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:

Dear brother in Islam:

I think before you give adice to any muslims, you need to educate yourself.

You need to talk to people who are educated rather than open the QUARN and read the context and preach from that.

Your advice to the brother or sister on haram/halal food is incorrect about sharks, snake etc etc. As an example:

Creatures that crawl on their belly, (snakes) are haram, Creatures that lay round eggs are haram Creatures that are in the sea but are scavengers like catfish, sharks, those with no scales are haram. Hard crustaceons like clams, lobsters, osyters and that secreate a jelly like substance are makroorh!

Shrimps/prawns are soft that is halal I have been reading many of your responses are you are wrong in many many cases. That is not good advice.

The other day someone asked you about the name TAHA, you said there was no meaning.

Taha is the name of the prophet as in the Sura Taha ( Twaha in Arabic) Please do not give wrong advice. If you are not sure go ask.

Also you have Wahabi ideas which are wrong. Follow in the footsteps of the greatest scholar of all Imama Jaffer Sadiq read his books and kitabs of Imam Zain ul Abidin and you may change your views. You are not qualified to copy contexts of the Quran and advice you are committing a sin. There is no harm in asking the more educated and saying you dont know than advicing wrong Firqa

(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:

Brother thinks we are wrong

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.

We seek the refuge in Allah Subhanah from stating anything which is against the guidance and teachings of the Quran and Sunnah.

Regarding the concept of haraam and halaal, the criterion for one’s declaration has to be from the Quran and Sunnah; for no other than Allah and His Messenger (saws) have a right to declare something haraam or halaal.

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 7 Surah Aaraaf verse 32 (part): Say: Who hath forbidden the beautiful (gifts) of Allah which He hath produced for His servants, and the things clean and pure (which He hath provided) for sustenance?

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 16 Surah Nahl verses 114-116:

114 So eat of the sustenance which Allah has provided for you, lawful and good; and be grateful for the favors of Allah, if it is He whom ye serve.

115 He has only forbidden you: dead meat, and blood, and the flesh of swine, and any (food) over which the name of other than Allah has been invoked. But if one is forced by necessity without willful disobedience nor transgressing due limits, then Allah is Oft-Forgiving Most Merciful.

116 But say not for any false thing that your tongues may put forth "This is lawful and this is forbidden" so as to ascribe false things to Allah. For those who ascribe false things to Allah will never prosper.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 7 Surah Aaraat verse 157:(So, now mercy has been assigned to) those who follow the unlettered Prophet whom they find mentioned in their own (Scriptures); in the Torah and the Gospel; for he commands them what is just and forbids them what is evil: he allows them as ‘halaal’ what is good (and pure), and declared ‘haraam’ what is bad (and impure); He releases them from their heavy burdens and from the yokes that are upon them. So it is those who believe in him honor him help him and follow the light which is sent down with him it is they who will prosper.

Allah and His Messenger (saws) have declared only a handful of things as ‘haraam’ for the believers. And if one wants to figure out whether a thing is lawful or prohibited in Islam, one needs to look into the list of the ‘haraam’ provided by Allah and His Messenger (saws); and if the product is not included in the list of the declared ‘haraam’, it will be considered ‘halaal’ for the believers.

It is indeed a grave sin to declare lawful what Allah and His Messenger (saws) have declared haraam! If one was to say that the flesh of swine, or blood, or intoxicants, or flesh of animals having fangs, etc. which are declared haraam by Allah and His Messenger (saws) are lawful; it would indeed be a grave sin.

Similarly, it is also a grave sin to declare prohibited what Allah and His Messenger (saws) have not declared ‘haraam’. If one were to say that apples, or chicken, or fish, etc., which are not declared haraam by Allah and His Messenger (saws), are prohibited as food for the believers; it would indeed be a grave sin in Islam.

Some ignorant people make their own conditions, without any evidence from the Quran and Sunnah, and of their own whims and fancies declare a thing haraam or halaal. For example: they say that birds that lay round eggs are haraam, or they say that fish that have no scales are haraam, etc. These conditions are their own whims and fancies, and have absolutely no proof from the Quran and Sunnah!

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 16 Surah Nahl verses 116:116 But say not for any false thing that your tongues may put forth "This is lawful and this is forbidden" so as to ascribe false things to Allah. For those who ascribe false things to Allah will never prosper.

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 7 Surah Aaraaf verse 32 (part): Say: Who hath declared haraam the beautiful (gifts) of Allah, which He hath produced for His servants, and the things clean and pure (which He hath provided) for sustenance?

Now, to your specific statements:

Your Statement 1: Creatures that crawl on their belly, (snakes) are haram,

Your Statement 2: Creatures that lay round eggs are haram

Your Statement 3: Creatures that are in the sea but are scavengers like catfish, sharks,

Your Statement 4: those (sea creatures) with no scales are haram.

Your Statement 5 : Hard crustaceons like clams, lobsters, osyters (are makrooh)

Your Statement 6: that secreate a jelly like substance are makroorh!

Your Statement 7: Shrimps/prawns are soft that is halal

Beloved brother in Islam, we ask you humbly to provide us the evidence from the Quran and the Sunnah that the above creatures and/or the conditions that you have mentioned are indeed from Allah and His Messenger (saws)!

Beloved brother, fear Allah and do not invent your own conditions for declaring a food haraam, without evidence from the Quran and Sunnah. Where in the Quran or Sunnah does it say that all creatures that crawl on their belly are haraam, or all creatures that lay round eggs are haraam, or all scavengers of the sea are haraam, or all sea animals that do not have scales are haraam, etc.

If you can provide us with the evidence from the Quran and Sunnah for the conditions that you have laid down, the believers are duty bound to accept them! But if you cannot provide us with the evidence from the Quran and Sunnah for their prohibitions, know for sure that to declare a thing ‘haraam’ is the sole right of Allah and His Messenger (saws) Alone; and whoever does so of his own whims and fancies, without any evidence from the Quran and Sunnah, will be brought forth as a criminal in the Just Court of Allah Subhanah and charged with the heinous sin of ascribing a lie to Allah and His Messenger (saws)!

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 16 Surah Nahl verses 116:But say not for any false thing that your tongues may put forth "This is lawful and this is forbidden" so as to ascribe false things to Allah. For those who ascribe false things to Allah will never prosper.

Your Statement 8: The other day someone asked you about the name TAHA, you said there was no meaning. Taha is the name of the prophet as in the Sura Taha (Twaha in Arabic)

Abbreviated Letters Alif Laam Meem, Ya Seen, Ha Meem’, Ta Ha, etc. are known as the ‘Huroof Al-Muqattaat’ i.e. the abbreviated letters. There are 29 letters in the Arabic Alphabet (if hamza and alif are considered as two letters) and there are 29 surahs i.e. chapters in the Glorious Qur’an that have the abbreviated letters prefixed to them. These abbreviated letters some times occur alone, sometimes in a combination of two letters and sometimes in a combination of three, four or five letters.

The true meaning and true purpose of these letters is known to Allah, The All Wise, All Knowing Alone! The Messenger of Allah (saws) never explained the meanings of these ‘al muqattaat’, nor did the noble companions ever question them. The pagans, mushriks, and dis-believers in the Quran, who used to come and question about every small thing in the Quran, also never asked or enquired about their meanings from the Messenger of Allah (saws).

And when the Messenger of Allah (saws) did not assign any meanings to these ‘broken alphabets’, it does not behove the believers to invent their own meanings to these letters.

Could you please provide us the evidence from the authentic traditions whereby the Prophet (saws) named himself TA-HA; or some of his noble companions called him (saws) TA-HA and he (saws) responded to them! If you cannot provide the believers with evidence for your claim, and I assure you that there is none in the authentic traditions of the Messenger of Allah (saws); then it must be the guess and conjecture of some ignorant person; and guesses, whims, and conjecture have absolutely no place in the deen of Al-Islam.

Your Statement 9: Follow in the footsteps of the greatest scholar of all Imama Jaffer Sadiq read his books and kitabs of Imam Zain ul Abidin and you may change your views.

The source of all knowledge in the deen of Islam is the Quran and the Sunnah, and they more than suffice for the believers. And if one had to name the greatest scholar amongst mankind, then there is no greater scholar amongst mankind who ever walked on this planet earth than the person of the noble Messenger of Allah, Mohamed ar-Rasool Allah (saws)! The two great scholars of Islam which you have mentioned, themselves took pride in declaring their teacher and leader in all aspects of the deen was the Prophet (saws).

And it is inconceivable to every true follower of Islam that the noble Imams of the stature of Imam Zainal Abedeen (r.a.) and Imam Jaafer us-Saadiq (r.a.) would ever say or do anything against the guidance and teachings of their teacher and leader, the Messenger of Allah, Mohamed ar-Rasool Allah (saws)! And if at any time, the true believers find anything ascribed to the two noble Imams which is against the guidance and teachings of Allah and His Messenger (saws), they know for sure that these statements cannot be from the two noble Imams, but has been falsely ascribed to their noble and blessed names!

Your Statement 10: You are not qualified to copy contexts of the Quran and advice, you are committing a sin.

If by quoting from the Quran (and Sunnah) and giving advice in accordance with its guidance and teachings, you think that we are committing a sin; then we are more than willing to take our chances in the Just Court of Allah Subhanah with these deeds!

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 10 Surah Yunus verses 40-44:Some of these people will believe in (The Quran), and others will not. Your Lord knows these mischief-makers very well indeed. If these people deny you, say to them: “I am responsible for my deeds and you are for yours. You are not accountable for what I do, nor am I for what you do.” There are many among them who hear what you say, but will you make the deaf to listen to you, even though they be incapable of understanding this? Then there are many others among them who see you. But will you show the way to the blind, even though they be bereft of sight? The fact is that Allah does not in any way wrong the people, but they wronged themselves!

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 34 Surah Saba verse 25:Tell them, “You will not be questioned for the errors we have committed, nor shall we be answerable for what you are doing.”

If you are convinced that what we quote and advice is indeed from the Glorious Quran; then we too are convinced that this deed is not a sin in the sight of the All Knowing, All Wise Lord. It is those who strive to conceal and hide the Quran and its guidance and teachings, who are amongst the biggest sinners in the sight of Allah Subhanah!

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 2 Surah Baqarah verse 159:Those who conceal the clear (Revelations) and Guidance We have sent down, after We have made it clear for the people in the Book (Quran), on them shall be Allah’s ‘laanah’ and the ‘laanah’ of those who are entitled to curse!

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