Your Questions Answered
Queries
Taxes Other than Zakah
Question: There is a Hadith which says that a Muslim govt. cannot ask its residents for any taxes other than Zakah. On the other hand, we see that our so called Muslim governments seem to be running on the money collected through taxes. Is it religiously binding on us to pay these taxes? If not, then what should be the attitude of a pious person in this regard?
Answer: We are bound by the Shari‘ah to follow and show obedience to the law of the land unless the situation arises in which obeying this law stops us from obeying the Shari‘ah itself.
In the situation you have referred to, the government is not stopping us from paying Zakah (in which case one can refuse to obey the directive and face the consequences as well); it is asking us to comply with its own interpretation of the directives of Zakah. One group of scholars, it should be borne in mind, hold the view that taxes besides Zakah can be imposed by an Islamic state. Our duty is to follow the state interpretation in letter and spirit and at the same time, if possible, to convince people in favour of our interpretation in a particular matter. If the majority accepts this view, it will become the law of the land.
Until such a stage is reached, a person who believes that Zakah is the only tax a Muslim government can impose on its Muslim citizens can deduct his Zakah from the amount of tax and pay the balance as Zakah. If the amount of taxes exceed the Zakah he is liable to pay, he may not pay any Zakah.
Mediation with Allah
Question: What is your answer to the permissibility of Wasilah (seeking a means) in Islam? Is there anything from the Qur’an that supports it? In particular, 5:35 mentions the word Wasilah.
Answer: There is no concept of Wasilah in Islam. The Qur’an tells the believers to ask directly from the Almighty:
When my servants ask you [O Prophet!] concerning Me; I am indeed close to them. I listen to the prayer of every supplicant when he calls on Me. (2:186)
The Qur’an does not accept the existence of any intermediary between a person and his Allah. In fact, in several surahs, it has severely reprimanded the idolaters of Makkah who used to regard the angels as the daughters of Allah and held that these angels would mediate and intercede for them on the Day of Judgement. For example, consider these verses of Surah Najm:
Have you ever pondered over the reality of this Lat and this ‘Uzza and this third Manat, which is next in rank below them? [You consider them as the daughters of Allah, whereas it is not befitting to ascribe either sons or daughters to Him. But just reflect on your own foolishness:] For your own selves you like sons and for Him daughters! This indeed is a division unjust! [Nay, they have no basis]. They are but names which you and your fathers have invented in whose favour the Almighty has revealed no warrant. [Woe be to their foolishness.] They follow vain conjectures and the whims of their own souls, even though there has already come to them a manifest guidance from their Lord
[Let them desire what they want], but will man attain all that he desires? [No, certainly not! The Almighty shall not alter his law for anyone] Therefore, they should remember that this world and the Hereafter are under the control of Allah. And [not to mention these deities], how many angels are there in the heavens whose intercession shall avail nothing until the Almighty gives permission to whom He wants and for whom He chooses. Those who do not believe in the Hereafter call the angels by the names of females. Yet of this they have no knowledge; They follow merely conjecture and conjecture can never take the place of truth. Therefore, [O Prophet!] turn away from those who turn away from Our Reminder [the Qur’an] and seek only the life of this world. This is the farthest limit of their knowledge. [O Prophet ! leave them to themselves. They shall soon be nabbed and summoned]. Your Lord best knows those who have strayed from His path and those who are rightly guided. (53:19-30)
As far as the 5:35 is concerned, you are right that it does mention the word Wasilah. However, whenever one interprets a Qur’anic verse, one must not forget that it is set in the most eloquent Arabic idiom, which must be understood keeping in view some universal principles of linguistics. All meanings which betray the denotions and connotations of the word they are attributed to are redundant and have no place in the world of interpretation. It is no less than injustice to the Qur’an to attribute to its words those meanings which have no basis in the Arabic language at all. The word Wasilah in Arabic has a different meaning from the one in Urdu. Some people translate it while keeping in mind the Urdu meaning. In Arabic it means ‘nearness’. The correct translation of 5:35, keeping in view this explanation, is:
O you who believe, seek the nearness of Allah only and strive in his way that you may attain salvation. (5:35)
The context of the verse shows that Muslims have been directed to leave aside all other supports and depend only on Allah -- the best way for this being to follow the Shari‘ah revealed by Him.
So you must remember that the same in word in two languages can have different meanings. In fact, it is by not being aware of this fact that some people ascribe the Urdu meaning of a word to its counterpart in Arabic, and in this way end up wrongly interpreting a word. For example, the word Jannah in Urdu means ‘paradise’. However, in Arabic, as an indefinite noun, it means an ‘orchard’. Similarly, the word ‘Makr’ in Arabic means ‘a secret plan’, while in Urdu it means ‘an evil scheme’. So one must be careful in this matter.
The Superiority of a Mother
Question: Why are mothers regarded to be superior to fathers as parents? After all both share in the upbringing and development of a child?
Answer: The basic reason to regard a mother superior to a father seems to be that generally the sacrifices made and hardships borne by her easily outnumber the contribution made by her counterpart in this regard. Of course there may be exceptions to this principle, but they are few and far between.
The Qur’an says:
And We have enjoined on man about his parents -- in travail upon travail did his mother bear him and in two years was his weaning -- that show gratitude to Me and your parents. (31:14)
And We have enjoined upon man to show kindness to his parents. In pain did his mother bear him and in pain did she give him birth. (46:15)
No doubt a father has a great role in the upbringing and development of his offspring. However, the pain and hardship a mother goes through before and right after child birth gives her a marked edge over the father. Consequently, based on these verses, some Ahadith also say that a mother’s right is three times as much as a father’s.
Abu Hurayrahreports that once a person came to the Prophet and asked ‘Who deserves the most virtuous behaviour from me’. The Prophet replied: ‘Your mother’. The person then inquired: ‘Then who’. The Prophet replied: ‘Your mother’. The person further inquired: ‘Then who’. The Prophet replied: ‘Your mother’. The person once again asked: ‘Then who’. The Prophet replied: ‘Your father’. (Bukhari, Kitabu’l-Adab)
Tattooing
Question: What does Islam say about a Muslim in his twenties who has a lot of tattoos? I feel that it is incorrect and want to confirm my perception. Please advise.
Answer: Verse 31 of Surah Rum reads thus:
Follow the nature upon which Allah has created mankind. It is not proper to change this nature. (31:31)
As a corollary to this verse, the Prophet (sws) forbade a number of practices which changed the physical appearance of a human being which must be preserved in the shape Allah has created. Tattooing one’s body is one such practice forbidden by the Prophet (sws). Consequently, it should be avoided. In other words, the nature -- physical as well as spiritual -- of a human being must be preserved in the shape Allah has created. Anything which may become a means of changing or modifying this nature is undesirable.
Compensating Rituals Missed during Menses
Question: It is said that women do not have to say their prayer or observe fasts during their monthly menstrual periods. Do they have to say the missed prayers or observe the missed fasts after their periods are over?
Answer: Women, once their menstrual cycle is over, are required to make up for the fasts but they are not required to cover their missed prayers. This seems to be based on the fact that Allah wants to create facility and ease for mankind, as mentioned in the Qur’an:
Allah wants to create ease for you; He does not want to be hard on you. (2:185)
Since saying forty to fifty missed out prayers would have been a difficult exercise, it was waived off. However, keeping eight or ten fasts is not that difficult a task. Therefore, it is required to be compensated with by observing them later on.
The other obvious reason is that since the prayer is an everyday ritual of worship and the obligatory fasts are confined to the month of Ramadan only, making up for missed fasts seems essential otherwise women might loose the opportunity to fully benefit from the ritual of fasting.
God and Intuition
Question: I have heard people say that we are intuitively aware of a Creator. Is this true?
Answer: There is no doubt about the fact that the perception of Creator is found in the intuition of every person. The Qur’an says that before mankind was created, the Almighty took a covenant from the spirits of all individuals about Him being their Creator. At that time, all of them acknowledged this fact which was subsequently made a part of their intuition by the Almighty. A person who still denies this fact is bound to be doomed in the Hereafter. The Qur’an says:
When your Lord drew forth from the children of Adam from their loins their descendants and made them testify upon themselves [saying]: Am I not your Lord. They said: Yes indeed we do testify. [This was done] lest you should say on the Day of Judgement: Of this we were unaware of or [you put forward the excuse] that our forefathers were idolaters and we were their descendents after them. Will you then destroy us in retribution of the misdeeds of the evil doers. (7:172-73)
How to Adore the Almighty?
Question: What is the correct way to love and adore the Almighty?
Answer: The greatest way to attain the love of Allah has been suggested by the Qur’an itself in the following words:
Tell them [ O Prophet ]: ‘If you do love Allah, follow me; God will love you and forgive your sins.’ (3:31)
In other words, following the religion brought by the Prophet (sws) is the greatest means to achieve the love of Allah. The stress in the verse indicated by the words ‘follow me’ is very very meaningful. It implies that it is only the guidance brought down by the Prophet (sws) which must be followed by Muslims. All concepts and beliefs which are contrary to the Qur’an and Sunnah must be shunned by them.
Based, on the guidance brought by the Prophet (sws), the celebrated scholar Ibn Qayyim has presented a ten point program to attain the love of Allah in his famous book Madariju’l Salikin. Imam Amin Ahsan Islahi has summarized this program in the following words:
1. Study the Qur’an while deeply pondering over its verses to obtain guidance from it.
2. Besides offering the obligatory Rak‘ats of prayer, offer some additional ones to attain the nearness of Allah.
3. Always remain busy with Allah’s Dhikr through your tongue as well as your deeds.
4. When worldly desires overcome you, leave them and adopt ways to please Allah.
5. Acquaint yourself with Allah’s Attributes and keep them in your remembrance.
6. Always keep your eyes on the favours and blesings of Allah.
7. Be humble right from your heart.
8. Pray and worship Allah especially during the time He descends on the heavens of this world.
9. Spend time with pious and noble people.
10. Refrain from all those things which come between you and your Allah. (Islahi, Tadhkiya-i-Nafs, 1st ed., vol. 2, [Lahore: Faran Foundation, 1989], p. 66)
Who are Mahram Relatives
Question: How do we determineMahram relatives. Is my brother-in-law my Mahram relative?
Answer: Mahram relatives are those with whom there exists an eternal prohibition to marry. In other words, they are those relatives with which marriage cannot take place in any circumstances.
The Qur’an has listed these relationships:
Prohibited to you [for marriage] are: -- your mothers, daughters, sisters; father’s sisters, mother’s sisters; brother’s daughters, sister’s daughters; foster-mothers, foster-sisters; your wives’ mothers; your step-daughters under your guardianship, born of your wives to whom you have gone in, -- no prohibition if you have not gone in; -- [those who have been] wives of your sons proceeding from your loins; and two sisters in wedlock at one and the same time, except for what is past; for God is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful. Also [prohibited are] women already married, except those whom your right hands possess: thus has God ordained [prohibitions] against you: except for these, all others are lawful, provided you seek [them in marriage] through gifts from your property, -- desiring chastity, not lust. (4:23-24)
This list of course is with regard to Muslim men. With regard to Muslim women, all the male counterparts of the relations outlined in the above quoted verses are understood to be implied.
As far as the second part of your question is concerned, since a woman can marry her brother-in-law if her sister dies, this relationship cannot be classified as a Mahram one.
Explanation of a Qur’anic Construction
Question: Can you tell me why the word Ummah is in the accusative (Mansub) rather than being in the genitive (Majrur) in verses 3:150 and 20:94 of the Qur’an?
Answer: It is very common in Arabic that when the word Ibn is used in the vocative case (Munada), particularly when used at the time of expressing affection and love, the appended noun (Mudaf-ilayh) can be declined in the nominative case (Marfu‘), accusative (Mansub) as well as the genitive (Majrur) case. All the three forms are used by the Arabs at such instances, as is specified by the celebrated grammarian Zamakhshari in his treatise on Arabic Grammar (section on Munada).*