The twenty-second malady of the heart is “hiyânat”.
Committing “hiyânat” causes anger (ghadab). “Hiyânat” also is
forbidden (harâm) and it is a sign of hypocrisy. The opposite
of “hiyânat” is being trustworthy (amânat). The meaning of
“hiyânat” is as follows: A person who portrays himself to others as trustworthy
and then does something which belies this impression. A Believer (Mu’min) is a
person to whom anybody would entrust their life or property. Amânat
(trustworthiness) and hiyânat (perfidy) apply not only to property but also to
spoken (or written) words. Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu
’alaihi wa sal-lam’ states in a hadîth-i-sherîf:
“A
person who is consulted is trustworthy.” As a matter of fact,
others trust this person that he will tell them the truth and will not tell
anyone else about the question he has been asked. It is necessary (wâjib)
for him to tell the truth. A person may place his property with another whom he
trusts. Similarly, one may consult with another whom he is sure will tell him
the truth. The 159th âyat in Sûra “âl-i ’Imrân” of the Qur’ân
al-kerîm purports: “Consult with others beforehand the things you are planning
to do.” Consulting with others is like a fortress which protects one
from regret. The person whom one wants to consult should know the states of
human beings of his time as well as the states and conditions of the country
and the time. This is called knowledge of politics
and
administration (’ilm al-siyâsat). Furthermore, he should
be a far sighted and wise person as well as a healthy one. It is sinful for him
to say something which he does not know or to say something contrary to his
knowledge. If he said these things by mistake, it would not be a sin for him.
If one consults with a person who does not possess the above-mentioned
attributes and qualifications, both parties will be committing a sin. Those who
give religious judgment (fatwâ) with respect to worldly or
religious matters although they do not fulfill the aforesaid qualifications,
will be cursed by angels. Another kind of hiyânat (perfidy) is to order someone
to do something which you know will be harmful.
[It is written in the famous religious book Hadîqa that Abdullah ibn al-Mes’ûd ‘radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh’ said, “The first thing you will lose from your religion will be being trustworthy ‘amânat’. The last thing you will lose will be the ‘salât’ prayer. There will be some people who will be praying ‘salâts’ while indeed they will not even have any faith.” Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sal-lam’ states in a hadîth-i-sherîf: “Anyone who murders his friend is not one of my ‘Ummat’. This is true even if the person murdered is a disbeliever.”]