Are modern activities written in the Quran or Hadith? Let discuses!

Some Muslims speak as though every situation in human history arrived with its own labelled ruling.

MRT seat beside a woman? There must be a specific verse.

Artificial intelligence? Surely somebody in Madinah discussed the privacy settings.

Night prayer at 1.30 am before sleeping? Better check whether it counts.

Of course, revelation did not name every train, office, smartphone or social custom that humanity would create. It did something more powerful. It gave us firm principles, moral boundaries and a method for facing situations that had not yet appeared.

That is why Islamic rulings in modern life cannot be understood by searching only for the name of every new object or activity.

That is not a gap in Islam. That is part of its design.

THE QURAN IS COMPLETE GUIDANCE, NOT AN INDEX OF EVERY FUTURE OBJECT

The Quran is the highest source of Islamic guidance. The Sunnah shows how Prophet Muhammad ﷺ understood, explained and lived that guidance. Authentic hadith preserve reports about his words, actions and approvals.

Then comes fiqh, the careful human effort to understand and apply those sources. A fatwa goes one step further by applying that scholarship to a particular question, person, place or circumstance.

These are connected, but they are not identical. The Quran is revelation. Fiqh is the scholarly understanding of revelation. That understanding can differ without the Quran itself becoming uncertain.

Allah says that He has placed no hardship in religion in Quran 22:78. This does not mean every duty must feel easy. Fasting can be difficult. Waking for Fajr can be difficult. It means Islamic law itself includes mercy, concessions and ways of dealing with genuine hardship.

ONE PROPHETIC COMMAND PRODUCED TWO UNDERSTANDINGS

A famous event involving the Banu Qurayza gives us a remarkable lesson.

The Prophet ﷺ instructed his Companions not to pray Asr until they reached Banu Qurayza. Asr time arrived while they were still travelling.

One group followed the words literally and delayed the prayer. Another group believed the instruction meant, “Hurry there,” so they prayed on the way within the normal time.

When the Prophet ﷺ was told, he did not rebuke either group.

Both groups respected the same Prophet and the same instruction. One prioritised its literal wording. The other considered its intended purpose. This is not permission to twist clear commands. It shows that sincere interpretation can sometimes produce more than one defensible answer.

SHARING AN MRT CARRIAGE IS NOT THE SAME AS PRIVATE SECLUSION

Islam prohibits khalwah, where an unrelated man and woman are privately secluded. But a crowded train, public bus, open office or university classroom is not automatically khalwah simply because men and women are present.

The Islamic concern remains real. Muslims should observe modest dress, respectful speech, appropriate boundaries and control of the gaze. Avoidable physical contact should also be avoided.

But sharing a public space is not the same as illicit intimacy. If the conduct becomes flirtatious, exploitative or physically inappropriate, then the conduct is the problem. Declaring the entire MRT system religiously suspicious would not make us more pious. It might only make getting to Jurong rather complicated.

YOUR NIGHT PRAYER IS NOT REJECTED BECAUSE YOU SLEPT LATER

Many people use the words tahajjud and night prayer as though they mean exactly the same thing.

Night prayer, or qiyam al layl, can be performed after Isha and before Fajr. Tahajjud is commonly defined more specifically as night prayer performed after sleeping.

So if someone returns home at 1.30 am, fears missing the final part of the night, prays voluntary night prayer and Witr, then sleeps before waking for Fajr, that worship is still valid and valuable. Technically, many scholars would call it qiyam rather than tahajjud.

The Prophet ﷺ advised Abu Hurayrah to pray Witr before sleeping. Another recognised teaching encourages those confident of waking later to leave Witr until the end of their night prayer. Different personal circumstances were already recognised.

Allah is not waiting to reject sincere worship over vocabulary. Still, learning the correct vocabulary saves unnecessary confusion.

TECHNOLOGY DOES NOT ARRIVE WITH A HALAL OR HARAM STICKER

The early Muslims did not use Instagram, artificial intelligence or video calls. That does not place these tools outside Islam.

A common juristic distinction is that acts of worship require religious authority, while ordinary customs and tools generally have wider permission unless they contain something prohibited.

A video call can connect parents and children. It can also spread gossip. Artificial intelligence can support education. It can also produce deception. The tool matters, but its purpose, content and consequences matter more.

The same care applies to anniversaries, birthdays and other modern occasions. Scholars disagree about some celebrations. A family meal that expresses gratitude is not automatically the same as inventing a new religious ritual. Yet calling something “culture” does not make prohibited conduct acceptable either. We examine intention, content and effect, not merely the date printed on the calendar.

SINGAPORE NEEDS PRINCIPLES WITH CONTEXT

Singapore Muslims live in a safe, crowded, multireligious society. We study, work and travel beside people of different backgrounds every day.

MUIS itself has described some of its guidance as principles based rather than a blanket prescription. Its guidance for Muslim women in uniformed work recognises religious obligations while also considering safety, livelihood, patient care and Singapore’s social environment.

This is not Islam being diluted. It is Islamic scholarship doing its proper work.

The four major Sunni schools developed disciplined methods for understanding texts, weighing evidence, using analogy, considering valid custom and responding to hardship. They did not manufacture a softer religion. They demonstrated how one revelation could guide many societies without every society becoming seventh century Arabia.

FLEXIBILITY IS NOT A RELIGIOUS ESCAPE BUTTON

There is a danger on both sides.

One side treats the strictest available opinion as though it must be the most faithful. The other side searches for any convenient opinion that approves whatever it already wants.

Neither approach is serious scholarship.

Some rulings remain firm. Prayer, fasting, honesty, sexual boundaries, justice and the prohibition of exploitation do not disappear. Context does not erase a clear command. It helps scholars understand how that command applies when circumstances differ.

This is why flexibility must come through recognised Islamic reasoning, not private feelings alone. A person may feel that a ruling is inconvenient, but inconvenience is not hardship, and desire is not always necessity. At the same time, another person should not dismiss hardship merely because they have never experienced it.

Good scholarship asks what the text says, why the ruling exists, which circumstances affect it and what consequences may follow. It considers the whole body of Islamic guidance instead of building a verdict from one isolated quotation. That careful process protects both the authority of revelation and the wellbeing of the believer.

Before using a flexible opinion, ask whether it comes from qualified scholarship, respects clear Islamic boundaries, considers the real situation and avoids harm. Practical does not mean careless. Strict does not automatically mean correct.

Islam is neither a cage made from isolated quotations nor soft clay shaped by every desire. It is a principled path containing commands, mercy, wisdom and room for responsible judgment.

So perhaps the better question is not, “Are modern activities written in the Quran or hadith?”

Ask instead, “Which Islamic principle governs it, what did the Prophet’s guidance intend, and how have credible scholars applied that guidance to circumstances like ours?”

That question requires more thought than simply shouting halal or haram.

It is also much closer to how Islamic scholarship actually works.

Allah knows best.