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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

What is the ruling on a person who insists on praying in a specific spot and becomes angry if someone else prays there?

ruling on a person who persists in praying in a specific spot and becomes angry if someone else occupies it

Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon our Master, the Messenger of Allah.
 
Our Master the Prophet ﷺ forbade a man from habitually claiming a specific spot in the mosque as a camel claims its place (to sit); scholars consider this to be among the disliked matters (Makruhat). It is therefore obligatory to advise this individual that whoever arrives at a spot first has the most right to it. And Allah the Exalted knows best.

What is the ruling on swearing an oath by the Prophet ﷺ, and does such an oath take effect according to Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, requiring expiation upon its breach?

All praise is due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon our master the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
Swearing an oath by a created being is disliked (makrūh) in our Shāfiʿī school. Shaykh al-Islām Imām al-Nawawī, may Allah have mercy upon him, states: "Swearing by a created being is disliked — such as swearing by the Prophet, the Kaʿbah, Jibrīl, the Companions, or the Prophet's family. Al-Shāfiʿī, may Allah have mercy upon him, said: 'I fear that swearing by other than Allah the Almighty may constitute an act of disobedience.' The scholars of the school explained this to mean: that is, something forbidden and sinful — indicating that he had some hesitation in the matter. Al-Imām stated: the established position of the school is that it is categorically not forbidden, but rather disliked. Furthermore, whoever swears by a created being, his oath does not take effect and no expiation (kaffārah) is required if he breaks it." [Rawḍat al-Ṭālibīn wa ʿUmdat al-Muftīn, Vol. 11/P.6]
According to the Ḥanbalī school, however, expiation becomes obligatory upon one who swears by our master the Prophet ﷺ and then breaks his oath. Imām al-Bahūtī al-Ḥanbalī, may Allah have mercy upon him, states: "No expiation is required for swearing by other than Allah the Almighty, even if the oath is broken — because expiation was made obligatory for swearing by Allah and His attributes, out of reverence for His names, and nothing else is equal to Him in this regard... except in the case of swearing by our Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ, for expiation becomes obligatory when one swears by him and then breaks the oath. This was explicitly stated in the narration of Abū Ṭālib, because he is one of the two conditions of the two testimonies of faith by which a disbeliever becomes a Muslim. Ibn ʿAqīl held the view that swearing by any of the other prophets, peace and blessings be upon them all, carries the same ruling." [Sharḥ Muntahā al-Irādāt, Vol. 3/P.441]. And Allah the Almighty knows best.

I work overtime after regular working hours and may become occupied with my phone or the work computer for personal matters — what is the ruling on this?

All praise is due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon our master the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
It is obligatory upon an employee to abide by the instructions and regulations governing overtime hours, and equally obligatory to uphold honesty and avoid all forms of deception and dishonesty. Allah the Almighty says {what means}: "O you who have believed, be mindful of Allah and be with the truthful." [Al-Tawbah/ 119]
Whoever is assigned to work overtime must be present at his workplace — even if he has no specific tasks to carry out at that time. In such a case, he should strive as best he can to spend that time in a manner that benefits the institution he works for. If there is genuinely no work for him to do, there is no objection to occupying his time with something beneficial — such as reciting the Holy Qurʾān, reading, or listening to educational lessons — provided he has already completed all the responsibilities assigned to him.
If, however, he does have work to complete, he must spend that time fulfilling it. He may attend to phone calls or other personal matters to the extent that is customarily acceptable, as long as this does not result in delaying or postponing his work. If he delays his work on account of personal preoccupations, the wages he received for that wasted time are not lawfully his to keep, and he is obliged to return the equivalent amount to the institution by whatever means available to him. And Allah the Almighty knows best.

How should the udhiyah be distributed?

Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon our master, the Messenger of Allah.
 
It is obligatory to give the poor a portion of the meat from a voluntary sacrifice (Udhiyah al-Tatawwu’), which should not be less than approximately half a kilogram of raw meat. Other parts do not suffice for this obligation, such as the liver, tripe, or intestines.
It is Sunnah for the one offering the sacrifice to divide it into thirds: one-third for himself and his household to eat, one-third to be given as charity to the poor, and one-third to be given as a gift to friends and neighbors, even if they are wealthy. And Allah the Almighty knows best.

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