Sowing Discord Between People.

Q.1. Could you please explain the Islamic view about those
spreading tales against people so as to cause problems
between them.

Q.2. Some people suggest that for a woman to darken her
eyebrows with a pencil is forbidden in the same way as
thinning her eyebrows. Please comment.

A.1. Backbiting is strongly forbidden, as it is universally
known. God says in the Qur’an: “And do not spy on one
another, nor backbite one another. Would any of you like to
eat the flesh of his dead brother? Surely you would loathe
it.” (49: 12) This horrid picture is drawn in the Qur’an
for someone who is guilty of backbiting, which is defined
in Islam as “saying about someone in his absence what he
dislikes to be said about him.” This applies even if what
is being said is true. The very fact that he is absent and
people say about him things that he dislikes to be talked
about is backbiting, and falls within what is described in
the Qur’an as “eating the flesh of one’s dead brother.”

A similar social evil is to spread defamatory tales about
other people. This is what happens when someone tells
another a tale about a third person who is known to both.
This is shown in the Qur’an as repugnant. It occurs within
the denunciation of a particular person who took a hostile
attitude to Islam and the Prophet. Exposing his character,
the Qur’an mentions this action of his as a most horrid
one: “Do not pay any respect to the contemptible swearer of
oaths, the slanderer who goes about with defaming tales,
the withholder of good, the sinful aggressor, cruel,
possessed by greed...” (68: 10-13) It is clear that the
person concerned had had a very abominable character. One
of his qualities was to carry such tales.

In order to describe how repugnant this quality is we may
mention that the Prophet once passed by two graves, and he
placed some green branches on them. He told his companions
who were with him that the two people buried there were
suffering torment. He said that the reason for punishing
one of them was that he used to spread defamatory tales
about his fellow men.

People often ask about the punishment that a certain sin
incurs. We cannot specify unless there is some text to
outline it. However, we can say that such a person commits
a sin against society in addition to his slandering of
particular people. Thus his sin will not be forgiven by God
unless the people against whom he spread such tales forgive
him. On the Day of Judgment he will be brought face to face
with them, and they will be given some of his deeds in lieu
of the injury he caused them. If he does not have
sufficient good deeds to compensate them, he is made to
bear some of their bad deed, which are then removed from
them and added against him.

Therefore, people should guard against doing any such
action by avoiding speaking ill about anyone in their
absence. If one knows some defect in a person’s character,
or of a bad deed that person has committed, he should keep
it secret. He is rewarded for that.

A.2. Darkening one’s eyebrows is not in any way similar to
thinning them or changing their shape as women do these
days. When a woman uses a cosmetic pencil for this purpose,
the result is clear. There is no deception in what she
does.

She does not change the way God has created her. She is
only using some temporary coloring, and this is
permissible, unless she does it with the intention of
attracting men’s eyes. In this case, it is the intention
that makes the difference.

Covering Head in Prayers.
Q. People  in Saudi Arabia offer their prayers in mosques
without covering their heads, and they may also wear
trousers covering their ankles. Such practices are strongly
shunned in other country. Which is correct?

A. There is no requirement, or recommendation, to cover
one’s head in prayer. This is a question of tradition. The
Prophet (peace be upon him) did not give instructions on
this point. As for covering the ankles, this is a
misunderstood point. During the Prophet’s lifetime, a
person who wore long robes, covering his ankles, or
touching the ground, did so as a gesture of arrogance,
pressing the point that he was rich.

The Prophet spoke strongly against this, but in his Hadiths
he always mentioned that doing so in a gesture of arrogance
is forbidden. This means that when arrogance is intended
then the action is forbidden. We understand this from an
authentic Hadith which states this prohibition but goes on
to say that Abu Bakr said to the Prophet: ‘My robe often
drops on one side.’ The Prophet said to him: ‘But you do
not do this in a gesture of arrogance.’ When we consider
people’s clothes these days, we find that a large
proportion of Muslims wear trousers which go down to their
feet. Yet the thought of arrogance is never entertained by
anyone who wears trousers or anyone who sees such a person.
It is a normal type of clothes that is very common. Hence,
it does not come under the prohibition. Those who advise
people to turn the bottom of their trousers up to leave
them hanging above the ankles overlook the element of
arrogance intended by the Prophet. They take that any
covering of the ankles is forbidden, which is not so. They
themselves do not advise against wearing socks in prayer,
which again cover the ankles.

Restrictions During a Widow’s Mourning.
Q. Could you please explain what restrictions apply to a
woman after the death of her husband? In my hometown in
India, a woman in this situation is told to stay in one
room in her home, not leaving the house at all, and to wear
only white garments, and not to use any jewelry. What is
the Islamic view on this? Could you also explain what
should be done when a person is clearly about to die.

A. When a woman becomes a widow, she has to observe certain
rules. The first and most important one is that she has to
observe a waiting period lasting normally for four months
and ten days, unless she is pregnant, when her waiting
lasts until she gives birth, whether this happens earlier
or later than the normal time. During this period, a widow
resides in her home, which is her deceased husband’s home.
She is not allowed to get married again until her waiting
period is over. She stays at home unless she needs to go
out to work or to manage her affairs, but she must stay at
night in her home. She does not wear perfume and must avoid
using make up, jewelry or clothes that are intended for
giving her an especially attractive appearance. There is no
restriction on color except in this way.

Unfortunately, traditions in different countries have
imposed other restrictions which Islam does not require.
One of these is the color of clothes she is allowed to
wear. In your part of the world, it is white while in some
Arab countries it is black. Any normal color, which is not
meant to be eye-catching, is appropriate. In most Muslim
countries, restrictions on a widow’s going out are made
very strict, with some communities not allowing the woman
anywhere in her home except one room. This is not the
Islamic way. A widow asked the Prophet whether she could
attend to her farm, because her relatives would not allow
her to do so. The Prophet told her to attend to it, for
‘you might give something to charity or do something good.’

When a person is clearly about to die, some of his
relatives should stay with him, reading Surah 36, Ya Seen,
or other parts of the Qur’an. One of them should tell him
to say: La ilaha illa Allah, which means “There is no deity
other than God,” making it the last thing that person says.
In other words, if he says it once, then he says something
else, such as requesting a glass of water or something
else, then he should be reminded to say it again. People
should pray for the dying person so that God may lighten
his pain and make his passage into the next life easy.

Is Life Cut Short by Committing Sin?

Q. Could you please explain whether a man’s life may be cut
short, so as to let him die before the time originally
determined by God. I heard that this happens in three
situations: 1) If he vows never to repeat a sin he has
made, yet he repeats it; 2) If his wife angers her mother
and the mother prays God to take the daughter’s strongest
support; and 3) If he breaks his wife’s heart without
reasonable cause. Please comment.

The important point to realize in considering this question
relates to God’s knowledge. We have to remember that His
knowledge is perfect. He knows everything regardless of
time. So, something that has not happened yet is known to
Him in the same way as something that has just happened a
moment ago, or one that took place a million years ago. To
God, it is all the same. Hence, when He determines the
duration of anyone’s life, He is aware of everything that
takes place in that person’s life before he or she is born.
This means that God knows in advance whether this person
will not be true to his vows, or whether he abuses his wife
causing her great mental or physical pain, or whether his
mother-in-law will pray God to punish his wife. When we
consider all this we realize that the whole point of
cutting a certain person’s life short as a result of an
event collapses.

We have to remember that this life is a test and everyone
proves himself as worthy of reward or punishment. So, in
the first example, a person who repeatedly breaks His
promise to God is saved from a repeat if his life is ended.
It can be argued that his immediate punishment should be to
prolong his life so as to let him do more sins, thus
increasing his punishment in the life to come.

From another point of view, why would God end someone’s
life as a result of his repeated sins when our sins do not
affect God in the least. He says in a sacred Hadith: “Had
the first of you and the last of you, the human of you and
the jinn of you been as wicked as the most wicked person
ever, this would not decrease My kingdom in anyway.”

The second example is even more ridiculous, because it
supposes that God will punish a woman by taking her husband
away as a result of her mother’s prayer. If this is a
punishment to the man, he was not the guilty party. If it
is to the woman, why her husband should be affected? The
whole point does not stand. If a man abuses his wife and
she prays God against him, God may answer her prayers
immediately, or He may defer that. But this again would not
be shortening the man’s life, as God might have originally
decided that He would end the man’s life as a result of her
prayer. Having said all this, I wish to remind you that
God’s will is free. He may decide at any time to change
something, or to bring something into being at any time of
His choosing.


For your information only:-
1.Brother and Sisters,Ramadan would soon be upon us,infact
Allah willing,we may start on the 15th October,provided the
moon is cited on that day,so please do not forget to add a
little bit extra on the monthly allowance you send to your
loved ones back home.May Allah Sunhanahu Wa Ta'ala reward
us all for our good deeds.Amin.

2.Grand Mufti Slams Trading in Camera Cell Phones.

JEDDAH, 30 September 2004 — The grand mufti has condemned
as un-Islamic trading in camera-equipped mobile phones
which can take “illicit” pictures, Al-Madinah newspaper
reported yesterday. Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh said such
phones “could be exploited to photograph and spread vice in
the community.”

The denunciation came amid reports that there is no
judicial law in the Kingdom that bans the lawful use of or
trading in such phones. Local newspapers quoted an Interior
Ministry spokesman as saying that police are more concerned
about how camera-equipped mobile phones are being used than
whether someone owns it or not.

He said restrictions on such phones at private functions
such as those held in exhibition halls are the
responsibility of the organizers of such events.

Camera-equipped mobile phones are apparently widely used in
the Kingdom and are often the center of controversy. Two
Saudi women were badly beaten by other female guests at a
wedding party earlier this month when they were seen using
a mobile phone to photograph the segregated celebration.

In July, two young men were arrested for orchestrating and
filming a sexual assault on a 17-year-old girl by a
Nigerian driver. The footage was widely circulated through
a camera-equipped mobile.











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