Dear Muslims, what is HALAL and HARAM?

First of all, I am no scholar; I am just an ordinary guy still trying to blend in. I have my own thoughts, my own views and feelings that developed over the course of time, heavily influenced by my surroundings and experiences. So whatever I say is based upon my conclusions that I came up with, after listening to many scholars and my own analysis of life, based on facts and figures and not just blind following.

We are all well aware of the terms HALAL & HARAM and unfortunately both these terms are heavily manipulated and abused by both practicing Muslims and non-practicing Muslims. The practicing Muslims label most of the things as HARAM while the non-practicing Muslims bring almost everything under Halal category.

First thing first, Halal Haram is not based on your personal likings. Something you like is not necessarily Halal and something you dislike may not be Haram.

Things which are Haram cannot be debated at all, such as, Shirk, Zina, Alchohol, theft, Fraud, Oppression, and Injustice etc. But there are things which are not Haram but could lead you to Haram. Haram is a very grave sin so please don’t label it on everything and make people look bad. Some acts are not Haram but discouraged because they can damage your faith in a long run.

For example, Music itself is not Haram, there is no verse in Quran that mentions Music as Haram but, if Music leads you away from your Deen and you start indulging in other haram acts because of music, so you better stay away from Music. If your mind can’t control and the music keeps playing in your mind when you offer namaz, it’s time to cut music off. If songs contain immorality, stay away. Similarly, music concerts; if concerts lead you to drugs, sex or any type of other immorality, you should stop going to concerts. Concert itself is not Haram but if it contains other Haram things, better to stay away. Same goes for movies, there are some great movies without anything immoral. Just make sure if you are going out for movies, it should not overlap with the time of Namaz because then it’s prohibited, the movie itself may not be haram but you missed your namaz because of that movie, so you indulged in a haram act because of something which itself was not haram. Anything that keeps you away from the obligations is may not be haram but prohibited.

Another example is love and relationships. It is not haram to like someone or to fell in love with someone, what haram is to commit zina. And zina is not just about sex, all the small acts like kissing or cuddling also count as zina and are punishable, though not exactly the same as zina but one should never take those small acts easy.

Allah tells you what Haram is and then provides you a guideline to prevent you from committing the crime. There is a difference between HARAM acts and acts that are discouraged. Like in the above example, if a boy and a girl exchange phone numbers, it’s not Haram, if they text, it’s not Haram, if they call, it’s not Haram, if they meet, it’s not haram but, if they are sexting, it’s haram, if they meet and get physical, it’s haram, if they exchange immoral pictures of their own, it’s haram. But if they do not indulge in any haram act and they just simply text or have lunch together, it’s not haram but it is not an encouraging act too, why, because human beings, especially the young ones, are weak. Look around you, how many unmarried couples have drawn a red line?

So, may be Allah won’t hold you accountable for exchanging numbers or talking or meeting but, if you fell for the crime, if you commit zina, then probably Allah may punish you for that first text message that lead you to zina because Allah guided you, Allah told you to observe parda, to lower your gaze, to prevent mixing with the opposite gender but you didn’t obey which lead you to the ultimate crime.

May be if you are someone who is so strong in faith, may be even sitting at a strip club won’t make you commit zina, may be sitting at a bar won’t make you drink alchohol, so may be Allah will spare you for going to a strip club or a bar but, keep in mind to at least have a sense of wrongdoing because Allah not only judges actions, He rewards intentions too. And also keep in mind that may be you are strong enough to control your desires but what if someone else with weak faith is on your footsteps, may be Allah will hold you accountable for his acts too because he followed you and fell for the crime.

Another point is that there are levels of piousness. The highest level is indeed where one prevents even the smallest of acts that could lead to the bigger sin. If you are someone who have a beard, who dresses according to Islamic teaching, you don’t mix with other genders, you observe niqab, you don’t listen to music, you don’t watch movies, you pray five times, then you are someone who has achieved the highest level and it is highly appreciable. But, not everyone in the world is supposed to obtain that level. It’s just like other occupations, not every doctor is supposed to be great, not every Accountant is supposed to be a Manager someday, some people are supposed to be at an intermediate level because of their surroundings, because of their upbringing, their neighborhood, their experiences, their resources.

And not every level is same everywhere in the world. The level of a manager in a small shop is nowhere near to the Manager in a multi-National Corporation. Similarly, your level as a Muslim in a Muslim environment around practicing Muslims is different than someone who is raised around non-muslims. For example, a woman wearing jeans in a Muslim neighborhood where she was born and raised could be of an intermediate level in piousness, but a woman wearing jeans in USA where she was born and brought up in a non-Muslim environment holds a higher level of piousness because this woman could have adopted bikini but she chose not to. While the other woman could have adopted Burqa like most of the woman in the neighborhood but she didn’t. Now this example has nothing to do with women’s clothing, it’s just an example, the point is that one may appear very pious because of his commitment to all the commands of Allah but we should also take into the consideration the difficulty and easiness one has to face. It is easy to adopt everything Islamic in an Islamic country but difficult in a non-Muslim country. So a woman wearing a burqa in a western country is probably way better than a woman who wears a Burqa in Pakistan because here there are no hurdles or objections while the one in USA is sacrificing a lot.

By no means is my intention to discourage someone. No doubt, if you are following Islamic rules in any part of the world, Allah will reward you because you are doing a commendable job. But just remember, Islam doesn’t stops you from progressing, Islam is not anti-social. Allah has given you instructions to follow and those instructions are to save you from the ultimate sin. The instructions apply differently on different people on different conditions due to the environments and personal behaviors. But one should not ignore the instructions too because you could be achieving the highest level if you follow all those instructions. It’s up to you, which level you want to obtain. You want to manage a small shop or you want to step up and manage a huge corporation.

And one more important thing, not everyone is born with the highest level, people evolve, they learn, they change. You might see a 50 year old person with the highest level of piousness but the same person’s history could be different, maybe he was a grave sinner years ago but he changed. Or, a youngster could be having the highest level and then change and become a sinner. And also remember, no one can become perfect, no one can achieve greatness in every regard. Not just because someone prays five time, or wears a niqab, or don’t commit zina, or don’t drink alchohol, is supposed to be a perfect Muslim, there is nothing like perfection. Everyone has shortcomings. May be a person doesn’t drink but doesn’t prays either. May be a person commits zina but prays five times. Allah is the ultimate judge; He will judge your life, not only single acts. Allah gives you time to repent and most importantly, He knows your intentions. Keep balance in your life, if something wrong happens, balance it with good deed. But always make sure to never commit what’s HARAM because there is no exception in HARAM.

Dear brothers and sisters, try to become better every day. If you commit sin, repent. And remember; never openly brag about your sin, Allah hates such person because this means you are openly denying Allah’s commands. At least keep accepting your wrong doings and try to achieve the highest level. Not everything is Haram, neither Halal. Read Quran and Hadith and be your own judge. Listen to people, I don’t encourage people to ignore others, let people speak and you listen to them casually because you don’t know when can something struck your heart and change your life.

May Allah forgive us all and make it easy for us to achieve the highest level.