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reason to revile anyone. You are all children of Adam. No one has superiority over another except in religion
and taqwa (the fear of Allâh). (Reported by al-Bazzar) Mankind is descended from Adam and Eve....On the
Day of Resurrection Allâh will not ask you about your kinships and genealogies. The most honorable among
you in the sight of Allâh is the one who is the most God-fearing (mutaqqi). (Reported by Ahmad.)
The Prophet (s.a.w.s.) launched a fierce attack on those who boast about their fathers and grandfathers,
saying, Let people cease to boast about their ancestors who have died, who are merely fuel in hell, or they
will certainly be of less account than the beetle which rolls dung with its nose. Allâh has removed from you
the pride of jahiliyyah and its boasting about ancestors. One is either a God-fearing Believer or a wicked
sinner. All people are children of Adam, and Adam was created from dust. (Reported by Abû Daoud and al-
Tirmidhî ; the wording is from the latter, who classified it as good. It is also reported by al-Bayhaqi through
good transmitters.)
People who boast about their remote ancestors among the pharaohs or the choesroes (the rulers of ancient
Persia) and the like should take note of this hadith. As Allâh’s Messenger (s.a.w.s.) has stated, these
ancestors of theirs, whether Arab or non-Arab, or pre-Islâmic jahiliyyah, are nothing but the fuel of hell.
During the Farewell Pilgrimage, while thousands of Muslims gathered in the sacred place, during the sacred
month, the Prophet (s.a.w.s.) delivered his last public address, emphasizing the basic principles: O people,
your Rabb is One. Know that there is no superiority of an Arab over a non-Arab or of non-Arab over an Arab,
nor of a white over a black or of a black over a white, except through consciousness of Allâh (taqwa). Verily,
the most honorable among you in the sight of Allâh is the one who has most taqwa. (Reported by Ahmad.)
Mourning for the Dead
Among the customs of jahiliyyah which were denounced by Islâm was the prof wailing, lamenting, and
showing excessive grief for the dead.
Islâm’s teaching concerning death is that it is not the annihilation of an individual, causing him to become
non-exis, but that it is a journey from one world to another and that no amount of mourning will bring the
dead back to life or change the decree of Allâh Subhanahu wa Ta‘ala. The Believer should receive death, as
he receives any other calamity which may befall him, with patience and dignity, repeating the ayah, To Allâh
we belong and to Him do we return. (2:156)
The pre-Islâmic manner of mourning for the dead is strictly forbidden to the Muslim. The Prophet (s.a.w.s.)
declared, ” He who slaps his cheeks, tears his clothes, and cries out in the manner of jahiliyyah is not of
us.” (Compiled by al-Bukhâri.)
The Muslim is not permitted to wear a mourning band, discard his adornment, or change his usual attire to
express his sorrow and grief. (The wearing of black as a sign of mourning is prohibited in Islâm, even in the
case of a widow in mourning for her husband. (Trans.)) However, a wife must observe a mourning period
(‘iddah) of four months and ten days for her deceased husband in loyalty to the sacred ties of marriage; in
Islâm this period is considered an extension of her previous marriage and she is not allowed to receive any
new proposals of marriage during this period. Thus, she is required to refrain from adorning herself during
that time both as a sign of mourning and in order to keep the thought of remarriage out of her own mind and
that of her potential suitors. However, if the deceased is someone other than her husband, for example, her
father, brother or son, it is haram for her to mourn for more the three days. Al-Bukhâri reported concerning
Umm Habeebah and Zaynab bint Jahsh, both of whom were wives of the Prophet (s.a.w.s.), that at the time
of the deaths of Umm Habeebah’s father Abû Sufyan bin Harb, and Zaynab’s brother, each of them
perfumed herself, saying By Allâh, I am not in need of perfume, but I heard Allâh s Messenger (s.a.w.s.) say,
It is haram for a woman who believes in Allâh and the Last Day to mourn for a deceased person for more
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than three nights, except for the husband (for whom the period of mourning is) four months and ten days.
(Reported in the Book of “Funerals” in al-Bukhâri’s Sahih.)
The period of mourning for the deceased husband is obligatory and should not be violated. A woman came
to the Prophet (s.a.w.s.) and said, “My daughter’s husband has died, and her eye is infected. May she use
kohl?” (In addition to being an adornment, kohl also possesses medicinal value for the eye.) The Prophet
(s.a.w.s.) said, No, and repeated it twice or thrice. (Reported in the Book of Divorce in al-Bukhâri’s Sahih.
The narration here is that of Umm Habeebah, and Zainab’s narrative is similar.) This demonstrates that
adorning or beautifying herself during the prescribed period of iddah is prohibited to the widow. As grief and
the expression of it are natural, she may mourn and weep but without wailing and shouting. Upon the death
of Khalid bin Walleed, ‘Umar heard some women weeping. Some people wanted to stop them from it but
‘Umar said, “Let them weep for Abû Sulayman (the name by which Khalid was called), as long as they do
not throw dust on their heads or start crying out.”
Business Transactions
Allâh Subhanahu wa Ta‘ala has created human beings in a state of dependence upon one another. Each
individual does not own all the things he needs one person has something which he can spare while at the
same t me he may need something which others have and which they can spare. Allâh has directed people
toward exchanging goods and utilities through buying and selling because such transactions make social
and economic life function smoothly and encourage people to be productive.
Various types of transactions and exchanges of property were current among the Arabs at the dawn of the
Prophet’s mission. He approved and confirmed such types of transactions which did not conflict with the
principles of the Shari‘ah and disapproved and prohibited those business practices which were against the
purposes and aims of the Shari‘ah. The prohibitions were due to specific reasons, as, for example, trading in
haram goods, transactions involving fraud or exorbitant profits, or injustice to one of the contracting parties.
The Prohibition of Selling Haram Goods
Trading in goods which are normally used for committing sin is haram. Examples of such things are swine,
intoxicants, and other prohibited foods in general, as well as idols, crosses, statues, and the like. Permitting
the sale or trade of such articles implies promoting and propagating them among people, and consequently
encouraging them to do what is haram, while prohibiting their sale implies suppressing and ignoring them,
thereby preventing people from coming into contact with them. The Prophet (s.a.w.s.) said, “Surely, Allâh
and His Messenger have prohibited the sale of wine, the flesh of dead animals, swine and idols,” (Compiled
by al-Bukhâri and Muslim.) and also, “When Allâh prohibits a thing, He prohibits (giving and receiving) the
price of it as well.” (Reported by Ahmad and Abû Daoud.)
The Prohibition of a Sale Involving Uncertainty
The Prophet (s.a.w.s.) forbade any kind of transaction which could lead to a quarrel or litigation due to some
uncertainty (See the chapter on “The Prohibition of al-Gharar (Transactions Involving Uncertainty)” in
Muslim and others.) or which involved an unspecific quantity to be exchanged or delivered. This includes the
sort of transaction in which there is no guarantee that the seller can deliver the goods for which he receives
payment. Accordingly, the Prophet (s.a.w.s.) forbade accepting money for a stallion’s or male camel’s
covering, for fish in the water or birds in the air which one has not caught, or for the offspring of a camel still
in the female’s womb, since there is an element of uncertainty as to the outcome in all such transactions.
The Prophet (s.a.w.s.) observed that people sold unripened fruits which were still in the fields or orchards; if
the crop were destroyed by blight or some natural calamity, the buyer and seller would quarrel over who was
to bear the loss. Hence, the Prophet (s.a.w.s.) prohibited the sale of fruit until they were clearly in good
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