Living Islam

Eating from unlawful means blinds the insight, weakens the religion, hardens the heart and darkens the mind.


“O People, fear Allah as regard to yourselves and to your families. Fear him concerning your deeds and your wealth. Fear him with regard to what you eat and to what you save”.


Allah says which translates as: “O Mankind eat from whatever is on earth that is lawful and good, and do not follow the footsteps of Satan indeed he is to you a clear enemy” (Al-Baqarah: 168).


Servants of Allah, earning provisions and seeking sustenance, is something that is commanded to be done by Shariah. It is something that is dictated by nature.


Allah has made the day for seeking livelihood and He has made for people by day, prolonged occupation. The Prophet (Pbuh) said in the book of Imam al-Bukhari: “Never has anyone eaten a better food than what he has procured through his manual work”.


In Islam, worship is not only by standing on you feet – meaning standing for prayer, while someone else goes to seek your provisions. Rather you go seek the lawful earning and also worship.


Being independent of people, by earning lawful provisions is a great honour and strength, so much so that the Caliph Umar Ibnul Khatab (RA) said: “I would not prefer to die in a position better than a position where I am buying for my family or trading”.


Seeking lawful provisions and searching for it, is an obligation and a must, for no slave’s feet will be moved on the day of Resurrection until he is asked about his wealth. How he earned it? How he spent it? It is incumbent upon every Muslim male and female to look and search for lawful provisions, chaste and pure work, to eat of the lawful and spend on the lawful.


Moreover a righteous woman advises her husband saying: “O husband, fear Allah, and the provisions you bring us, for we can persevere through hunger, but we cannot stand and persevere through the punishment of hell fire.” These are the righteous ones.


Eating from unlawful means blinds the insight, weakens the religion, hardens the heart, darkens the mind, prevents the body from worship, entraps one in this life and prevents one’s dua (supplication) from being accepted. Unlawful earnings and provisions have bad effects on the individual and the community. It removes blessings and causes the spread of diseases, disasters, financial crisis, unemployment, oppression and disputes. Unlawful provisions is acquired by using twisted means – usury, gambling, stealing, forcefully taking, giving insufficient measures and weights. The people conceal deficiency in items. They use magic, fortune-telling, usurp the property of orphans and minors, they lie when they swear, they deceive, they plan, they forge, they betray, all twisted, dark ways.


In the Hadith found in the books of Imam Al-Bukhari and An Nasa’i, the Prophet (Pbuh) said: “A time will come on people, when a man will not worry where his earning comes from, lawful or unlawful”, and in another narration he added: “Such is one whose duas (supplications) and are not accepted”.


Whoever it may be, workers and officers, businessmen, consultants, brokers, Muslim men and women, it is a duty upon them to seek what is lawful and stay away from the doubtful. They should preserve the rights of people, finish their jobs completely, fulfill their pledges, contracts, refrain from cheating, lying and delaying work.


The best way to refrain from unlawful and illegal things is to stay away from doubtful things, and to persevere through devout, pious ways and means.

We never think that someone who has less education or someone who is new to Islam can teach us something.


When we lived in Indiana, my husband was friends with a very nice revert to Islam. He was born into a staunch Hindu family and when he embraced Islam, had to keep it a secret as he feared being cut off from his parents. He had a good reason to be afraid - his sister who had reverted to Islam long before he did had been disowned.


He chose the name Imran and tried very hard to be a practising Muslim. He had a low paying job selling jewellery for a Muslim family that exploited him. They cared little about following the tenets of Islam it seems and even tried to make it such that he could not pray at work. Imran, however, kept his own and remained steadfast.


He would still try to observe his prayers and every night, would rush to the masjid, hoping to catch the Isha prayer. More often than not, he would be almost faint with fatigue, but would make the effort anyway for the simple reason that he loved Islam and loved being around Muslims.


Being a new Muslim at that time, this brother was not very knowledgeable in matters of the deen. Nevertheless, he had one admirable trait - if anyone taught him anything, he would try hard to implement it.


My husband would often have long discussions with him about Islam because he loved learning immensely. In one instance, my husband told him about the importance of the salaam.


Imran took this lesson to heart and we learnt just how much, one day. My husband told me that some time after that discussion, Imran came to him feeling hurt and angry. He had gone into the masjid and greeted the brothers before sitting down with them. He later had to leave the room for a minute and when he returned, said salaam again. He did this every time he left and rejoined them. A few of the brothers became a little annoyed and asked him why he kept repeating his salaam when he had done so the first time he met them. They told him it was completely unnecessary.


The poor brother felt very upset that the Muslims he cared so much about brushed him off that way.


It occurred to me then that sometimes, we are ignorant of many aspects of our religion and we never think that maybe someone who has less education or someone who is new to the deen can teach us something.


Even though I do not know Imran personally, he has taught me many things - he has taught me about steadfastness and about striving to implement the Sunnah in any way one can.


Here is the Hadith that Imran learnt and tried to implement:


Abu Hurairah (RA) reported: The Messenger of Allah (Pbuh) said:
“When one of you meets a brother in Faith, he should greet him.

Then if a tree or a wall or a stone should intervene between them and then he meets him again, he should greet him.”


(Abu Dawood)