Letters to the Editor

Q. I have some questions, which I hope you will be able to answer as soon as possible. I know someone who works as accounts manager in a bank. Are his earnings lawful? According to my view, he is working for the bank and for that work the bank is paying him. It is a different thing as to how the bank earns money. Is my view correct? If not, why?

YMD

It is not allowable to work in modern banks because their entire dealings are interest-based. And interest is one of the most severely banned dealings in Islam. A hadith of the Prophet says, “Allah has cursed the partaker of usury, its agent, its witness and its writer” (Ahmed, Ibn Majah, Abu Da’ud and Tirmidhi).

Therefore, those who are working in a bank must look for an alternative job and shift to them whenever opportunity arises. If that requires that they take up some courses of study, then they should attempt that in order to find alternative means of income.

Nevertheless, a bank employee’s earnings are lawful to his dependants, unless they approve of his employment in the bank. If they do, then they are equal sinners on that account, although the earning itself remains lawful to them. 

Q. My uncle argues that when we deposit money in a bank, the money that is earned on it is not interest and, hence, lawful. He says that when a man takes advantage of a needy person and takes interest on the money that he gives him, this is called interest and is haraam. He further states that the Muslims will be financially better-off when they take the money and use it rather than when they leave it in the bank. He gives an example: if a retired man with no other source of income has some money and he then puts that money in a bank and eats of the money that he gets on it, then that would save him from being thrown on the streets. If he does not do like this then a time will come when he will have no money and end up on the streets. Is his view correct? 

YMD

Of course not. The argument is specious, conclusions misleading and the fatwa wrong. His argument has been summed up in a short Qur’anic statement made by the unbelievers contemporary to the Prophet, and which Allah condemned. The condemned statement is (2: 275): “Indeed, trading is like (dealings in) interest.”

As for old people being thrown into the streets, that kind of thing is possible only in non-Muslim societies. (If it happens in Muslim societies, such societies may not be referred to as Muslim). However, the subject is vast and we shall attempt an article on it, Allah willing.

As regards the interest earned on bank deposits, there are two situations. One, somebody needs to safe keep his funds and so deposits them in a bank. He could, if he wished, withdraw the interest on it and give it away to a needy person without expecting to be rewarded for it. Two, somebody deposits money in the bank in order to earn interest and gives it away to the poor. This is disallowed. 

Q. Is it true that the souls of those whose bodies are burned roam about in the earth? 

YMD

If a soul was free to roam about after a person’s death, it could as well go back to the body before it is burned.

No soul comes out of a body by itself. It is the angels of death who come and perform the operation. Yet, the soul does not give itself to them without resistance – unless it is that of a highly pious person ready to die. In case of the evil-doers the angels of death have to pull them out by force causing much pain to the body. It is like pulling a silken shroud spread over a thorny bush. In any case, the angels who pull it out take it to the Heavens. At the gates of the first Heaven they receive instructions about the new destination of the soul. If it is of the believing pious, it is allowed into the first Heaven and where its new destination is determined. But if it is that of an unbelieving rapscallion, it is not allowed in but rather, taken away to be deposited wherever Allah orders the angels to deposit. At no stage are the souls but in the care of angels.

Then, on the Judgment Day, the angels will bring forth the souls placed in their custody, return them to their respective bodies, that will be resurrected, and men rise up to undergo scrutiny of their life’s beliefs and actions.

Q. Is it true that when a Muslim is nearing death he gets an indication that he is about to die in the form of a greeting by a white man in white clothes with a white beard? I have personally heard from my grandmother and grandfather and aunt about this person before their death. 

YMD

Premonition of death is a common experience. Quite a few people, including non-Muslims, get to feel a few days ahead of their death that they might die in a couple of days. Perhaps it is a final warning from Allah, for He is All-Merciful. It gives them the final chance to repent, believe in His Oneness, and do whatever they can by way of atonement.

In fact, death is something that the living can see on the face of a person fated to die soon. Sometimes, the person himself does not suspect it, while others strongly feel he might not last. This is also a well-known phenomenon.

But it is not necessary that someone – from above – should visit a person about to die to tell him that his end is near. Somehow he or she is given that feeling.

Q. I see a lot of people lifting up their trousers above their ankles before starting to pray. 

YMD

Today, religion is reduced to rituals, ceremonies and formal behaviour. So that one can observe a man, who is quite proud in his attitudes in everyday life, and unmindful of several duties of Islam, tuck up his trousers in the mosque. He forgets that it is pride that he should repent for before a change in dressing habits. This kind of behaviour can only be justified if a man realises that he is proud in ordinary life and must not – in the least – be proud before Allah and so tucks up his trouser ends. For, ultimately, it is pride and its manifestation that is disapproved. In the Prophet’s time it was manifested in dragging the lower garment on the ground.

In any case, the people you have observed could be influenced by a hadith which can be found in Abu Da’ud’s collection. It says that lowering the lowered garment (below the ankles) during Prayers does not have Allah’s approval, respect, or help. But it has been declared weak. In fact, it does not reach the Prophet at all.

There is another report in some other books that speaks of the Prophet’s disapproval of someone Praying with the garment below the ankle. But this report has a disjointed chain of narration, i.e., it is a kind of weak report, although an outside and rare opinion accepts it.

There are a few other reports about garments hanging down the ankles during Prayers, but have some problem or the other in their chains of narration.

Nonetheless, those who accepted the hadith, meaning-wise, although not isnaad-wise, have said that it applies to someone doing it out of pride.

According to Imam Abu Hanifah and Shafe‘ee, it is Makruh (undesirable) to let the trousers hang below the ankles during the Prayers as well as outside of it (if it is not out of pride). But according to Imam Malik there is no harm in letting them hang down during the Prayers but is disallowed at other times (‘Awn al-Ma‘bud). Perhaps this is because no one lowers the garment out of pride during Prayers, but might do it outside of it.

Q. Should we wipe our face with our hands after making the dua?

YMD

It is not necessary, although Qurtubi has reported the Prophet having done it.

Q. A Moulvi told me that we should not read translations of Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim and act on it. Only if you understand Arabic should you make an attempt to follow it like rafai uli dain etc.

YMD

If that is exactly what he said, then he was wrong. But we do not think that is what he would have told you. He would have told you, perhaps, that you might read any book, including Bukhari and Muslim, but do not start to make Fiqh rulings as you read them.

On our part, we do not also recommend that a fresher starts with Bukhari or Muslim. Of most part of them – whether Fiqh reports or non-Fiqh reports – he might make head nor tail of without a good commentary. Therefore, it is recommended that he should start with simpler works such as Riyadh al-Saleheen, or other simpler compilations. 

Q. Recently my aunt died and we followed the procedure as is suggested by people. I would be indebted to you if you would please tell me the complete procedure right from the person’s last breath till we bury him in the grave. Please give the answer in complete detail.

YMD

It is very simple. The dead is to be washed, covered in coffin cloth, prayed over, and buried – all as quickly as possible. There are no ceremonies involved and absolutely nothing else to be done. A people who did the above would have done what is Islamically required of them.

Q. Please also let us know the bid’at practices done nowadays by Muslims while burying their dead. 

M. A. Q.,
On Email

YMD

Most of the bid‘ah practices start after death. And there are so many prevalent among the Muslims today that we will need a volume to describe. In short, and as a guideline, everything done as an Islamic practice, after a person’s death, except for the description above, is bid‘ah.

The exception is a few non-ritual commandments such as one wajib and three commendable. It is wajib to divide the inheritance, following the Shari‘ah rules. (It is not necessary to divide off the property in bit and pieces, unless so demanded by any of the inheritors. But theoretical division should be done before the dead person’s wealth begins to be misused). The recommended practices are: (1) Seeking forgiveness for him or her; (2) Spending in charity on his or her behalf; and (3) The children treating well the parent’s friends.

About YMD
Subscribe
Donate

Past Issues