Character and Morals
Chapter 1
General
30861: What are the
situations in which a promise may be broken?
Question:
We know that breaking promises is one of the
attributes of the hypocrites, but if a Muslim is
unable to keep his promise for some reason that
is beyond his control, is he regarded as doing
something haraam and as having one of the
attributes of the hypocrites, or is he excused?.
Answer:
Praise be to Allaah.
Undoubtedly keeping promises and keeping
one's word are attributes of the believers, and
breaking promises is one of the attributes of
the hypocrites, as was narrated from `Abd-Allaah
ibn `Amr (may Allaah be pleased with him) that
the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) said: "There are four
(characteristics), whoever has them is a
hypocrite, and whoever has one of the four has a
characteristic of hypocrisy unless he gives it
up: when he speaks, he lies; when he makes a
promise he breaks it; what he makes a pledge he
betrays it; and when he disputes he resorts to
foul language." Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 2327;
Muslim, 58.
The believer who makes promises to people and
breaks his promise may have an excuse or he may
not. If he has an excuse then there is no sin on
him, but if he does not have an excuse then he
is a sinner.
There is no text _ as far as we know _ that
makes any exception regarding the prohibition of
breaking promises, but it may be that promises
are broken in situations where the believer is
excused. For example:
A _ Forgetting
Allaah has forgiven us for forgetfulness
whereby obligatory actions are omitted or haraam
actions are committed. Allaah says
(interpretation of the meaning):
"Our Lord! Punish us not if we forget or
fall into error"
[al-Baqarah 2:286]
And Allaah has said: "Yes." _ Narrated by
Muslim, 125, from the hadeeth of Abu Hurayrah.
According to another version, He said: "I will
do that." Narrated by Muslim, 126, from the
hadeeth of Ibn `Abbaas.
Whoever makes a promise to someone then
forgets the promise or forgets to do it at the
time stated, there is no sin on him.
B _ Being forced to break one's promise.
Being forced is one of the impediments that
make it permissible for a Muslim to break his
promise, such as one who is detained or is
prevented from fulfilling his promise, or who is
threatened with a painful punishment.
It was narrated from Ibn `Abbaas that the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) said: "Allaah has forgiven my ummah for
their mistakes, what they forget and what they
are forced to do."
Narrated by Ibn Maajah, 2045, and this
hadeeth has many corroborating reports; classed
as saheeh by Shaykh al-Albaani in Saheeh
al-Jaami', 1836.
C _ A promise to do something haraam or not
to do something obligatory.
Whoever promises someone that he will do
something haraam for him, or that he will not do
something that is obligatory, it is not
permissible for him to fulfil that promise.
This may be supported by the hadeeth of
`Aa'ishah _ which is also known as the hadeeth
of Bareerah _ which is narrated in
al-Saheehayn. `Aa'ishah (may Allaah be
pleased with her) had promised Bareerah's former
masters [?} that the wala' of Bareerah [the
right to inherit from her when she died _ which
is the right of the one who sets a slave free _
Translator] would belong to them even though
`Aa'ishah (may Allaah be pleased with her) was
the one who was going to set Bareerah free. But
she did not keep this promise because they had
gone against the sharee'ah and they knew that
the right of wala' belonged to the one who set
the slave free, so how could `Aa'ishah set her
free and then the wala' of Bareerah belong to
them?
Al-Shaafa'i said:
When news of that reached them, the one who
had stipulated a condition that was contrary to
the ruling of Allaah and His Messenger was a
sinner, and there are hudood punishments and
discipline for the sinner. One of the ways in
which the sinners are disciplined is that their
conditions are rendered null and void so as to
deter them and others from doing likewise. This
is one of the best forms of discipline.
Ikhtilaaf al-Hadeeth, p. 165.
D _ If something unforeseen happens to the
one who made the promise, such as sickness, the
death of a relative or breakdown of his means of
transportation, etc.
There are many excuses, which all come under
the heading of the verse (interpretation of the
meaning):
"Allaah burdens not a person beyond his
scope"
[al-Baqarah 2:286]
And Allaah knows best.
Islam Q&A (www.islam-qa.com)
14212: Beware of rumours at
times of crisis
Question:
There are some writers, especially on the
Internet, who spread news without verifying it,
which is confusing the Muslims and making them
despair, such as the claim that one of the
Muslim cities has fallen, or that one of their
leaders has been killed, and other reports which
lead to despair and weakening of morale… All of
that is without any proof or certainty that the
news is true… Some of them even write at the end
of their articles, "This is what I have heard
but I am not sure whether the report is true"!
What is your advice to these people?.
Answer:
Praise be to Allaah.
Undoubtedly at times of tribulation there is
a lot of propaganda and excitement, hence the
role of rumours.
It is well known that verifying news is
required according to sharee'ah, because Allaah
says (interpretation of the meaning):
"O you who believe! If a Faasiq (liar —
evil person) comes to you with any news, verify
it, lest you should harm people in ignorance,
and afterwards you become regretful for what you
have done"
[al-Hujuraat 49:6]
The Lawgiver issued a stern warning against
passing on all that one hears. It was narrated
that Hafs ibn `Aasim said: The Messenger of
Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) said: "It is enough lying for a man to
speak of everything that he hears." Narrated by
Muslim in al-Muqaddimah, 6; Saheeh
al-Jaami, 4482.
It was narrated from Abu Hurayrah that the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) said: "It is enough sin for a man to speak
of everything that he hears." Al-Silsilah
al-Saheehah, 2025.
Al-Nawawi said: Usually a person hears truth
and lies, so if he speaks of everything that he
hears, he is lying by telling of things that did
not happen, and lying by speaking of something
other than the way it happened; and he does not
have to do that deliberately (in order to be
regarded as telling lies).
It was narrated that al-Mugheerah ibn Shu'bah
said: The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah
be upon him) said: "Allaah has forbidden you to
disobey your mothers, to bury your daughters
alive, to not pay the rights of others and to
beg from others. And He dislikes gossip for you,
asking too many questions, and wasting money."
Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 2231.
Al-Haafiz ibn Hajar said:
With regard to the words `and He dislikes
gossip [qeela wa qaala _ lit. it was said and he
said] for you' al-Muhibb al-Tabari said, there
are three points of view as to the meaning of
this hadeeth:
1 _ That it indicates that it is makrooh
(disliked) to speak too much, because it leads
to mistakes.
2 _ That it refers to wanting to pass on what
people say and looking for that in order to tell
others of it, so that one can say, "So and so
said such and such, and Such and such was said…"
The prohibition on this is either a rebuke for
doing too much of it or it refers to a
particular type of talk, which the person spoken
of dislikes to have mentioned.
3 _ That it refers to narrating differences
of opinion concerning religious matters, such as
saying, "This one said such and such and that
one said such and such." The reason why this is
disliked is that speaking of such matters may
lead to mistakes. This applies especially to
those who transmit such views without verifying
them, merely imitating those whom they hear
without exercising any caution. I say: this is
supported by the saheeh hadeeth, "It is enough
sin for a man to speak of everything that he
hears." (narrated by Muslim).
It was narrated that Abu Qalaabah said: Abu
Mas'ood said to Abu `Abd-Allaah, or Abu
`Abd-Allaah said to Abu Mas'ood: What did you
hear the Messenger of Allaah (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) say about
saying "they say…"?
He said: I heard the Messenger of Allaah
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) say:
"How bad it is for a man to keep saying, `They
say…'. " al-Silsilah al-Saheehah, 866.
Al-`Azeemabaadi said: This means, it is a bad
way to reach one's objective, by saying, `they
say…'. Saying `they say…' is akin to conjecture,
i.e., the worst habit of a man is to use the
phrase `they say' to serve his purposes, so he
tells of something, merely repeating what others
have said without verifying it, and thus he
transmits lies … this was the view of
al-Manaawi.
Hence our righteous forebears were keen to
establish proof and were wary of rumours.
`Umar (may Allaah be pleased with him) said:
"Beware of fitnah, for a word at the time of
fitnah could be as devastating as the sword."
History shows us the danger of rumours when
they spread among the ummah. There follow some
examples of that:
1 _ When the Sahaabah migrated from Makkah to
Ethiopia, they were safe, but then a rumour
spread that the kuffaar of Quraysh in Makkah had
become Muslims, so some of the Sahaabah left
Ethiopia and travelled until they reached
Makkah, where they found that the report was not
true, and they met with persecution at the hands
of Quraysh. All of that happened because of
rumours.
2 _ During the Battle of Uhud, when Mus'ab
ibn `Umayr was killed, there was a rumour that
it was the Messenger of Allaah (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) who had been
killed, so the army of Islam withdrew because of
a rumour, and some of them fled to Madeenah and
some stopped fighting.
3 _ There was the rumour of the slander
incident (al-ifk), when the pure and innocent
`Aa'ishah was accused of immoral conduct, which
led to the distress felt by the Messenger of
Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) and the Muslims with him. All of that was
because of rumours.
So what is the proper shar'i method of
dealing with news?
There are ways of dealing with news which we
will look at in brief:
1 _ Deliberation
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) said: "Deliberation is from Allaah and
haste is from the Shaytaan." Al-Silsilah
al-Saheehah, 1795.
The one who deliberates may meet some of his
needs whilst the one who is hasty may slip.
2 _ Verifying news
Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):
"O you who believe! If a Faasiq (liar —
evil person) comes to you with any news, verify
it, lest you should harm people in ignorance,
and afterwards you become regretful for what you
have done"
[al-Hujuraat 49:6]
The reason why this verse was revealed:
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) sent al-Waleed ibn `Uqbah ibn Abi
Mu'eet to Banu al-Mustaliq, to collect the
zakaah from them. When news of that reached them
they rejoiced, and they came out to meet the
Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him). When al-Waleed heard that
they had come out to meet him, he went back to
the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) and said, "O Messenger of
Allaah, Banu al-Mustaliq have withheld the
zakaah."
The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings
of Allaah be upon him) became very angry at
that, and whilst he was thinking of launching a
campaign against them, the delegation came to
him and said, "O Messenger of Allaah, we were
told that your envoy returned after coming only
half way, and we were afraid that he came back
because he received a message from you saying
that you were angry with us. We seek refuge with
Allaah from the anger of Allaah and the anger of
His Messenger."
Then Allaah excused them in His Book and
revealed the words (interpretation of the
meaning):
"O you who believe! If a Faasiq (liar —
evil person) comes to you with any news, verify
it, lest you should harm people in ignorance,
and afterwards you become regretful for what you
have done"
[al-Hujuraat 49:6]
See: al-Silsilah al-Saheehah, 3085.
What is meant by verifying is making the
effort to find out the truth of the matter, so
as to establish whether this can be proven or
not.
Verifying means making certain of the truth
of the report and its circumstances.
Al-Hasan al-Basri said: "The believer
reserves judgement until the matter is proven."
Finally: we advise everyone to verify matters
and not to rush to pass on news until they are
sure that it is true, even if the news is good
news, because if it becomes apparent that the
one who passed it on is mistaken, he will lose
credibility before the people… and anyone who
bears a grudge towards him will use it against
him. May Allaah help us all to do that which He
loves and which pleases Him.
And Allaah knows best.
Islam Q&A (www.islam-qa.com)
12806: Ruling on the view
that we should seek to acquire the
characteristics of Allaah
Question:
One of the khateebs said in his Friday
khutbah that we have to strive to acquire the
attributes and characteristics of Allaah. Is
there a correct way of interpreting this
sentence, and is there anyone who has said this
before?.
Answer:
Praise be to Allaah.
This sentence is not appropriate, but there
is a correct way of interpreting it, which is
that we are encouraged to strive to acquire the
characteristics implied by the attributes and
names of Allaah. That means looking at the
attributes which it is befitting for a created
being to acquire the characteristics implied by
them, unlike the attributes which belong only to
Allaah, such as His being the Creator, the
Provider, the One God, etc. These are
characteristics which a created being cannot
acquire, and it is not permissible for him to
lay claim to them or similar names. Rather what
is referred to is the attributes which Allaah
likes for His slaves to acquire the
characteristics implied thereby, such as
knowledge, strength, mercy, forbearance,
generosity and forgiveness, etc. So Allaah is
All-Knowing and loves those who are
knowledgeable; He is Strong and He loves the
strong believer more than He loves the weak
believer; He is Generous and loves those who are
generous; He is Merciful and He loves those who
show mercy; He is Forgiving and loves
forgiveness, etc. But when applied to Allaah,
these attributes are more perfect and greater
than when applied to any created being, because
there is nothing like unto Allaah in His
attributes and actions, just as there is nothing
like unto Allaah in His Essence. Rather it is
sufficient for a person to have a share in the
sense of these attributes, in a manner that
suits him and within the limits set by
sharee'ah. If his generosity oversteps the mark,
then he becomes a spendthrift; if his mercy
oversteps the mark, then he will not carry out
the punishments dictated by sharee'ah; if his
forgiveness transgresses the limits set by
sharee'ah, then it is inappropriate. This was
stated by the great scholar Ibn al-Qayyim in his
books `Uddat al-Saabireen and
al-Waabil al-Sayyib, and in other books
such as al-Madaarij and Zaad
al-Ma'aad. There follows what he said in
al-`Uddah and al-Waabil:
In al-`Uddah (p. 310) he said:
"Because Allaah is indeed the Appreciative
(al-Shukoor), the most beloved of His
creation to Him are those who have the
characteristic of gratitude (al-shukr),
just as the most hated of His creation to Him
are those who are lacking in this characteristic
or who have the opposite characteristic. This
applies to His Beautiful names: the most beloved
of His creation to Him are those who have the
characteristics implied by His names, and the
most hated of His creation to Him are those who
have the opposite characteristics. Hence He
hates those who are ungrateful, those who do
wrong, those who are ignorant, hard-hearted,
miserly, cowardly and ignoble. He is Beautiful
and loves beauty; He is All-Knowing and loves
those who have knowledge; He is Merciful and
loves those who show mercy; He does good and
loves those who do good; He is the Concealer and
loves those who conceal; He is Powerful and
condemns those who act helpless, and the strong
believer is more beloved to Him than the weak
believer; He is forgiving and loves forgiveness;
He is One and He loves that which is
odd-numbered; everything that He loves is
connected to His names and attributes; and
everything that He hates is the opposite of
that."
He said in al-Waabil (p. 543 of
Majmoo'at al-Hadeeth): "Generosity is one
of the attributes of the Lord, for He gives and
does not take, He feeds and is not fed, He is
the most generous of those who are generous. The
most beloved of His creation to Him are those
who seek to acquire the characteristics implied
by His attributes. For He is Generous and loves
those among His slaves who are generous; He is
All-Knowing and loves those who have knowledge;
He is All-Powerful and loves those who are
courageous; He is Beautiful and loves beauty."
I hope that what we have mentioned will be
sufficient and will serve the intended purpose.
I ask Allaah to help us all to understand His
religion and to fulfil our duty towards Him, for
He is All-Hearing, Ever Near.
Majmoo' Fataawa wa Maqaalaat Mutanawwi'ah,
6/251.
(www.islam-qa.com)
22878: Our attitude towards
rumours and news on the Internet
Question:
How should we deal with the rumours that
appear on the Internet? What is the Muslim's
attitude towards the news that we read here and
there, and what is written in chat rooms,
especially since some of it is good news for the
Muslims, but the source is unknown.
Answer:
Praise be to Allaah.
We live nowadays at a time when many rumours
that bring hope are appearing in the guise of
news. These appears on Internet web sites and
chat rooms, so that they may be spread to the
people as glad tidings and so that good-hearted
people may accept them as indisputable facts
coming from trustworthy sources. Even if any of
them could be proven, there are still many
rumours that can be classed as no more than
fabrications. The one who thinks about this will
understand that many of the global media,
including the Arab media, exaggerate in their
coverage of some events and they analyze them in
a subjective manner that shows a complete bias
and evident absence of objectivity, trying to
take revenge by adding to the news and
exaggerating, and telling weird news stories. So
there is no such thing as credibility in these
media, especially when emotions and wishes play
a part. This is apart from the fact that media
objectivity has become a victim of this current
war, and western circles have rejected the
lessons [of objectivity, etc.] that they used to
teach others. But this does not mean that we
should dispute the facts or deny what is taking
place in reality, or that we should face this
bias with exaggeration and hopes.
Here we should pause and remind ourselves,
and the good-hearted people who hear this news
and tell it to others with good intentions _ and
those who fabricate these rumours and take upon
themselves the job of propagating them _ of a
few facts.
1 _ We must be certain about the news we
accept, and we should not accept it simply
because it happens to coincide with our hopes
and wishes. We have our own methodology of
verifying matters, and we should be consistent
with regard to what we like and dislike. It is
not right for us to doubt news accompanied by
pictures from the battlefield, or to shed doubts
on it, when the bottom line is one's senses. At
a time when you see news going around through
mobiles from some internet web sites, there are
some people who may accept such news but it
should be noted that there are people who will
never believe it. So they should beware of
exposing themselves to being called liars. An
old proverb says, "Whoever pursues weird news
will be disbelieved."
2 _ We have to be cautious about the fact
that the source is anonymous. There is no
information more important than that of the
Sunnah of the Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him), yet despite that it is not
part of the Muslims' methodology to accept
reports of the Sunnah from people who are
unknown. Hence news must be taken from authentic
sources; if it is not authentic then it should
at least be known, so that people may be able to
find out for themselves whether it is authentic
or not. What a bad habit it is for a man to say,
"I heard" or "they said."
3 _ If there are people who permit the
fabrication of rumours, basing that on some kind
of ijtihaad, we must refuse to be the means of
transmitting that by believing it and
propagating it. (Whoever narrates a saying
knowing it to be a lie is one of the liars).
4 _ One of the reasons used by the
fabricators to justify making up these rumours
is that it is a kind of lying in war, which is
permissible. They ignore the fact _ of which
they are not ignorant _ that the only kind of
lying that is permitted in war is that which
misleads the enemy, not that which creates
illusions and deceives the Muslims.
5 _ If we have lost some aspects of the
battle, we must not lose truthfulness which is
our capital in our dealings with others. People
will be astounded and amazed if they find out
that this false news was transmitted through a
good man. Whoever is known to have lied or to
have transmitted lies will no longer be in a
position to be considered trustworthy.
6 _ Similarly the righteous will be astounded
and will become suspicious of a narrator who
appeared to be righteous because he was telling
this news and confirming it to them. At the same
time, others will express joy, those who took
the opposite stance to these youngsters and
said, "This is their news, this is their
credibility!" Everyone who was upset by the
Muslim revival will find an opportunity to
generalize this mistake and accuse all the
pioneers of the revival of behaving like that.
Please, for Allaah's sake, do not make the enemy
rejoice or give them a reason to attack.
7 _ If truthfulness is an Islamic virtue and
part of Arabic chivalry, then telling lies is an
obscenity that Islam has forbidden. Even the
mushrik Arabs refrained from telling lies, as
Abu Sufyaan _ when he was still a mushrik _
said: "Were it not that I am afraid that people
may find out that I had told a lie, I would have
told lies about him." That was when he was
speaking to Heraclius (about the Prophet (peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him)). He did
not want to have even one lie to be found in his
history, even if it was a lie told against his
enemy Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) to Heraclius (the Roman ruler). We are
concerned that the propagation of these rumours
may lead people to record a lot of lies against
us.
8 _ Fabricating rumours and believing them
readily is a form of escapism in the face of a
reality which one dislikes and with which one
does not feel comfortable.
The soul finds consolation in denying that
which it does not like and in fabricating and
disseminating rumours, but in the end it will
have to submit to the authority of overwhelming
reality. But this psychological trick is not fit
to be the means of escapism for the followers of
Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him), who taught them the virtues of
truthfulness and commanded them to strive their
utmost to be truthful. He said: "Truthfulness
leads to righteousness and righteousness leads
to Paradise. A man will continue to speak the
truth and strive to be truthful, until he will
be recorded with Allaah as a speaker of the
truth. And lying leads to immorality and
immorality leads to Hell, a man will continue to
tell lies and strive in telling lies, until he
will be recorded with Allaah as a liar."
9 _ Delaying recognition of realities and
veiling reality with illusions, the greatest
form of which is believing and disseminating
rumours, will only multiply the amount of
losses, and the greatest loss will be the loss
of values. The highest and most precious of
those values is truthfulness. "then if they
had been true to Allaah, it would have been
better for them" [Muhammad 47:21 _
interpretation of the meaning]
10 _ Recognizing the truth is the first step
towards dealing with crises and overcoming them,
but not admitting them and concealing them are
among the greatest means of reinforcing them,
renewing them and repeating them.
11 _ Our advice is not to transmit this news.
We must advise those who transmit it with the
best of intentions and present them with the
real facts, we should not try to spare their
feelings at the expense of our reason and the
transmission of truthful news, and we should try
to rescue them from the anxiety of illusion and
point them in the direction of reality, because
truthfulness brings peace of mind and lies bring
suspicion.
12 _ Sayyid Qutub (may Allaah have mercy on
him) said: "The reality of a thing defeats the
outward appearance of another thing, even if it
is the reality of kufr."
How I wish that I did not have to talk in
this manner, but the problem is there and must
be addressed. I have tried to be truthful when
speaking about truthfulness, for the dearest of
speech to Allaah is that which is most sincere.
"O you who believe! Be afraid of Allaah,
and be with those who are true (in words and
deeds)"
[al-Tawbah 9:119 _ interpretation of the
meaning]
O Allaah, show us the truth as truth and
enable us to follow it; show us the false as
false and enable us to avoid it. Guide us
concerning disputed matters of truth by Your
leave, for You guide Whomsoever You wish to the
Straight Path.
May Allaah send blessings and peace upon our
Prophet Muhammd and upon his family and
companions.
Shaykh `Abd al-Wahhaab ibn Naasir al-Tareeri.
(www.islam-qa.com)
21836: Spreading people's
personal messages and conversations
Question:
What is the ruling on one who spreads the
personal affairs of others, whether that is
memos, letters or conversations that one has had
with them, etc., and he spreads them among
people or among a specific group without the
person's permission?
Answer:
Praise be to Allaah.
If the person entrusted it to him on the
basis that it was a secret, then it is not
permissible for him to spread it, because the
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) said: "A conversation in a gathering is a
trust." Similarly, if spreading it will result
in harm to his Muslim brother, that is not
permitted because the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "There
should be neither harming nor reciprocating
harm." Similarly, if spreading it will result in
scandal for a sinning Muslim brother whose sin
has been concealed by Allaah, it is not
permissible to spread it. But if spreading it
will serve a shar'i interest and benefit the
person or people in general, and the person did
not state the condition that it had to be kept a
secret, then it is o.k. to spread it in that
case, indeed one may be rewarded for that..
Islam Q&A
Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid
(www.islam-qa.com)
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Introduction