Our Dialogue

Q1. It is well known that Islam forbids gambling, lottery, raffle draws, and similar ways of gaining instant income. What is the Islamic view on the large variety of prizes, such as scratch and win, offered by different promoters?


Q2. What sort of reward a person who offers the pilgrimage many times expects, as compared to one who offers it once only?


A.1. The reason for prohibiting gambling, lottery and similar methods is that they involve taking away someone else’s money without earning it. In most of these methods, an amount of money is raised by those who participate in a game or a draw, and the prize is thus contributed by them all. Then the winner takes the prize without any particular effort on his part. Take the case of horse-racing. People bet on which horse will win, and the winner gets the prize for nothing more than guessing the winner. In lottery, millions of pounds or dollars are paid to the one whose card matches the result of a draw done by a machine or a person. All such methods generate ill feelings between the participants. Hence the prohibition. The speed by which a person gets his income is immaterial, provided that the method followed is legitimate. A businessman may buy a large quantity of a certain commodity today and it is shipped to him from abroad. By the time he receives it, the price of that commodity has risen sharply and there is much demand for it. He sells the entire shipment within a week or a few days, making large profits. This is perfectly legitimate, because there is no cheating, deception or exploitation involved.


When prizes are offered freely, without contributions from the participants or the public, these are normally symbolic. They may be given to promote a certain commodity or to publicise a particular business. Since they are offered by a promoter who asks nothing in return, they are acceptable. Having said that, I should perhaps add a word of warning. Such prizes should never be taken very seriously. The chances of winning anything through them are negligible. Most people realise this. If they are taken in a casual way, they are harmless.


On the other hand, some of these prize draws are only used as a means to attract prospective customers. The method of attracting them could differ, but it always relies on lowering before them the prospect of winning a large prize, when this is by no means easy. Hence, they involve an element of deception, for which the promoter is answerable.


A.2. The pilgrimage is a great duty that applies to all Muslims, provided that they are able to undertake it. The condition of ability applies to all people, and it includes both physical and financial ability, in addition to compliance with the applicable rules and regulations. Like all worship duties, it has an obligatory part which is one pilgrimage in one’s lifetime, and a voluntary aspect which has no minimum or maximum number. Thus, a person may offer the pilgrimage every year if he so wishes. However, with the great congestion that we see every year, it is advisable that a person should not offer the pilgrimage very frequently. A pilgrimage offered with due care, making clear efforts to avoid all sins and to avoid quarrelling with anyone is rewarded with forgiveness of all past sins. If one has not committed many sins, then his reward adds to his good deeds and ensures for him a better position in heaven.

Q. On our campus there is a large population of Sunni, Shiite, and Sufi Muslims. As the president of the Muslim Students Organization, I and the board of executives are responsible for making sure our group is the voice of all Muslim students on the campus, which means that we must represent all groups equally and fairly, giving them a platform to address Muslims and non-Muslims on campus to their particular beliefs, whether we agree with them or not. For example, sometime back a Sufi music concert was held to raise money for the tsunami victims that was sponsored by our group. Some people in the Sunni community are having a problem with this because they are saying that such things are against the Qur’an and the Sunnah. While I agree with some of their arguments, the MSO is a place where all kinds of Muslims may express their views and particular practices (cultural, religious or otherwise) to the University community. In addition, as a student organization funded by our university, we are bound by the university rules which bar discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender or religious belief. Please comment.


A. It has always been the practice of distinguished and leading scholars to accommodate views that differ with their own. They all took the attitude that, to the best of their belief and knowledge, their own view on any particular issue was correct, but they never excluded the possibility that they could be wrong. Nor did they think that any view that differed with their own was inevitably incorrect. They admitted that it could be correct. This is the proper scholarly attitude. All this naturally applies to matters of detail. As for essential beliefs, there is no difference among Muslims.


We will be certainly well advised to follow in their footsteps and accept differences of views as normal. This means that in working within the rules of your university, the Muslim Students Organization will be only following a great principle of Islamic scholarship, where other people are welcome to express their views and argue their point. You should encourage such an attitude as much as possible. God quotes in the Qur’an the arguments put by unbelievers in defence of their attitude. Why should any Muslim suppress the views of a fellow believer?


Besides when the question at issue is one of detail, it does not matter how far we differ. Take the issue of music as an example, which has caused a problem for your organization. I realize that some scholars today strongly believe that it is forbidden in Islam. I do not share this view as I consider that the evidence put in support of it to be poor. I recently read a well-argued piece of research in which the author, who is undoubtedly a well-versed scholar, suggests that music is a Sunnah. Of course the two views are diametrically opposed. In between there may be many different views, ranging from opposition to encouragement. I do not propose to compare these views or discuss them at any length. I merely wish to point out that as music is a question of detail, adopting a mistaken view on it will not affect a person’s belief. The maximum that could happen is that the holder of a wrong view will be judged by God to have committed a genuine mistake that He may be pleased to forgive.

Q. A young man who is around 20 years of age was to lead the Taraweeh prayers as he knew the Quran by heart, but some people objected to this on account of the fact that he had a very short beard. Please comment.


A. The Prophet (peace be upon him) defined the criteria for choosing the person to lead a congregational prayer, whether it is obligatory like Isha and Fajr, or recommended like Taraweeh. The determining factor is that the Imam should be the one who can read the Quran best among the congregation. When we have two of equal ability, then we choose the one who has better knowledge of Islam. Only when we have two people of equal standing on both counts we choose the elder of the two.


You see that the criteria for preference make no mention of the beard or its length. To suggest that it has any effect betrays lack of knowledge of Islamic principles and values. Islam cares little for appearances while it stresses genuine areas of excellence. Reading the Quran is an important part of prayer. Hence, excellent reading is the most important factor in choosing the Imam. Wearing a beard is, at best, a Sunnah. Hence, it has no value in such choice.

Q. I have been told that if a person fasting in Ramadan shaves his beard after Zuhr prayer, his fast is invalidated. Is this true? May I also ask whether it is permissible to take a bath or a shower for cleanliness while one is fasting?


A. Neither shaving one’s beard nor taking a bath or shower has any effect on the validity of fasting, regardless of the time when they are done. As I have explained in these columns, wearing a beard is a recommended practice, or a Sunnah. By definition a Sunnah is not obligatory. Therefore, abstaining from something that has a recommended status leaves no effect on the validity of one’s actions, particularly acts of worship. Similarly, one takes a bath or a shower for a religious duty, or for cleanliness or to keep cool on a hot day. Again, such actions do not affect fasting.

Q. I read many articles about making Madinah the first tobacco-free city in the world. What bothers me is that despite the fact that we know how great is the damage to human health, tobacco causes, the world leaders still do not take some drastic action to eradicate this scourge altogether from the face of the earth. Why should some vested interests be able to manipulate national and international policy and continue to promote their harmful product to fatten their pockets still further?


A. You have touched a raw nerve. Unfortunately those with vested interests prevent the adoption of the right policies in many fields. A person endowed with insight once explained in a television interview that the world is controlled by five types of mafia: Drugs, arms, tobacco, medicines, and food. It is often the case that legislation, in most countries, serves the interests of these mafias, rather than those of the people.


Take the case of medicines for example. According to the World Health Organization, 95 percent of illnesses in any country can be effectively treated with a limited number of substances, making a list of about 450 essential drugs or medicines. The remaining diseases vary from one area to another and need to be catered for separately. Yet walk into any pharmacy, particularly in countries that are well off, and you find so many medicines using the same substance, but sold under different names and with widely different prices.


I once read a report mentioning that in a certain country there were no less than 29 different medicines that pertain to treat the common cold. They use no more than two essential substances, and have different variations here and there to justify their brand names. Faced with this choice, the consumer is at a loss and unlikely to receive sound advice. Moreover, the amount of money spent on these makes it difficult to procure treatment for other illnesses. Furthermore, this state of affairs drives prices of all medicines up and puts treatment beyond the reach of the poor. Yet it is very difficult to put in place a sound national policy limiting the availability to the approved list of essential drugs, because pharmaceutical companies are able to bring great pressure to bear on ministries of health and national governments.


The same is the case with tobacco. It is very difficult to put in place an effective policy to eradicate tobacco smoking at a national level. You have first the resistance of smokers, who are addicted to tobacco and find it very difficult to quit the habit. If governments were to promulgate a law banning smoking altogether, they will be faced with a smuggling problem that requires extensive resources to combat. In some countries, the manufacture of tobacco is an important industry, while in others tobacco growing is important to farmers. Moreover, ministries of finance are often opposed to any policy to combat the tobacco epidemic, because the taxation on tobacco often provides a substantial share of the state revenue. And then you have the multi-national tobacco tycoons who spend billions of dollars every year on promoting their foul product.


Despite all this, combating the smoking epidemic at a national or worldwide level is possible, but requires a clear long-term policy with well-defined objectives and well-planned stages. When we think on a global level so as to rid humanity of this serious risk to world health, we need international cooperation at the highest level. Ten years ago, the World Health Organization started a program called the Tobacco-Free Initiative and gave it high priority. It aimed to make international cooperation in the fight against tobacco a real priority. Its efforts culminated in the recent signing of an international Treaty called a Framework Convention to Control Tobacco. It has been signed by most countries of the world. It is hoped that this convention will work towards the eradication of the tobacco epidemic. However, it adopts a gradual policy towards reducing tobacco consumption and its eventual eradication.


Some people suggest that this keeps the problem with us for a long time and its solution requires more drastic action. There is no doubt that more serious efforts can be made in the short term to achieve much better results. The case of Madinah and freeing the entire city of tobacco is a good example that should be followed. But such a program requires great collaborative efforts on the part of the state, local authorities, social institutions, voluntary associations and individuals. We must not forget that the enemy, which is the tobacco industry, is very powerful indeed and has unlimited resources, compared with what the anti-smoking organizations can command. But the fight must go on, and the efforts must be continued until we rid our world of the scourge of tobacco, which is a poison to human health and a killer of mankind.


I applaud your enthusiasm and hope that we will see more determined efforts in all parts of the Muslim world.

Q. I live in a small town in the US where halal meat is scarce. I read in the Quran that the food of the People of the Book is permissible, but I also read that we must not eat of any meat on which the name of God has not been invoked at the time of slaughter. Could you tell me in which circumstances the meat of the People of the Book is permissible to eat?


A. The People of the Book are the followers of divine religions that preceded Islam. They are mainly the Christians and the Jews. The permission to eat of their food, including the meat of animals they slaughter is generally unrestricted by any factor other than that it must be the meat of animals that are permissible in Islam. In other words, we cannot eat what is forbidden for us in our faith, such as pork. This permission is a concession, which means that it is given as a gift over and above what is normally permissible. In other words, this permission is an act of kindness granted by God to make things easier and more comfortable for us. By definition, a concession implies a relaxation of restrictions that otherwise apply. In this respect, it means that what the People of the Book consider to be permissible in their faith is allowed for us to eat, unless it is specifically forbidden in our faith. This waives the requirement of mentioning God’s name at the time of slaughter. Some of his companions said to the Prophet: “We are given meat and we do not know whether God’s name has been invoked at the time of slaughter.” The Prophet told them: “Mention God’s name and eat of it.” From another point of view, it is a general Islamic rule that when things become too restricted, a relaxation comes into operation. Since you are in a small town and you cannot easily get the type of meat that is preferable in Islam, you may benefit by this concession and eat of the meat offered in ordinary restaurants and shops, always remembering to mention God’s name at the beginning of your meals.

Q. A Canadian company gave its 30 Muslim workers space for prayers. Some of them claim that it is not permissible to organise Friday prayer in this space, because there is a mosque at about 10 minutes walk, and the workers in this company could use their lunch break to attend the prayer in the mosque. Please comment.


A. Different schools of Fiqh specify certain conditions for the validity of Friday prayers. These normally relate to the number of people in attendance and the place where the prayer is offered, and the sort of sermon, or khutbah, given. A highly reputable scholar analysed these conditions and concluded that none of them carries much weight. Indeed there is no specific Hadith that requires the Friday prayer to be conducted in a place designated as a mosque. Like all prayers, it can be performed in any place. It does not have to be in a mosque.


In the situation you have mentioned, it is the convenience that should be the determining factor. These employees can go to the mosque to attend the prayer during their lunch hour, but they will be without lunch, which could be a strain affecting their performance at work. It is certainly more convenient for them and their employers that they should organise their Friday prayer at their workplace.