Piety And Islamic Rules
Rules made
by God Almighty are binding and
it does not make any difference
whether they are real or
superficial (apparent), for
benefits and harms in them have
been taken into consideration.
Therefore, when a religious
authority issues a religious
decree, he should be careful not
to let his own opinion interfere
in his Fatwa. Ibn Shabramah has
been reported by Ibnul Sheikh in
his Majalis from Husayn ibn
Ubaydillah al-Ghadha’iri as
saying: “Abu Haneefah and I went
to see Imam Sadiq (AS).
I said: ‘God
has honored you. This is a man
from Iraq, who has an
understanding of religion and
wisdom.’ Imam Sadiq (AS) said:
‘Perhaps he is the one who
interprets religion due to his
own opinion.’ Then the Imam (AS)
said: ‘Which one is greater,
prayer or fasting? I said:
‘Prayer.’ The Imam (AS) said:
‘Why is it that a menstruating
woman has to fast the missed
days of fasting, but she does
not have to perform the missed
prayers (because of
menstruation)? O Servant of
Allah, fear Allah.”
1. Taqiyyah
If a
servant of Allah wants to
observe a real rule which
entails risk, it is unlawful. He
has to observe the superficial
rule. Traditions on
dissimulation (Taqiyyah) which
has the same root as Taqwa refer
to the same meaning.
Dissimulation is a kind and the
highest degree of piety.
Abdullah ibn Jundab has been
reported by Hammad ibn Eesa as
saying: “Imam Musa al-Kadhim
(AS), in giving the meaning of
this verse: “Surely, the most
honorable of you with Allah is
the most careful of his duty”,
has said: ‘It is the one with
the utmost piety.’”
Abdullah
ibn Ya’foor reports: “I heard
Imam Sadiq (AS) say: ‘Taqiyyah
is the shield and the protector
of a believer. One who has no
Taqiyyah is not a believer.”
Imam
Sadiq (AS) has also been
reported as saying: “There is
nothing better than ‘Khaba’ to
God in worshipping Him. I asked
what ‘Khaba’ is, and the Imam
said: ‘It is the same as
Taqiyyah.’”
There are
many traditions on Taqiyyah
which mean sometimes that man
should conceal his faith in
order to protect his own life
and sometimes the lives of
others.
At some
times, it is necessary for a
Muslim to perform his religious
duties like the opponents.
Sayyid Murtadha (may Allah have
mercy on him) has mentioned in
his book al-Muhkam
wel-Mutashabih that Imam Ali
(AS) said: “When man has the
option, he has been forbidden to
take an unbeliever as his leader
of Imam. Nevertheless, God has
obliged man by giving him
permission (dissimulation) to
fast as the opponents fast,
break his fasting like them, and
perform prayer as they do out of
Taqiyyah. Otherwise, it is
incumbent upon him to follow his
own beliefs.
God
Almighty has said: “Let
not the believers take the
unbelievers for friends rather
than the believers; and whoever
does this shall have nothing of
(the guardianship of) Allah, but
you should guard yourselves
against them, guarding
carefully; and Allah makes you
cautious of Himself.”
Therefore, dissimulation is a
blessing that God has given to
the believers so as to save
themselves and others. The
Messenger of Allah (SAW) has
said: “Allah likes His servants
to observe what He has permitted
and what he has forbidden.”
2. Ablution (Wudu’)
Dawood ar-Raqqi
has been reported as saying:
“One day, I went to Imam Sadiq
(AS) to ask him how to perform
ablution correctly. The Imam
(AS) said: ‘What God has made
obligatory is to wash the face
once. The Messenger of Allah
(SAW) has added one more to it
to mind for the weak people.
Whoever washes his face three
times, his prayer will become
invalid.’ At this time, Dawood
ibn Zurbi arrived and asked the
same question. The Imam (AS)
said: ‘Three times, three times
and whoever does less than that,
his prayer is not valid.’
My (Dawood
ar-Raqqi) body started
shivering. I was being almost
tempted by Satan. Seeing a
change of color in me, Imam
Sadiq (AS) said: O Dawood, calm
down! Which one is of unbelief,
this order or the act of
beheading?’
When we went
out, we found that people had
spoken ill of Ibn Zurbi before
al-Mansoor ad-Dawaneeqi (the
Abbasid caliph), accusing him of
being heretic and associating
with Imam Sadiq (AS). Ibn Zurbi
was in an orchard near the
orchard of al-Mansoor.
Al-Mansoor
said to himself: “I will try him
to see how he performs his
ablution. If he does it like
Ja'far ibn Mohammad (AS) which I
do not approve, it will become
evident that what they say about
him is true. In that case, I
will kill him.” Therefore, he
waited for Ibn Zurbi to perform
ablution. Ibn Zurbi did as Imam
Sadiq (AS) had told him.
Al-Mansoor sent someone to call
him.
Dawood says:
‘When I went to al-Mansoor, he
greeted me, saying: ‘O Dawood!
They have said something wrong
about you. The way you performed
ablution was not like the
purification by the heretics, so
forgive me.’ Then he ordered a
hundred thousand Dirhams to be
given to him.’
Dawood ibn
Zurbi and I went to see Imam
Sadiq (AS). Zurbi said: my
master, you save my life in this
world. Thanks to you. We hope
for paradise. The Imam said:
‘May God reward you and all the
believers.’
Addressing
Zurbi, the Imam said: ‘Tell
Dawood ar-Raqqi what happened to
you so that he will have no
fear.’
Dawood Zurbi
says: ‘I told him the whole
story. The Imam (AS) said: ‘It
was for this reason that I
issued such a Fatwa for him,
knowing that he may be killed.’
Then, the Imam said: ‘O Dawood
ibn Zurbi! Wash your face twice
when performing ablution. Do not
add, for if you add to it, your
prayer will become invalid.’”
The same
story happened between Ali ibn
Yaqteen and Imam Musa al-Kadhim
(a.s.) who first ordered him to
perform ablution like the
opponents, and when the danger
of Haroon ar-Rasheed (the
Abbasid caliph) had gone, in a
letter, he said: “O Ali ibn
Yaqteen! Perform ablution as God
Almighty has ordered… for the
danger that we were afraid for
you of has gone.”
3. Prayer
Imam Musa
ibn Ja'far (AS) has been
reported by Ali (AS) ibn Yaqteen
and Sheikh Sadooq as saying:
“When dissimulating, it is valid
to prostrate on clothes and
carpets.”
Imam Reza
(AS) has been reported by
Bazanti as saying: “In relation
to Qunoot (supplicating Allah
earnestly in the prayer), Imam
Baqir (AS) has said: “You have
an option to or not to recite
Qunoot.”
Imam Musa
al-Kadhim(AS) has said: “When
you are in Taqiyyah, do not
recite Qunoot, and I will be
answerable for that.”
Abdullah
ibn Sinan reports: “I heard Imam
Sadiq (AS) say: “I invite you to
fear Allah. Never be tough to
people, for you will be abased.
God Almighty has said: “…you
shall speak kindly to people.””
Then the
Imam said: “Visit their
(non-Shia Muslims) patients,
take part in their funerals,
bear witness for and against
them and perform prayers with
them in their mosques.”
Imam
Sadiq (AS) has also been
reported as saying: “Whoever
performs prayer with them in the
first line is like one who has
performed prayer behind the
Messenger of Allah (SAW) in the
first line.”
In another
narration, we read that the Imam
said to Isshaq ibn Ammar: “Take
part in their prayer, for
whoever performs prayer in the
first line with them, is like
one who has drawn the sword in
the way of Allah.”
4. Fasting
There are
numerous traditions on fasting
in which the infallible Imams
(AS) did not observe fasting to
cope with the tyrant caliphs.
One of the companions of Imam
Sadiq (AS), who had come to
visit him, said: “Would you
break your fasting on a day of
Ramadan?” The Imam said: “Yes,
by Allah! To violate my fasting
in a day of Ramadan is better to
me than to be beheaded.”
From what we
have said, it is inferred that
we have to do what is obligatory
and to avoid what is forbidden
when there is no obstacle on the
way. But, in certain
circumstances, we have to
forsake an obligatory act and do
something forbidden in order not
to appear as opponent (to
others). We should practice
Taqwa in a way that if our Imam
divides a pomegranate into two
and says that this part is
lawful and the other part is
unlawful, we should
unconditionally accept it. We
should say to ourselves: What
the Imam says is exactly what
the prophet and God say.
As Taqiyyah
is applied in the Islamic rules,
it is applied in relation to
ideology too. There are many
narrations in this connection.
Imam Sadiq (AS) has said: “Be
careful of your religion.
Conceal it with Taqiyyah, for
there is no faith for one who
does not observe Taqiyyah. You
are like a honeybee among birds.
If a bird knows what is inside a
honeybee, it will keep on eating
the honey until nothing remains
of it. If the opponents know
that there is the love of the
Ahl al-Bayt in your hearts, they
will eat you with their tongues
and will curse you openly and
secretly. May God bless a
servant who follows our
guardianship (wilayah).”
In some
traditions, Imam Ali (AS) has
said: “Soon, you will be asked
to curse me. Curse me, but when
you are asked to disavow me, do
not do it, for I am on the Fitra
(nature of true faith).”
In certain
narrations, we read: “Do not do
it (do not disavow me) even if
you are killed.”
It is well
to mention that Taqiyyah is not
a feature of our time, rather it
was part of the rules of former
religions too. The Companions of
the Cave, the believer of Aal
Firoun (the family of the
Pharaoh), and Assiyah wife of
the Pharaoh are good examples.
On the
concealing of faith by Abu
Talib, Imam Sadiq (AS) mentions
the example of the Companions of
the Cave, saying: “The example
of Abu Talib is like the
Companions of the Cave, who
concealed their faith and
declared atheism. So God
rewarded them twice.”
As for
disavowing, Maytham at-Tammar
an-Nahrawani says: “One day,
Ameerul Mo’minin (AS) called me,
saying: ‘O Maytham! What will
you do if Ubeidillah asks you to
declare immunity towards me or
he will call you bastard?’
Maytham said: ‘By Allah, I will
never disavow you. The Imam (AS)
said: ‘By Allah, he will either
kill or hang you.’ Maytham said:
‘I will endure it! This is the
least I can do in the way of
God!’”
Imam
Sadiq (AS) has been reported by
Mohammad Ibn Marwan as saying:
“What prevented Maytham from
practicing Taqiyyah? By Allah,
he truly knew that this verse “…he
who is compelled while his heart
is at rest.” was
revealed in honor of Ammar and
his companions.”
In the
exegesis (tafsir) of Qumi, we
read: “The tribe of Quraish
arrested Ammar in Mecca. They
tortured him with fire to compel
him to utter what they wanted,
but his heart was full of faith.
The verse “…except he, who is
compelled while his heart is
content with faith”,
refers to Ammar ibn Yassir.”
Ammar ibn
Yassir is one of the persons
whose perfect faith the
Messenger of Allah (SAW) has
testified. The opponents too
have said: “The faith of Ammar
is up to his shoulders.”
It is
narrated that one day Ammar
asked the Holy Prophet’s
permission to enter his room. As
soon as Ammar entered the room,
the Holy Prophet (SAW) said:
“Welcome, O the purified one!”
Ammar is one
about whom the Holy Prophet
(SAW) has said: “Whoever is the
enemy of Ammar is the enemy of
God and whoever has rancor
against Ammar has rancor against
God.” Ammar is one about whom
the Holy Prophet (SAW) has said:
“Paradise longs for four
persons: Ammar, Ali, Salman and
Miqdad.” In another narration,
we read: “Paradise longs for
Ali, Ammar, Salman and Bilal.”
Ammar was
one of those persons, who along
with his father Yassir and his
mother Sommayyah, lived in the
desert of Mecca with sufferings.
He was ninety when martyred at
Siffeen.”
5. Trade
Imam Sadiq
(AS) has been reported by Ali
ibn Abdul Aziz as having asked:
“What did Umar ibn Muslim do?” I
said: “He has become an ascetic,
leaving aside trade.” The Imam
(AS) said: “Woe unto him! Does
he not know that the prayer of
one who leaves trade is not
responded to?”
Then, the
Imam said: “Some of the
companions of the Holy Prophet
(SAW), who had heard this
verse: “…and
whoever is careful of (his duty)
to Allah, He will make for him
an outlet and give him
sustenance from whence he thinks
not”, closed
the doors behind themselves,
were engaged in worshipping God,
saying: ‘This is sufficient for
us.’ This news reached the Holy
Prophet (SAW). So he sent for
them, saying: “What made you to
do so?” They said: “O messenger
of Allah! God gives us our
sustenance. Therefore, we are
engaged only in worshipping.”
The Holy
Prophet (SAW) said: “Whoever
does this, God will not respond
to his prayer. It is incumbent
upon you to be engaged in a
business.”
The Holy
Prophet (SAW) and Imam Sadiq
(AS) have been reported as
saying: “Not being dependent on
others is a good example of
divine piety.”
Imam
Sadiq (AS) has also said:
“Cursed is one who is a burden
to others.”
Piety And Trade (Business)
One of the
topics dealt with in the Holy
Quran and Hadith is the question
of trade and business as
elaborated in the books of
jurisprudence. Some scholars
have written separate books on
it. In this relation, we can
mention Makasib written by the
master of jurisprudence Sheikh
Ansari, and Anees al-Tejarat
written for the Farsi-speakers
by Allamah Naraghi, which is the
best of its kind. As for books
of Hadith, which deal with trade
and business, we can mention
such books as Wasa’il al-Shiah,
and Bihar al-Anwar, one or two
volumes of which have been
devoted to this topic. In these
books, there are traditions on
the merits of trade and business
and the care one must take in
relation to them.
Jameel
ibn Salih has reported Imam
Sadiq (AS) as saying about the
verse: “Our
Lord! Grant us good in this word
and good in the hereafter.”,
“The meaning of good is the
pleasure of God and paradise in
the hereafter, abundant
sustenance, and good temper in
the world.”
Imam
Sadiq (AS) has reported Imam Ali
(AS) as saying to Mawali: “Engage
in trade, and God will give you
blessings, for I heard the
Messenger of Allah (SA) say:
“Sustenance has ten parts, nine
of which are in trade and one
part is in other things.”
It has
been narrated that Asbaat came
to see the Imam who asked after
Umar ibn Muslim. Asbaat said:
“He is a righteous man, but he
has put trading aside.” The Imam
said: “It is an act of Satan.”
The Imam repeated this three
times and said: “Do you not know
that the Messenger of Allah
(SAW) bought a flock of sheep
from Damascus and sold them with
profit in a way that he paid his
debt and divided the rest among
the relatives.? On this
occasion, God revealed the
following verse: “Men
whom neither merchandise nor
selling diverts from remembrance
of Allah.”
The Imam
(AS) has also been reported as
saying: “Leaving trade will
diminish one’s wisdom.”
It has been
narrated: “The disciples of
Jesus (AS) were walking behind
him and whenever they got
hungry, they would ask: ‘O
Spirit of Allah! We are hungry.’
Jesus (AS) touched the earth and
water gushed out. The disciples
drank from it and said: ‘O
Spirit of Allah, Who is better
than us! When we get hungry, you
give us food, and when we get
thirsty, you quench our thirst.
We truly have faith in you and
follow you?’
Jesus (AS)
said: ‘Better than you is one
who works with his own hands and
eats from what he himself
earns.’”
Imam Sadiq
(AS) has been reported as
saying: “God revealed to Prophet
Dawood (David) (AS): “You were a
good servant if you did not eat
from the public treasury. You do
not do work with your own
hands!”
Prophet
David began weeping. God
revealed to iron: “Be soft and
lenient for My servant, Dawood!”
God Almighty
made iron soft for him in a way
that Prophet Dawood (a.s.) would
make a cuirass every day and
sell it for a thousand Dirhams.
He made 360 cuirasses, selling
them for 360 thousand Dirhams
and was never in need of the
public treasury.”
Having a
share of the public treasury
does not necessarily mean a bad
thing, but in the story of
Prophet Dawood, there was wisdom
behind it.
Mohammad ibn
Munkadir reports: “On a hot day,
I went to Medina where I saw
Imam al-Baqir (AS) leaning on
two slaves due to his being
corpulent. I said to myself: ‘A
great man of Quraish working at
this hour of day in search of
the material world! I will
certainly give him an advice.’
Therefore, I approached and
saluted him. While gasping, the
Imam (AS) greeted me back. Sweat
was pouring from his head and
face because of hot weather.
I said:
‘May Allah improve your affairs!
A great man of Quraish seeking
the world at this time of the
day! What will happen if death
overtakes you in this
situation?’ Taking his hands
away from the shoulders of the
two slaves and leaning against
the wall, he said: ‘By Allah, if
death overtakes me and I am in
this situation, I will be in a
state of obedience to Allah by
which I can preserve my value
from you and people. I am afraid
of death only when I am
committing a sin!’ I said: ‘May
Allah bless you! I intended to
give you advice, butyou gave
me advice.’”
Furthermore,
trade and business must be
accompanied with an
understanding of the Islamic
rules. Al-Asbagh ibn Nabatah
reports: “I heard Ameerul
Mo’minin say from on the pulpit:
‘O group of tradesmen! First,
you should learn and know the
rules of lawful and unlawful
trade and then engage in trade.
By God, usury amongst this Ummah
is more hidden than an ant
walking on a black stone. Let
your faith be intermingled with
truthfulness. A tradesman is a
transgressor and transgressors
are in fire unless you give with
justice and take with justice.”
Imam
Baqir (AS) has been reported by
Jabir as saying: “Ameerul
Mo’minin used to walk in the
marketplace with a whip in his
hand. He stopped in a place and
said: ‘O group of tradesmen!
Fear Allah!’ Then, he would
remind them of what was related
to trade: usury, selling with
underweight, injustice, false
oath, besides fairness and
justice.”
In addition
to knowing the rules of trade, a
Muslim should act according to
his own duty and safeguard the
dignity and honor of Muslims and
Islam. He should not do anything
for which the enemies of Islam
will mock at us. A tradesman
must be a model for Islam, not a
source of dishonor.
He should
observe what is recommended and
not blameworthy in business or
trade. He should practice what
is lawful and avoid what is
unlawful like monopoly,
underweight selling, and usury.
Truly, one
of the activities of human
beings in the world is business
and trade. If transactions are
made justly, they are
permissible, praiseworthy and
even obligatory. However, if
they are not done correctly and
are contrary to the rules of
Islam, they are blameworthy or
unlawful.
One of
the cases that trade is blamed
for is to earn wealth through
usury against which God has
warned in the Holy Quran: “…Allah does not
bless usury, and He causes
charitable deeds to prosper.”
Elsewhere, God has said: “O
ye who believe! Observe your
duty to Allah, and give up what
remains (due to you) from usury,
if ye are (in truth) believers.
And if you do not, then be
warned of war (against you) from
Allah and His messenger.”
Usury has
been discussed in detail in
books of jurisprudence and is
considered as a major sin. The
rulings on it can be found in
the same books.
As for
the punishment of usury, Imam
Sadiq (AS) has been reported as
saying: “One Dirham of usury to
God is worse than seventy acts
of incest committed in the House
of God.”
The Holy
Prophet (SAW) has been reported
as saying: “One who swallows
down usury, God will fill his
stomach with the fire of hell as
much as he has swallowed down
usury. Should he earn a wealth
after that, God will not accept
anything of his act. God and His
angels will curse him, as long
as a measure of one carat from
usury is with him.”
The Holy
prophet (SAW) has also been
reported as saying: “The worst
trade is the one mixed with
usury.” Such a trade is
forbidden in all religions and
by all prophets.
Allamah Qutb
Ravandi in his book Da’awat has
reported: “The Messenger of
Allah (SAW), during his night
journey, saw a red river with a
man swimming in it. On the bank
of the river, there was sitting
a man with many stones around
him. The swimmer would often
come to this man and open his
mouth. The man sitting on the
bank of the river would put a
stone in the swimmer’s mouth.
This was his repeated doing.
The Holy
prophet (SAW) asked about it and
it was said to him: “He has
eaten usury during his life.”
Imam Ali (AS) has been reported
by Imam Baqir (AS) as saying:
“One who eats usury, the agent,
the one who writes (the
contract), and the two witnesses
involved in the dealing of usury
are equal in the sin.”
Allamah
Tabarsi mentions that Imam Ali
(a.s.) said: “The Messenger of
Allah has cursed five groups of
people concerning usury; the
eater of usury, the agent, the
two witnesses, and the writer
(of the contract).”
It is for
this reason that the Lord of the
universe has made piety
obligatory in the matter of
usury. Whenever the question of
sale and usury are raised, God
says, “Fear Allah” so that human
beings are warned against it and
keep away from this punishment.
Abu Hamzah ath-Thumali has
reported Imam Baqir (AS) as
saying: “The Messenger of Allah
(SAW), during the farewell
(last) Hajj, delivered a sermon,
saying: “O people! By Allah!
There is nothing that takes you
nearer to Paradise and keeps you
away from Fire except that I
have enjoined on it to you, and
there is nothing that takes you
near to fire and keeps you away
from Paradise except that I have
forbidden it. Be aware! Gabriel
inspired me that no one dies
unless he has fully received his
sustenance. Therefore, be
careful of your duty to Allah.
Behave well in seeking
sustenance. Take care not to get
anything unlawfully when your
sustenance comes late; for what
is with God cannot be sought
except by obedience to Him.”
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