Your Questions Answered

 

Queries

 

Suicide in Special Circumstances

 

Question: I know that suicide is prohibited in Islam. What I want to know is if it is allowed in certain circumstances? I can think of two such circumstances: a soldier who has secrets of his country in his heart kills himself so that he is not caught by the enemy as his capture can cause great harm to his country. Another such instance is a girl ending her own life if someone approaches her with ill-intentions.

Answer: Suicide should be avoided in all circumstances since it is equivalent to rejecting the basic scheme of the Almighty according to which he has created man to test him through good and evil circumstances*. One should also remember that the Almighty has specifically mentioned in the Qur’an that He never burdens a person with a responsibility he cannot bear** .So however tough be the circumstances, a person should boldly face them knowing that they have been ordained for Him by the Almighty, and that he has also been equipped with the required resilience by the Almighty to face them.

As regards the first situation you have mentioned, I think that instead of ending his life the soldier should wait to see what his enemies do with him. If he is forced to reveal state secrets or even threatened with death, he can refuse and even let them take his life. In this way, he will die the death of a martyr and shall duly be rewarded in the Hereafter.

In the second case also, the lady should not end her life. She should boldly face the consequences of the heinous deed. I know that this is easier said than done, and that it is very difficult to bear the aftermath of such an incident, but then this is a form of trial and test from the Almighty. By patiently bearing such a great trial, a lady can earn for herself a very high reward in the Hereafter.

This is what my understanding of Islam says. However, if in the two situations that you have described the soldier and the girl do commit suicide, the Almighty might treat them leniently considering the compelling circumstances. Nevertheless, this is what the Almighty might to do. His servants should always try to go through the test they have been put through -- however severe it may be.

 

 

Zakahon Lent Amount

 

Question: I have lent some money to a close relative who is going through tough times in his life. I want to know if I am liable to pay Zakah on the money I have lent?

Answer: There can be three situations regarding the lent money:

i. The borrower is returning the money in instalments.

ii. The borrower is due to return the total money at a fixed future date.

iii. The borrower has no intention of returning the money and his intentions have become clear.

In the first two cases, Zakah is to be given by you when you pay it on the date you have fixed for Zakah deduction.

As far as the third case is concerned, the Shari‘ah has not given any explicit ruling in this matter. One must adopt the course that seems more in accordance with the spirit of Islam and its directives. Since in Islam Zakah on wealth is basically imposed on the wealth that one possesses, it seems to me that what you will never have should not be liable to Zakah.

 

 

Eating Crabs and Lobsters

 

Question: Is it permissible to eat crabs and lobsters?

Answer: Before I answer your question, I’ll elaborate on a few premises.

It needs to be appreciated that the Almighty has blessed man with guidance in two ways. One of them can be termed as Innate Guidance and the other one asDivine Guidance.

     As far as the sphere of Innate Guidance is concerned, it is known that man has been given certain faculties and abilities which are enough to guide him in deciding the right course of action. He does not basically need any external guidance in this regard. For example, his conscience very ably guides him about good and evil.

     The second sphere of guidance, Divine Guidance, generally pertains to areas where human beings are unable to decide the right course by themselves. It is in order to complement and supplement the sphere of Innate Guidance that the Almighty has divinely guided man through His Prophets. The Qur’an and Sunnah (the established religious practice of the Prophet (sws)) are the only original sources of Divine Guidance.

As far as edibles are concerned, Divine Guidance has prohibited some distinct types of food because they negatively influence the inner purification of a person. The rest has been left to human nature to decide for itself in view of the Innate Guidance it possesses. Man knows for himself that beasts like lions and dogs and birds like eagles and vultures are not meant to be eaten. There may be slight differences in this sphere, but generally the dividing line is quite clear.

In the light of this principle, a Muslim can eat crabs or a lobster if he does not feel an aversion to them. In other words, he himself must decide on this issue since we have no explicit prohibition in Divine Guidance on these types of foods.

 

 

Use of the Feminine Gender

 

Question: Why are Muslim women sometimes referred to as Muslimahs? Does this mean that the word Muslim is for males?

Answer: The word Muslimah is a perfectly legitimate Arabic word. It is the feminine form of the word Muslim and used thus very commonly. However, if someone uses it only because he or she thinks that the word Muslim connotes the male gender only, then this would be an incorrect inference. The word Muslim covers both men and women. Consequently, you will often hear the sentence ‘She is a good Muslim’. There are several other words which are used irrespective of gender, for example the words ‘writer’ and ‘poet’.

It seems that it is because of the influence of the feminist movement, which started a couple of centuries ago, that the feminine gender of words used for both genders have started springing up. The word ‘chairman’ and ‘webmaster’ are irrespective of gender. But now the trend is to ‘feminize’ them as well. Thus you now have a chairwoman and a webmistress.

 

 

The Islamic way of Greeting

 

Question: What are the Islamic greetings and their proper responses? Is there a special way to greet one another while departing?

Answer: Al-salamu ‘Alaykum (peace be to you) is the only greeting that Islam has laid stress on when people meet people. The Prophet (sws) through his established practice has directed Muslims to use this greeting when they meet one another. This greeting is to be answered in a similar fashion by saying Wa ‘alaykumu’l-salam (and peace be to you too).

In this regard, the correct etiquette is that a person should try to take the initiative instead of waiting for others to begin. The Prophet (sws) is reported to have said:

 

The young should greet the adult, the pedestrian should greet the stationed and the small group of people should greet the larger group. (Bukhari, Kitabu’l-Istidhan)

 

Secondly, this salutation is not confined to known people; even unknown people one comes across should be greeted by it --since it basically is a prayer of well-being. The Prophet (sws) is reported to have said:

 

A person asked the Prophet (sws): ‘What is the best in Islam’. The Prophet replied: ‘To feed the poor and to greet a person you know with al-salamu ‘alaykum as well as to greet him whom you do not know. (Bukhari, Kitabu’l-Istidhan)

 

Using this greeting while departing is optional. One can say anything that expresses good wishes.

 

 

Swimmingat Beaches

 

Question: I have a question which seems rather silly in the grand scheme of things: Can Muslim men and women swim at the beach?

Answer: The basic objective of Islam is the inner purification of a person. Anything which hampers this purification should be avoided. We have been sent in this world to strive to obtain Paradise in the next one. Paradise, as the Qur’an has specified*, is the abode of pure souls. So if Paradise is our goal, we should always be heedful to our inner purity.

Keeping this principle in view, it seems that Muslim men and women swimming together is something which tarnishes the mirror of their souls. It stimulates base emotions. So Muslim men and women should refrain from it.

 

 

Using the Walkman to Learn the Qur’an

 

Question: I’m trying to learn as much of the Qur’an as possible. To facilitate this effort, I often listen to tapes of recitations of the Qur’an in my walkman when I go out. Is this sinful? I heard a speaker say that when one hears the Qur’an being recited, then he/she should do nothing but listen to it. Please clarify.

Answer: There is absolutely no harm in listening to the Qur’an on a walkman in order to learn it. In fact, this seems to be a good use of time.

In all probability, it must have been the following verse which the speaker you heard was referring to:

 

When the Qur’an is read, listen to it with attention, and hold your peace: that you may receive mercy. (7:204)

 

I am afraid I do not agree with its interpretation. It has a specific background and cannot be related to your situation. I’ll try to briefly explain the context to you. We know from the Qur’an that the disbelievers would express their enmity for the Qur’an in various ways. One of these ways was that they would make noises and sounds when the Qur’an was recited to them so that they were not able to receive its message. This escapist attitude is referred to in the following verse:

 

The disbelievers say: Give no heed to the Qur’an: Interrupt its reading with clamor and uproar that you may prevail. (41:26)

 

Now if the context of 7:204 is carefully analysed, it comes to light that it is these disbelievers who are addressed in it and admonished for this unbecoming behaviour. They are told that they must at least listen to the Qur’an -- for this might open their hearts to it and in this way they might benefit from the mercy of God.

It is evident from this analysis that this verse has a specific background; it is not addressed to Muslims at all; rather it addresses certain factions of disbelievers of the times of the Prophet (sws) and chides them on a prank they were indulging in to evade the calls of the Qur’an.

 

 

Stress on Using the Right Hand

 

Question: Why does Islam lay so much stress on using the right hand? I am a left-handed person. Am I supposed to change my ‘hand’?

Answer: Islam wants a person to be constantly reminded of the Hereafter. In this regard, we have been told by the Qur’an at various places that the people who succeed in the Hereafter will be given their account in the right hand and those who are condemned and punished in the Hereafter will receive their reward in the left hand:

 

Then he who is given his record in his right hand will say: ‘Take this and read it. I always thought that [one day] I shall have to face my reckoning’. Consequently, he will be in a life of bliss in a lofty garden whose fruits will be hanging low -- Eat and drink to your heart’s content as reward for what you did in days gone by. And he who is given his record in his left hand will say: ‘Would that I had not been given my record nor known what my account was. Would that [my] death had been final’. (69:19-26)

 

In order that a person keep the ideal of receiving his account in the right hand as a constant target before him, the Prophet (sws) has asked his followers to start certain routines like eating, drinking water etc with the right hand. This is a symbolic guidance. One should therefore try to follow it as much as possible.

However, a person who is born left-handed is an exception. He is not required to change his ‘real’ hand. He will certainly receive his account in the right hand in the Hereafter if he has done good deeds.

 

 

Moslem or Muslim

 

Question: Why do some people spell the word ‘Muslim’ as ‘Moslem’. Is it true that ‘Moslem’ is an offensive word, derived from Zulm? Many Muslim speakers take an offence to this word. Is this reaction justified?

Answer: This depends on the intention of the speaker. If this is a mere matter of pronouncing the Arabic word ‘Muslim’ in the typical English accent, then this cannot be objected to (which seems to be the case to me). If it is derived from Zulm, then Muzlim (the correct grammatical version of the word pronounced as Moslem) means a person who is oppressive, which of course is derogatory.

I think that Muslims are being over sensitive in this regard. The Hartford Seminary in Connecticut, USA has been publishing a journal ‘The Moslem World’ since the beginning of this century and none of the Muslims of yester years ever objected to the title. In my opinion, they thought that this was a difference of accent merely and had nothing to do with the word Zulm.

 

 

Halal Diet

 

Question: I am a school nurse and would appreciate help and guidance on H~alal diet for a 12 year old who boards with us on a weekly basis.

Answer: You can give the boy whatever you want, except for the food obtained from:

1. Pigs

2. Dead animals

3. Animals which are not slaughtered the Islamic way*

4. Animals whose abhorrence is found in human nature

 

 

Accountability of Children in the Hereafter

 

Question: What will happen to children who die at a very small age? Will there be a trial for them? If not (as I have heard), then would some people be allowed in Paradise without a trial?

Answer: Accountability in the Hereafter is based on the cognisance of good and evil. Human beings who have no appreciation of what is good and what is evil (like for example small children, mentally retarded or mad people) will of course be excused.

This is a common sense exception. We acknowledge it even today. Don’t our own courts excuse such people or in some cases treat them leniently?

 

 

A Historian’s Queries on some verses of Surah Yusuf

 

Questions: Two verses of Surah Yusuf read:

 

The brethren sold him for a miserable price, for a few Dirhams counted out: In such low estimation did they hold him! (12:20)

 

...As for the other, he will hang from the cross, and the birds will eat from off his head... (12:41)

 

Now Dirhams, from Greek, ‘drachma’ the small silver coins, were not in use at the time of Joseph’s story related in Surah Yusuf, namely about 1700 BC. They were first used as standard coins in the ancient Greek empire about 600 BC or even later!

12:41 given above speaks about one of Joseph’s prison inmates who would be killed by being crucified, hanging on a cross. Historically, however, the capital punishment of crucifixion was only invented and used during the Roman empire starting from about 500 BC!

Now my question is: How is it possible that the Qur’an contradicts historical facts?

Answers: As for the first verse, in my opinion, the Qur’an has used the name of the most commonly used coins in vogue during the time it was being revealed to merely connote coins of a earlier era. In other words, the word Dirham is used in the verse to merely mean coins. Such usage is common in many languages. Let me give you an example of such usage from the English language: If I say ‘I don’t have a penny’, I actually mean that I don’t have any money. Here I am not negating the existence of a penny. I am negating the mere existence of money. So the correct translation of the verse, in my opinion, is

 

They sold him for a meager amount of a few Dirhams. (12:20)

 

As far as your second observation is concerned, it needs to be appreciated that the Arabic word Taslib (to crucify) means to nail somebody on ANY form of framework to punish him. This framework can be a cross, a tree, a wall -- anything which can bear the weight of a human body. Thus we find in the Qur’an the Pharaoh telling his magicians that he will crucify them on a tree stem as a punishment for professing faith in Moses (sws):

 

I will cut off your hands and feet on alternate sides and crucify you on the trunks of palm trees. (20:71)

 

In other words, crucifixion on the cross for capital punishment may have been invented during the Roman Empire, but it seems that crucifixion on other structures was in vogue much before this period.

 

 

Does the Qur’an contain Guidance for Everything?

 

Question: I have heard a Muslim speaker say that the Qur’an contains guidance on everything. He was speaking with reference to the following verse:

 

We did not leave anything out of this Book, then all will be gathered before their Lord [for judgement]. (6:38)

 

Answer: Whether the Qur’an contains guidance on everything or not is another issue. However this much is certain that this verse cannot be presented in support of this popular view. The context of the verse shows that the verse has a specific connotation. I’ll try to explain it to you briefly.

6:37 says that the disbelievers demand that they be shown some sign that they profess belief. It is evident from later verses that the word ‘sign’ actually refers to the punishment the disbelievers were threatened with by the Prophet (sws) if they rejected him.

 

Say: ‘What do you think, if there come upon you thepunishment of God, or the Hour [that you dread], would you then call upon other than God? -- [Reply] if you are truthful! ‘Nay, -- On Him would you call, and if it be His Will, He would remove [the distress] which occasioned your call upon Him, and you would forget [the false gods] which you join with Him!’ (6:40-41)

 

Consequently, the disbelievers have been quoted by the Qur’an at many instances saying that they would like to see the punishment they are being threatened with in order to see whether Muhammad (sws) was a true messenger of God. At all such places, they are answered that if this sign is shown to them, then they would not be given any further respite -- they would be destroyed. So it is better that instead of demanding this ultimate sign, they pay heed to the numerous other signs found in abundance around them and within their own being.

This is precisely what has been stated  in 6:37 and in the earlier part of 6:38:

 

They say: ‘Why is not a Sign sent down to him from his Lord?’ Say: ‘God has certainly power to send down a Sign: but most of them understand not. There is not an animal [that lives] on the earth, nor a being that flies on its wings, but [forms part of] communities like you.  (6:37-8)

 

The disbelievers are told that God has all the power to send down such a sign, but most of them do not know its implications. For when such a sign is sent, it destroys the people. So instead of demanding such a sign, they should look around and they will find plenty of signs. If they contemplate even on the animals around them and on the birds above them they will find many lessons. They will find in the individual and collective lives of these species the manifestations of the Almighty’s mercy, power, providence and wisdom. These manifestations show that this world has been made for a specific purpose by the Almighty.

In other words the expression: ‘We did not leave anything out of this book’ if taken in context means that as far as signs to profess belief are concerned, this Book has plenty and that nothing has been left out of it. The verse does not imply that the Qur’an contains guidance on everything.