Al-Ma'idah 96: As a benefit for yourselves and for those who travel, it was made permissible for you to hunt on the sea and eat from it. As long as you are on ihraam, it is not permissible for you to hunt on the land. Fear Allah, to whom you will be gathered.

You may ask. Hunting at sea and eating it, as a benefit both for you and for travelers, has been made lawful for you. Look, so that it's listened to well. As a benefit both for you and for travelers, hunting at sea and eating it has been made lawful for you. As long as you are in ihram, hunting on land has been made unlawful for you. So it is well understood. You are at sea. There is nothing to eat. Allah Almighty, as a mercy to people: you may hunt at sea. That is, take it out from there and eat, He says. That is, meet your need. Both travelers and you. But on land? Not on land, He says. Everywhere is full of grocers and the like, full of shops.

Go and do your shopping there, He says. Yes. Let's read the verse once more. Hunting at sea and eating it, as a benefit both for you and for travelers, has been made lawful for you. Made lawful, but these are not in ihram.

Why are they not in ihram? Where does one enter ihram? There are a few places around Mecca. One enters there.

The sea — from Jeddah to Mecca is sixty kilometers away. Some say eighty kilometers. We didn't measure it in kilometers. It's close. So from Jeddah until you reach Mecca, in two or three places there are miqat points. From those, sir, you can enter ihram. At sea you are not yet in ihram. You are coming. You're on the road; you're a traveler, that is. Hunting at sea and eating it, as a benefit both for you and for travelers, has been made lawful for you. As long as you are in ihram, hunting on land has been made unlawful for you. Hunting on land. Well, couldn't it be like this, Hodja? I was in ihram; without leaving ihram I went to Jeddah.

From there I got on a motorboat, I'm touring, traveling. I'm in ihram, I haven't left ihram yet. In that case, can't I eat? You may eat. You may eat. Look what it says anyway: Hunting at sea and eating it, as a benefit both for you and for travelers, has been made lawful for you, it says. As long as you are in ihram, hunting on land has been made unlawful for you, it says. So sea hunting is not in it. Hunting on land has been made unlawful, it says. Fear Allah, before whom you will be gathered.

For those who travel by sea to fulfill the obligation of hajj, hunting and feeding travelers is also lawful. While in ihram, hunting land animals has been made unlawful for people. Whoever hunts while in ihram slaughters a sacrifice as the like, that is, the equivalent, of the animal he hunted or feeds the poor. Those who cannot afford this fast in return for the game animals they hunted. When you are in ihram, (?) has been made unlawful for you. As understood from this verse, that hunting on land is forbidden while in ihram is declared. There is no harm in hunting at sea. As we said a moment ago, because Allah Almighty mentions only land hunting; He does not say sea and land hunting are forbidden to you; He mentions only land hunting.

Yes. Anyway, Mecca the Honored and the sea are far from (?); people here, during the hajj journey, can hunt sea animals, it says; during the hajj journey they may hunt sea animals. Allah Almighty has set no prohibition for sea animals. Fear Allah, before whom you will be gathered. According to the verse every soul will taste death, every human, for the duration of his life, is a wanderer, and on the world a mortal traveler who comes and passes. Yes, a mortal traveler. People fear Allah, the Owner of that Day of Reckoning; if they live obedient to Allah Almighty's commands, they attain salvation.

All of us in this world — a journey — on the world we will pass across, the temporary lodging place, the world, we are each travelers. Some say: a two- doored inn. Coming into the world with birth, leaving the world with death. A two-doored inn. So in the time from entering one door until leaving by the other, with the deeds you have done you prove yourself in the best way, and in return for these deeds you have done, the return of your two hands that you have earned, in the hereafter, from our Lord, in full, without being wronged, their return you will receive. So while traveling in this two-doored inn, one must be very careful about this journey. Ahead of us there are bandits, highway robbers, thorny paths, cliffs.

One must watch out for these.

If man uses his mind within Islam, he neither comes across those thorny paths, nor falls off those cliffs, nor gets robbed by those pickpockets either. Because Allah Almighty, with His verse — that in the world we will live in the most beautiful way, that we will lead a life without being wronged — makes this known to us with His verses. If we are wronged, we are wronged by our own thoughtlessness.

We become guarantors for people we don't know. Even if they are people we know, when we ourselves can't stand on our own feet and become guarantors for some, when those people cannot pay their money, they bring the axe down on our back. And so we become the victims. Man may be a guarantor within the conditions of Islam, but if the person he guarantees cannot pay, a person who can pay his money without any harm coming to himself — a person whose financial situation is good — should be the guarantor. Otherwise, when I can't stand on my own feet, if someone comes and on top of that trips me up, then, without Allah's mercy, no one can ever again pull me out of that swamp.

Yes.

Fear Allah, before whom you will be gathered. According to the verse every soul will taste death, every human, for the duration of his life, is a wanderer and a mortal traveler who will come and pass over the world. People fear Allah, the Owner of that Day of Reckoning; if they live obedient to Allah Almighty's commands, they attain salvation.