Does an orphan have to be a Muslim?
Mu' meneen Brothers
and Sisters,
As Salaam Aleikum wa
Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be
upon all of you)
One of our
brothers/sisters has asked this question:
Thank you so much
for your answer. One more thing I forgot concerning the hadith below that does
the orphan need to be a muslim?
(There may be
some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not
change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our
readers for circulation in confidentiality.)
Answer:
Does an orphan have
to be a Muslim?
In the name of Allah, We praise
Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can
misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We
bear witness that there is no one (no idol,
no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam,
no dai, nobody!) worthy of
worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His
slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.
An orphan is an orphan, whether he is a muslim or a non-muslim. It is expected that Allah will honor his
promise of a huge reward for sponsoring or taking care of the orphan, whether he is a muslim or not; because,
in the sight of Allah, all human
beings are His slaves and His Creation.
But, it is only natural, that
if a muslim is going to sponsor some orphan,
then he should try and sponsor and take care of a muslim orphan; as being his brother-in-faith, a muslim has more right that his muslim
brother should help him.
Sahih Al-Bukhari
Hadith 8.34 Narrated by Sahl bin Sad
The Prophet (saws)
said, "I and the person who looks after an orphan and provides for him,
will be in
In the above hadith, where the Messenger of Allah (saws) has
given an indication of the tremendous reward for a person who sponsors an
orphan, there is no mention of whether the
orphan should be a muslim or a non-muslim;
therefore one cannot determine for sure if the Messenger of Allah (saws)
included the sponsorship of a non-muslim orphan. Thus, if a person
sponsors a muslim-orphan and provides for him,
he can be sure of receiving the magnificient and awesome honor of being
so close to the Prophet of Allah (saws) in
Whatever written of Truth and
benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error
is of me. Allah Alone Knows Best and He
is the Only Source of Strength.
Your Brother in
Islam,
Burhan
Wister