by Asma bint Shameem
Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta’aala gives us some very important instructions in Surah al-Hujuraat.
🍃He says:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اجْتَنِبُوا كَثِيرًا مِّنَ الظَّنِّ
إِنَّ بَعْضَ الظَّنِّ إِثْمٌ وَلَا تَجَسَّسُوا
“O you who believe! Stay away from much suspicions, indeed some suspicions are sins. And spy not..”
(Surah al-Hujraat: 12)
I’m sure all of us have read this Aayah many, many times in our lives.
But have we really ‘read’ it with the ‘eyes’ of the heart?
Have we really understood the Order, the Command that the Lord of the Heavens and the Earth is giving us?
Allaah Subhaanahu wa Ta’aala is addressing ME and YOU.
He’s saying “O you who believe”.
That’s me and you.
So pay attention!
Next He says:
“STAY AWAY from suspicions...! And SPY NOT!”
Our Creator and MASTER is ORDERING us not to be suspicious or spy on one another.
Yet, somehow we feel that this Aayah does not apply to us.
We read the Aayah and pass it by as if nothing.
All we need to do is look at our lives and see how true this is!
We all KNOW it’s wrong.
Yet, how many wives are suspicious of their husbands for no reason and SPY on them...
And how many of us ‘conveniently’ eavesdrop on a conversation...
Or ‘casually’ look into other people’s phones, read their text messages, letters and emails...
We pry into private matters.
We keep an eye on the comings and goings of our neighbors, not out of love and care, but out of plain old nosiness.
We peep and grope after the secrets of the people...
We search for their defects and weaknesses...
ALL of this is WRONG.
It’s a MAJOR SIN and forbidden in our Deen.
Whether this is done on the basis of suspicion, or with an evil intention to harm someone, or for satisfying one's own curiosity, it is FORBIDDEN by the Sharee’ah in EVERY CASE.
It does NOT BEFIT us, as BELIEVERS, that we should pry in the private affairs of other people, or try to peep at them from behind curtains to find out their defects and their weaknesses, EVEN IF it’s our own wife or husband or family.
Such behavior is grave immorality.
🍃The Prophet sal Allaahu Alayhi wa sallam said:
"O people, who have professed belief verbally, but faith has not yet entered your hearts: Do not pry into the affairs of the Muslims. For he, who will pry into the affairs of the Muslims, Allaah will pry into his affairs, and he whom AIlaah follows inquisitively, is DISGRACED by Him even in his own house. " (Abu Dawood-saheeh by al-Albaani)
🍃And he said:
“Beware of suspicion, for suspicion is the falsest of speech.
Do not eavesdrop;
do not spy on one another; do not envy one another; do not forsake one another;
do not hate one another. Be, O slaves of Allaah, brothers.” (al-Bukhaari, Muslim).
How much clearer could the instructions be?!
🍃 The scholars explained;
“Beware of suspicion” means: beware of following suspicion or beware of negative thinking, for suspicion is an accusation that comes to mind without any evidence.”
[Awn al-Ma‘bood (9/2195-2196)]
🍃 Ja‘far ibn Muhammad said:
“If you hear something about your brother that you dislike, then look for excuses for him, from one to seventy excuses; if you find an excuse for him (all well and good), otherwise say: Perhaps he has an excuse that I do not know of.”
[Al-Bayhaqi ;ash-Shu‘ab (8344)]
QUESTION?
What about my children?
I want to make sure they’re not falling into any major sins. Can I spy on them or eavesdrop on their conversations?
Such situations are exceptions to the rule.
If there’s a valid reason like you found some indication or circumstantial evidence that points to some wrongdoing on your child’s part, and you
want to stop him or her from doing haraam or you want to make sure of someone’s safety and well-being, etc., then it’s permissible to spy on someone; but only for that “limited” amount of time as needed.
🍃 Someone asked Shaikh Ibn Uthaymeen about listening to a family member’s conversation and recording it without their permission.
He said:
“If the head of the household sees indications of these evil telephone calls, then there is nothing wrong with setting up a recording device without their knowledge, but he realizes that there is something going on, he should not keep quiet and keep listening;
rather he should rebuke them straightaway, because if he continues to listen,because he may hear something that will upset him even more.
For example, if he comes across a bad telephone conversation, he must rebuke the one who is doing it straight away, and not delay it until the next day; he must put a stop to it from the beginning.
But with regard to mere suspicion based on waswaas (insinuating whispers of the Shaytaan), it is not permitted (for him to set up this device), but if he knows that the matter is serious and that it is actually happening, then it is OK to set up a recorder so as to find out what is going on.”
(Fataawa Al-Liqa’ Al-Shahri No. 50)
So we should not be spying or eavesdropping or be suspicious of others unnecessarily on anyone unless unless there’s a valid shar’ee reason like forbidding an evil or preventing harm.
Let us all try to think well of our Muslim brothers and sisters, our husbands and wives, our friends and families.
Let us not spy on one another or search for their faults or weaknesses.
Let’s clear our hearts and love each other for the sake of Allaah.
Let’s all truly be “slaves of Allaah”.
And Allaah knows best
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