What Ever Happened to Ridaa ( رضاء) ?

BismIllah wa as salaamu alaikum wa Rahmat Allah.

How many discussions, investigations, and disagreements have you come across regarding gelatin, whether the meat in non-Muslim countries is halal, if it's okay to eat McDonalds because it would cause unreasonable hardship if these foods weren't allowed? How about the one regarding taking a riba' mortgage to own a house, because that is the only way one can own a house in the west? Lately I read a question and answer on www.bakkah.net regarding "adult toys." That isn't the exact wording used, but I refuse to go there and I'm sure you know what I mean. Well, audhu b'Illahi! The poor shaikh they asked, who was I believe a Professor at Umm Al Qura' University in Mecca Al Mukarramah, was at a loss. He gave daleel saying that it is outside of what was legislated in the Shariah.

NOT ONE OF THESE ISSUES COMES FROM LIVING A LIFE ACCORDING TO THE SUNNAH.

I am tired of reading long treatises about how the gelatin from a pig has changed its form to such a state that it is pure as the driven snow and we can eat it happily because it is now halal. Give me a hadith that the Prophet, salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam, ate gelatin - any gelatin - and maybe I'll start looking at the issue. Give me a hadith that he ate pig gelatin and said it had changed its form into something halal and tayyibaat to eat, and I'll accept it gladly. But last time I checked, there wasn't a single hadith to that effect.

Of course, this will lead me right back to why we say we follow the Sunnah but don't apply that to our food or other aspects of our practical living. A comment was made, regarding the adult toys, that the students should not have asked the question because if it isn't specifically stated as forbidden then it is considered okay. The questions may lead to a ruling to make it haram and restrict them. Ahhhh...the warning of asking too many questions. So, here it comes...Mai's extremism at its best.

To even have adult toys, one would need to in some way look at something haram. How did adult toys come into origination? Where are they found? So, do you go online to one of those "places" to buy them? What do you look at on those sites? So, you go into an adult shop to buy them...don't even talk to me about any kind of permissibility to go there. I find it very hard to believe that the buyer of adult toys sets the computer to no images and goes shopping sight unseen for the items. So tell me, why are students of knowledge asking about something which, by its very origin, is haram? We aren't talking about little experiments between a husband and wife, which is nobody's business anyway and won't see the light of day to constitute a question. We are talking about things that require open discussion about bedroom intimacy - something forbidden in Islam.

So...in my opinion, gelatin, adult toys, fast food, mortgages, etc. are all examples of issues that have arisen out of a lack of ridaa (contentment with what Allah has given us). What on earth is the big deal about buying halal or finding an alternative? What is wrong with having normal marital relations? What is the problem with buying a $6,000 house at an auction and fixing it up, rather than a $150,000 house that requires a mortgage. Better yet, go the authentic Sunnah way and build yourself cob homes...now that's back to the Salaf!

Every time I hear words to the effect, "I don't want this food, I feel like something else," I remember the verse in Baqarah where Bani Israel were complaining about being tired of the food Allah was sending down to them. They were told to go down to any town or city and find what they were seeking. They were in a state of shame. No ridaa. Our greed, our quest to have everything we want when we want it without any restrictions = no ridaa.

May we be filled with contentment for everything Allah has given us. May we bask in the pleasures of simple things and may they fill us with contentment because they draw us closer to Rasool Allah, salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam.