LET MUSLIMS FORWARD THE TRUE TEACHINGS OF ISLAM

From  Abba Abana,  UMBS, Uganda.

Forwarding any type of mails via modern means of communication

We are concerned with ‘’Forwarding mails via modern means of communication’’ and hereby give a clue to our brethren about emails that Muslims are sending out to "everyone on their lists." It seems that a lot of them are not really based on the teachings of Islam that is the Quran and authentic Hadeeths.

"O you who believe, fear Allah and keep your duty to Him and always speak the truth." Holy Quran [33:69].
"Whoever attributes to me something that I did not say, let him reserve his seat in the Hellfire." - Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him.

Today we have multiple methods of mobile phones (SMS), WhatsApp, BBM etc. and e-mail to spread advice, exhortations, reminders and guidance which is a good deed, because it is possible to reach hundreds of people with one click of the button. The worst is the opposite side of the coin which this short and brief article is all about!

It is well known that the one who guides others to do good is like the one who does it, and that the one who calls others to guidance will have a reward like that of those who follow him.

With special reference to Nigeria today, due to closeness of Presidential Elections in February 2015, we noticed many fabricated news, lies, tarnishing images of politicians, campaigning for self-services, forwarding all types of grudges and abuses to meet desired goals. Think of Allah, as you will be asked every point you mentioned or forwarded to anybody whether a lie is or for the campaigning purposes of your party.

فَمَن يَعۡمَلۡ مِثۡقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ خَيۡرً۬ا يَرَهُ ۥ (٧) وَمَن يَعۡمَلۡ مِثۡقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ۬ شَرًّ۬ا يَرَهُ ۥ (٨)

Holy Quran Chapter 99:  Then shall anyone who has done an atom's weight of good, see it! (7) And anyone who has done an atom's weight of evil, shall see it. (8).

Another one is doctoring mails originally sent out by the sender for desired purpose on lawful and truthful basis but among the recipients on the list changed or twisted the earlier truthful statements or reminders etc. The worst is using religion to fight for their own rights which hitherto are already biased.  

Muslim (2674) narrated from Abu Hurayrah (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said:

“Whoever calls others to guidance will have a reward like that of those who follow it, without that detracting from their reward in the slightest.” 

And Muslim (1893) narrated from Abu Mas’ood al-Ansaari (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “The one who tells another about something good is like the one who does it.” 

If a Muslims writes some advice or article on Islamic topic, and sends it to a hundred people, and many of them follow his advice, then he will have a great reward for that and the same applies to false or lies which you will be asked. We should make use of these means of communication and raise the level of the messages that are transmitted through them, so that they will be most effective and beneficial.

The very unfortunate is some people mix this good deed with a bad deed, which is a kind of lying and falsehood.

 “Say (O Muhammad (SAW): ‘(But) the things that my Lord has indeed forbidden are Al‑Fawaahish (great evil sins and every kind of unlawful sexual intercourse) whether committed openly or secretly, sins (of all kinds), unrighteous oppression, joining partners (in worship) with Allaah for which He has given no authority, and saying things about Allaah of which you have no knowledge’” Holy Quran [al-A’raaf 7:33] 

These people think that they are making people spread good by encouraging and warning them, but they are mistaken and they are overstepping the mark. They should limit themselves to that which is mentioned in Sunnah, which is sufficient, praise be to Allaah, such as saying: “Whoever spreads this good, there is the hope that he will have a reward like that of all those who act upon it.” That should be sufficient to encourage people to spread it. 

The one who receives any false messages should advise the one who sent it and explain to him that he should stop using these false incentives.

يَـٰٓأَيُّہَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوٓاْ إِن جَآءَكُمۡ فَاسِقُۢ بِنَبَإٍ۬ فَتَبَيَّنُوٓاْ أَن تُصِيبُواْ قَوۡمَۢا بِجَهَـٰلَةٍ۬ فَتُصۡبِحُواْ عَلَىٰ مَا فَعَلۡتُمۡ نَـٰدِمِينَ (٦)

Holy Quran Chapter 49: O ye who believe! if a wicked person comes to you with any news, ascertain the truth, lest ye harm people unwittingly, and afterwards become full of repentance for what ye have done. (6)

Let us remember some very important points to keep in mind:

1. As Muslims we cannot lie about anything, especially about our religion.

2. We can always prove what our religion teaches because we have original recorded sources of our religion:

A) The Quran
B) Teachings of Muhammad (SAW).

This is a very unique part of Islam, not available in any other ancient religions.

3. Sometimes "questions" contain misinformation. We must qualify and verify what it is that someone is saying against what they are implying. In most cases we don’t authenticate before forwarding same.

4. If you find the answer to your question makes you say, "I didn't know that" or "This is good" are you ready to worship your God (Allah) by submitting your choices to His Will? This what Islam is really all about?

The most important subject is the worship of Almighty God, without any partners or associates or "gods" besides Almighty God.

Remember that the Devil only has ONE GOAL - to put as many of the sons of Adam in the Hell Fire as he can. That is it! He does not really care how they get there. And it works - for the enemy.

Shaytan (the devil) knows that most Muslims are ignorant of their religion and think that they know enough that they don't need to ask anyone about what they are doing. Or else, he counts on the fact that they will consider that it looks like something that will "help" the ummah (Muslim community) to do good deeds, even if it is a "little white lie."

We must discourage this practice of just "forwarding this to everyone on your list." You see many Muslims today do not really know a lot about Islam and they are easily confused by these people who know how to make up things to fool us or mistranslate or misrepresent the verses of the Quran and the Hadeeth of the Prophet, peace be upon him.

May Allaah help us all to do that which He loves and which pleases Him. 

And Allaah knows best.

Assembled by Abba Abana, Dated 31^st January 2015