Letters to the Editor

Kindly consider the following Hadith from Muwatta to answer my questions:
Malik related to me that Zayd ibn Aslam said, “Usury in the Jahiliyyah (days of ignorance prior to Islam) was that a man would give a loan to another for a set term. When the term was due, he would say, ‘Will you pay it off or (accept to) increase (the amount) for me?’ If the man paid, he took it. If not, he increased him in his debt and lengthened the term for him.”

Malik said, “(Another) disapproved way of doing things, about which there is no dispute among us, is that a man should loan out to another for a term, and the lender reduces the amount if the borrower would pay back in advance. To us it is similar to someone delaying repaying of his debt after it is due and his creditor demanding increase in the amount (because of delay). This is nothing but usury. No doubt about it.”

Malik also spoke about a man who loaned one hundred Dinars to a man for two terms (seasons). When it was due, the borrower said to him, “Sell me some goods, whose price is one hundred Dinars in cash for one hundred and fifty on credit.” Malik said, “This transaction is not good, and the people of knowledge forbid it.” He added, “This is disapproved because the creditor himself gives the debtor the price of what the man sells him, and he defers repayment of the hundred of the first transaction for the term which is mentioned to him in the second transaction, and the debtor increases him with fifty Dinars for deferring. That is disapproved of and it is not good. It resembles the hadith of Zayd ibn Aslam (mentioned above).”

Now, the questions are:

Question 1. In the light of this report can it be concluded that the present credit card system also falls into this form of RIBA, and consequently can it be considered haram?

YMD

We are not too sure about all the functions of a credit card. One of the dealings that we know of is that a person may have no money in his account in the bank, but buys goods paying through the credit card. In turn the bank charges interest until equivalent amount arrives in the person’s account. In short, the bank lends the money on interest. This is disallowed in Islam.

Q. 2. What is the ruling on fixed deposits and the use of the interest money so received?

YMD

The ruling on interest money received from the banks is that either the bank may be informed not to add any interest amount in the account, or, if added, left there, or, drawn and given in charity without the hope of reward but fear of accounting.

Q. 3 Also, can a building be given out on rent to a bank?

M.F

YMD

Renting out a building to a bank is not desirable. However, Deoband may be contacted to find out whether the opinion remains the same in a country like India, where economic rights of the Muslims are still being denied in a variety of indirect ways. For example, despite all the talk of their upliftment, they remain only 1-2% in government employment instead of 20 and above.

Please clarify. Someone said during his speech that:

Q.1. Only those fish which are ghafil from Allah’s zikr get caught in the fisherman’s net.

YMD

The report regarding fish that are ghafilat which get caught by the fishermen could not be located, neither in Sahih Hadith works nor in weak and fabricated ones Probably it is a fabricated one found in Urdu books.

Further, animals are submitted to the will of Allah. It is not reported of any animal that it is unmindful of Allah’s dhikr.

Q. 2. Once the Prophet relieved himself in a pot, then asked his slave girl to throw away the urine. Instead of throwing it she drank it. The Prophet asked her what did she do with the urine. She said she drank it. The Prophet told her that she will never have any stomach ailment after that.

YMD

We could not find a hadith in these words.

However, there exists a report of Umm Ayman having drunk the Prophet’s urine by mistake; and the Prophet discovering it. But the report is weak.

Q. 3. Once the prophet removed blood from his body and asked a Companion to throw it away, but he drank it. The Prophet (saws) told him that the fire of Hell would not touch his next 7 generations.

YMD

We do not know of any Hadith in those words.

However, there is a report in Hakim that `Adbullah ibn Zubayr drank the Prophet’s blood without his approval. But Hakim’s editor Dhahabi, a renowned Hadith critic, did not pass any remark about the report, neither accepting it nor rejecting it. Some other critics have found fault with one or two narrators in the chain.

Q.4. Is it against adab to question a scholar regarding the source of a hadith when he makes a statement about it?

F. M.

YMD

If people could interrupt `Umar to correct him, why not today’s minor scholars?

Sadly, today’s scholar deems it an insult that the correctness of his knowledge should be questioned. Never the less, if someone feels in the audience that a hadith that he has quoted is outright fake, he should question him about its source and authenticity. As regards questionability of other statement, a good scholar should himself invite questions, remarks, and corrections to anything wrong he might have said during his speech.

Nevertheless, unless a statement is of a nature which would convey a wrong message to the audience, and the audience is large, one may not interrupt a speaker; better wait until he is finished talking. This is because, most statements of most speakers of today, are questionable. If the audience begins to question him, the poor guys would not be able to deliver any talk.

If the audience is small, say a private circle, then, there is no harm in interrupting the speaker to clarify his statements.

Question: I read an article at this link:
www.scribd.com/doc/28665031/when-divorce-talaq-is-not-valid-in-islam-avoid-halala-halalaah
Please guide me about the article. Is it so trustworthy?

Gihan
<gihankadri@rediffmail.com>

YMD

We regret that we cannot offer any opinion because the site does not indicate the author and his qualifications. We could not download the Urdu book either, which was displayed on the site.

It seems he is trying to prove that triple divorce in one sitting should be treated as one divorce only. But the Urdu book attached to the site says that until 700 years after the Prophet, there was no differences in opinion between the four Fiqh schools that triple divorce in one session, is indeed irrevocable triple divorce and not one.

If you can download the Urdu book, and other details from the site, pl. do forward to us.

Question: To many, Khilafah is a dream, a figment of imagination of extremist Muslims. However, if that is the case, then it is truly one unique dream. Khilafah happens to be the only dream, feared by so many in the western ruling factions; it is the only dream dreamt by so many in the Muslim world; and it is the only dream, the dreaming of which is a crime in many of the Central Asian countries, where hundreds languish in jails, simply because of their verbal call for this dream.

YMD

Dreaming is of no worth if actions do not follow. Allah said (4: 123),“Not by your desires (alone, O Muslims), nor by the desires of the People of the Book (are the affairs judged).”

The establishment of Khilafah is a duty imposed on the Ummah. Therefore, the majority of the Ummah will have to accept the obligation, feel the need, work for it, sacrifice for it, and, if necessary lay lives for it.

Further, before the struggle towards this cause by the majority starts of, the efforts to establish the Khilafah (i.e. rule by what Allah has revealed) should begin in every home. Without defeating the enemy within, the Ummah’s members are not going to defeat the enemies without.

But the ground situation is that for every Muslim who dreams of the Khilafah, there are a thousand who will oppose it if it materializes. Individuals lead a life, where they are free to choose to practice the way they like, which is in complete contradiction with Islamic principles.

Let alone Khilafah of the kind some Muslims are dreaming, an Islamic party, which had just set its foot to form a government in Egypt, was removed by its own people and their external backers, before the first step towards Islamization could be taken.

May Allah save them, a blood-bath awaits them if they do not desist and abandon politics until the majority is convinced about Islamic demand to set up an Islamic government.

Dreams have to be legitimate, realistic. They are not legitimatized simply because the East and the West hate it, or fear it.

Q. At the time of Prophet SAWS, the 313 ill-equipped Muslims at Badr had a conviction for righteousness, and they achieved it against all odds. Our forefathers had dreamt of Pakistan, and they achieved it by defying all odds. Martin Luther King had a dream and the world saw it fulfilled to an extent. Nelson Mandela has a dream, and he saw it materialize with his own eyes when the apartheid regime came to an end. Today, there are Muslims who dream of the Muslim world, united under one Islamic Khilafah, a super state, where the rulers of the Ummah act as a shield of protection, a state which implements Islam in all spheres of life, and a state which will once again uplift the Muslims to the level of glory which they once enjoyed, and make Islam the international standard for human rights, and treaties. Those who dream this will too -God willing- eventually achieve it no matter how massive the storms of time.

Adeel Naeem
<adeel04@hotmail.com>

YMD

It is strange that you are quite comfortable quoting dreams of non-Muslims to legitimize Muslim dream about the glory of Islam.

Since you have quoted non-Muslims, you may consider the following:

“Rather than have one set of laws for these physical phenomena (Theory of Relativity: ed.) and a different set for those (Quantum Mechanics: ed.), Einstein wanted to fuse all the laws into a seamless whole. History has judged Einstein’s decades of intense work toward unification as having had little lasting impact – the dream was noble …” (The Hidden Reality, Brian Greene, New York, 2011, p. 72).

It is said that (after working out his Relativity Theory) Einstein worked on this problem for 30 years, hoping to find a solution, but failed. According to some scientists, he wasted his time. So, dreams have to be legitimate, realistic.

Those at Badr did not win because of conviction. It was because they – the sum total of, so to say, the entire body of Muslims of the time – lived by the finest principles of Islam, taken to their finest degree of extremes; and were ready to lay their lives in the battle that ensued. Today, majority of Muslims dream only of watching a soap-opera every evening, peacefully, through and through their lives, until death arrives in the ICU.

Today, if you invited a hundred of the Muslims to discuss the issue of Khilafah, some 10-15 would turn up, of which one or two would agree to work for it, and, but you insist on those one or two, on five daily prayers, they would disperse disagreeing over how to proceed further.

Dreams have to be legitimate, realistic.

Does it reflect our negative attitude towards those working in the cause of establishment of the Khilafah? Not at all. We are not judges over all Muslim activities. Just the opposite, we encourage our young men to join some such activities. Khilafah is not going to be established overnight. It might take a long, long time. In the meanwhile there are many advantages to be gained from a movement led by sincere people. At the moment, the final goal is not of great import. The variety of benefits – strengthening of the faith, increase in knowledge, re-shaping of lives, solidarity, sense of achievement – achieved during the struggle, are too huge to ignore.

Question: I am an orthopedic surgeon by profession but don’t know how to read & write Urdu. The question is how to get to get a bank loan within the Shariyat law in India, as I live in Maharashtra, Amravati and Islamic banking is not available. I worked in Saudi Arabia and bank loan was available there following Islamic law. But I observed that the bank would purchase a thing and we had to pay the bank in installments, which I think is the same as the interest we pay to the bank. Please guide me because I need loans for a project in near future, or at least let me know which prefer YMD to refer.

Dr Khalid Jameel

YMD

Since you have not given the details of the scheme that the Saudi banks follow, we cannot comment on it. At all events, we are aware of an Installment Purchase Scheme. It goes something like this. To take the example of a car: it is priced at, say 80,000 if purchased in cash. But, 100,000 if purchased on installment basis, over, say, 2 years.

Following the installment scheme, the buyer pays an agreed amount at the start, to take possession of the car. Thereafter the rest of the amount (100,000) is paid within two years, in suitable installments.

If he fails to pay for, say, any 3 consecutive months, the company seizes the car. Banks play no role in this scheme.

This arrangement is Shari`ah-compliant. Now, if a bank is involved, in the sense that it buys the same car from the car-dealer, and then sells it in installments, on the same conditions as above, then, that too is permissible. In this case, the bank has become a car-dealing agent.

However, if the bank enters a clause saying that if the buyer fails to pay a few installments, then, the price of the car will be hiked (say, to 105,000), then that would amount to an usurious dealing, and disapproved.

As regards your personal need, there is little that we can offer as help if there is no Islamic bank in your area. We would advise that you take the responsibility of establishing an Islamic bank yourself.

Nonetheless, we would hasten to add that if there is any Islamic bank that requires you to deposit money in it, we would advice that you do not deposit any money with them. Most of such banks are set up by those who are not qualified in finance, and banks cannot be run to profit by means of taqwa alone. Further, wolves in the form of sheep enter into the banks as its employees, and then begin to pilfer money without the higher administrative authorities ever realizing it.

This in turn means that, as you do not deposit any money, you as in individual ought not to expect to draw any money as loans from an Islamic bank. Let the bank offer services – of the kind for example illustrated above – instead of loaning out sums, collected from depositors, who have no control over the flow of funds. If at all, it is the depositors themselves who should have the authority to loan out sums.

Question 1. An 11 year old girl read the Qur’an by mistake without ghusl after her monthly period. What must be done in this case?

YMD

Nothing need be done. That is, no Kaffarah is due in view of her young age. But, if she belongs to a rich family, she may give away some money in sadaqah. This will help generate piety in her.

Q. 2. What must be done if a person drops the Qur’an from his/her hand accidentally?

XYZ

YMD

Nothing need be done by way of Kaffarah more than saying Istighfar. One may pick it back and kiss it. Some people touch the Mushaf to the eyes, as if to say, “It is dearer to us than our eyes.” There is no harm in doing that.

Question: I am saving money of my mentally retarded sister 13 given to her by social welfare department. The amount needed to be spent on her to fulfill her needs is quite little. I am saving the rest for my own Hajj. Please let me know if I am doing wrong. 

Mujeeb Fazili
<fazilimujeeb@gmail.com>

YMD

How much of the money your sister receives from any source is to be spent on her, and how much to be saved, is for you to decide, if you are her custodian. If you spent more than necessary, you will be held responsible on the Day of Judgment. If anything is left, it may be saved for her future.

If you have no means of your own, then, you may charge on the amount received, for serving her, on condition that looking after her results in reduction in your earning. Let us say you have a shop but cannot keep it open for as many hours as you need to, because of your services to your mentally retarded sister. You may charge her suitably.

Being her brother, it is your religious responsibility to look after her. But, if in so doing your earnings are affected to the level that you are not able to meet with your basic and minimum needs, then alone you may charge her suitably.

In such an event, the amount you charge should be kept to the lowest possible. But if your income suffices you, even if you have to close down your shop earlier than you need to, then, you cannot charge your sister for the loss of additional income.

As for you saving from her allowance, so as to make personal use of it, that is haram, it being immaterial whether you use it to perform Hajj, or to raise the standard of your life.

Question 1. I was just reading the Ayah of Surah Al-Noor regarding ‘what is possessed by your right hand.’ I could not understand how a person could be Halal without a Nikah. Isn’t this a sort of oppression of women? Hope you will help me in this regard.

YMD

When you go into a battle-field, do not complain about whatever happens to you.

In the days when slavery was rampant, when anyone could be kidnapped in one place and sold off as a slave in another, when half the population of Rome was slaves, when there was no protest, no voice against slavery, Islam brought stunning changes in the system. It could not declare slavery as totally forbidden because the economic engines were driven by the slaves. If all slaves were freed through a single decree, soon people in cities would starve for non-arrival of foodstuff from the countryside, and all businesses would collapse leading to unimaginable chaos.

So, in those times, when slavery was a common affair, if a woman were to go into the battle-field, then, there were good reasons. Did the wives of the soldiers go? Of course not. Did the damsels of the aristocratic class go? Of course not.

Female slaves went into battle-fields as domestic workers: pitch the tents, cook food for the masters, oil the weapons, and so on. Obviously, it were the lowest of the low to readily go with the soldiers into the battle-fields. They were not houris; nor young ones. They were just lowest of the land. And most had no choice. They were forced by the masters. For many of them, any alternative wouldn’t be any worse. If their masters lost the battle, were slain, or ran away, these lowest of the low were captured. But, for them, what was there to fear. It would mean change in masters. If they had little to eat with the old master, they would have little to eat with the new masters. If the old master slept with them, the new masters would. So, to many, it didn’t matter either way.

But then came Allah’s mercy in the form of Islam. Muslims were allowed to take slaves. They could have sex with these lowest of the low. But, there were restrictions. If she got pregnant, and brought a child, she could not be sold any more. Gradually, she acquired the rights of a wife. She got rid of slavery. A dramatic change was happening in the Islamic world at a time when there were no protests over the system of slavery; nobody thought of them twice; nobody dreamt of any change in their status. There was no desire for any change, not even on the part of the slaves themselves. It was Allah’s mercy, pure and simple.

These are a few points. We have not stated all that must be stated. To talk of oppression, women’s rights, women’s freedom, et al, in this context, has just no meaning.

Q. 2. I wanted to join Jamat-e-Islami but some of my friends told me that Moulana Moudoodi was not a right person. He blasphemed Prophets (Hazrat Yousuf), disregarded Companions (Khilafat-O-Mulukiat), claimed to be the Mahdi in his writings (Tajdeed-o-Ihya-e-Deen), had no regard for Prophetic sayings concerning the greatest fitna i.e., Masih al-Dajjal, and committed various other grave errors.

Wasim ahmad Ahanger
<wasimahanger1987@yahoo.com>

YMD

The most serious of the charges raised above is that Mawlana Mawdudi claimed to be a Mahdi. That is not correct. He never claimed to be anything more than a reformer.

Further, Jmat-e-Islami is not the other name of Mawdudism. It is true that he laid its foundation and that to this date Tafheem enjoys great influence on it, yet, on many issues the Jamat adopts an independent stand.

Specifically, many of the Jamat’s higher echelon disagree with the opinions that Mawlana Mawdudi expressed in his Khilafat wa Mulukiyyat, and with his treatment of some Prophets in his Tafheem.

In fact, we believe there is room in the Jamat today for someone who holds some opinions different from those of Mawlana Mawdudi.

Therefore, we advise that you may not be discouraged from joining the Jamat-e-Islami for reasons that you have stated above. In fact, for those who cannot put themselves to a rigorous self-study – guided by a proper `Alim – and cannot forge a way to serve the Ummah in their own specific and meaningful way, the need to join the Jamat is quite high. In these times of chaos, and disappearance of good `Ulama, the Jamat offers a well designed and tested program of self-development and service to Islam and Muslims. Today, there are not many alternatives for young Muslims in India, and, the fear is that the situation is going to get worse.

In contrast, many young men are wasting their time and life playing with the mouse on the internet. Never will they be able to develop their personality through the Net; nor will they be able to serve Islam and Muslims in any meaningful way by themselves. In the Jamat they will find a body of committed Muslims, jointly making efforts for a number of causes, which an individual – unless a powerful personality – will miss if he decided to go it alone. Young men need to give this some thought.