Part 19

through illegal means. Abdullah Ibn `Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said, "What is meant

in the verse are the false oaths through which a person takes the property of another with no right."

The consumption of Haram is of two kinds:

1) Taking another's property through oppression such as in cases of treachery and robbery.

2) Taking other's property through unlawful forms of sports and games such as gambling and the

The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) has condemned the consumption of the Haram in many hadiths. Here,

we will quote the following hadiths to explain the gravity of this heinous sin:

The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said,

"Some people spend Allah's wealth (i.e., the Muslims' wealth) in an unjust manner; such people will be put

in the Hell on the Day of Judgment."1

"... Then he mentioned (the case of) a man who, having journeyed far, is disheveled and dusty and who

spreads out his hands to the sky saying, 0 Lord! 0 Lord! While his food is unlawful, his drink unlawful, his

clothing unlawful, and he is nourished unlawfully, how can he be answered?" 2

Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) said to the prophet (peace and blessing be upon him) '0

Messenger of Allah! Supplicate to Allah for me to make my dua' acceptable." The Messenger (pbuh)

"0 Anas! To have an acceptable dua', you should eat only the Halal (Lawful) since a person may be

deprived of his D~t'a' being answered for forty days because of eating a mouthful of Haram food." 3

"Allah has decreed your behavior as He has decreed your provision. Surely, Allah grants the joys of this

world to those whom He loves and those whom He loves not, but He does not grant religion except to those

whom He loves. Therefore, those who are blessed with religion receive Allah's Love. Assuredly, no one

earns Haram money but what he spends, gives as charity or leaves behind will be his fuel in Hell-fire.

Verily Allah does not obliterate evil by means of evil, but He obliterates evil by means of good. ."4

Reported by AI-Asfahani in Al-Targhib.

Reported by Ahmad in his Musnad.

"This worldly life is joyful and attractive. Therefore, whoever earns property through lawful means and

spends it in a legal manner, Allah will reward him with Paradise. On the other hand, whoever earns

property through unlawful means and spends it in illegal ends, Allah will make him dwell in the abode of

humiliation (Hell). Some people also spend Allah's wealth in an unjust manner according to their whims,.

Such people will be put in the Hell on the Day of Judgment."1

"Whoever pays no attention to the sources of his money, Allah will not concern about which gate he would

Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported a hadith that reads,

"To fill his mouth with dust is better to a person than putting Haram things in it." 2

Yusuf Ibn Asbat (may Allah bestow mercy on him) said, "When a young man dedicates his life to

worship, Satan asks his assistants about the source of his livelihood. If it is Haram, Satan says, 'Don't

bother about his worship and dedication for his consumption of the Haram is sufficient to make his work

null and void.'" This means that worship will be of no avail when the worshiper insists on eating Haram.

This meaning is maintained by the aforementioned Hadith that,

"... A man who, having journeyed far, is disheveled and dusty and who spreads out his hands to the sky

(saying), 'O Lord! O Lord!' while his food is unlawful, his drink unlawful, his clothing unlawful, and he is

nourished unlawfully, how can he be answered?" 3

It is reported in the hadith that,

"Every day and night, an angel calls upon people from above Jerusalem,

'Whoever indulges in eating Haram, Allah will never accept his optional or obligatory acts of worship."

'Abdullah Ibn AI-Mubarak said, "Keeping myself clean from consuming a doubtful dirham is more

charitable to me than giving 100,000 dirhams in charity."

"When the pilgrim, who journeys to Hajj, by Haram money, says. 'Here I am! At your service." Our Lord,

here I am! At your service. Allah will say to him, "your calling is rejected and your Hajj is valueless."4

"Whoever purchases a garment by ten dirhams which contain a Haram dirham, Allah never accepts his

prayer as long as he wears this garment."5

Wuhaib Ibn AI-Ward said, "If you were to stand in Prayer equally as this column stands in the mosque,

it would be of no avail until you take care about your livelihood, i.e., to verify what is lawful from what is

Reported by Ahmad in his Musnad

Reported by lbn Hajar Al-Hajthami, Majma' Al-Zwa'id

Ibn 'Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said, "Allah never accepts the Prayer of a man who

feed on Haram until he repents."

Similar to the one who spends unlawful money in disobedience of Allah is the one who purifies his

garment by urine. Assuredly, only water can purify one's garment just only as the lawful can obliterate

'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said, "We used to abstain from nine tenths of Halal lest it

Ka'b Ibn 'Ayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) to have

"A body that is nourished unlawfully will not enter paradise." 1

Zaid Ibn Arqam reported that, "Abu Bakr had a slave who used to give him some of his earnings. Abu

Bakr used to eat from it. One day he brought something and Abu Bakr ate from it. The slave said to him,

'Do you know what is this?' The slave said, 'Once, in the Pre-Islamic Period of ignorance I told somebody's

future though I did not know this knowledge of foretelling but I cheated him, and when he met me, he gave

me something for that service, and that is what you have eaten from. Then Abu Bakr put his hand in his

mouth and vomited whatever was present in his stomach." Later on, Abu Bakr was asked, "O Abu Bakr!

Have you done all this because of a Haram mouthful?" He replied, "By Allah! If I were to perish myself to

get this mouthful out of me, I would have no hesitation to do so because I heard the Messenger of Allah

'Everybody that is nourished unlawfully, Hell would be his abode." 2

However, the Muslim scholars state that the consumption of Haram includes various major sins such

as treachery, oppression, robbery, usury, taking the orphan's property with no right, false witness, bribery,

deception, gambling, sorcery, foretelling, adultery, fornication, and the practice of wailing, lamenting and

showing excessive grief for the dead.

The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said,

"On the Day of Judgment, there will come some people with righteous deeds which are as huge as the

Mount of Tuhamah. These righteous deeds would be soon scattered and invalidated. Consequently, those

people would be thrown into Hell-fire." The Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) wondered, "0

Messenger of Allah! How would this happen!" He (pbuh) replied, "Those people used to perform Prayer,

fast, gives Zakah and offer Hajj, but they used to consume Haram so Allah invalidated their righteous

It is narrated that a righteous man was seen in a vision after his death and was asked about his affair.

Thereupon this man explained, "Fine! But I have been prevented from entering Paradise because of a

needle which I borrowed in my life and did not give it back to its owner."

{And kill not one another. Surely, God is Compassionate to you, but whosoever does that in transgression

and wrongfully, him We shall certainly roast at afire! and that for God is an easy matter.}

In his explanation to these two verses, AI-Wahidy stated, {And kill not one another,} Muslims are

prohibited to murder each other because they are adherents to one religion, Islam. Therefore they are like a

single person. This is the opinion of Ibn `Abbas and the majority of scholars. However other scholars are of

the opinion that the prohibition in this verse is restricted to suicide. To support their opinion, the latter

group of scholars quotes the following " Abu Mansour Ibn Muhammad AI-Mmsuri narrated' Arnr Ibn AI-

`Aas saying, "In the battle of Zatt Al-Salasil, I had a wet dream on a cold night. The weather was so cold

that I feared becoming ill if I had had a shower. Therefore, I performed dry ablution (Tayamum) and led my

companions in the Dawn Prayer. On our return to Medina, the Prophet (pbuh) said to me, 'O `Arnr! "Have

you led your companions in Prayer while you were in a state of major impurity?" Then I responded, "O

Messenger of Allah! I read the verse, {And kill not one another! Surely God is Compassionate to you.} i.e,

he had not had a shower lest it would bring his life to an end. On hearing this, the Messenger of Allah

(pbuh) smiled and kept silent."1

This incident has a clear indication that' Arnr (may Allah be pleased with him) grasped the meaning of

the verse as a reference to suicide and the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) did not deny this.

{But whosoever does that, ~ refers to all prohibitions that the Surah states from its beginning according to

the saying of Ibn `Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both). Other scholars, however, are of the

opinion that the reference here is to the consumption of another's property with no right and unlawful

{In transgression and wrongfully,} means that those who commit murder or suicide and rebel against

{Him we shall certainly roast in a Fire; and that for God is an easy matter.}

Surely, Allah is the Omnipotent Who has Power to fulfill what He has promised or warned.

On the authority of Jundub Ibn 'Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) the Messenger of Allah

"There was amongst those before you a man who had a wound. He was depressed that he took a knife and

cut his hand. The blood did not cease to flow until he died. Allah the Almighty said, 'My servant has

forestalled Me, and I have forbidden paradise for him. ."2

Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (pbuh) said,

"Whoever purposely throws himself from a mountain and kills himself will be in the Hell-fire

falling down into it and abiding therein perpetually forever; and whoever drinks poison and kills himself

with it, he will carry his poison in his hand and drink it in the Hell-fire wherein he will abide forever, and