Questions & Answers 2

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Q. When we are in Jannat, will we keep the same names as we have here on earth?
A. I vaguely recall reading something about this but can't remember exactly. Apparently, we will still maintain our same names as in this world, unless a person had an un-Islamic name, which will then change as Allah decides. What I remember also is that besides our birth names, people will be given titles according to their good a'maal.

Q. What is the ruling regarding having a girls ears pierced for inserting earrings? I have intended to have my daughters' ears pierced but I have some doubt in my mind. Could you enlighten me?
A. Piercing ears for girls is permissible since they are allowed to wear jewellery, and this is the purpose of ear-piercing. Since it is easier to do it when they are babies, it is better to do it now. However, once the ear is pierced, just place the minimum size earing into the hole, a very basic one.

Q. In the book Tazkiyah, on page 13 under the heading Repentance, I understood it as a person should make taubah and promise to Allah not to commit sin. Since we are all bound to sin, should we make a kaffarah for violating the oath unto Allah Ta'ala? Or does it pertain to a certain sin? And what if one again commits that particular sin?
A. The kaffara applies to violation of an oath, not a promise. In taubah one makes a promise to Allah. If that promise is broken, there is no kaffara. If the sin is committed again, it is deplorable but one has to renew the taubah and the promise. However, if one swore an oath that he/she will not commit that sin again, and the sin is repeated then a kaffara will be wajib for breaking the oath. This applies to any oath, not necessarily the oath not to sin again. Hence it is wise not to swear that one will not sin again, for the risk is that the sin will be repeated and kaffara will be wajib. A firm promise at the time of taubah is enough.

Q. A woman wears niqaab outside the home. When non-Muslim men (e.g. gardener, clients, etc.) visit her home, should she don her niqaab before appearing before them?
A. Yes, she should have her niqaab in this case.

Q. I have heard that when making qaza fasts of Ramadaan, the niyyat should be made at night and not during the morning?
A. Quite correct, but it means before subuh saadiq.

Q. Can the niyyat for a qaza fast be made before Fajr time?
A. Yes, before the break of dawn (subuh).

Q. In the past, qaza fasts were kept when the niyyat was made at Fajr time. Should these qaza fasts be kept again?
A. If the niyyat was made after subuh saadiq then, yes, it must be repeated. But if one had an intention in the heart to keep a qaza tomorrow then that was sufficient, even if the verbal intention was made late.

Q. Is the advent of Imam Mahdi proven from authentic hadith?
A. Yes. Our booklet detailing this story will be published soon, Insha-Allah. Get your copy from our address as soon as it is available.

Q. My wife and I are divorced according to Shar’ee rites. However, at the start we had registered our marriage in community of property. Now, based on this law, my wife is demanding half a share of the house where she stayed before the divorce. Is this permissible in Islam, and am I obliged according to Shariah law to give her a half share of the house?
A. To register a marriage in community of property is un-Islamic and incorrect. Since this leads to the abandonment and neglect of several Islamic injunctions, not the least being correct distribution of property, it will be impermissible. We always advise married couples who resorted to this un-Islamic practice to annul such registration or change it to the ante nuptial contract. It appears that this was not done in your case. Nonetheless, this won’t affect the Islamic ruling. Even though you were married in community of property, since this is not recognized and accepted by Shariah, it will be haraam (forbidden) for your wife to claim and/or accept any money in lieu of so-called joint ownership of property. This is a western law which militates against Islamic teaching, hence haraam.

Your wife must understand that even though she is making a claim based on legal grounds, as a Muslim she is bound to follow Shariah. And when that legal claim or western law conflicts with Shariah, the former must be rejected in its entirety. According to Shariah your wife has no valid claim to any share of the property. While she was in iddat you were supposed to have provided for her. Now that the iddat is over your duty is to provide for the children that are in her custody. There is no share in the house for her. This is the clear-cut Shariah ruling.

If is argued that the lawyers are making a claim on her behalf then it is incumbent upon her, if she is serious about keeping up the Shar’ee law, to inform the lawyers of the non-permissibility of such claim based on Shariah grounds. She may show them this fatwa of the Ulema if need be. It must be remembered that to press ahead with the claim or withdraw is entirely in her control. The legal team will simply act on her instructions. Tomorrow if she decides to adhere to the Shar’ee injunction and instructs her attorneys to withdraw, they have no option but to do so. Therefore, your wife must realise that to make such a claim is haraam, and even if money is granted to her in terms of this claim, such wealth will be haraam and of no use to her. She is thus bound to cancel and withdraw the claim. We trust that her religious sense will prevail on her to pull back and not make any further un-Islamic claims.

Nabi Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam said: "The body that has been nourished through haraam is more deserving for the fire of Hell." The consequences of haraam consumption in Shariah are so severe and devastating, that it is not worth the meagre gain. The risks by far outweigh the benefits. At what price will a fair-thinking Muslim place his iemaan and salvation at such great peril by accepting haraam wealth. Such imposition is akin to oppression in Islam.

It is therefore our prayer and hope that your wife will please her Allah and her Rasool sallallahu alaihi wasallam by doing the right thing and not going ahead with any claim on your house.

As far as the children are concerned, she has the right to custody until they reach the age of nine, or until she marries another man, in which case she loses that right according to Shariah and the children will then revert back to the father. Meanwhile though, you the father will have to provide for them even while they are in their mother’s custody.

Q. Is it permissible for a young man to greet a young woman with salaam or any other way, and vice versa? If one party greets first, should the other reply, in view of the fact that replying to a salaam is wajib?
A. A ruling to the above questions appears quite clearly in the famous fiqah kitab known as Raddul-Muhtaar, where it is said:

It is stated in Durr-e-Mukhtaar, that a man shall not speak to a strange woman except if she is old. If such old woman sneezes or greets, the man may say yarhamu kallah or reply her salaam. Otherwise, not. That is, if she is not old, he shall not say yarhamu kallah when she sneezes nor shall he reply her greeting verbally. It is stated in Khaaniya: "When a woman greets a man, the latter should only reply in an audible voice if the woman is old. If it happens to be a young woman, he shall reply silently (to himself, without her being able to hear). Similarly, if a man greets a strange woman with salaam, the answer is the reverse." (That is, if it’s an old woman, she must reply audibly, and if it’s a young woman who is being greeted, she will not reply loudly but rather to herself. - Imam Raafi’ee in his notes on Raddul-Muhtaar.) It is written in Zhakeerah: "When a man sneezes and a woman says yarhamu-kallah, the man will reply with yahdeekumullah etc. only if she is old. In the case of a young woman, the man shall say these words to himself in an inaudible voice." The same ruling will apply if she sneezes (upon which the man says yarhamu-kallah), as it is stated in Khulaasah.
                                    (Raddul-Muhtaar vol. 6 p. 369 Karachi)

From the above fiqah citations it is clear that there should be no exchange of greetings between a young man and woman, and if there is from any one side, the other should not reply loudly, but should rather say the reply in the mind or in a voice which the other party cannot hear.

According to some Ulema, when a strange man and woman meet, the man should say the salaam first, but it is haraam for the woman to reply loudly in a voice that can be heard. Instead she must say wa alaikum salaam softly to herself, in an inaudible voice. Further, under no circumstances does any of the Imams or Fuqahaa give permission for a woman to greet or say the salaam first.

The above laws can apply even to the answering of the telephone, when a male happens to greet a female. In the case of the telephone, since it is not possible to establish the age of the caller or speaker at the other end, caution must be exercised and in all cases the reply to greetings must not be verbal or loud. This is based on the principle of Fiqah that when one act has the possibility of haraam and halaal then the haraam takes precedence and the entire act will be considered as haraam. So when speaking over the phone and one is not sure as to the age of the woman on the receiver, especially due to the distortion of voices telephonically, then consider the woman at the other end of the line to young and avoid audible greeting. Needless to say, when greetings have to be minimised then to a greater extent is it necessary to curtail the conservation and confine it to bare essentials.

Therefore, if man answers the phone call of a woman, she must not greet him or say the salaam. If he greets, she replies softly so that he cannot hear. When the caller is a man and a woman answers, according to some Ulema he is allowed to greet first with salaam, but the woman on the other end of the line must still not reply audibly.

Note: This ruling does not apply to the common manner of answering a call with the term "hello", for at that stage no one can tell who the caller is. After this initial answer, when the voice is heard and sex of the caller determined, now the above rulings will come into effect.

Q. We intend building a jaamat khana on the first floor of our building. However, under the jamaat khana are toilets. Is there anything wrong in this?
A. There is nothing wrong as far as the law of Shariah is concerned, in having toilets beneath an ibaadat khana. This would not be proper though, if a Musjid was being erected.

Q. In Taraweeh, can the Imam leave out the thana to make the salah shorter?
A. The Imam should not leave out the thana, but may curtail his durood and dua. In other words, he may recite a short durood and dua, not leaving these out entirely.

Q. I forgot to read my thana. Is my salah valid?
A. Yes, your salah is valid. Thana is sunnat, and omitting a sunnat does not nullify the salah, nor does it necessitate sajda sahu.

Q. Will Christians and Jews remain in jahannum eternally?
A. It is an established belief of the Ahle Sunnat wal-Jamaa’ah that without Iemaan (belief in Allah and His Final Messenger) none can enter paradise, irrespective of what good such a non-Muslim may have performed in his lifetime. Non-Muslims who do good in this world are rewarded in this very world by Allah, by giving them name, fame and a prosperous life on earth, or lightening their punishment in the Hereafter. It is proven from numerous verses in the Holy Quran and Ahadeeth, that whoever dies in a state of kufr will never enter paradise. This law applies to Jews, Christians, Hindus, and all non-Muslims.

Before responding to specific matters raised in the article, I wish to make an interesting observation. It is unique that Christians and Jews reject the Quran outrightly, for whatever reasons, yet no Muslim who possesses the basic knowledge of Islam can reject the bible outrightly. Such tolerance is unheard of in Church circles, which are clearly dominated by prejudices and heavy religious bias. We Muslims reject only such statements and beliefs in the Bible which the Holy Quran has condemned, e.g the crucifixion, the trinity, sonship of Jesus (peace be upon him). The Quran regards such beliefs as the height in blasphemy. But no Christian who takes the name of Muhammad adds the words ‘peace be upon him’, or holds dear the disciples of Prophet Muhammad, or accepts as true even some passages or sections of the Quran, etc.

Q. Can interest money be used by oneself as a return for prevously paid taxes, e.g. PAYE?
A. In Shariah law you will not be able to offset any tax that was already paid with interest money. Hence the PAYE deductions that were already paid in may not be recuperated from interest money.

Q. Is zakaat payable on interest money?
A. If the interest money has been mixed with other halaal money, and the latter is greater in amount, then zakaat is waajib on the entire sum. If the interest money is kept separately, zakaat will not be waajib.

Q. Can interest money be used to pay taxes, traffic fines, etc., for oneself or for someonelse?
A. You may utilize this or any other interest money to pay taxes for yourself or someone else. Interest money may also be diverted to income tax, levies, duties, traffic fines, and for poor Muslims. Besides this there is no other avenue for the expenditure of interest money.