Beware of rumours at times of crisis

There are some writers, especially on the Internet, who spread news
without verifying it, which is confusing theMuslims and making them
despair, such as the claim that one of theMuslim 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?.
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 AbuHurayrah 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 andlies, so if he speaks
of everything that he hears, he is lying by telling of things that did
not happen, and lying byspeaking 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, tobury 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 whatpeople 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…" Theprohibition 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 leadto mistakes. This applies especially
to those who transmit such views without verifying them, merely
imitating those whom they hear withoutexercising 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." (narratedby 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
werewary 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 handsof 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 wasthe 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. Allof that was
because of rumours.
So what is the proper shar'i method of dealingwith 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-Silsilahal-Saheehah, 1795.
The one who deliberatesmay 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 thezakaah
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 ofAllaah (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 youwere 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 asto establish whether thiscan 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 anyonewho
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.

Ruling on the view that we should seek to acquire the characteristics of Allaah

One of the khateebs saidin 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?.
Praise be to Allaah.
This sentence is not appropriate, but there isa 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 theattributes 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. Ifhis generosity oversteps
the mark, then he becomes a spendthrift; ifhis mercy oversteps the
mark, then he will not carry out the punishments dictated bysharee'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 inthis
characteristic or who have the opposite characteristic. This applies
to His Beautiful names: the most belovedof 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
acthelpless, and the strong believer is more belovedto 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 Heis All-Hearing,
Ever Near.
Majmoo' Fataawa wa Maqaalaat Mutanawwi'ah, 6/251.

What are the situations in which a promise may be broken?

We know that breaking promises is one of the attributes of the
hypocrites, but if a Muslim is unable to keephis promise for some
reason that is beyond hiscontrol, is he regarded as doing something
haraam and as having one of the attributes of the hypocrites, or is he
excused?.
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 acharacteristic of
hypocrisy unless he givesit up: when he speaks, he lies; when he makes
apromise he breaks it; what he makes a pledge he betrays it; and when
he disputes he resorts to foul language." Narratedby 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." Narratedby Muslim, 126, from the hadeeth of Ibn 'Abbaas.
Whoever makes a promise to someone then forgets the promiseor 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
aMuslim to break his promise, such as one who is detained or is
prevented from fulfillinghis 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 ofBareerah – 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 Messengerwas 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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And Allah Knows the Best!

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Published by :->
M NajimudeeN Bsc- INDIA

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Personal diary of Parsley - Offender#21765 (Circa 1968)

I'm no sage, but I'm wiseenough to suspect that herbs possess
aphrodisiac properties.
We were only 15, Rosemary and I, when we were overtaken by an urge to
conduct experiments of a biological nature during our school trip to
Scarborough. The urge was urgent (well, obviously) insistent (really,
I insist) and rendered us both temporarily demented.
The theme of the day's outing was geography. At least, it had been
untilwe two bold adventurers discovered the secluded, rather idyllic
herb garden, wherein the birds and bees were displaying a pronounced
fondness for titbits and pollen.
♥ ♥
'What were you thinkingof,' asked the judge.
'Dunno,' said I. I mean, what's thinking got to do with instincts?
'So why did you do it?' the judge persevered.
Rosemary nudged me affectionately in the ribs,only breaking a couple,
and whispered, 'I bet he never when he was a lad!'
'Never what?' I asked. 'Ouch!' I added (they grind together most
painfully when they're fractured).
The judge did sound a mite envious and had a faraway look in his one
remaining eye.
'It seemed like a good idea at the thyme,' I explained.
The judge didn't get it.
But we did (18 months).
(I have the nagging feeling that this should be a song ... ).
( 1 Nowadays re-brandedas The University of Wherewithal)
( 2 The offence? - being young)