BEWARE
OF UNVERIFIED PROPAGANDA,
RUMOURS AND HERALD DURING LIFE OF A MUSLIM
ASSEMBLED BY MALLAM ABBA
ABANA, KUBWA, ABUJA, NIGERIA
https://web.facebook.com/abba.abana
Bismillah Walhamdulillah Was Salaatu Was Salaam 'ala
Rasulillah. As-Salaam Alaikum Wa-Rahmatullahi Wa-Barakatuhu
Praise
be to Allaah; we seek His help and His forgiveness. We seek refuge with Allaah
from the evil of our own souls and from our bad deeds. Whomsoever Allaah guides
will never be led astray, and whomsoever Allaah leaves astray, no one can
guide. I bear witness
that there is no god but Allaah, and I bear witness that Muhammad (Sallalhu alaihi Wasalam) is His slave and Messenger.
CRUCIAL - BEWARE OF UNVERIFIED PROPAGANDA, RUMOURS AND HERALD DURING LIFE OF A MUSLIM
CRUCIAL - BEWARE OF UNVERIFIED PROPAGANDA, RUMOURS AND HERALD DURING LIFE OF A MUSLIM
Undoubtedly at times of tribulation there is a lot of
propaganda and excitement, hence the role of rumors and chitchats. Notably
today’s social media through Telephone/Mobile SMS, TV, Whatsapp, Facebook,
internet/email, Web Site blogs, Tweeter, YouTube, Amazon, Groupon etc. unwanted
rumors and gossips are rampant and thus Muslims should be extra careful in accordance with Sharia Law. Listen to ‘’Beware of Rumours and Accusations – By Mufti
Menk’’ - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S42NRNhY0OU.
It is well known that verifying news is required according to
sharee’ah, because Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): “O you who believe! If a Faasiq (liar —
evil person) comes to you with any news, verify it, lest you should harm people
in ignorance, and afterwards you become regretful for what you have done”[Holy
Quran Chapter al-Hujuraat 49:6]
Allah (SWT), The Lawgiver issued a
stern warning against passing on all that one hears. It was narrated that Hafs
ibn ‘Aasim said: The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) said: “It is enough lying for a man to speak of everything that he hears.”
Narrated by Muslim in al-Muqaddimah, 6; Saheeh al-Jaami,
4482.
It was narrated from Abu Hurayrah that
the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “It is enough sin
for a man to speak of everything that he hears.” Al-Silsilah al-Saheehah,
2025.
Al-Nawawi said: Usually a person hears
truth and lies, so if he speaks of everything that he hears, he is lying by
telling of things that did not happen, and lying by speaking of something other
than the way it happened; and he does not have to do that deliberately (in
order to be regarded as telling lies).
It was narrated that al-Mugheerah ibn
Shu’bah said: The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Allaah
has forbidden you to disobey your mothers, to bury your daughters alive, to not
pay the rights of others and to beg from others. And He dislikes gossip for
you, asking too many questions, and wasting money.” Narrated by al-Bukhaari,
2231.
Al-Haafiz ibn Hajar said: With
regard to the words ‘and He dislikes gossip [qeela wa qaala – lit. it was said
and he said] for you’ al-Muhibb al-Tabari said, there are three points of view
as to the meaning of this hadeeth:
1 – That it indicates that it is makrooh
(disliked) to speak too much, because it leads to mistakes.
2 – That it refers to wanting to pass
on what people say and looking for that in order to tell others of it, so that
one can say, “So and so said such and such, and Such and such was said…” The
prohibition on this is either a rebuke for doing too much of it or it refers to
a particular type of talk, which the person spoken of dislikes to have
mentioned.
3 – That it refers to narrating
differences of opinion concerning religious matters, such as saying, “This one
said such and such and that one said such and such.” The reason why this is
disliked is that speaking of such matters may lead to mistakes. This applies
especially to those who transmit such views without verifying them, merely
imitating those whom they hear without exercising any caution. I say: this is
supported by the saheeh hadeeth, “It is enough sin for a man to speak of
everything that he hears.” (narrated by Muslim).
It was narrated that Abu Qalaabah said:
Abu Mas’ood said to Abu ‘Abd-Allaah, or Abu ‘Abd-Allaah said to Abu Mas’ood:
What did you hear the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) say about saying “they say…”?
He said: I heard the Messenger of
Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) say: “How bad it is for a
man to keep saying, ‘They say…’. ” al-Silsilah al-Saheehah, 866.
Al-‘Azeemabaadi said: This means, it is
a bad way to reach one’s objective, by saying, ‘they say…’. Saying ‘they say…’
is akin to conjecture, i.e., the worst habit of a man is to use the phrase
‘they say’ to serve his purposes, so he tells of something, merely repeating
what others have said without verifying it, and thus he transmits lies … this
was the view of al-Manaawi.
Hence our righteous forebears were keen
to establish proof and were wary of rumours.
‘Umar (may Allaah be pleased with him)
said: “Beware of fitnah, for a word at the time of fitnah could be as
devastating as the sword.”
History shows us the danger of rumors
and tales when they spread among the ummah. There follow some examples of
that:
1 – When the Sahaabah migrated from
Makkah to Ethiopia, they were safe, but then a rumour spread that the kuffaar
of Quraysh in Makkah had become Muslims, so some of the Sahaabah left Ethiopia
and travelled until they reached Makkah, where they found that the report was
not true, and they met with persecution at the hands of Quraysh. All of that
happened because of rumours.
2 – During the Battle of Uhud, when
Mus’ab ibn ‘Umayr was killed, there was a rumour that it was the Messenger of
Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) who had been killed, so the
army of Islam withdrew because of a rumour, and some of them fled to Madeenah
and some stopped fighting.
3 – There was the rumour of the slander
incident (al-ifk), when the pure and innocent ‘Aa’ishah was accused of immoral
conduct, which led to the distress felt by the Messenger of Allaah (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) and the Muslims with him. All of that was
because of rumours.
So what is the proper shar’i method of
dealing with news?
There are ways of dealing with news
which we will look at in brief:
1 – DELIBERATION
The Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) said: “Deliberation is from Allaah and haste is from the
Shaytaan.” Al-Silsilah al-Saheehah, 1795. The one who deliberates
may meet some of his needs whilst the one who is hasty may slip.
2 – VERIFYING NEWS
Allaah says (interpretation of the
meaning): “O you who believe! If
a Faasiq (liar — evil person) comes to you with any news, verify it, lest you
should harm people in ignorance, and afterwards you become regretful for what
you have done”[ Holy Quran Chapter al-Hujuraat 49:6]
The reason why this verse was
revealed: The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) sent
al-Waleed ibn ‘Uqbah ibn Abi Mu’eet to Banu al-Mustaliq, to collect the zakaah
from them. When news of that reached them they rejoiced, and they came out to
meet the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). When
al-Waleed heard that they had come out to meet him, he went back to the
Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and said, “O
Messenger of Allaah, Banu al-Mustaliq have withheld the zakaah.”
The Messenger of Allaah (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) became very angry at that, and whilst he was
thinking of launching a campaign against them, the delegation came to him and
said, “O Messenger of Allaah, we were told that your envoy returned after
coming only half way, and we were afraid that he came back because he received
a message from you saying that you were angry with us. We seek refuge with
Allaah from the anger of Allaah and the anger of His Messenger.”
Then Allaah excused them in His Book
and revealed the words (interpretation of the meaning): “O you who believe! If a Faasiq (liar —
evil person) comes to you with any news, verify it, lest you should harm people
in ignorance, and afterwards you become regretful for what you have done”[ Holy
Quran Chapter al-Hujuraat 49:6]. See: al-Silsilah al-Saheehah,
3085.
What is meant by verifying is making
the effort to find out the truth of the matter, so as to establish whether this
can be proven or not.
Verifying means making certain of the
truth of the report and its circumstances.
Al-Hasan al-Basri said: “The believer
reserves judgement until the matter is proven.”
Finally: we advise everyone to verify
matters and not to rush to pass on news until they are sure that it is true,
even if the news is good news, because if it becomes apparent that the one who
passed it on is mistaken, he will lose credibility before the people… and
anyone who bears a grudge towards him will use it against him. May Allaah help
us all to do that which He loves and which pleases Him.
And Allaah knows best.
REFERENCES AND
SOURCES
Beware of rumours about
Sassa grants- http://www.georgeherald.com/news/News/General/181580/Beware-of-rumours-about-Sassa-grants,
Beware Of Fake Rumours | Kiraak Hyderabadiz- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6rngKWokNM,
Matthew 24:6- http://biblehub.com/matthew/24-6.htm,
BEWARE OF RUMOURS AND ACCUSATIONS - MUFTI MENK
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S42NRNhY0OU
Beware
of social media rumours'- http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/Beware-of-social-media-rumours/articleshow/53735538.cms
Islam Q&A; https://islamqa.info/en/14212,
Demonetisation
rumours still on: Beware of these 5 false information on social media- http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/demonetisation-rumours-false-information-whatsapp-atm/1/811266.html,
Beware of Back-Stabbing Coworkers- https://www.monster.com/career-advice/article/beware-the-backstabbing-coworkers-hot-jobs
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