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.
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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.
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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)
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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)
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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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