CLARIFICATION ON HARAM

A few days ago, I wrote a detailed article about Halal and Haram in Islam. And yesterday I wrote an article on Yasir and Iqra’s marriage and relationship debate.

I said a few things which were taken totally out of context although I did clearly mention every aspect. I write long articles so that I can cover up every angle as much as possible to avoid misinterpretation. However, being a human, I still can’t pour my feelings or thoughts completely in a written form.

First of all, I am not a liberal, secularist or a feminist. I am a Muslim Alhamdulillah. I follow the teachings of Islam. I don’t follow any particular scholar; I listen to multiple scholars, hear their arguments with logic, tally them with Quran and Sunnah and then come to my own conclusion. If a scholar fails to elaborate a particular verse or hadith, I am not satisfied because there is always a reason behind any command from Allah or Prophet. There is always logic. We are often told DO THIS BECAUSE ALLAH HAS COMMANDED or DON’t DO THIS BECAUSE ALLAH HAS COMMANDED, and when asked why, there is no proper explanation.

Allah and our beloved Prophet PBUH never commanded us to follow something just for their own sake. There is always a reason why we are or we aren’t allowed to do a specific act. And also not every act is allowed or forbidden in every scenario. The same sin has different punishment for different people based on the circumstances. You can’t give the same punishment to 18 years old and 80 years old. The 18 years old deserves a second chance while the 80 years old person doesn’t.

There are two categories, one in which Allah COMMANDS and the other category is where Allah GUIDES. The commands are clear, they have to be followed. If Allah commands you to forbid something, it’s HARAM. For example, Allah commands to forbid Alcohol, Allah commands to offer 5 prayers daily, Allah commands to fast in the month of Ramadan, Allah commands not to commit Zina, Allah commands not to lie, Allah commands not to harm others. If one doesn’t follow these commands, he is sinning because all these Commands are obligations upon us. And all these commands have a reason, it’s not just for Allah’s sake, it’s for the betterment of people. Alcohol destroys you, prayers make you closer to Allah and keep you on right path, zina creates mess in your life and there are several other benefits and drawbacks of these commands.

Then Allah guides us. Allah and our beloved Prophet PBUH gave us instructions. These instructions differ from time to time according to an individual’s situation. These instructions are not obligations, these are not commands, and not following these instructions is not Haram. Haram is something you will be punished for, not following the instructions can spare you because the purpose of the instructions is to keep you away from the ultimate sin. The instructions are guidance to save you from Haram.

Now let’s talk about what I wrote in the previous post, I am going to copy paste it:
“ is it Haram to love someone? Is it Haram to ride in a same vehicle without marriage? Is it Haram for a girl and a boy to go on a vacation without marriage? Is it Haram for a non-married couple to stay in a same hotel room? The simple answer to all these questions is, NO. None of this is Haram BUT, highly disliked not only by society but by Islam too because a human being is very weak and even the smallest of disliked acts can take him/her to the bigger sin.”

Now some people heavily reacted on the first part of paragraph. Read Quran, read Hadith and you will not find any of these things mentioned above to be HARAM but, I mentioned HIGHLY DISLIKED. The COMMAND is to not commit zina for which we will be held accountable and all the other measures such as not looking at na-mehram, not to be in a private place with a non-mehram, not to talk to a non-mehram, all these are instructions so that we can save ourselves from the COMMAND which is, not to commit zina.

If looking at non-mehram, or talking to non-mehram or travelling with non-mehram is HARAM then how could we survive as a society? How will we educate, how will we earn, how will we step out of the house to buy groceries? Then all the offices, schools, hospitals are Haram places because men and women work together. It’s a necessity of today’s world. And not only today, even thousands of years ago, people did co-exist, there were co-activities, do your own research. It was not like isolation. Both men and women stepped out of their homes to fulfill the needs of life. The difference is that back in the day, people followed instructions heavily and today these instructions are not followed properly and the result is in front of us in form of immorality being spread all over which have made people’s faith weak.

By no means I am discouraging these instructions, Allah knows us best so if He has instructed us about something, we should follow it. But, Allah won’t hold you responsible for neglecting the instructions, He will only hold you responsible if you committed the sin. If you text a non-mehram, you become friends, you hang out together, you call each other, you spend time together, all this is not HARAM but DISLIKED because all these activities can lead you to zina. But if you didn’t commit Zina, In Sha Allah Allah won’t punish you but if you did commit Zina, then may be Allah will hold you accountable for even the first text message that started the whole relationship. And keep it in mind, zina is not just intercourse, even the smallest of acts are part of zina and are punishable.

Dear Brothers and Sisters, please try to understand the message. Not every act is Haram. Islam doesn’t isolate you. You can freely co-exist in the society. All you have to make sure is to prevent yourself from committing the SIN. And by no means shall one ignore these instructions, we human beings are weak, these instructions are very important for us.

When you buy a new product from market, you receive an instruction manual. It’s not obligatory to follow this instruction manual but it is highly recommended because if you won’t follow the instructions properly, that thing might not function effectively or even if it did, it won’t have the same life span.

I never meant to let openly men and women mingle together, especially youngsters. It’s not like I will allow my children to go on dates openly. I will not allow them to be in private with the opposite gender because I know, being alone is not a sin but they are weak in faith and will ultimately commit the sin so I will make sure to keep them away from the environment that will make them fall prey. But the punishment for Haram acts and disliked acts is not the same. If I catch my child having a lunch with the opposite gender, I will scold him, not because it was a highly immoral act but because to let him/her know that this is the line he/she must not cross. But if I catch my child being physical, he/she is going to get a$$ whipped.

And when I mentioned that sharing a hotel room with non-mehram is not Haram, it doesn’t mean I am in favor of it. Of course it is highly highly disliked because most of the time, those adults will commit the sin. But let’s say, a non-married couple shares a room and they didn’t even touch each other, is Allah going to punish them? No, Allah is very Just, He judges you as per the situation and not just on the acts. But again, it’s not like I am in favor of such acts, if there is a law that doesn’t allow non-mehrams to share hotel rooms, I completely support it because as a society, it is also our duty to make such an environment to help people in staying away from sin.

Dear Brothers and Sisters, my point is simple, make your heart pure, stay away from sin and try to follow as many instructions as possible, it is HIGHLY recommended, don’t neglect or take these instructions easy because you are weak, and these instructions will protect you from evil. And if you are not following a particular instruction for some reason, don’t be proud of it or brag about it, because you may not fall for the sin but someone following you might, so make sure you don’t have to carry the burden of someone else’s sin on the day of judgment. And never be arrogant. If you don’t follow instructions, don’t be arrogant, Allah may forgive you for not following instructions but may hold you accountable for being arrogant.

And I mentioned in my HALAL HARAM article that every Muslim holds a certain degree of piousness and not everyone can achieve the highest level. If you are someone who doesn’t listen music, who follows proper Hijab, never mingles with the other gender, not even shake hand, you are truly a role model. I hear people saying that not even looking at non mehram or shaking hands is extreme, I disagree, If someone is following all of Allah’s and Prophet’s instructions, that person is remarkable, though like mentioned above, these acts are not Commands but instructions, so if one is following all these instructions, he/she is far more greater than us because he/she is doing it for the sake of Allah while we are running away from the instructions to enjoy the world. More power to these people who have achieved the highest level of piousness but a request too that those who are at a lower level, don’t label them as kaafirs, there is always a turning point in life, some great people may become miserable and some miserable may achieve greatness. Be humble always.

And to those who don’t follow the instructions of Allah and Prophet Muhammad PBUH, don’t be relaxed because once you fall for the sin, you will be answerable for all those instructions that you neglected. So try to be better by each passing day and follow as much instructions as possible, not just for you but to make an example for others. You may be mature and strong enough to keep yourself away from sin even without following instructions but the people around you may not be.

And the one liner is that following Sunnah and Allah’s instructions is highly recommendable but not following is not HARAM. And also not following Sunnah and Instructions doesn’t mean one should feel happy or relaxed. One should always try to achieve greatness of Islam for a better life.

If you still didn't get the point, listen to this Audio, hopefully it will further clear your doubts.