4.34. OMENS AND SUPERSTITION

           

      

God says

… Distinct has now become the right way from [the way of] error: hence, he who rejects powers of evil and believes in God has indeed taken hold of a support most unfailing, which will never give way: for God is all-hearing, all-knowing. -- Q.2:256

Are you not aware of those who have been granted their share of the divine writ, [now] believe in baseless mysteries and the powers of the evil.* -- Q.4:51
 * “Powers of evil” (at-taghut) seems to refer here to the superstitious beliefs like soothsaying, foretelling the future, relying on “good” and “bad” omens, and so forth – all of which are condemned in the Quran.

… And [you are forbidden] to seek to learn through divination what the future may hold in store for you:* this is sinful conduct.  -- Q.5:3
  *Lit., “to aim at divining [the future] by means of arrows”. This is reference to divining arrows without a point and without feathers used by the pre-Islamic Arabs to find out what the future might hold in store for them.  As is usual with such historical allusion in the Quran, this one, too, is used metonymically: it implies a prohibition of all manner of attempts at divining or foretelling the future.


Prophet said

“Atributing bad omen to anything is polytheism (repeated thrice).  And there is nothing that God does not remove from us by virtue of total reliance on Him.” – H: Tirmizi and Abu Daud. N: ‘Abdullah-b-Masud.

“Do not go to the fore-tellers”--  H: Muslim. N: Mu’awiyah.

4.33. DEBTS AND DUES

After name or title of the Prophet say:
 “Sal-lal- lahu ‘Alaihi wa Sal-lam”;
(peace and blessings be upon him)

After the name or the title of every
prophet (nabi) and apostle (rasul) say:
“ ‘Alai hissalaam” (peace be upon him or them)

 After the name of their family member,
as well as a companion, say:
“Radi Allahu ‘Anhu—or ‘Anha—or ‘Anhum ”
(may God be pleased with him--or her--or them)

And for others, say: “Rahmat-Allah-e-‘Alaih”
(God’s mercy be upon him)

God says

If, however, [the debtor] is in difficult financial position grant him delay until the time of ease for him; and it will be for your own good -- if you but knew it -- to remit [the debt entirely] by way of charity. -- Q.2:280

O you who believe! Whenever you give or take credit for a stated term, set it down in writing… Q.2:282

Prophet said

 “Whoever takes a loan with the intention of not paying it is a thief” – H: Ibn Majah. N: Abu Bakrah.

“Every sin of martyr will be forgiven except debt.” -- H:Muslim. N:Abdullah-b-Amr.

“Delay by a rich man in paying debts and prices, is oppression.” -- H: Bukhari and Muslim. N: Abu Hurairah.

“The soul of a believer remains suspended with his debt, till it is paid” -- H: Shafeyi, Ahmed, Tirmizi and Ibn Majah. N: Anas.

“If any (believing) man gives respite to a distressed debtor or grants him remission, God will give him protection under His shade (on the Resurrection Day of intense heat with no other shade than His)” -- H: Muslim. N: Abu Yaser.

4.32. HOARDING (Concluded)

God says

[God does not love those] who are niggardly and bid others to be niggardly, and conceal whatever God has bestowed upon them out of his bounty; and so We have readied shameful suffering for all who thus deny the truth. -- Q.4:37

… [so, too, it is We who bestow gifts of the spirit upon whomever We will]: and this thy Sustainer’s grace is better than all [the worldly wealth] that they amass. -- Q.43:32

      Wealth is not forbidden in Islam. Hoarding is. The third Caliph, Prophet’s son-in law, Usman-b-Affan was wealthy. He could, therefore, respond in a big way whenever help was needed to prepare for the war of self-defense.  
        A wealthy and resourceful Ummah can be more helpful for humanity than a poor one, provided, of course, the former does not misuse wealth and power in order to dominate others.  

        What is forbidden is the love of wealth, because, then, money stagnates with few. That  is hoarding. Stress in Islam is on its circulation, hence, compulsory  Zakat, and  great emphasis on charity.

 

Prophet said

Bibi A'isha reported: Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) left neither dinar nor dirham (wealth in the form of cash), nor goats (and sheep), nor camels. And he made no will about anything (in regard to his material possessions, as he had none) -- Sahih Muslim:  Book 013, Number 4011:

Talha-b-Musarrif reported: I asked 'Abdullah b. Abu Aufa whether Allah's Messenger (may peace and blessing be upon him) had made any will (in regard to his property). He said: NO. I said: Then why has making of will been made necessary for the Muslims, or why were they commanded to make will? Thereupon he said: He made the will according to the Book of Allah, the Exalted and Majestic. -- Sahih Muslim: Book 013, Number 4009:

The Prophet (peace_be_upon_him) said: “Hoarding up food (to sell it at a high price) in the sacred territory is a deviation (from right to wrong) -- Sunna Abu Dawud, Book 10, Number 2015: Narrated Ya'la ibn Umayyah.

4.32. HOARDING (To be continued)

God says

O you who have attained to faith! Behold, many of the rabbis and monks do indeed wrongfully devour men’s possessions and turn [others] away from the path of God. But as for all who lay up treasures of gold and silver and do not spend them for the sake of God* -- give them the tiding, [O Muhammad,] of grievous suffering [in the life to come]: on the Day when [that hoarded wealth] shall be heated in the fire of hell and their foreheads and their sides and their backs branded therewith** [and it will be said unto them] : “Here is that which you laid up for yourselves. Now taste [the evil of] your hoarded treasures!” -- Q.9:34,35
*Most probably this is, in the first instance, an allusion to wealth of the Jewish and Christian communities, and their misuse of this wealth. Some of the commentators, however, are of the opinion that the reference is wider, comprising all people, including Muslims, who hoard their wealth without spending anything thereof on righteous causes.
** Cf. the parallel allegory, in 3:180, of suffering which will befall the greedy for riches and niggardly in the life to come. 


Prophet said

“Can anyone of you recite 1000 Qur’anic verses everyday?”, the Prophet continued, “Read (its equivalent) surah “AL-HAKU  MUT TAKASUR …..( surah 102,’Piling Up’)”-- H: Hakim. N: Abdullah-b-Omer.
The surah is about those who are obsessed by greed and ‘who hoard their wealth without spending anything thereof on righteous causes.’

Abu Hurairah reported that the Messenger of God used to store up nothing for the morrow.

The Prophet said, "Do not with-hold your money by counting it (i.e. hoarding it), (for if you did so), Allah would also with-hold His blessings from you." ---- Sahih Bukhari: Volume 2, Book 24, Number 514: 

4.31. MEASURES AND WEIGHTS

God says

… He who deceives shall be faced with his deceit on the Day of Resurrection, when every person will be paid in full for what he has done… Q.3:161

… And [in all your dealings]  give full measures and weight in equity: [however,] We do not burden any human being with more than he is well able to bear; …* Q.6:152
 * The meaning is that God does not expect man to behave with “mathematical” equity – which, in view of the many intangible factors involved, is rarely attainable in human dealings – but expects him to do his best towards achieving this ideal.

Woe unto those who give short measures: those who, when they are to receive their due from (other) people, demand  that it be given in full -- but when they have to measure or weigh whatever they owe to others, give less than what is due!* Do they not know they are bound to be raised from the dead [and called to account] on an awesome Day – the Day when all men shall stand before the Sustainer of all the worlds? -- Q.83:1-6 
* The passage (1 to 3) does not, of course, refer only to commercial dealings but touches upon every aspect of social relations, both practical and moral, applying to every individual’s rights and obligations no less than to his physical possessions.   


Prophet said

To those who dealt with measurements and weights the Messenger of God said: “Indeed, you have been entrusted with two affairs about which the nations in the past were destroyed ( for their fraudulence)” – H: Tirmizi. Narrator: Ibn Abbas.

(At the time) when the Holy Prophet came to Medina people there used to lend money for one to three years and the loan was paid off in the form of fruits.  About this the Holy Prophet said: “He who lends money for such commodity should lend money for known measure, known weights, and to the known limit.” – H: Bukhari and Muslim. N: Abu Saeed.

4.30. LABOUR AND WAGES (concluded)

God says
He it is who has made you inherit the earth,* and has raised some of you by degree above others, so that He might try you by means of what He has bestowed upon you.**
Verily, thy sustainer is swift in retribution: yet, behold, He is indeed much- forgiving, most gracious. -- Q.6: 165 
*Lit., a “successor” or a “vice-gerent”.
**Lit., by way of character, strength, knowledge, social position, wealth etc.

….Indeed, He does not love those who transgress the bound of what is right:  Q.7:55

….verily, God’s grace is ever near unto the doers of good! -- Q.7: 56 

….Verily, that which is with God is by far the best for you, if you but knew it: all that is with you is bound to come to an end, whereas that which is with God is everlasting. ---- Q.16:95,96 

Prophet said

“God said: On the Resurrection Day I will be the opponent of Three (kinds of) persons: a man who in My name gave the trust and then broke it; a man who sold a free person and enjoyed the price; and a man who engaged a labour, got the work completed but did not pay his wages” -- Hadis-e-Qudsi Bukhari. N:Abu Hurairah.

“Pay the labourer his wages before his sweat dry’s up” --  H: Ibn Majah. N: ‘Abdullah.b.Omar.