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The General Iftaa` Department`s Statement: The Religion is Naseehah (Sincere Advice)
Author : The General Iftaa' Department
Date Added : 07-10-2024

 

Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger. Afterwards:

Allah has made advice a fundamental principle of religion, and indeed, the Prophet, peace be upon him, stated that it is the very essence of religion. This is because its benefits extend to all people, beginning with the one who gives advice, who purifies his own religion and seeks the highest of matters, and ending with the one who receives the advice and benefits from it by being protected from harm. The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said: "Religion is advice." We asked: "To whom?" He replied: "To Allah, to His Book, to His Messenger, to the leaders of the Muslims, and to the common people of the Muslims." [Agreed upon].

Advice means guidance towards that which is beneficial. It is to guide someone towards the right path and to encourage them to do good deeds that will bring them happiness and success. It is also to enlighten someone about the dangers so that they may avoid them. Advice is one of the duties of prophets and a characteristic that distinguishes them. Allah Says (What means): "And I said: 'O my people, I have indeed conveyed to you the message of my Lord and have given you sincere advice." [Al-A'raf/79].

Allah has commanded us to emulate the character of these prophets, peace be upon them, and to follow their example in giving advice and guidance. This is the way of Allah with His righteous servants. Al-Hasan al-Basri said: "There have always been people for Allah who give sincere advice to Allah concerning His servants, and give sincere advice to the servants of Allah concerning the rights of Allah upon them, and work for Him on earth with sincerity. These are the successors of Allah on earth." [Lata'if al-Ma'arif by Ibn Rajab].

Advice is one of the most important matters that Allah has obligated upon Muslims so that their lives may be upright and none of them may deviate. Jarir Ibn Abdullah reported: "I pledged allegiance to the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, to establish prayer, pay Zakat, and give sincere advice to every Muslim." [Agreed upon]

And because "a Muslim is the mirror of his brother" - as the Prophet, peace be upon him, informed us (as narrated by Ibn Khuzaymah) - it is the right of one Muslim upon another to be sincere towards him in all matters of his life and to desire good for him in his religion, his worldly life, and his livelihood. The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said: "The rights of a Muslim over another Muslim are six." It was said: "What are they, O Messenger of Allah?" He replied: "If you meet him, greet him, and if he invites you, accept his invitation, and if he seeks your advice, advise him, and if he sneezes and praises Allah, then greet him, and if he falls ill, visit him, and if he dies, attend his funeral." [Moslim]. In addition, among the supplications of the Prophet, peace be upon him, was: "O Allah, set right for me my religion that is the safeguard of my affairs, and set right for me my world wherein my living is, and set right for me my Hereafter wherein my return is, and make life an increase for me in every good, and make death a relief for me from every evil."

Therefore, a Muslim who gives sincere advice to his brothers and desires good for them, and is safe from their tongues and hands, has fulfilled his duty. The Prophet, peace be upon him, said: "The Muslim is he from whose tongue and hand the Muslims are safe." [Agreed upon]. Safe from his tongue means that he does not backbite them, mock them, or impose upon them that which causes them embarrassment or hardship.

It is also incumbent upon a person to begin giving advice to himself, out of commitment and application, so that he may not be among those about whom Allah Says (What means): "Do you order people to be righteous while you forget yourselves, even though you recite the Book? Then will you not understand?" [Al-Baqarah/44]. Abu Bakr Al-Ajurri said: "No one can be sincere to Allah, His Messenger, the leaders of the Muslims, and the common people of the Muslims except the one who begins with giving sincere advice to himself and strives in knowledge and understanding, so that he may know what is obligatory upon him, and know the enmity of Satan towards him and how to be wary of him, and know the ugliness of that to which the soul inclines so that he may oppose it with knowledge."

Sincere advice should be purely for the sake of Allah so that the Muslim may obtain its reward and recompense. It should be given with gentle words that are accepted, and in a manner that is befitting of a reformer who is concerned for his brothers. It should also be given in private and according to the situation, so that it does not become a public humiliation that causes the one who receives the advice to become stubborn and increase in his error and sin. Imam Al-Shafi'i said: "Advise me privately, and spare me from giving advice in public, For advising people in public is a kind of rebuke that I do not enjoy hearing."

All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds.

 

 

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Summarized Fatawaa

Is the Saying "Whatever is Taken by the Sword of Shyness is Forbidden" an Authentic Ḥadīth?

All praise is due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon our master the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
The saying "Whatever is taken by the sword of shyness is forbidden" is not an authentic ḥadīth, though its underlying meaning is sound. The established sharʿī principle is that a Muslim's wealth is not lawful for anyone to take except with his wholehearted consent, as Allah the Almighty says {what means}: "O you who have believed, do not consume one another's wealth unjustly, but only [in lawful] business by mutual consent." [Al-Nisā/ 29] And the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Listen to me and you will live well: do not wrong others, do not wrong others, do not wrong others. Indeed, a man's wealth is not lawful except with his full, willing consent." (Reported by Aḥmad in his Musnad.) Whatever is taken through the pressure of shyness or social embarrassment runs directly counter to genuine, wholehearted consent.
The jurists have explicitly stated that whatever is taken by means of the "sword of shyness" carries the same ruling as that which is taken by coercion — it must be returned to its rightful owner.
Ibn Ḥajar al-Haytamī, may Allah have mercy upon him, states in al-Fatāwā al-Kubrā (Vol.3/P.30): "Do you not see the reported scholarly consensus that whoever has something taken from him purely out of shyness, without his genuine consent, does not pass ownership of it to the one who took it? They reasoned that this constitutes a form of coercion through the 'sword of shyness,' comparable to coercion at the point of an actual sword. Indeed, many people would rather submit to the literal sword and endure the pain of its wound than submit to this first kind of coercion, out of fear for their dignity and standing — which people of sound judgment hold dear and guard most fiercely." And Allah the Almighty knows best.

What is the ruling on offering the sacrifice (uḍḥiyah) using the wealth of a minor or a legally incompetent person (safīh)?

Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings upon our master, the Messenger of Allah.
It is not permissible for the guardian (walī) of an orphan or a legally incompetent person (safīh) to offer the sacrifice (uḍḥiyah) on behalf of the minor or the safīh using their wealth, because the guardian is charged with exercising caution over their wealth and is prohibited from giving any of it away voluntarily, and the udḥiyah is a voluntary act of charity (tabarru'). The guardian may, however, offer the sacrifice using his own personal wealth. And Allah, the Most High, knows best.

What is the ruling of Islamic Law regarding one who slaughters a ewe and it turns out to have been pregnant, and is it permissible to slaughter the ewe if one knows it is pregnant?

Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings upon our master, the Messenger of Allah.
If a person slaughters a ewe and it turns out to have been pregnant, the fetus becomes lawful (ḥalāl) by virtue of its mother's slaughter (tabaʿan li-ummihā).
It is stated in Mughnī al-Muḥtāj (Vol.6/P.158): "A fetus found dead [after the mother's slaughter], or found alive but in a state resembling that of a slaughtered animal [i.e., dying shortly after], becomes lawful — whether or not it had grown fur — provided it is found in the womb of a mother that was lawfully slaughtered, whether her slaughter was by cutting the throat, or by an arrow or hunting dog sent after her. This is based on the ḥadīth: 'The slaughtering of the fetus is [effected by] the slaughtering of its mother' [narrated by al-Tirmidhī, who graded it ḥasan, and by Ibn Ḥibbān, who graded it ṣaḥīḥ] — meaning that the slaughter which rendered the mother lawful renders the fetus lawful as well, by virtue of following her; and because the fetus is one of her constituent parts, and her slaughter renders lawful all of her parts."
This ruling differs, however, from the case of one who knows from the outset that the ewe is pregnant [and intends to sacrifice her specifically as the udḥiyah while pregnant] — in which case, according to the Shāfi'ī school, she does not fulfill the requirement of a valid sacrifice.
It is stated in Ḥāshiyat al-Bujayrimī 'alā al-Khaṭīb (Vol.4/P.335): "A pregnant animal does not fulfill the requirement [of a valid sacrifice], and this is the authoritative position (al-mu'tamad), because pregnancy diminishes the quality of the meat. As for why such an animal is nevertheless counted as complete [i.e., fully valid] in matters of zakāh, that is because the intent there is reproduction (nasl), not the quality of the meat.". And Allah, the Most High, knows best.

Is it permissible for a sick person to pray while sitting on a chair?

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds                                                                                                                                                                        It is permissible for a sick person, who is unable to stand up, to offer prayer while sitting on a chair. If he/she was unable to prostrate while on the chair, the he/she should pray while sitting on the ground, but if he/she was neither able to bow (Roku),nor to prostrate, then he can do them while sitting on the chair. And Allah Knows Best.

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