Islamic Law Professor Sheik Muhammad Kheir Ghantus: One Must Fold One's Clothes to Ward Off Satan

Following are excerpts from an interview with Sheik Muhammad Kheir Ghantus, Professor at the Islamic Law and Arabic Studies Institute, Damascus, which aired on Dream 2 TV on July 20, 2004.

Sheik Muhammad Kheir Ghantus Heaven… entering heaven. The Hadith says… The Prophet Muhammad said, "If a woman observes the obligatory fast, guards her private parts, and obeys her husband, she enters her Lord's heaven. Hence, the husband is the reason the wife enters heaven.

Host: You mean they are equal...

Sheik Muhammad Kheir Ghantus: They have complete equality.

If you read the Al-An'am chapter of the Koran at home every day or two, let's say, today half and tomorrow half, no jinns remain in the house. And if you read the Al-Baqra chapter, Satan doesn't enter the house for 40 days. This is well known. There are many, many things we must observe. In the book The Forbidden and the Permitted it says that when the Prophet Muhammad undressed, he folded his clothes. Why? So Satan would not wear them.

Host: When you say, to fold, you mean to roll up…

Sheik Muhammad Kheir Ghantus: To fold means that the clothes would not be a total mess. Not like children who undress and throw the clothes on the floor. They do not hang them properly in the closet.

Host: Meaning the clothes should be hung, not folded…

Sheik Muhammad Kheir Ghantus: No, if they are folded it is better.

Host: As though they are ironed.

Sheik Muhammad Kheir Ghantus: Exactly, as though they are ironed. If they are not, we want to hang them up in the closet. This is also good, especially when there are children. Why? Because if you hang clothing on the wall in the house, and there are small children sleeping in the room, Satan comes, wears these clothes and appears to the children… By Allah, not only children, adults as well...

I once lectured before an audience and said that you must not hang clothing in the child's room because if the child wakes up and sees the piece of clothing, Satan will come and the child may imagine that it is a wild beast or a ghost and he would cry and scream at this sight. A man in the audience said to me, "I swear that happened to me." I said, "What happened?" He answered, "I woke up at night, opened my eyes and saw a white ghost. I closed my eyes and was afraid.

After a while, I opened my eyes to see the ghost and I found out it was a woman's white prayer wrap that my wife had hung on the computer chair."

Host: A viewer asks if a woman can marry without the permission of her guardian. This is important, because in our days, the phenomenon of common-law marriage is widespread. Does this phenomenon exist in Syria? The second question is, what are the conditions for a good and sound marriage.

Sheik Muhammad Kheir Ghantus: The condition for a good and sound marriage is that it is carried out through a guardian, and with two witnesses. …Additionally, if she marries for less than the full amount of the bridal money, the marriage is suspended until the groom pays it all. If she marries a man who is inappropriate, the marriage is annulled.

Host: Appropriate in this case refers to age, money, social status, or what?

Sheik Muhammad Kheir Ghantus: Age has nothing to do with it. Being appropriate means first and foremost lineage…

Host: You mean social status.

Sheik Muhammad Kheir Ghantus: No, lineage, lineage. I mean, an Arab woman from the Qurayish tribe and a Persian groom… No, no, no. They are not appropriate for each other.

Host: You want to say that being appropriate is that they should be from the same circles.

Sheik Muhammad Kheir Ghantus: Yes, from the same circles. Being appropriate is determined first and foremost according to lineage. Once the groom meets the lineage condition, being appropriate is determined by his money, and finally by his profession.

A man does not care if the bed is dirty, but a woman does. That is why the groom should be of supreme lineage, so he will suit the woman, because the woman is the one who rejects marriage if the groom is of a lower class and even if she doesn't reject her guardians will. How can you marry a man of a lower lineage, less money, or from a lower status? That is why the woman is the one who demands an appropriate [husband]. The groom must be appropriate to the bride, not the other way around.

Host: We have a question about a woman who does not obey her husband on many issues and sometimes even leaves the house without his permission.

Sheik Muhammad Kheir Ghantus: Any woman who leaves the house without her husband's permission is cursed by the angels until she returns or repents. She must ask Allah for forgiveness and obey her husband.

[...]