This chapter is the
translation of an excerpt borrowed from the fourth chapter of the second part
of Kimyâ-i-se’âdet:
Rasűlullah
‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ stated: “It is farz for, (i.e. incumbent upon,)
every
Muslim to earn (a living) by way of halâl.” Earning by way of halâl, in its turn, requires learning what is
halâl. Halâls and harâms are known clearly. What is difficult to know is the
doubtful area between the two. A person who fails to avoid the doubtful will
fall into harâms. This subject, therefore, should cover an extensive area of
knowledge to impart. We have provided detailed information in our book entitled
Ihyâ-ul-’ulűm. In this chapter we
will briefly dwell on some salient points of sweeping generality, arranging
them in four articles. [Three of those four articles are given in this
chapter.]
1- Merits of earning by way of halâl, and thawâb for doing so:
worship, farz and sunnat ones alike.” [That is, they shall
not attain any thawâb.] At some other time he stated: “Supposing a person is
wearing clothes that he bought for ten liras one lira of which had been earned
by way of harâm. None of the prayers of namâz that he performs with those
clothpes on will be accepted.” He stated at another occasion: “A body fed on harâms
deserves to burn in fire!” Again, he stated: “Those who do not consider whether their property has come to them
by way of halâl or harâm shall not attain
pity on the part of Allâhu ta’âlâ, regardless of the direction whence
they have been hurled into Hell.” Again, he stated: “Worship consists of ten divisions, nine of which cover earning by
way of halâl.” He stated at another occasion: “A person who comes back
to his home, tired, because he has worked and earned by way of halâl, will go
to bed sinless. (And the next morning) he will get up as a person beloved to Allâhu ta’âlâ.”
Again, he stated: “Allâhu ta’âlâ declares: I
shall
be shamed out of calling to account people who avoid (food, clothes, etc.
that are) harâm.” He stated: “One dirham of fâiz (received or given) is more sinful than
committing thirty acts of fornication.” And again, he stated: “Alms given out of
property that has been acquired by way of harâm will not be accepted. As long
as property of that sort is kept, it will
serve him as a travel allowance until he arrives in his destination,
Hell.”
One day Abű Bakr ‘radiy-Allâhu
’anh’ drank the milk brought to him by his servant. Afterwards, however, when
he found out that the milk had not been obtained by way of halâl, he inserted
his finger to induce vomiting. So great was the trouble he had expelling the
milk out of himself that people around him thought he was dying. Then he
entreated, “Yâ Rabbî (O my Allah)! I have done my best! I trust
myself to Your Care against the motes that may have remained in my stomach and
in my veins!” The same was done when (he found out that) he had drunk the milk
obtained from the camels of zakât belonging to the Beyt-ul-mâl and given to him
by mistake. ’Abdullah bin ’Umar ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anhumâ’ stated: “Perform namâz
until you become hunchbacked and fast until you become as thin as a hair; it
will not be accepted unless you avoid harâms.” Sufyân-i-Sawrî ‘rahmatullâhi
’alaih’ stated: “A person who gives alms or has a mosque built or performs
another act of charity out of money that is harâm is like one who washes his
dirty clothes with urine, which in turn would mean to make the clothes even
dirtier.” Yahyâ bin Mu’âz ‘rahmatullâhi ’alaih’ stated: “Obeying Allâhu ta’âlâ is like a
treasure. The key to this treasure is to say prayers, and the
notches of the key are the food that is halâl.” Sahl bin ’Abdullah Tusterî
‘rahmatullâhi ’alaih’ stated: “Four things are essential for attaining true
îmân: To perform all acts of worship that are farz with adab; to eat food that
is halâl; to avoid all harâms, those that are seen and the ones that cannot be
seen alike; to observe these three essentials with patience till death.” Our
superiors stated: “If a person eats doubtful food for forty days running, his
heart will become dark and stained.” ’Abdullah ibni Mubârak ‘rahmatullâhi
’alaih’ stated: “I would prefer returning a doubtful qurush to its owner to giving
a thousand liras as alms.” Sahl bin ’Abdullah Tusterî stated: “If a person eats
food that is harâm his seven limbs will willy-nilly be sinning. Limbs of people
who eat food that is halâl will be worshipping. Charitable acts will be easy
for them.” There is many another hadîth-i-sherîf, in addition to a number of
statements made by our superiors, about the importance of earning by way of
halâl. It is for this reason that people of wara’ very strictly avoided harâms.
One of them was Veheb bin Verd ‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih’, (d. 153 [770
A.D.],) who would not eat something before finding out whence it had come. One
day his mother gave him a cup of milk. He asked his mother where and from whom
she had bought it and about the source of the money she had paid for it. After
finding out about all these things, he asked where the sheep had grazed. It had
grazed at a field where other Muslims had rights. He would not drink it. His
mother said, “My son? May Allah have mercy on you. Drink it!” He did not drink
the milk, and he said, “I would not like to attain His Mercy by sinning against Him.”
Bishr-i-Hâfî ‘quddisa sirruh’ was asked about his source of living. “The same
source as all others consume from. Yet there is a whole lot of difference
between a person who consumes and then rejoices and one who consumes and then
weeps,” was his reply.
2- Levels of wara’
concerning halâls and harâms: There are levels of halâls and harâms. There are some things
that are halâl, while others are both halâl and beautiful. And there are still
other halâls that are even more beautiful. Harâms, on the other hand, range
from very bad versions to lesser bad ones. By the same token, illness varies
vastly in levels of vehemence. There are five levels of people’s avoiding
harâms and doubtful situations:
First level is the wara’ of all
Muslims and consists in avoiding things which Islam categorizes as harâms. This
is the lowest level. People bereft of this little wara’ have no ’adâlat at all.
These
people are called ’âsî and fâsiq [bad, evil] people.[1] This lowest level has some sub-levels. For instance, it is
harâm to purchase someone’s property with their consent but by way of a sale
termed fâsid bey’, (and which is explained in detail in the thirty-first
chapter of the fifth fascicle of Endless Bliss). On the other hand, it is another act of harâm, and an even a
worse one, to extort it by using force. And it would be a more vehement act of
harâm to extort an orphan’s or poor person’s property. An even worse act of
harâm would be to buy something with an interest (fâiz). The more vehement an
act of harâm, the more torment will it incur, and the less will be the
likelihood of forgiveness. Likewise, honey exacerbates diabetes. Sugar,
however, is more harmful. The more sugar a diabetic takes, the more harm will
he cause to himself. People who read books of fiqh will know all of halâls and
harâms. However, it is not wâjib for everybody to read all the teachings of
Fiqh. For instance, it is not necessary for people with no shares from the kind
of property called ghanîmat or the money termed jizya to read about the
branches of (Islamic knowledge of Fiqh pertaining to) ghanîmat and jizya. Yet
it would be wâjib for them to learn those branches if they needed them. It is
necessary for artisans and tradesmen to learn the teachings of bey’ and shirâ
(buying and selling). On the other hand, it is wâjib for workers to know the
sub-branches pertaining to wages and rentals. Every branch of art has its own
branch of knowledge. So it is wâjib for every artisan to learn the knowledge of
his branch.
Second level is the wara’ of the
sâlih [good] people, and subsumes avoiding the doubtful as well as the harâms.
There are three groups of the doubtful: It is wâjib to avoid some of them, (the
first group,) and others, (the second group,) are mustahab to avoid. And there
are still others, (the third group,) to avoid which is sheer doubt and
distrust, which in turn is something useless. An example of this is to avoid
eating game hunted on the far-fetched speculation that the game may have been
someone’s personal property; [or not to go to the butcher’s to buy meat on the
distrust that the meat being sold there may be from animals killed in a manner
counter to Islamic principles such as by a disbeliever without a heavenly book
or by a murtadd or (by a Muslim but) without saying the Basmala[2];] or to evacuate the
house that one
---------------------------------
[1] Please see the fortieth
chapter of the fifth fascicle of Endless Bliss, which, as well as the
fourth fascicle, provides definitions of these terms.
[2] The Basmala is said as follows:
“Bismillâh-ir-Rahmân ir-Rahîm.” It is
borrowed as an ’âriyat[1] only because one surmises that its owner may have been dead and
so it may now be owned by the inheritors. Unless there is a justifiable ground
for such speculative surmises, they are only useless and groundless doubts and
suppositions.
Third level is the wara’ of (those
people who are called) muttaqîs (because they fear Allâhu ta’âlâ very much); it is to
avoid things that are feared to be harâm or doubtful although they are halâl
and not harâm or doubtful. Rasűlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ stated: “A Muslim cannot be a
muttaqî unless he avoids something dangerless for fear of something that is
dangerous!” ’Umar ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ stated: “For fear of falling into
harâms we refrained from nine-tenths of halâls.” It was for that reason that a
person who was owed a hundred dirhams of silver would accept only ninety-nine
dirhams of it (from the debtor). He would not accept more than that less he
should (by mistake) be paid back more than the amount due to him. ’Alî bin
Ma’bed ‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih’, (d. 218 [833 A.D.], one of the disciples
of Imâm Muhammad ‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih’,) relates: I was
a tenant in a house. One day I wrote a letter to someone. It occurred to me that I should
dry the ink by using the dust on the wall. But I
hesitated,
thinking that I should not do so since the wall was not my property. At last I decided
that so little an amount would not harm anyone. I
took some
dust from the wall and dried the ink. That night I
dreamed
of someone who was saying to me, “Those who say that the dust from the wall
will not harm anyone will see it on the morrow, when the Judgment Day comes.”
People who have attained this level shun from the least likelihood, for they
fear that that likelihood may turn out to be very grave. They are wise enough,
after all, to beware from something that may cost them a downfall from the
level of muttaqîs in the Hereafter. For that matter, one day, when the
Messenger of Allah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ saw (his blessed grandson)
Hasan bin ’Alî ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anhumâ’ put a date from the property of zakât
into his mouth, he stated, “Dirty! It’s dirty! Throw it away!” They brought Khalîfa
’Umar bin ’Abd-ul-’Azîz some musk from
the property of
---------------------------------
necessary to say the Basmala when starting to
do something which Islam commands, advises, or
allows, and sinful when starting something
which Islam prohibits or advises not to do.
[1]
Please see the thirty-seventh chapter of the fifth fascicle of Endless
Bliss
for
information about ’âriyat.
ghanîmat. He clogged his nose and said,
“What we enjoy of it is its sweet smell, which in turn is the Muslims’ right.”
One night one of our superiors was waiting upon an invalid. When the invalid
was dead he put the oil lamp out. “The oil of this lamp belongs from this
moment on to his inheritors by rights,” he stated. ’Umar the Khalîfa
‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ had in his home some musk that he had reserved from the
property of ghanîmat. One day, when he came home he smelled an odour of musk on
the headgear that his spouse was wearing, and queried. When the blessed spouse
explained, “As I was putting the musk in its place it made my hand smell. So I rubbed
my hand on my headgear,” ’Umar ‘radiy-Allâhu ‘anh’ took the headgear and washed
it until the smell was completely gone, and gave it back. It was only a smell,
after all. But ’Umar ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ did so lest it should set a precedent.
Another underlying motive was to attain the thawâb peculiar to the muttaqîs by
refraining from something halâl lest he should be vulnerable to a harâm. When
Ahmad bin Hanbal ‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih’ was asked if a person who had
found a piece of paper with a hadîth-i-sherîf could copy it without asking its
owner, his answer was: “No.”
If a person indulges
too heavily in worldly occupations, which are halâl in essence, he will lapse
into doubtful practices. He who consumes too much of halâls is likely to fail
to attain to the level of muttaqîs. For, a stomach stuffed with halâls will
stir the carnality inherent in the body, which in turn may urge one to do
things not permissible. One such possible danger is titillated propensity to
looking at women and girls. Also augmentative of worldly avarice is to cast a
covetous eye on people of wealth and position. A person who does so will try to
be like them, eventually falling victim to the insatiable greed of hoarding
goods of harâm. As a matter of fact, Rasűlullah “sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’
stated: “Setting
one’s heart to the world is the prime mover of all sins.” Indeed, fondness for things that are mubâh will turn the heart towards the world and whet one’s
appetite for an inordinate amount of worldlies, which in turn is impossible without recourse to wrongdoing. The more intently a person thinks about hoarding
worldlies the more forgetful will he be of Allâhu ta’âlâ. And a heart forgetful of
Allâhu ta’âlâ is the originator of all vices. One day Sufyân Sawrî and someone
he knew were standing outside the door of (the former’s) house, when a man
excessively well dressed walked past. Sufyân remonstrated his friend, who was
looking at the man: “He would
not be wasteful like that were it not
your looks. You contribute to his sin of wasting.” [By the same token, people
who listen to hâfizes’ singing-like recitals of the Qur’ân al-kerîm and mawlîds are their
accomplices in sinning. People who cause others to commit sins will be
tormented (in the Hereafter) no less vehemently than the sinners themselves.]
Fourth level is the wara’ of
(extremely pious people who are called) Siddîqs, (and) who avoid also halâls
that are not feared to entail harâms. What they beware in those halâls is that
one of the geneses of those halâls may have contained harâms. Bishr-i-Hâfî
‘qaddas-Allâhu ta’âlâ’, for one, would not drink water from fountains built by
Sultâns or their men. Some of those blessed people, on their way for hajj,
would not eat grapes from vineyards irrigated with the systems built at the
behest of Sultâns. Another one of them, one night, would not fasten the broken
thong of one of his sandals by utilizing the light provided by the Sultân
passing by. One night a woman was spinning thread, when the Sultân passed by.
Lest she should spin her thread with the Sultân’s light she stopped spinning
and waited until the Sultân was gone. Zunnűn-i-Misrî was imprisoned ‘qaddas-Allâhu
ta’âlâ esrârah-ul’azîz’. He suffered hunger for days on end. A women sent him
food, which she had prepared with the money she had earned selling thread. He
would not eat it. The woman felt hurt when she heard about his refusal. She
wanted to know why he would not eat something which he knew she had prepared by
spending halâl money. “Yes, the food was halâl,” he explained. “Yet it was
brought to me in a dish that belonged to someone cruel.” Indeed, the food was
taken to him in the jailer’s dish.
Siddîqs have the
highest level of wara’. However, what people below that level assume to have is
downright distrust. Such people will not eat anything from the hands of fâsiq
people. That should not be the case. People that must be bewared from in this
respect are not fâsiq people; they are cruel people. A cruel person is one who
battens upon others’ rights. What he eats is harâm. But why should a
fornicator’s earnings be harâm while fornication is not a means whereby he
earns his living. It is wara’ to avoid harâms. Yet it is not wara’ to have
misgivings as to the cleanness of the clothes you have laundered or as to the
cleanness of the water you have been using. Siddîqs did not harbour such
misgivings. They would make ablution with any water they found. Misgiving had
about the clothes one wears or about the water one uses bears towards
ostentation, which in turn is something that the human nafs[1] relishes. The wara’
that siddîqs have is purity of heart. It is this that people cannot see, and it
is for this reason that the nafs loathes it.
Fifth level is the wara’ possessed
by (those chosen slaves of Allâhu ta’âlâ who are called) muqarrabs and muwahhids. They refrain from doing anything, from eating or drinking anything, from any sort of resting, and from
saying anything that will not be for the Grace of Allâhu ta’âlâ. One day Yahyâ bin Mu’âz ‘qaddas-Allâhu ta’âlâ esrârah-ul’azîz’ took some medicine. His spouse said to walk up and down in the room. He said, “I
don’t see
why I should do so. I reckon that for thirty years I
have not even moved unless it would be for the Grace of
Allâhu ta’âlâ’.” These people do
not move unless they intend do do something pious. Their eating and drinking are intended for mustering the mental and physical energy for worship. Every
statement they make is intended for the sake of Allah. They deem it harâm for themselves to make other intentions.
We are writing about these levels so that we should read and hear and thereby make an assessment of
ourselves. How far away we are from the first level. When it comes to words, we talk incessantly. We ask and talk about angels, about heavens, about how
Doomsday will take place, about the Attributes of Allâhu ta’âlâ. When it comes to halâls, harâms, and the commandments of
Allâhu ta’âlâ, our talking comes to a halt. Rasűlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ stated: “The worst people are
those who lead an idle life in luxurious
houses, eating various delicious kinds of food, wearing colourful
clothes, and spending their time saying things that are unnecessary but which
give pleasure to listeners.”
3- Halâls and harâms: Many people look on
all sorts of worldly property as harâm. According to some people, on the other
hand, most of the things in the world are harâm. There are three groups of people
in this respect: Some people take the matter to extremes and say that the only
kinds of food they eat are those which are beyond a shadow of a doubt, such as
fruit, fish, and game. Others say that they sit idly and eat whatever they like
and indiscriminately. There is a third group who say that everything should be
eaten; only, however, as much as necessary. These three
---------------------------------
[1] The nafs is something extremely wicked inherent in the human nature. Everything it
relishes and likes is against the Grace of Allâhu ta’âlâ.
groups are all wrong. The truth is this: “Halâls are in the open.
Harâms, too, are in the open. Between these two are the doubtful. Such will be
the case till the end of the world.” As a matter of fact, Rasűlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’
stated so.
Those who say that
worldly property is mostly harâm are wrong. Yes, there are many harâms. Yet
they do not constitute a major part of worldly property. There is difference
between saying, “There are many of them” and saying, “Most of them are... .” As
a matter of fact, there are many invalid people, many tradesmen, and many
soldiers. Yet these people are not most of the human beings. There are many
oppressors. Yet greater is the number of the people being oppressed. We have
explained this subject in detail in our book entitled Ihyâ-ul-’ulűm.
It should be known
that people have not been commanded to “eat things that are definitely harâm
and which
Allâhu ta’âlâ knows to be halâl!” That would have been something that no one
would be able to do. Perhaps what they have been told to do is this: “Eat what you know to be
halâl!” Thereby they have been commanded to eat things that are not obviously harâm,
which in turn is quite possible for anyone to do. As a matter of fact, Rasűlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ made an ablution by using the water in a
heathen’s pitcher. The Sahâba ‘alaihim-ur-ridwân’ would accept and drink water offered by unbelievers. This they would do in the face of the fact that it is
harâm to eat dirty, impure things and that unbelievers, in turn, are mostly uncleanly people with their hands and pots and pans smeared with wine and who eat
(meat that is termed) lesh, [i.e. the flesh of an animal which, edible in essence as it may be, has been killed without saying the Basmala, (i.e. the Name of
Allâhu ta’âlâ,)
or in a manner other than jugulation.] The reason for this policy of theirs was an awareness of the principle that “something offered (to a Muslim to eat)
should be accepted and eaten unless the food (or drink) offered is apparently unclean. In the cities that they had conquered from disbelievers, they would eat
the cheese that they bought from disbelievers with a Heavenly Book. So they did, not because there did not exist people who sold hard drinks, or exchanged fâiz,
or set their hearts to the world, among the non-Muslim populations of those cities. With respect to this subject, there are six groups of people:
First group are strangers, who are
not known to be sâlih or fâsiq people. Supposing you are new in a village.
Buying and selling with any one of its inhabitants will be permissible.
Property held by any
of the villagers must be admitted to be
their own property. It must be considered to be halâl and fit for purchase
unless there is a symptom to show that it is harâm. It will be wara’ not to
transact buying and selling with them and to look for someone you know to be
sâlih. Yet it is not wâjib to do so.
Second group are people who you
know are sâlih. It is permissible to eat food that is their property. It is not
wara’ not to eat the food that they offer. In fact, it may be a misgiving.
Moreover, it will be sinful to decline their offer if they should feel hurt.
Sű’i zan towards sâlih people, i.e. to entertain an evil opinion of them, is a
sin.
Third group are cruel, oppressive
people. It is not permissible to buy or receive something from highwaymen, from
thieves, from people like Sultân’s men, or from people who have earned their
property entirely or mostly by way of harâm. The only people whose property is
permissible to buy are those who are known to have earned it by way of halâl or
whose property bears the symptoms of being halâl.
As is explained in the
final section of the book entitled Hadîqa, wara’, i.e. attention with respect to halâls and harâms, is
more important than attention with respect to ablution and najâsat[1]. However, the time we
live in has made it very difficult to observe halâls and harâms, so much so
that one has trouble following the easiest fatwâ of Abul-lays-i-Semerqandî.
According to that fatwâ, if it is believed that most of the property of a
person is halâl, it will be permissible to accept a present given by that
person or to transact buying, selling and renting with him. Transactions of
this sort are not permissible with a person most of whose property is not
believed to be halâl. For, property known to be harâm will not slip out of its
being harâm by travelling from one owner to another. There is a qawl (scholarly
report) stating that property that is harâm, when it is inherited, will be
halâl for the inheritor. Yet that qawl is dâ’îf (weak). It is stated as follows
in the fatwâ of Qâdî Khân: “In this time of ours it has become impossible to avoid
doubtful property. Now it is wâjib for Muslims to avoid things that they know
for certain are harâm.” And now, (in our time, that is,) this job has become
even more difficult. For, it was stated in a hadîth-i-sherîf: “Each and every following
year will be worse than
---------------------------------
[1] Please
see the sixth chapter of the fourth fascicle of Endless Bliss and also
the GLOSSARY appended to the same fascicle.
the one previous to it.” Therefore, wara’ and
taqwâ to be practised today is to protect one’s heart and tongue and all one’s limbs
against harâms and not to torment human beings and animals and to pay the
laborer’s wage immediately, and not to utilize anyone’s labour, be it one’s
disciple’s, without their heartful consent.
Property possessed by
others should be looked on as their own property. If it is clearly known that a
certain person has obtained his property by one of the (Islamically) illegal
ways such as extortion, cruelty, bribery, theft, oppression, and perfidy, [or
by selling hard drinks,] that property will not be his property. It will not be
halâl to accept that property from him, to use it, or to eat it (if it is
something to eat), or to drink it (if it is something to drink). His other
property will be accepted as his own. It will not be harâm to accept them in
case he offers them. If he has mixed the property he obtained by way of harâm
with his (legal) property, or different units of harâm property with each
other, the mixture is termed mulk-i-habîth. When he offers something from this mixture, it will be
permissible for the second person to accept the property or money that he does
not know to be harâm. For, according to Imâm A’zam Abű Hanîfa, if a person has
mixed money that he obtained by way of harâm [or which was entrusted to him for
safekeeping] with his own money or the first two with each other and cannot
separate the halâl ingredients from the harâm ones (or two different harâm
ingredients making up the mixture from each other), all the mixture will be his
own mulk-i-khabîth, and it will be necessary for him to repay the harâm
ingredients to their rightful owners from his other halâl property. It is
permissible for him to use this mulk-i-habîth after the repayment. However, it
is never permissible to use property that has become one’s mulk-i-habîth
(tainted property) by way of an agreement that is termed fâsid[1]. It is stated as
follows in the final part of the chapter dealing with namâz of the book
entitled Bezzâziyya: “If a person acting
as the deputy of rich people to pay their zakâts to poor people mixes the
zakâts he has collected with one another, the entire mixture will become his
own property, and he will have given alms from his own property. The zakâts of
the rich people will not have been paid. So he will have to pay the rich people
the same amounts as he collected from them. If the poor people had given
permission to this person beforehand, he would have collected the zakâts on
---------------------------------
[1] Please see the sixth chapter of the fourth
fascicle of Endless Bliss and also the GLOSSARY appended to the
same fascicle.
their behalf as their deputy, the zakâts
would have been paid, since the mixture would have been the poor’s property.”
It is stated in the book entitled Jâmi’ul-fatâwâ: “It is not halâl to engage in trade before having learned
Islam’s teachings on bey’ and shirâ (buying and selling). Every tradesman
should find a scholar learned in the Islamic branch of Fiqh, consult with him
in doing his business, and thereby safeguard himself against fâiz (interest)
and against buying and selling transactions that are fâsid.”
Imâm Kerkhî states as
follows in his fatwâ: “Mebî’ (property for sale) purchased without the themen
that is harâm having been shown, will be halâl for the purchaser. (Please see
the twenty-ninth chapter of the fifth fascicle of Endless Bliss for detailed
information on terms such as mebî’ and themen.) If, during the agreement, the
themen that is known to be harâm is present, and is shown (to the seller), and
if it is this (harâm) themen that is given to the seller, the purchaser will
possess the mebî’ in (a state termed) khabîth.” It is stated as follows towards
the end of the chapter dealing with ruinations incurred by one’s speech of the
book entitled Hadîqa: “If it is known that a certain unit of property has been
acquired by way of harâm, such as by extortion, by theft, or by perfidy, it
will not be halâl to accept and take it as a gift or as alms or in the name of
mebî’ or themen and price, or to hire and use it. Only, it will be halâl for an
inheritor of such property to accept it when he does not know its owner or
owners. If it is not known well that the property in question is harâm because
it has been acquired by (one of) the aforesaid ways, it will be permissible to
accept and take it, regardless of the (licit) manner one is offered it.”
Fourth group are owners of property
most of which is halâl but which has been tainted with some harâm elements.
Supposing a villager served the Sultân also and received something from him, or
a tradesman transacted business with the Sultân’s men; property owned by such
people is halâl. Permissible as it is to transact buying and selling with such
people, it will be a valuable state of wara’ to avoid doing so. ’Abdullah bin
Mubârak ‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih’, (118-181 [797 A.D.],) received a letter
from his deputy in Basra, saying, “We have been doing buying and selling
business with people who have been transacting business with the Sultân’s men.”
His answering letter read as follows: “Do not buy anything from them if they
are not transacting business also with people other than the Sultân’s men. If
they are transacting with others as well, then transact with them!”
Fifth group are people who are not
known to be cruel and whose property is not known well, but who bear symptoms
of being cruel (zâlim) people, such as wearing apparels peculiar to zâlim
people. Transaction with them must be avoided, unless it is known that the
commodities in their possession is halâl.
Sixth group are people not clad in
apparels peculiar to zâlim people but identifiable by the signs of fisq that
they bear. Among such signs of fisq are wearing clothes of silk and/or gold
rings and/or watches, which are harâm (for men), consumption of alcohol, and
talking with nâ-mahram women[1]. If a person who commits sins of that sort believes that they
are sinful acts and admits that he is guilty, it will not be harâm to transact
with that person. For, his sinning will not make his property harâm. We may
conjecture that a person who does not avoid sinning will normally not mind
having property that is harâm; yet a person’s property cannot be judged to be
harâm upon that conjecture. In fact, no one is sinless. There is many a sinner
who dreads human rights.
[A person who does not
see any difference between halâls and harâms and who does not attach importance
to avoiding harâms has become a murtadd, [i.e. an enemy of Allah.] Buying and
selling must not be done with him. Property in his possession is not his
property. His nikâh is not sahîh (valid). He cannot inherit property from
Muslims. He is not a Muslim even if he utters the Kalima-i-shehâdat, performs
namâz, and says that he is a Muslim. His statements to this effect and his acts
of worship must not be believed. He has to repent of the thing that has caused
him to go out of Islam, and he has to make tawba. The author ‘rahmatullâhi
ta’âlâ ’alaih’ of the book entitled Durr-ul-mukhtâr states: Supposing a married couple became murtadds (apostates,
renegades from Islam), went to the Dâr-ul-harb, [i.e. a country of disbelievers
such as America,] settled there and had children and grandchildren, and
supposing we have captured all of them; they and their children will be killed
if they refuse to become Muslims. Their grandchildren will be made slaves. For,
they, (i.e. the first generation exemplified above,) and their children are
murtadds. The grandchildren, on the other hand, are not subject to their
---------------------------------
[1]
Fisq means sin(s) committed openly and floutingly. Person who commits
sins in that manner is called ‘fâsiq’. It is harâm for men (and not for women)
to wear silk clothes or gold watches, rings, etc. Please see
eighth chapter of the fourth fascicle of Endless Bliss for ‘nâ-mahram’.
grandparents’
religion. They are disbelievers sired by disbelievers.]
In essence, such are
the principles to be observed in buying and selling. A person who has
inadvertently fallen into harâms despite all his painstaking efforts in
observing these principles, will not be sinful. By the same token, namâz
performed with najâsat on one (or on one’s clothes) will not be acceptable. It
will be acceptable, however, if one is unaware of the najâjat that exists on
one. Moreover, it has been stated (by authorities in matters of Fiqh) that
najâsat that one detects on oneself after having performed a certain prayer of
namâz will not necessitate reperformance (qadâ) of that namâz. Rasűlullah
‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ took off his sandal as he was performing namâz,
and stated: “Jebrâîl ‘alaihis-salâm’ has informed me that the patten has dirt on it.” Yet he did not make
qadâ of the part that he had already performed. (That is, he did not perform
that part again.)
In situations that we
have concluded with remarks such as, “It is valuable wara’ to beware of that
kind of property although it is not necessary,” it is permissible to ask the
person in possession of the property about the source of the property. However,
questions to that effect will be harâm if that person should be hurt. For,
whereas wara’ is a mere precaution, it is harâm to hurt a Muslim. Then, the
inquiry should be done euphemistically enough. Food offered, for instance,
should be declined on tactfully expressed pretexts. In ineluctable situations
the food offered should be eaten lest the host should be hurt. Nor should a
third person be asked. For, in that case the offence that the second person
will take upon hearing about it will be even worse. That sort of an inquiry
will involve vices such as tejessus (prying, curiosity), ghiybat (backbiting,
gossipping), and sű’i zan (bad opinion about others, pessimistic prejudice),
all three of which are harâm; and they will not be halâl for the sake of
precaution. Rasűlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ would accept whatsoever
he was offered during his visits. He would not ask about its source. He would
accept gifts as well, and would not ask about their source. He would ask,
however, about the origin and nature of the things offered when the situation
involved dubiety. For instance, when he honoured the blessed city of Medîna and
its Muslim inhabitants offered him things, he asked if they offered them as
gifts or as alms. For, it was a doubtful matter for him then. No one would take
offence at his asking.
Supposing plundered
and stolen goods and animals are being sold at a place; a person who knows that
most of the commodities
being sold are harâm should not buy
anything at that place. If his need is an urgent one, he should ask about the
origin of the thing he needs to buy, and buy it only after finding out that it
has been obtained in a halâl way. If it is known that most of the goods are not
harâm, it will be an act of wara’ to ask, although it is permissible to make a
purchase without asking about the origin of the article to be purchased.
It is harâm to sell
human excrement or anything that parts from a human body. All such things must
be buried. It is not permissible, either, to use the human excrement by itself.
It is sahîh to sell or use its mixture with soil or something else. Animal manure
can be sold and used by itself as well. The imâms of the other three Madhabs
‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaihim ajma’în’ stated that it would not be permissible
to sell animal manure, either.
It is permissible to
sell a building or a building plot or a piece of arable land in the blessed
city of Mekka. Likewise, a building that a person has made in an area of land
belonging to a waqf is his own property. It is permissible for him to sell it.
It is harâm to rent out the buildings in Mekka to hâdjis during the period of
hajj. They must be offered to them free of charge. It is stated as follows in
the hundred and forty-sixth (146) page of the fifth volume of the book entitled
Bedâyi’: “It is makrűh to
rent out the houses in Mekka to hâdjis during the period of hajj.”
It is permissible to
sell grapes and grape juice to a Muslim who makes wine. It is harâm for Muslims
to sell wine, and the money they earn thereby is harâm, too. In fact, if a
Muslim sells wine so that he can pay his debt, it will be harâm for the creditor
to accept that money. It is halâl (for a Muslim) to collect the debt that a
dhimmî owes him from the money earned by selling wine. Yet it is makrűh
tanzîhî. [Please see the thirty-first chapter of the fifth fascicle of Endless Bliss!]
It is stated as
follows in the chapter dealing with zakât for animals, by Ibn ’Âbidîn, and also
in Birgivî
Vasiyyetnâmesi Ţerhi (in Turkish), by Qâdî-Zâda Ahmad Efendi: “Supposing a person
gives alms from property that is in his possession and which is definitely known
to be harâm and expects thawâb for that act of his, and the poor person given
the alms says, ‘May Allâhu ta’âlâ bless you (for this charity of yours),’ even though he knows
that the property has been earned by way of harâm, and thereupon the almsgiver
or a third person says, ‘Âmîn;’ in that case both or all three of them will
become unbelievers. At this point Ibn ’Âbidîn
adds: “It is also an act of kufr
(unbelief) to perform an act of charity, e.g. to have a mosque built, out of
certain property that is known to be harâm and to expect thawâb for that act.”
Ibni ’Âbidîn
‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih’ states as follows in the conclusive part of the
chapter dealing with places (and persons) that are to be paid zakât: If a
person has property in excess of the amount sufficient for his living and for
the living of people who are wâjib for him to support, it is mustahab for that
person to give alms. As long as any one of those people who are wâjib for him
to support remains in need, it will be sinful for him to give alms. It is not
jâiz (permissible) for a person too impatient to survive a financial crisis to
give away property or money that he himself needs in the name of alms. It is
makrűh tahrîmî. It is a commendable act for an almsgiver to make niyyat for
sending the thawâb for his (or her) charity to the blessed soul of Rasűlullah
‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ and to the souls of all Muslim men and women.
For, not only will there be no decrease in the amount of thawâb that he (or
she) will earn, but also each of the souls involved will attain the same full
amount of thawâb.
It is stated as
follows in the final section of Hadîqa: “Let us suppose a person is to receive a gift or alms from the
Sultân and knows that the property he is to be given as alms was extorted by
way of cruelty from someone, it will be permissible for him to accept it only
if the Sultân has mixed that property with his own (halâl) property or with
other property which also he extorted by way of cruelty from another person and
the different amounts of property making up the mixture are inseparable. If the
property given is that (harâm) property itself, it will not be permissible for
him to accept it. For, when the Sultân mixes it with other property the entire
mixture will be his (the Sultân’s) property. The (rightful) owner of that
(harâm) property (in the mixture) will no longer have any right of ownership on
the property. The person who extorted the property, (the Sultân in this case,)
will have to compensate for it by paying its equivalent, or the value that it
had on the date of extortion, in case its equivalent is not available, to its
owner. It will not be permissible for him to use it without compensating for
it. It will not be his property if he does not mix it with other property. If
the Sultân buys victuals with the property he extorted by way of cruelty and
feeds the poor with the victuals, it will be halâl to eat them. If a person
does not know that the victuals have been extorted by way of extortion, it will
be permissible for him to eat the victuals extorted, and his not
knowing about the extortion will be an ’udhr. Our Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi
wa sallam’ stated: ‘(Accept and) take something you are given without your having
asked for it! It is rizq that Allâhu ta’âlâ has sent to you.’ It is permissible to accept presents from government officials.
Another example of such owner transference is that of stolen or extorted food
which, harâm as it is on account of the manner of its aquisition, will become
the property of the person who has stolen it or extorted it by using force,
when a change is made in its characteristics. When food that is aquired in such
a harâm manner is cooked, on the condition that it should be compensated for,
it will be permissible (for the person who stole or extorted it) to eat it, as
well as for its succeeding owners supposing it is sold or given as a present.
Harâm as it is to sell it, or to give it as a present or as alms, without
compensating for it by paying its value, the sale made (without compensation)
will be nâfiz, [i.e. sahîh.] It is like using something that one has bought by
way of a sale termed fâsid. When such property is sold, its price will be
halâl.” On the other hand, things that have been declared to be harâm by way of
open proof-texts, such as unclean flesh, i.e. (flesh of an animal that has been
killed in a way counter to Islamic principles and which is called) lesh, pork,
and wine, will never become halâl. It will not be halâl to eat such things even
if their owner sells them, gives them as a present, and says that he has made
them halâl, (i.e. that he has given them willingly free of charge.) A person
who says that such things are halâl or who utters the Basmala knowingly as he
eats them will become an unbeliever. So is the case with all sorts of things
that are definitely harâm. For instance, there are women with whom nikâh is
harâm. A person who says that it is halâl to marry them will become an
unbeliever.
Ibni ’Âbidîn states as
follows in the fifth volume: “According to the majority of Islamic scholars, if
a Muslim dies and leaves behind him money earned from wine, (i.e. by selling
wine,) it will not be halâl for the inheritors to accept that money. The same
rule applies to property extorted as well as to money exacted by oppressive
means, accepted as a bribe, earned by playing musical instruments or by
singing, or won by gambling. It is necessary for the inheritors to give money
of this sort back to their original owners or, if the owners are not known, to
dispense it to poor people. It is harâm to use it. In case the inheritors know
that the earnings of the deceased were (mostly) harâm and yet cannot tell what
part of the property left behind was earned by way of harâm, the entire legacy
will be halâl; even in that case, however, it is recommended that they
dispense it to poor people. Supposing
they made purchases by giving away the property whose direct disposal would
have been harâm for them, their purchases would be halâl for them to consume or
to utilize otherwise. There are also scholarly reports stating that property
that is harâm but whose owners are not known will be halâl for inheritors. If
performances delivered by singers and by people who play musical instruments
are free of charge instead of being bargained over, money given to them as a
gift will not be khabîth; it will be halâl. Money and property collected by a
beggar are habîth. If a person obtains some property by way of harâm and gives
it to a second person and this second person gives it to a third person, it is
harâm for those who are aware of that harâm money to take it. A sale that is
fâsid is an exception. It is permissible for a woman to eat the food that her
husband bought with harâm money and to use his property mixed with harâm
elements. The sin belongs to her husband.
“It is halâl to stage
all sorts of races, riddles, and puzzles. It is harâm to gamble on them. A
unilateral stipulation of property is also permissible in running races, in
horseraces, in marksmanship with shotguns, in archery, and in races staged over
prowess in means of war. That is, the race will be permissible if, for
instance, only one of the parties says, “I
shall
give you a prize if you win. But you will not have to give me anything if I win,”
or if a third person promises a prize to the winner of a race among several
competitors. The races, however, should be organized for preparation for
warfare. Any kind of race intended for pleasure, for ostentation or for
boasting is makrűh. And it will be harâm if they last so long as to hinder
performance of namâz. It is (a commendable act that is termed) mendűb to learn
about means of war. Please see the initial pages of the thirty-third chapter of
the second fascicle of Endless Bliss, and also of the thirty-first chapter of second part of the
Turkish book Se’âdet-i ebediyye! It will be a gamble’ if both parties bet property (or money). Gambling is harâm.
Another permissible type of race is one wherein a third person partakes on the
understanding that the third party will be given property (or money) by both
the other two if he should beat both the other two and nothing will be taken
from him if both of them beat him, or wherein, of the two parties, the beaten
party will give property (or money) to the one who beats him. It is makrűh to
shoot (a gun) in the direction of Qibla, (against the Kâ’ba, that is.)
“Another permissible
stipulation of unilateral payment of
property (or money) is the one with the
most airtight argument among a group of scientists. However, it will be a gamble
for the scientists partaking in the argument to give property to each other.”
In sales that are agreeable with Islamic rules and which are sahîh and
permissible, so long as it is not stipulated during the agreement that the
customer should be given something in addition to the property he is to buy, it
is permissible for the seller to give a present afterwards, and it will not be
harâm to decide the winner(s) of such presents by lot. A Muslim should consider
making cheap and good purchases rather than raising extra goods by lot. Please
see the twenty-ninth chapter, and also the sales that are fâsid in the thirty-first
chapter of the fifth fascicle of Endless Bliss!
Ibni ’Âbidîn states as follows in
his discourse on how an imâm should be chosen: “A drawing is held to choose one
of the candidates all of whom equally fulfil the conditions set by the Islamic
law.” Moreover, he provides a lengthy explanation in his discourse on qismat, which includes also
how a certain dwelling place or a certain estate is to be divided and shared by
drawing lots among its co-owners. Drawing lots is permissible; in fact, it is
an act of sunnat. A drawing held to change the amounts of the rights of the
co-owners or to eliminate the rightful share of one of the co-owners or to
allot a share to an outsider who does not actually have a share, will be a lottery, which is harâm.
Supposing two or more people put together their savings and entrust the sum to
a trustee; it will be permissible for any one of them chosen among them, or his
deputy, to dispense the money to poor people or to charity institutions or to
draw lots among poor people and dipense the money to the winners. If a number
of people hold a lottery among themselves, it will be a gamble for the winners
to collect more than the money that they have given. Their giving the rest of
the money to charity institutions will not redeem their lottery from being a
gamble. It is permissible for each of them to recover the amount he has given.
He may as well donate his share to one of the others. They will pay the
trustee’s wage by contributing in proportion to their shares. The trustee
cannot use the money entrusted to him. Nor can he put it in a bank. A bank may
stand as a trustee. One of them as well may stand as trustee. Races as well as
all sorts of games such as backgammon, checkers, and cards are sometimes played
as a gambling. In all these types of gambling, as well as in gambles held among
scientists, the losing party gives property or money to the winning party. Each
and every person
partaking in a gamble is equally likely to be the winning as
well as the losing party. To organize a gamble is intended not as a race to
determine the winner, but as a clash of guesses. Hence, gambling takes place
not only among the players, but also among those who race their predictions
with one another as to which player(s) will be the winner(s) in guesswork. In
fact, people sometimes gamble over whether a certain person will or will not be
successful in his attempt to do something. In gambling, it makes no difference
whether the activity whose result is predicted is a mere game or something
fruitful or successful or harmful. Another form of gambling is an agreement
made among people who promise to give money to one another depending on whether
a certain tightrope walker will fall down or whether a certain ship will sink.
In fact, without a game being played or a race being staged, a lottery is held
over the names of the gamblers or over the numbers of the tickets they have
bought, and the owners of the names or the numbers drawn are given all or a
certain amount of the money obtained from the sale of the tickets; this is
another type of gambling, since all the people who join in the lottery hope
that their number will be drawn and the ones whose hope come true get the money
given beforehand by those who fail in their guesswork. In other words, the
money that the winners get minus the amount they paid (buying the tickets)
beforehand is the money belonging to the people whose guesswork has proven to
be wrong. As it would be difficult to collect money from the ones whose
expectations would prove to be wrong, and, in fact, those people could not be
known beforehand, money is being collected in advance in the name of ticket
fare from all people partaking in the lottery, and afterwards the money that
was paid by the owners of the guesswork that has proven to be right is being
returned its owners. All the money collected beforehand is being given to the
organizer of the lottery, who in his turn is keeping the lion’s share for
himself and giving the remainder to the lucky minority whose expections have
turned out to be correct. Although the organizer of the lottery does not join
in the lottery, he is gravely sinful for promoting an act that is harâm and
robbing and exploiting the people who join in the lottery. Many a race that is
mubâh and which is conducive to gaining competence for warlike situations and
to acquisition of knowledge, as well as most of the activities of charity and
aid and games that are makrűh, has degenerated into an act of harâm on account
of the elements of gambling and other harâms it has been adulterated with.]
As for the clause, “... who utters the
Basmala knowingly...,” (which is written a few pages earlier in the text;) what
is meant by that is: “... although he is aware of the harâm element in what he
is eating or doing... .” If that person does not know about its existence he
will be excusable and pardonable. In Muslim countries, nay, all over the world
today, it is easy for Muslims to learn the Ahkâm-ý-islâmiyya, i.e. Islam; so it
will be an inexcusable sin not to learn and know a necessary amount of Islam’s
teachings. What is excusable, however, is to make inadvertent mistakes in
practising those teachings. For instance, it is necessary to know that is is
harâm to drink wine. Being unaware of that fact is not something excusable; it
is a sin. Yet one will not be sinful for having drunk some stewed fruit juice
or any other medicinal juice or any other sweet fruit drink mixed with wine
because one was unaware of the mixture. Unawareness of the mixture is
excusable. It is not something excusable not to know that pork is harâm; it is
a sin. Yet it is an excusable and pardonable act to eat food cooked with pork
because one has been misinformed that it was cooked with mutton or with beef. A
hadîth-i-sherîf quoted in the two hundred and forty-sixth page of the book
entitled Shir’at-ul-islâm
states
as follows: “Let a person with belief in Allah and in the Hereafter not sit at
a meal table where wine is being drunk!” It is wrong to say that it will be
permissible to sit there only to please one’s friends and not to drink wine,
which is a fallacy mostly had recourse to by bolstering the egos with the
hadîth-i-sherîf that reads: “Deeds will be evaluated dependently on intentions.” For, intention
functions in acts of worship and in acts that are mubâh, (i.e. permissible acts
that are neither commanded nor prohibited and for which one will be either
rewarded or chided, depending on one’s intention.) Acts that are harâm will not
turn into halâls on account of one’s good intention. A person who performs a
ghazâ to make a show of valour or to earn money and/or property will not earn
thawâb for making jihâd. When mubâhs are done with a good intention, they will
generate khayr and cause one to earn thawâb. But it is not permissible to
commit an act of harâm for the purpose of pleasing the heart of a Believer, who
is one’s brother; and a person who does so will not have availed himself of the
hadîth-i-sherîf that reads: “Allâhu ta’âlâ will please a person who pleases a Believer.” The only excusable
situation that will make sitting there justifiable, still with the proviso that
(wine) drinking will definitely be fended off, is one which involves a darűrat
and where behaving otherwise will arise a fitna; however, one might
quite as well be prescient enough to
anticipate such a compelling situation.
When a person becomes
a Believer in the Dâr-ul-harb, [i.e. in a country of disbelievers such as Italy
and France,] and when a person becomes a Believer or reaches the age of puberty
in the Dâr-ul-islâm, these people have to perform the acts that are farz and
avoid doing acts that are harâm, the former person when he hears about acts
that are farz and harâms, and the latter person immediately. The one in the
Dâr-ul-islâm has to make qadâ of the prayers of namâz and the fasts that he had
not performed until he heard that they were farz acts. His not having known
about them is an ’udhr that will exonerate him from the sin of having omitted
them. If he has neglected to learn them, however, it will never be enough of an
’udhr to exonerate him. Please see the thirty-third chapter of the second
fascicle of Endless Bliss!
Ibn ’Âbidîn
‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih’ states as follows in the two hundred and
seventy-second (272) page of the fifth volume: “Property demanded and taken as
a bribe will not be the property of the person (who has taken it). The person
who has given it may demand it back. If he, (i.e. the person who has given it,)
has done so without having been demanded to do so, he cannot demand it back.
Yet it is wâjib for the recipient to give it back. Something given in advance
to an Islamic scholar so that he will make shafâ’at (intercession) for you or
save you from cruelty will be a bribe. However, it will be permissible for him
to accept a present offered afterwards. It is harâm for him to ask for it
beforehand. There is a scholarly report stating that it is permissible for him
to accept a present offered beforehand. Another report on the part of Islamic
scholars states that it is permissible for a khodja (Islamic teacher) to accept
a present from his disciple. Bribing is permissible for a person who fears that
his faith, property or life may be harmed. In fact, it will not be bribery to
give away something in order to protect one’s faith or property or life against
being wronged by cruel people, or to safeguard one’s right(s). The recipient,
however, will be sinful.” As is explained in the chapter dealing with Hajj,
(i.e. in Endless
Bliss,
5: 7,) it will not be bibery, either, to give away property in order to safely
perform acts of farz and/or to avoid harâms. The recipent, again, will be
sinful. As it is being explained, in the three hundredth (300) page of the
fourth volume (of the aforenamed book), that it is harâm for a judge of the
court of law to take a bribe, four different kinds of bribe are being dealt
with: To give a bribe in order to be appointed as a muftî, as a judge,
or as a governor, or to suborn an official or a judge for a
certain purpose, be it a rightful one; in these cases both the giver and the
recipient will be sinful. In fact, it is not permissible to receive something
in return for doing something that is already wâjib for one to do. A present
given afterwards without having been asked for will not be a bribe. It is
permissible to suborn the officials or the middleman for purposes such as
saving oneself from the cruelty of the officials, safeguarding one’s right(s),
and protecting one’s property or one’s life or one’s faith or chastity. It is
harâm for those people to accept the bribe offered. A bribe offered and
accepted for perpetration of cruelty is harâm for both parties.
Supposing someone
gives you a present out of his own halâl property; it will be an act of sunnat
to accept that present, which is offered to you without your having asked for
it. The hadîth-i-sherîf that reads: “Give presents to one another, and love one another!” is quoted in the book
entitled Kunűz-ud-deqâiq. It is stated as
follows in the thirty-seventh letter in the second volume of Maktűbât-i-Ma’thűmiyya, (which is a
compilation of the letters written to various people by Muhammad Ma’thűm Fârűqî
‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih’, 1007, Serhend - 1079 [1668 A.D.], in the same
place, the third son of Hadrat Imâm Rabbânî ‘quddisa sirruhumâ’:) “Our blessed Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi
wa sallam’ sent a present to Hadrat ’Umar. The latter did not accept it. When
the Best of Mankind asked him the reason for his sending the present back, he
replied, ‘(At one occasion) you said that not to take anything from anyone has
(more) khayr in it for a person.’ Thereupon the blessed Prophet stated: ‘I meant “asking for something and taking it” when I said so. Something given without having been asked for is (a piece of) rizq sent by Allâhu ta’âlâ. Take it!’ Then ’Umar ‘radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh’ took an oath, saying, “I swear
on (the Name of) Allâhu ta’âlâ that I shall never ask for anything from anybody and I shall
always take something I am given without my asking for it!’ ” It is explained in detail
in the twenty-eighth letter of Maqâmât-i-Mazhariyya.
It is not permissible
for the government to set fixed market prices, (which is termed ‘narkh’.)
[There is not a profit limit for the sale of any commodity. Everybody may sell
their wares with profits at will.] Ibni ’Âbidîn ‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih’
states as follows in the fifth volume: “Enes bin Mâlik ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’
relates: Prices rose in the blessed city of Medîna. When Rasűlullah
‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ was entreated, ‘Yâ Rasűlallah (O Messenger of
Allah) ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’! Prices are
rising. Please subject us to si’r, i.e. put limitations
to profits,’ he stated: ‘It
is Allâhu ta’âlâ who determines prices.
He, alone, makes the rizq expand or shrink, and (He, alone,) sends it (to us). I ask for barakat from Allâhu ta’âlâ.’ A hadîth-i-sherîf in the book entitled Durr-ul-mukhtâr reads as follows: ‘Do not put limitations to profits!
Allâhu ta’âlâ, alone, determines prices.’ If all the tradesmen
(in a country) increase their prices to exorbitant levels, [so that they become
as high again,] in tandem, which in turn means cruelty against the people, then
it will be permissible for the government to consult with the trade guilds and
put reasonable limitations to profits.” [It is wâjib to obey that price policy
followed by the government. Likewise, it is necessary to obey the laws passed
for the perpetration of justice and the protection of the people’s rights and
freedom. The government should be stood by in the protection it provides and
illegal traffickings of property and tax should be kept away from. Laws should
not be disobeyed, belonging to disbelievers in the Dâr-ul-harb as they may do.]
Ibni ’Âbidîn states as
follows in the two hundred and fiftieth (250) page of the fifth volume: “When a
small child’s needs, such as its food and clothes and the wage of its
wet-nurse, are in excess, it will be permissible for its mother, or for its brother,
or for its paternal uncle, who feeds it in their home, or for the person who,
say, saw the child in the street, took it into his home, and has been feeding
it in his home, to buy that extra amount from the child or to sell their own
property of that sort to the child. Of these people, only the mother is
accredited also to give her small child she has been feeding in her home out to
be employed in return for a wage. According to Imâm Abű Yűsuf, one of its
female or male relatives termed zî-rahm mahram[1] also is accredited to
do so, (i.e. to give it out to be employed,) in return for an ajr-i-mithl[2]. Khayr-ad-dîn Ramlî
‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih’, (993 [1583 A.D.], Ramla – 1081 [1670], the same
place,) has preferred that qawl (ijtihâd) in his fatwâ.
As is stated in the
book entitled Durer, also by Ibni ’Âbidîn, in the chapter dealing with îjâb (offer, proposal) and qabűl
(acceptance) in a sale, and also by ’Alî Haydar Begh, in the hundred and
sixty-seventh (167) and two hundred and sixty-third (263) and three hundred and
sixty-fifth (365) and nine hundred and seventy-fourth (974) articles of his
commentary to the book
---------------------------------
[1] See the twelfth chapter of the fifth fascicle of Endless Bliss.
[2] Adequate pay.
entitled Majalla; father, who is required not to be fâsiq or musrif, and if
father is dead, father’s wasî and, if the wasî also is dead, the person
appointed by that wasî in his last will and, in the absence of that second
wasî, father’s father, who is required to be an ’âdil Muslim, and, in his
absence, the grandfather’s wasî or that wasî’s wasî are first-degree walîs
(guardians). Even if the child has not been staying with them, it is
permissible for them to sell or rent out the child’s property, in all circumstances
if the property is transportable and in (compelling circumstances termed) cases
of darűrat if it is a building, to anyone including themselves, as well as to
buy property from anyone including themselves by spending the child’s money, or
to do trade on behalf of the child, or to give the child permission to do
trade, or to give it permission to work in return for a wage or gratis. As for
brothers and uncles; only in case the child is with them and they are looking
after it, are they accredited to buy or sell on its behalf only things that the
child needs. If these people have not been appointed as the wasî (of the child,
by the child’s walî), they cannot use the child’s property for trade on behalf
of the child or give the child permission to engage in trade. They may accept
(on behalf of the child) the presents coming for the child. The (child’s)
father, (as he is doing something on behalf of the child,) has to say, for
instance, “I have sold that property of mine to my small child for that much money,
(saying the amount and the kind of money, e.g. liras, dollars, pounds, etc.,)”
or, “I have bought for myself that property belonging to that small child of
mine for that amount of money, (saying, again, the amount and the kind.)” He
cannot appoint another person as his deputy with authority to both sell and
buy. He appoints a person his deputy by saying, for instance, “... (with the
authority) to sell anything you know of the property belonging to my son, ...,
to anyone you choose for any price you like.”
When the building of a
mosque belonging to a waqf[1] becomes decrepit, (so that it needs repairment,) its unusable
parts will be sold and the money earned thereby will be spent for its
repairment or, in case it is irreparable, for the repairment and/or other needs
of another approximate building of waqf. It canot be spent for any other place.
Please see the thirty-first chapter of the fifth fascicle of Endless Bliss!
The author of the book
entitled Ihtiyâr, (Abdullah Műsul
---------------------------------
[1] There is detailed information about ‘waqf’ in
the final section of the forty-fourth (44) chapter of the fifth fascicle of Endless
Bliss.
‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih’,) states: “There is very much
thawâb in acts such as saying ‘tesbîh’, (i.e. saying, ‘subhânallah’,) ‘tahmîd’,
(i.e. saying, ‘al-hamd-u-lillâh’,) and ‘takbîr’, (i.e. saying Allâhu ekber,)
reading (or reciting) the Qur’ân al-kerîm, and reading books containing hadîth-i-sherîfs and those
teaching Fiqh. The thirty-fifth âyat-i-kerîma of Ahzâb Sűrah purports: ‘... For men and women who engage much in making dhikr of
Allâhu ta’âlâ, for them has Allâhu
ta’âlâ prepared forgiveness and reward.’
(33:35) It
is sinful for a tradesman to perform the aforesaid acts of piety or to say the
Kalima-i-tawhîd or the prayer of Salawât as he shows his commodity to the
customer. It means to exploit these pious acts as a means for earning money.”
It is stated as follows in the fifth volume of Ibni ’Âbidîn and also in the
book entitled Durer: “It is harâm to lend money to the grocer and buy groceries
(free of charge) from him until the money lent has been recovered (by way of
the purchases you have made). For, lending with the proviso of exploitation
involves fâiz (interest). (Rather,) the money given to the grocer should be an
amânat, (something entrusted for safekeeping.) Should the money given as an
amânat perish, however, the grocer will not (have to) compensate for it.”