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,

Assalam alaikum. You are doing a great job by offering the knowledge of Islam. After reading most of your questions I am trying to follow Sunnahs and Farz as much as possible.

I have a little problem please help me. My mother's brother's wife is not a good woman. Since I was small I have seen her creating problems for my mother. Still my mother ignored all her deeds and helped her. She has said many a bad things to me too. But I never back answered her or anything as such. She has not brought up her children in proper islamic way. She has taught her children to steal, lie, back answer and beat elders. Her children dont even care for their father. Her children too would illtreat me and back answer my mom. Since we were well off since beginning she was jealous and would fight herself or encourage others to fight with us. My mother was a teacher she never had time for all these petty things. During the day she would be at school and remaining time my mother would be busy with me. She always spread rumours about my mother everywhere. When I got married she was jealous coz I got a good husband working abroad and I too joined him. She asked me to help her son get a job in abroad I did and then her son and she unnecessarily fought with me because her son stole some sword and computer parts from his owner which my husband didnt allow him to carry as he would fall in trouble. After that they said sorry and once again my mother forgave them. Then she asked her second son to be helped for job which we did. Then we helped my mother's brother by calling him too. We always helped them financially and othre ways too. Now again that lady and her elder son are fighting with my mother and saying bad things about us to everyone. She prays and does black magic too and has kept her husband and children in her control. Her elder sons wife has left the house because he used to illtreat her. We tried to bring her back but the girl is not ready to come because she cannot tolerate his tortures.

I am falling sick because of all this tension. My mother too has felt bad about it and she too falls sick all the time. They have to pay us 150000 rupees which they are not ready to pay. My mother is a very virtuous and kind woman. She is very Allah fearing woman. Please help what should I do about these people, complain to the police or ask the religious scholars to sit down and help us. I cannot concentrate on anything because I have had enough from them.

Thank you.

Regards,

A sister in Islam.

(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:

Kith kin owe money

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 none worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Your Question: They have to pay us 150000 rupees which they are not ready to pay. My mother is a very virtuous and kind woman. She is very Allah fearing woman. Please help what should I do about these people, complain to the police or ask the religious scholars to sit down and help us. I cannot concentrate on anything because I have had enough from them.

Beloved Sister in Islam, it is possible that one may do good to another, but that person does not show gratitude, or still worse….their Shaytaan makes them jealous and envious, and they strive to hurt or harm the very people who have meant and done nothing but good for them.

Beloved Sister, if anyone has taken an amount from you as a loan which they are not ready to pay, you are indeed well within your rights in Islam to take any lawful route possible to retrieve your loan from them, exercising even the full extent of the law of the land by going to the police and the courts to demand what lawfully belongs to you…..and if you were to exercise this right of yours, there would be no blame or sin upon you in the least in the Sight of Allah Subhanah.

But if you could bring yourselves to pardon the evils your relatives might have done towards you and your mother, forgive and overlook their misdeeds only for the sake of Allah Subhanah seeking your rewards and the compensation for your loss only from Him….then that indeed would be a higher and better route in the Sight of Allah Subhanah.

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 24 Surah Noor verse 22:

22 Let not those among you who are endued with grace and amplitude of means resolve by oath against helping their relatives, those in want and those who have left their homes in Allah's Cause: let them forgive and overlook: do you not wish that Allah should forgive you? For Allah is Oft-Forgiving Most Merciful.

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 41 Surah Haa-Meem verses 34-35:

34 Nor can goodness and evil be equal. Repel (evil) with what is better: then will he between whom and thee was hatred become as it were thy friend and intimate!

35 And no one will be granted such goodness except those who exercise patience and self-restraint, none but persons of the greatest good fortune.

Beloved Sister if you are in desperate need for the funds you have lent, and the people who owe you this loan are able to pay but not willing to pay…then indeed they are being unjust and you are well within your rights in seeking legal help in recovering what rightfully belongs to you.

But if Allah Subhanah has blessed you with abundance, and you can bring yourself to overlook their misdeeds and forgive them the loan or a part of the loan, or give them some more time to pay the loan….seeking your reward and compensation from Allah Subhanah….that would indeed be akin to utmost piety and rightful conduct in the Sight of the Lord.

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 16 Surah Nahl verse 90:

90 Allah commands justice, the doing of good, and liberality to kith and kin (blood relatives), and He forbids all shameful deeds and injustice and rebellion: He instructs you that ye may receive admonition.

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 2 Surah Baqarah verse 177:

177 It is not righteousness that ye turn your faces toward East or West; but it is righteousness to believe in Allah and the Last Day, and the Angels, and the Book, and the Messengers; to spend of your substance out of love for Him for your kin (relatives), for orphans, for the needy, for the wayfarer, for those who ask, and for the ransom of slaves; to be steadfast in prayer and practice regular charity; to fulfill the contracts which ye have made; and to be firm and patient in pain (or suffering) and adversity and throughout all periods of panic. Such are the people of Truth, the Allah-fearing.

Sahih Al-Bukhari Hadith 8.17 Narrated by Abu Huraira

The Prophet (saws) said, "The word 'Ar-Rahm (womb) derives its name from Ar-Rahman (i.e., one of the Noble Attributes of Allah) and Allah, High and Exalted is He, said: 'I will keep good relation with the one who will keep good relation with you, (womb, i.e. kith and kin) and sever the relation with him who will sever the relation with you, (womb, i.e. kith and kin)!”

Sahih Al-Bukhari Hadith 8.15 Narrated by Anas bin Malik

Allah 's Messenger (saws) said, "Whoever loves that he be granted more wealth and that his lease of life be prolonged then he should keep good relations with his kith and kin."

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

Burhan