Class 6 – Harming Others – I

Class 6 
‘Major Sins committed by causing harm to the Society – I (Person to Person)‘

2) KILLING A HUMAN BEING

Allah, the Almighty, says,

{If a man kills a believer intentionally, his recompense is Hell, to abide therein (for ever); and the wrath

and curse of Allah are upon him, and a dreadful chastisement is prepared for him.}

(An-Nisa:93)

The Prophet ﷺ said,

“Avoid the seven heinous sins.”

And he mentioned taking one’s life which Allah has made sacred except in the course of justice.

It was related that someone asked the Prophet ﷺ, “What is the most heinous sin in the sight of Allah?”

The Prophet replied, “To hold that Allah has an equal whereas He has created you.” .The man asked, “What else?”The Prophet said, “To kill your child lest he feeds with you.” The man asked,”What else?” He said,”To commit adultery with your neighbor’s wife.”

The Prophet ﷺ also said, “Taking a believer’s life is more grievous in Allah’s sight than the perishing of this world.” (Agreed upon)

13) WRONGLY CONSUMING AN ORPHAN’S PROPERTY

Allah, the Most High, says,

{Those who unjustly eat up the property of orphans eat up fire into their own bodies: they will soon be enduring a blazing fire.} (Al-Nisa’: 10)

The Qur’an also states,

{Come not nigh to the orphan’s property except to improve it, until he attains the age of full strength.}

(Al-An’aam: 152)

The Prophet ﷺ said,

“When I was taken up in Ascent (Mi’raj) I saw some men gapping their jaws under the coercion of other men. Then came another man who fed them stones of fire that penetrated their bodies and came out from their anus. I wondered: ‘Who are they, Gabriel?’ He replied, ‘They are those who unjustly eat up the property of orphans eat up a fire intotheir bodies.” (Muslim)

Scholars said that there is no harm if a poor guardian of an orphan consumes some of his charge’s property without exceeding what is permissible as much as he disposes and improves his business affairs. What is in excess of the permissible is absolutely unlawful.

18) BEARING FALSE WITNESS

AIIah, Most High says;

{Those who witness no falsehood and if they pass by futility, they pass by it with honorable (avoidance)} (AI-Furqan: 72)

It was narrated that,

“Bearing false witness is mentioned twice as equal as associating others with Allah (in the Qur’an)“1

The Prophet ﷺ said,

“On the Day of Judgement, the feet of the person who bore false witness will not stir from their place before their owner is condemned to Hell.”(Ibn Majah)

The author (may Allah have mercy on him) said that the one who bore false witness has committed many major sins among which is:

(a) Lying and false allegation.

(b) He oppressed the one who bore witness against him as he appropriated his property, honour and soul.

(c) He oppressed the one who bore witness for him as he brought unlawful property to him and thus made him entail the Hell-Fire.”

 (d) He made what Allah forbids of property, blood and honour permissible.

21) ACCUSING A WOMAN OF ADULTERY

Allah Most High says,

• {Those who slander chaste secured, and believing women are cursed in this life and in the hereafter: for them is a grievous chastisement. On the day when their tongues, their hands, and their feet will bear witness against them as to their as to their actions.} (24: 23-24)
• {And those who launch a charge against chaste women and produce not four witnesses (to support their allegations) -flog them with eighty stripes: and reject their evidence ever after: for such men are wicked transgressors.} (24: 4)

Allah the Almighty in these verses makes it clear that whosoever unjustly accuses as chaste free woman of committing adultery is cursed both in this world and in the hereafter, and deserves grave chastisement.

In addition, he is flogged with eighty lashes and his witness is not accepted even though he is just.

In the Sahih Bukhari and Muslim – The Prophet ﷺ says, “Avoid seven heinous sins…..”

And among which he mentioned charging believing women, unmindful though innocent, with adultery”

An example of such an accusation is if someone says to a Muslim chaste free woman:” You are an adulteress.” or “a harlot”, or “a whore” or to say to her husband, “you are the prostitute’s husband” or to call her child as ” the whore’s child”

The same rule is applied if someone slanders a man of committing adultery, or a free boy with pederasty. The unjust accuser in all the above cases must suffer eighty stripes unless he brings a testimony of four men who support his allegation. Otherwise, he must be flogged with eighty lashes upon the request of the offended person.

A lot of ignorant people are indulged in such offenses which procure the chastisement in this world and in the hereafter. When a person says something unknowingly right or wrong, it may lead him to fall down in hell as far away as the distance between the east and west.

‘Uqbah Ibn ‘ Amir once asked the Prophet ﷺ, “What is the salvation, Allah’s Apostle?” The Prophet said, “Control your tongue, keep inside your house, and weep (be sorry) for your sins. And the person farthest from Allah will be the one whose heart is hard” (Tirmidhi)

Prophet ﷺ also said, “Verily Allah dislikes the indecent obscene person ” (Tirmidhi)

39) BREACH OF FATIH 

Allah Most High says,

{O ye that believe! Betray not the trust of Allah and the Messenger, nor misappropriate knowingly things entrusted to you.} (Al-anfal: 27)

AI-Wahidi (may Allah bestow mercy on him) said, “This verse is revealed concerning Abu Lubabah who was sent by the Prophet ﷺ to the Jews of Banu Quraizah during the siege of Muslims to their land. The Jews said to Abu Lubabah, these families are living among the Jews, what do you say concerning the submission to the judgment of sai’d. Abu Lubabah then pointed at his throat meaning that Sa’d would sentence you to be slaughtered. Abu Lubabah said, “I have not moved from my place until I realized that I betrayed Allah and His Messenger.”

“Nor misappropriate knowingly things entrusted to you” means that Muslims are commanded to avoid betraying their trusts as they are prohibited to betray Allah and His Messenger ﷺ. Ibn ‘Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) said, “Trust” means what Allah has entrusted Man with, i.e, the religious. Thus they are prohibited.

AI-Kalbi explained, “Disobedience to Allah and His Messenger ﷺ means betraying the trust. However, man is entrusted with the other trusts like the religious duties even he can unlawfully betray them in secret.”

“Knowingly” refers to the fact that man is commanded to avoid betraying the trusts as long as he undoubtedly knows the sacredness of these trusts.

The Glorious Qur’an moreover explains, {Allah will never guide the snare of the false ones.} (Yusuf: 52) This glorious verse indicates that Allah will ever set the affairs of the treacherous ones in order. On the Day of Judgment, He will publicize their faults before people.

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,

“Three are the signs of the hypocrite: When he talks, he lies; when he makes a promise, he breaks it and when he is given a trust, he betrays.”(Bukhari)

Some matters are worse than the others. A person who cheats one for a pittance is not like a person who betrays one concerning one’s wife and money, perpetrating outrages.

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ declared further,

“Allah Most High says, ‘I bless the partners as long as no one betrays the other.” (Abu Dawood)

44) CURSING OTHERS

The Prophet ﷺ said,

• “Insulting a Muslim is an act of immorality and fighting him is an act of disbelief.”(Bukhari)
• “Cursing a believer is like killing him.” (Bukhari)
• “Those who indulge in cursing others will not be intercessors or witnesses on the Day of Judgment.” (Muslim)
• “It is not the character of a believer to indulge in slandering, cursing, or immoral talk.”(Tirmidhi)
• “When a servant curses something, the curse rises up to the sky, where the doors of the sky shut it out, and then it falls back to earth, where the doors of the earth shut it out. Then it searches right and left and when it does not find anywhere to go it comes back to the thing which was cursed, should it deserve it. If not, it returns upon the person who uttered it.”(Abu Dawood)

`Amr Ibn Qays said, “When a man rides on his mount, it says, “O Allah! Make him kind and merciful with me!’ should he curse it, it would say, ‘On my back is the worst disobedient to Allah and His Messenger. May Allah curse him (the man who rides it)!”

Allah Most High says, {Behold! The curse of Allah is on those who do wrong!} (Hud: 18)

However, many hadiths verify that the Prophet ﷺ said,

• “Allah has cursed the one who takes usury, the one who pays it, the one who writes the contract, and the one who witnesses the contract.”1 
• “Allah curses the man who marries a woman after her divorce solely to permit her first husband to remarry her and He curses the first husband as well.”
• “The Prophet ﷺ cursed men who imitate women and women who imitate men.”

It is permissible (but not rewarded by Allah) to curse those who possess blameworthy characteristics, by saying, “Allah curses oppressors,” “Allah curses the corrupt,” “Allah curses picture-makers,” and so forth.

As for cursing a particular person who commits some act of disobedience, such as an oppressor, adulterer, maker of pictures, the thief, or the one who consumes usurious gain; the hadith evidence seems to suggest that it is not unlawful though Ghazali indicates (and it is the most reliable opinion) that is unlawful unless the person cursed is someone we know has died in a state of unbelief, such as Abu Lahab,

Abu Jahl, Pharaoh, Haman, and others like them. This, Ghazali notes, is because “to curse means to distance another from the mercy of Allah Most High, while we do not know how the particular corrupt person or non-Muslim will end his life.”

The scholars therefore say, “Whoever curses someone who does not deserve so, let the former modify it by saying, if he deserves to be cursed.'”

It is permissible for one who invites to good and forbids evil to address someone saying, “woe to you’, “O you who have wronged his own self” and the like. Provided that he should avoid lying defamation, slander. Besides this, his objective should be admonishing and not insulting people.

50) EXCESS AGAINST OTHERS

Allah, the Almighty said,

{The blame is only against those who oppress men with wrong-doing and insolently transgress beyond bounds through the land, defying right and justice: for such there will be a chastisement grievous}(Ash-Shura: 42)

The Prophet ﷺ said,

• “Allah has inspired to me that you are all to be humble and that no one should exalt himself above another.” (Muslim)
• “There is no sin whose owner is more deserving to be tortured by Allah in this world along with punishment in the Hereafter than the one who transgresses against others and severs the relation with one’s kin.”(Ibn Majah)

51) OVERBURDENING & ARROGANCE AGAINST OTHERS

This includes overbearing the weak, the male slave, the female slave, the wife and the beast. Allah, the Almighty ordered us to deal in kindness towards these varieties. He said,

{Serve Allah and join not any partners with Him, and do good to parents, kinsfolk, orphans, those in need, neighbours who are of kin, neighbours who are strangers, the companion by your side, the way-fairer( ye meet) and what your right hands possess: for Allah loveth not the arrogant, the vainglorious} (An-Nisa’: 36)

Concerning Allah’s saying,

{Serve Allah, and join not any partners with Him}

Al-Wahidi said “Ahmad Ibn Ibrahim Al-Mahragjani told us on the authority of Mu’adh Ibn Jabal (may Allah be please with him) who said, once I was riding behind the Prophet ﷺ on a donkey. The Prophet said, O Mu’adh, I said, here I am! At your service O Messenger of Allah. He said, “Do you know what are the rights of Allah towards His servants and what are the rights of the servants towards their Lord? I said, “Allah and His Messenger know best. He said, “The rights of Allah towards His servants is to worship Him and ascribe not any partners unto Him and the right of servants towards their Lord is to torment not the one who does not ascribe any partner unto Him.” (Bukhari)

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,

• “The one who treat what he owns in an evil way will never enter Paradise.”(Ibn Majah)
• “Allah will torture those who torture people in this worldly life” (Muslim)

In his death-disease, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to advise his Companions saying,

“Be heedful of prayer and of those whom your right hands possess. Feed them from what you feed yourselves and clothe them from what you clothe yourselves. Do not burden them with something beyond their capacity. In case you burden them, you should help them to fulfill it. Do not torment the creatures of Allah, for Allah made you the owners.”

It is reported that,

“These communities will be brought on the Day of Judgment while the people will be brought on the Day of Judgment. While the people are standing, there will be judgment amongst the animals to such an extent that the bald-headed sheep will retaliate from the horny and the atom from another.. Then it will be said to them, ‘Be dust.’ At this moment the disbeliever will say, “Woe unto me! Would that I were (mere) dust! “ (Muslim)

This is evidence that there will be Judgment between the animals and the human being to such an extent that if a person unjustly beat an animal, or made it thirsty, prevented it food, or burdened it with that which is beyond its capacity, it will retaliate against him on the Day of Judgment in an equal way. To support this, we have the following evidence from the two Sahihs:

Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) said, “The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,

“A woman was tortured for a cat she imprisoned until it died. She went to Hell because of it, having neither fed it nor watered it, for she confined it and would not let it go to forage on the small creatures of the earth.”

This is applied to all kinds of animals. By the same token, the one who burdens the animals with that which beyond their capacity, they will retaliate against him on the Day of Judgment.

Even with what the Shari’ah allowed us to kill from animals, such as scorpions, snakes, mice and vicious dogs, “We are ordered to take their lives at once and should not torture them.

54) HARMING THE SERVANTS OF ALLAH

Allah the Almighty has said,

• {And those who annoy believing men and women undeservedly, bear (on themselves) a calumny and a glaring sin.}(AI-Ahzahb: 58)
• {And lower thy wing to the believers who follow thee.} (Ash-Shu’ara’: 216)

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,

“Allah said (in a Qudsi hadith), “He who is hostile to a friend of Mine, I declare war against. In another narration, “Then I apprise him with a war.”(Bukhari)

“Once Abu Sufyan came to Salman, Suhayb and Bilal while they were in gathering with some other people. They said, “By Allah, the swords of Allah did not yet take its right from the enemy of Allah. Abu Bakr (,may Allah be pleased with him) said, “Did you say such words for the sheikh and master of Quraish? He, then came to the Prophet ﷺ and told him. The Prophet said, “0 Abu Bakr if you anger them, you anger your Lord”. Abu Bakr (R.A) when to them and asked, “0 my brothers! Did I anger you? They replied, “No, may Allah forgive you our brother?” (Muslim)

Allah, the Almighty said,

{And keep yourself content with those who call on their Lord, morning and evening, seeking his face.} (AI-Kahf: 28)

This verse was revealed concerning preference of the poor. Its cause of revelation goes as follows: the first to believe in Allah’s Prophet ﷺ were the poor. This is true with respect of every sent Prophet. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to set with the poor amongst his companions such as, Salman, Suhayb, Bilal and `Ammar Ibn Yasir (may Allah be pleased with them all). Consequently the polytheists wanted to trap him by driving out the poor for they heard that the first sign of the true Prophet is that he would be followed by the poor. Some polytheists came to the Prophet and said, “O Muhammad, drive the poor out for we disdain to sit with them. If you drive them out, the masters and notable of people will believe in you. Consequently, Allah, the Almighty revealed,

{Send not away those who call on their Lord, morning and evening, seeking His face.} (Al-An’am: 52)

60) ARGUING, PICKING APART ANOTHER’s WORDS & QUARRELING 

Allah, the Almighty has said, {There is the type of man whose speech about this worldly life may dazzle thee and he calls Allah to witness about what is in his heart, yet he is the most contentious of enemies. When he turns his back, his aim everywhere is to spread mischief through the earth and destroy crops and progeny but Allah loveth not mischief} (AI-Baqarah: 204-205)

Imam AI-Ghazali (may Allah have mercy on him) said, ” Picking apart another’s words consists of attacking another’s speech by revealing the mistakes in it, involving no other motive than contempt for the other and displaying one’s cleverness. He also said, disputation is what relates to clarifying various legal positions and making a case for them. Concerning arguing, he also said, “Arguing is importunateness in speech to gain one’s end, whether monetary or other. It may be initiated by oneself or in response to another.

An-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said, “Disputation may be true or false.” Allah, the almighty said,

• {And dispute ye not with the People of the Book, except in the best way.} (Al-‘ Ankabut: 46)
• {And dispute with them in the best way.} (An-Nahl: 125)
• {None can dispute about the signs of Allah but the unbelievers.} (Ghafir: 4)

Therefore, when the intention behind disputation is to reveal the truth, then it is recommended. But if it is intended to confront the truth or unknowingly done, then it is unlawful. According to this detail, the texts concerning its permissibility or prohibition were revealed.

If one objects that a person must argue to obtain his rights, the reply is that as Al-Ghazali (may Allah have mercy on him.” The stern condemnation of it applies to those who argue without right or knowledge, such as the deputy of the judge who proceeds in dealing with disputation before knowing justice and on which side it is so he disputes without knowledge.

Of stern condemnation is the one who demands his right. That is because such a person does not only demand his right, but displays picking apart others’ words, lying, harming and assaulting towards his opponent. Or someone who adds abuse to his speech that is necessary to secure his rights, or is motivated to argue by nothing besides an obstinate desire to win and to finish his opponent.

As for someone who has been wronged and makes his case in away compatible with the Sacred Law, without belligerence, excessiveness, or importunateness, and not intending mere obstinacy and abuse, it is not unlawful, though it is better to avoid it if there is no way to do so, for keeping one’s tongue within the limits of fair play during the course of an argument is virtually impossible, Moreover, arguing produces rancor in hearts and causes animosity that can lead to actual hatred between two people, until each comes to be pleased when harm befalls the other and to be displeased at the good, and unleashes his tongue against the other’s reputation. Whoever argues runs the risk of these calamities. At minimum, a quarrel comes to preoccupy one’s heart so that during the prayer one’s thoughts turn to debating and arguing, and one does not remain, as one should, Disputation is the source of evil as well as arguing and picking a part one’s words,

Therefore, one should not open the door for disputation unless for a necessity.

On the authority of Ibn `Abbas (may Allah be pleased with both of them) who said. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “It is enough sinful to be an arguing person.”(Tirmidhi)

Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) is reported to have said, “Disputation invokes disasters (upon the person).

On the authority of Abu Umamah (may Allah be pleased with him) who said, “The Prophet ﷺ said,

“No people went astray after having been guided save that they were afflicted with arguing” then he recited, {They did not mention him (Jesus) to you as an example except for argument.} (AI-Zukhruf: 58)”(Tirmidhi)

The Prophet ﷺ said, “Arguing over the Qur’an is unbelief.”  (Abu Dawood)