful effect on humans, and they
could even kill them. They may harm a person by throwing stones at
him, or by trying to terrify him,and other things that are proven in
the Sunnah or indicated by real events. Itwas reported that the
Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) gave permission
to one of his Companions to go to his wife during one of the military
campaigns - I think it was the campaignof al-Khandaq - as he was a
young man who had recently got married. When he reached his house, he
found his wife standing at the door, and he objected to that. She said
to him, 'Go inside,' so he went inside and found a snake curled up on
the bed. He had a spear with him, so he stabbed it withthe spear until
it died, andat the same instant as thesnake died the man also died. It
was not known which of them died first, the snake or the man. When the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) heard of that, he
forbade killing the harmless kinds of snakes that are found in houses,
apart from those which are maimed or are streaked and malignant.
This indicates that the jinnmay attack humans, and that they may harm
them,as is known from real-life events. There are numerous reports
which indicate that a man may come to a deserted area, and a stone may
be thrown at him, but he does not see anybody, or he may hear voices
or a rustling sound like the rustling of trees, and other things that
may make him feel distressed and scared. A jinn may also enter the
body of a human, either because of love or with the intention of
harming him, or for some other reason. This isindicated in the aayah
(interpretation of the meaning):
'Those who eat Ribaa will not stand (on the Day of Resurrection)
except like the standing of a person beaten by Shaytaan (Satan)
leading him to insanity'[al-Baqarah 2:275]
In such cases, the jinn may speak from inside of that person and
address the one who is reading verses from the Qur'aan over him; the
reciter may take a promise from the jinn never to come back, and other
things concerning which there are very many reports which are
widespread among the people.

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Jinns and their Activities

Throughout history man has always had a deep attraction for the
supernatural and the unseen. The existence of aworld parallel to our
own has always fascinated people. This world is commonly referred to
as the spirit world, and almost every set of people have some concept
of one. With some people, these spiritsare no more then the souls of
dead people- or ghosts. With others, spirits are either the forces of
good or the forces of evil - both battling against one another to gain
influence over humanity. However, both of these explanations are more
in tune with folk tales and fantasy. The true explanation of such a
world comes from Islam. Like every other way, Islam also claims to
explain this realm of the unseen. It is from this realm that Islam
explains to us about the world of the Jinn. The Islamic explanation of
the Jinn provides us with so many answers to modem day mysteries.
Without the knowledge of this world, the Muslims would become like the
non-Muslims and be running around looking for any old answer to come
their way. So, who or what are the Jinn?
Existence
The Jinn are beings created with free will, living on earth in a world
parallel to mankind. The Arabic word Jinn is from the verb 'Janna'
which means to hide or conceal. Thus, they are physically invisible
from man as their description suggests.This invisibility is one of the
reasons why some people have denied their existence. However, (as will
be seen) the affect which the world of the Jinn has upon our world, is
enough to refute this modem denial of one of Allah's creation. The
origins of the Jinn can be traced from the Qur'an and the Sunnah.
Allah says:
"Indeed We created man from dried clay of black smooth mud. And We
created the Jinn before that from the smokeless flame of fire"
(Surah Al-Hijr 15:26-27)
Thus the Jinn were created before man. As fortheir physical origin,
then the Prophet (saws) has confirmed the above verse when he said:
"The Angels were created from light and the Jinn from smokeless
fire"[1]. It is this description of the Jinnwhich tells us so much
about them. Because theywere created from fire, their nature has
generally been fiery and thus their relationship with man hasbeen
built upon this. Like humans, they too are required to worship Allah
and follow Islam. Their purpose in life is exactly the same as ours,
as Allah says:
"I did not create the Jinn and mankind except to worship Me"
(Surah Ad-Dhariyat 51:56)
Jinns can thus be Muslims or non-Muslims. However,due to their fiery
nature the majority of them are non-Muslims. All these non-Muslim
Jinns form a part of the army of the most famous Jinn, Iblis- the
Shaytan[2]. Consequently, these disbelieving Jinns are also called
Shaytans (devils). Asfor the Jinns who become Muslims, then the first
of them did so in the time ofthe Prophet (saws) when a group of them
were amazed by the recitation of the Qur'an. Allah ordersthe Prophet
to tell the people of this event:
"Say (O' Muhammed): It has been revealed to me that a group of Jinn
listened and said; 'Indeed we have heard a marvellous Qur'an. It
guides unto righteousnessso we have believed in it, and we will never
make partners with our lord'"
(Surah Al-Jinn 72:1-2)
In many aspects of their world, the Jinn are very similar to us. They
eat anddrink, they marry, have children and they die. The life span
however, is far greater then ours. Like us, they will also be subject
to a Final Reckoning by Allah the Most High. They will be present with
mankind on the Day of Judgement and will eithergo to Paradise or Hell.
Abilities
That which clearly distinguishes the Jinn from mankind, are their
powers and abilities. Allahhas given them these powers as a test for
them.If they oppress others with them, then they will be held
accountable. By knowing of their powers, we can often make sense of
much of the mysteries which go on around us. One of the powers of the
Jinn, is that they are able to take on any physical form they like.
Thus, they can appear as humans, animals trees and anything else. Over
the last few years the interestin the subject of aliens and UFO's has
become heightened. Programmes such as the X-files and theOuter limits
have increased the popularity of the theory that aliens exist.
Thousands of people have sighted strange looking creatures all over
the world. These sightings however, have still not proven
substantially that aliens exist. Rather - and it seems more plausible
all the sightings of such creatures were just Jinns parading in
different forms. So the next time you see something that looks like
E.T, its most probably just a wicked Jinn trying to scare and confuse
you!

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1a] This Life is not our Real Life

1a]
The human body is not as strong or resilient as a stone or a piece of
metal; rather, it is made of an extremely perishable material: flesh.
The body is covered with a thin skinthat could be torn at any moment
by the slightest accident. Structurally speaking, flesh is very
vulnerable. It can be wounded, bruised, and twisted by the slightest
blow, and, with age, begins to lose its former youthfulness and
becomes rough and wrinkled. After death, it starts to rot. A few weeks
after burial, the body begins to disintegrate andbe eaten by worms and
bacteria, until finally it mixes with the soil and disappears.
As stated earlier, this shows us our frailty and reminds us that the
imperfections in the world are specially created. Instead of flesh,
human beings could have been created from much stronger and purer
materials or could have been totally free of pain, illness, and
vileness. However, all of these things were created to remind human
beings of how poor and needy theyare in relation to Allah, and to show
them just how imperfect and deficient a place this world really is.
When we look at these imperfections, we can see our own frailty and
understand the transitory nature of all people's earthly strength and
values. Meanwhile, we also can understand that the people who we
adore,try to please, or earn theirrespect and praise are as weak and
imperfect as anybody else.
But as most people cannot understand this or see this world's great
imperfection and flaws, they find satisfaction in this earthly life.
Actually, this is the result of an extreme ignorance and lack of
intelligence.
The morality of such people is described in the Qur'an as follows:
So turn away from him who turns away from Our remembrance and desires
nothing but the life of theworld. That is as far as their knowledge
extends...(Surat an-Najm, 29-30)
Those who are unaware of this truth and bound bya passion for the life
of this world are people without "knowledge," as the verse says.
But what is this"knowledge" that we must have in this matter? In
truth, it is nothing less than the knowledge of Paradise, which Allah
has promised to us. The most important steps toward this are to be
well-versed in the Qur'an and to think seriously about what it says.
In the Qur'an, Allah described the believers' real homeland in these words:
The life of the world is nothing but a game and adiversion. The abode
of the hereafter - that is truly Life, if they only knew. (Surah
al-'Ankabut, 64)
One hadith records our Prophet (saas) as saying that Paradise is
humanity's real abode, a place in which there will be no human
imperfection:
A proclaimer will proclaim: "For you there iseverlasting health, and
you will never be sick. For you there is everlasting life, and you
will never die. For you there is perpetual youth, and you will never
get old. And foryou there is everlasting bliss, and you will never be
in want. (Muslim)

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