skills/sistani-guidance/references/books/jme/pages-229-240.md

# Jurisprudence Made Easy

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Previous block: [pages 217 to 228](pages-217-228.md).

Next block: [pages 241 to 252](pages-241-252.md).

## PDF PAGE 229

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their children excite your admiration..’ (9/56). And should
you grow fearful, always remember the lifestyle of the
Messenger of God (s.a.w.) - his staple food was barley
(bread), his deserts dates, and his fire was lit with palm
leaves. If a misfortune befalls you or members of your
family, remember the calamities that befell the Prophet
(s.a.w.), in that they were unprecedented”.
21. Helping the believers, allay their fears, make them
happy, feed them, and see to it that their affairs are
attended to.
Imam as-Sadiq (a.s.) said, “A believer who comes to the
rescue of a wronged fellow believer shall get a reward
that is greater than that of fasting Ramadhan, and
devoting oneself zealously to the service of God in the
Sacred Mosque..”. In another hadith, he said, “If a Muslim
looks after the needs of his brethren, Allah shall call him:
Your reward shall come from Me and I shall not accept for
you anything less than The Garden”.
22. Being one’s own guard at all time.
The Prophet (s.a.w.) counselled Abu Thar thus, “Be
answerable to yourself before you are called to book, for
this will ameliorate your trial on the Day of Judgement.
Weigh yourself (take stock of your deeds) before you shall
be weighed. And be prepared for the Grand Parade when
everything shall lay bare before God”.
23. Being mindful of the affairs of fellow Muslims.
In a hadith, the Prophet said, “He who has become
impervious to Muslims’ concerns shall no longer be
counted among them. And he who heard a person calling
on Muslims for help, and did not respond to his plea, is not
a Muslim”.
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## PDF PAGE 230

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24. Generosity, noble-mindedness, and altruism.
“And those who made their abode in the city and in the
faith before them love those who have fled to them, and
do not find in their hearts a need of what they are given,
and prefer (them) before themselves though poverty may
afflict them, and whoever is preserved from the
niggardliness of his soul, these it is that are the successful
ones”. (59/9).
The Prophet (s.a.w.) said, “Among the prerequisites of
forgiveness are giving away food, spreading peace, and
speaking gently with others”.
25. Spending on one’s immediate family and relatives.
The Messenger of God (s.a.w.) said, “The parable of a head
of a family, going about his business to earn a living for
himself and his dependants is like a mujahid in the way of
Allah”.
26. Repentance for sins, petty and cardinal, and showing
remorse.
The following verses from the Glorious Qur’an depict
vividly the effect of true penitence:
”O you who believe! turn to Allah a sincere turning;
maybe your Lord will remove from you your evil and cause
you to enter gardens beneath which rivers flow..” (66/8).
”..and turn to Allah all of you, O believers! so that you may
be successful”. (24/31).
”..Surely Allah loves those who turn much (to Him), and
He loves those who purify themselves”. (2/222).
”Do they not know that Allah accepts repentance from His
servants and takes the alms, and that Allah is the Oft-
returning (to mercy), the All-merciful”. (9/104).
”Say: O my servants! who have acted extravagantly
against their own souls, do not despair of the mercy of
Allah; surely, Allah forgives the failings altogether; surely,
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## PDF PAGE 231

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He is the Forgiving, the Merciful”. (39/53).
It has been narrated from Imam Mohammad al-Baqir (a.s.),
“The parable of a penitent is that of a sinless person, and
the (parable) of him who dwells on his sin, while he keeps
asking God’s forgiveness, is that of a mocker”.
* What you have just numerated concerns that which is
good. What about that which is objectionable?
- They are numerous. However, I will mention some of
them, but with the same condition?
* You mean I must pledge to keep away from such
misdeeds, and discourage people from committing them.
- Precisely!
* You have my word.
1. Wrongdoing.
”..and they who act unjustly shall know to what final place
of turning they shall turn back”. (26/227).
Imam Ali (a.s.) said, “The most abhorrent sin in the sight of
God Almighty is that of unjustly encroaching upon the
property of a Muslim”.
2. Supporting wrongdoing and condoning it.
The Prophet (s.a.w.) said, “He who volunteers to back an
oppressor, knowing that he was thus, he be outside the
pale of Islam”. He also said, “The most wicked of people is
he who sells the Hereafter at the price of this life. And the
most wicked of the two is the one who bartered the
Hereafter for the life of another person”.
3. The evildoers whom people guard against for fear of
reprisals
The Prophet said,“The most vile of people is he who is
accorded respect for fear of their mischief”.
4. Severing relations with one’s blood relatives.
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## PDF PAGE 232

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“But if you held command, you were sure to make mischief
in the land and cut off the ties of kinship!”. (47/22).
In a reply to a tribesman, on the best of (deeds in) Islam,
the Prophet (s.a.w.) said, “Faith. The man said: And what
comes next? The Prophet said: Being kind to your kinship.
The man said: And what comes after in that order? The
Prophet said: Enjoining good and forbidding evil. The man
then asked: Tell me of the most vile deeds in the eye of
The Creator? The Prophet said: Associating gods with
Allah. The man said: What comes next? The Prophet said:
Enmity among relatives. The man said: And what comes
next in that order? The Prophet said: Enjoining what is
wrong and forbidding what is good”.
5. Anger.
Imam Ja’far as-Sadiq (a.s.) said, “Anger is the precursor to
every vile deed”.
6. Arrogance.
“Therefore, enter the gates of hell, to abide therein; so
certainly evil is the dwelling place of the proud”. (16/29).
The Almighty also said, “And do not turn your face away
from people in contempt, nor go about in the land
exulting overmuch; surely Allah does not love any self-
conceited boaster”. (31/18).
The Prophet (s.a.w.) said, “The majority among the
companions of Hell are the pompous”.
7. Confiscating the property of the orphan.
“(As for) those who unjustly seize the property of the
orphans, surely they only devour fire into their stomachs
and they shall enter burning fire”. (4/10).
8. Perjury.
Imam as-Sadiq (a.s.) said, “He who tells a lie on purpose
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## PDF PAGE 233

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after solemnly pledging to tell the truth, he shall be
viewed as though he was going against God, the Exalted.
9. False testimony.
Describing the pious, Allah said in His Holy Book, “And
they who do not bear witness to what is false, and when
they pass by what is vain, they pass by nobly”. (25/72).
10. Deception.
“..There shall befall those who are guilty humiliation from
Allah and severe chastisement because of what they
planned”. (6/124). God Almighty also said, “..and the evil
plan shall not beset any save those who hatched it..”.
(35/43).
Imam Ali (a.s.) said, “Had it not been for the fact that the
perpetrators of trickery and betrayal are among the
companions of Hell, I could have become the most
cunning among the Arabs”.
11. Looking down on and taking light fellow Muslims,
especially the poor
Imam Ja’far as-Sadiq (a.s.) said, “Do not denigrate a needy
believer, for he who treats any believer roughly, Allah
shall treat him with the contempt he deserves, and shall
maintain His dislike for him until he abandons such
attitude or repent”.
12. Envy.
“Say: I seek refuge in the Lord of the dawn, from the evil of
what He has created.. and from the evil of the envious
when he envies”. (113/1,2,5).
Imam Abu Abdillah as-Sadiq (a.s.) said, “Envy eats away
faith in the same way fire consumes firewood”.
13. Backbiting and listening to it.
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## PDF PAGE 234

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“O you who believe! avoid most of suspicion, for surely
suspicion in some cases is a sin, and do not spy nor let
some of you backbite others..” (49/12).
The Prophet (s.a.w.) said, “An assembly rife with
backbiting is an affront to faith. Therefore, purify your
hearing faculty from listening to backbiting, for both the
speaker and the listener are deemed sinners”.
14. Craving for wealth and clinging to this world.
“O you who believe! let not your wealth, or your children,
divert you from the invocation of Allah; and whoever does
that, these are the losers”. (63/9).
The Prophet (s.a.w.) said, “He, who makes this life his
prime goal, shall be far removed from Allah’s domain”.
15. Obscenity, false accusation, and cursing.
Imam as-Sadiq had this reaction and rebuke to a close
friend, when he heard him calling the mother of his slave
names. Hitting his own forehead with his hand, he said to
him, “God be praised! (How dare) you falsely accuse his
mother (by using abusive language)! I thought you were
pious and God-fearing. In which case, you are not!”. The
man said, “May I be your ransom! but his mother is a Sindi
(from the province of Sind) and that she is a polytheist”.
The Imam retorted, “(And so!) do not you know that every
people have their own way in conducting their marriages.
Go away!”. It was recounted that the Imam (a.s.) was
never seen with him again ever.
16. Being ungrateful to one’s parents.
“And your Lord has commanded that you shall not serve
(any) but Him, and (show) goodness to your parents. If
either or both of them reach old age with you, say not to
them (so much as) ‘Ugh’ nor chide them, and speak to
them a generous word”. (17/23).
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## PDF PAGE 235

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17. Lying.
“Only they forge the lie who do not believe in Allah’s
revelations, and these are the liars”. (16/105).
The Prophet (s.a.w.) said, “It is a great treachery to tell
your fellow-human being a pack of lies, while he is not
aware you are lying to him”.
Imam as-Sajjad (a.s.) said, “Guard against lying, be it petty
or big, in any circumstance, whether in earnest or in jest,
for if you lie in trivial matters, you shall be tempted to lie in
grave ones”.
18. Not keeping a promise.
The Originator of the heavens and the earth said, “So He
made hypocrisy to follow as a consequence into their
hearts till the day when they shall meet Him, because they
failed to perform towards Allah what they had promised
with Him, and because they told lies”. (9/77).
”If four (bad) habits characterize a person, he should be
deemed a hypocrite; and if only traces of these habits
were found in him, he would remain tainted, until he
renounced them. These are: if he speaks, he tells lies; if he
makes a promise, he does not keep it; if he undertakes a
covenant, he betrays it; and if he disputes, he acts
immorally”, said Prophet Mohammad (s.a.w.).
19. Indulgence in wrongdoing and showing no remorse.
“And those who, when they commit an indecency or do
injustice to their souls, remember Allah and ask
forgiveness for their faults - and who forgives the faults
but Allah, and (who) do not knowingly persist in what
they have done”. (3/135).
20. Speculative hoarding of foodstuffs.
The Prophet said, “He who hoards foodstuffs, for more
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## PDF PAGE 236

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than forty days (plotting to push prices up), Allah shall
deny him the breeze of Paradise”.
21. Deception.
The Messenger of God (s.a.w.) said, “He who cheats is not
one of us”.
22. Prodigality.
“O children of Adam! attend to your attire (and looks) at
every time of prayer, and eat and drink and be not
extravagant; surely, He does not love the extravagant”.
(7/31). Allah, the All-pervading also declared, “And give to
the near of kin his due and (to) the needy and the
wayfarer, and do not squander wastefully. Surely, the
squanderers are the fellows of Satan and Satan is ever
ungrateful to his Lord”. (17/26,27).
Imam Ali (a.s.) said, “If Allah chose what is best for any of
His servants, He would make him spend wisely, and take
good care of his affairs. He would lead him away from
misappropriation and prodigality”.
23. Abandoning any of the religious obligations, such as
prayer and fasting.
The Prophet of Mercy (s.a.w.) said, “He who deliberately
abandons the observance of the obligation of prayer shall
be denied refuge with God and His Messenger”.
Imam Ja’far as-Sadiq (a.s.) said, “Allah shall neither cast an
eye on His servant, nor render him pure in heart, if he
were to throw beyond his back any of the obligations He
ordained, or commit any of the sins He prohibited”.
* Finally, my father had this to add.
- I have chosen this statement on the important topic of
“Enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong”, by
one of our luminaries, “It is incumbent on the doctors of
religion, in particular, to practically apply this obligation:
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## PDF PAGE 237

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to wear the attire of what is good, be it wajib or
mustahab, and take off the attire of objectionable actions,
be they haraam or makrouh. They should arm themselves
with noble morals and get rid of debased conduct, for in
so doing they would set a good example to be followed by
the laity. This is even more so, if they augment such deeds
with good counsel, be it in the context of awakening their
wishes in the good things to pursue, or checking their
propensity to committing that which is haraam, as the
case may be”.
Thus, we finish our dialogues on specific subjects, praying
to the Almighty to make the reward for the effort put into
them closeness to Him. I hope that you and our brethren
would benefit from them. Having said that, the
forthcoming discussion shall be a general one, as you may
want to enquire about any other topic we have not
covered in these dialogues.
* It is a good idea.
```

## PDF PAGE 238

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Dialogue on miscellaneous issues-1
No sooner had my father left, I gathered my notes; thus
ending the last dialogue on well-defined juridical topics.
Now it is time to get ready for a dialogue, the topics of
which, I am going to determine.
In no time, I prepared a raft of questions. Shortly after my
father had joined in, I started asking about leather
products sold in, or imported from, non-Muslim countries,
such as Europe.
* Suppose a man’s wrist watch strap was made of leather
and he was wearing a leather belt. Both were imported
from a non-Muslim country. He has no knowledge
whether the animal, whose hide was used in making the
strap and the belt, was killed according to Islamic rituals.
Should he take them off before starting prayer?
- His prayer is in order so long as there was a probability,
that should be significant, that the animal was
slaughtered according to Islamic rituals.
* What about a leather wallet of the same characteristics
mentioned above?
- It is permissible to say prayer with it on.
* Suppose the person in my previous question was aware
of the fact that the products were made of hide of an
unslaughtered animal. Yet, he inadvertently said his
prayer wearing the products. Upon remembering, he
parted with them while in prayer. What would become of
his prayer?
- His prayer shall be in order. However, should his
forgetfulness stem from his apathy, [he must say the
prayer again].
* An electric washing machine that dries the clothes by
spinning rather than wringing. Is the process sufficient to
render the garments tahir?
- Yes, it is sufficient.
```

## PDF PAGE 239

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* If I moved in to a house, whose previous owners are not
bound by tahara, can I assume that everything therein is
tahir?
- Yes, your assumption is right, because the truth is that
everything is tahir, unless you know that it is not.
* If I could move to questions on prayer: What would be
the ruling in the matter of a person who kept up prayer
and fasting, but often conducted ghusl improperly.
Although he is aware of this fact, yet he does not know
the number of improper ghusls, and accordingly cannot
determine how many prayers or periods of fasting he must
repeat?
- His fasting shall be in order, i.e. he does not need to fast
in lieu, albeit his ghusl was batil. As for prayer, he must say
every prayer he conducted after each improper ghusl. If
he was not sure of the number of prayers, but could
estimate it within a given range, he can go for the
minimum.
* Can I prostrate myself in prayer (do sujood) on a piece of
paper?
- Yes, provided it is tahir and was made of wood or the
like, which are deemed proper to do sujood on. The same
goes for paper made of cotton or flax.
* Is it permissible to carry out sujood on a cement
flooring?
- Yes, it is in order.
* Sometimes I listen to recitations of the Holy Qur’an,
either broadcast from stations or played from tape
recorders and the like. Upon hearing the recitation of
certain verses which call for the listener to prostrate
themselves, am I duty-bound to do so?
- You are not required to do sujood in such circumstances.
It is incumbent on you to do so, if you hear such verses
recited live, i.e. first hand.
* The hair of a woman, in prayer, was partially uncovered
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## PDF PAGE 240

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without her knowing that. Should I draw her attention to
this, while the prayer is in progress, or should I do so after
she has finished prayer?
- No, you should not advise her to that effect.
Notwithstanding, even if she was unaware of the
exposure of her hair throughout and she found out after
she had finished prayer, it is in order. If, however, she
found out during prayer and hastened to cover the
exposed part of her hair, the prayer shall be in order.
* What is the ruling in the matter of someone who wakes
up only minutes before the time of Subh prayer, yet they
go back to sleep, with the slightest possibility that they
may not get up in time for prayer?
- If the described attitude stems from indifference towards
prayer, it is not permissible for them to do so.
* Suppose someone commutes daily to the place where
they work, study, or go about their business; the place
happens to be over 22 km. away from where they live.
What form of prayer should they perform, and do they
have to fast?
- The prayer shall be tamam and they should fast too.
* Should the journeying be irregular, say three times a
week the year round, and the nature of business of the
person concerned was not of that which involves travel?
- Such people should say their prayer in full and the same
goes for fasting, because they fit the description of people
who are “constantly on the move”, or (katheeris-safar). If,
however, such people make the trip twice a week, they
[should combine both, praying tamam and qasr. So do
their fasting, i.e. they should fast Ramadhan and fast
again later].
* What shall become of the obligatory fasting of someone
on a day when they travelled after zawal?
- [They carry on with their fast], i.e. they are not required
to make up for that day.
```