What Is Islam? Beliefs, Principles and a Way of Life
Life Style
4-AN ISLAMIC LIFE-STYLE
Question:
What is meant by an Islamic life-style?
Answer:
An Islamic life-style relates to man's various activities but, however, concerns matters which Islam either encourages or discourages but which are not in the category of being obligatory or forbidden.
Such a life-style or way of living is to the greater benefit of the individual and society in this world and the next.
Question:
If these matters bring about an upward spiritual growth in man why has not Islam made them obligatory?
Answer:
Because Islam realizes that man by nature is weak and does not want to tire him out with a plethora of laws. Therefore it has only made obligatory what is essential for his religion and his wellbeing in this life and has left the non-essential matters up to him entirely. If he wishes he can do them, and if he does not want to do them then he need not.
Islam has issued directives concerning matters of which it approves or disapproves so that those of strong character who seek greater advance and well-being for themselves and for society as a whole should act upon them.
Question:
Please give us examples of Islamic behaviour or an Islamic lifestyle.
Answer:
An Islamic life-style is multi-faceted but here we shall set out the main aspects of Islamic behaviour and which relate to the following subjects:
What a woman should do when a man wants to marry her, and vice-versa. The subject is bound up with considerations regarding religion, manners, looks, finance, family and maturity.
The marriage ceremony, dowry, the intimate side of marriage, how a husband and wife should treat one another, the waiting-period after divorce (the ‘idda), becoming a widow.
Pregnancy, breast-feeding and the bringing-up of children.
Responsibility relating to work (man and wife) within the house and outside.
Dress code in relation to fabric, colour, cut and the number of dresses.
The hair, beard, eyebrows and the hair on the rest of the body, as regards combing, oiling, cutting and beautifying, the removal and plucking of hair and dyeing and colouring.
The rules of caring and looking after the body as regards oiling, rubbing the skin and doing exercise.
Eating and drinking.
Waking, sleeping, lying down and stretching out the body.
Applying kohl (antimony) to the eyes, brushing the teeth, using a toothpick or dental floss, making the mouth smell nice as well as the whole body.
Going to the bathroom or toilet with regard to entering and leaving, how to cleanse oneself with water and remove impurities (after bodily functions) and wearing a bathing cloth.
Meeting one another and such topics as being the first to greet the gathering, opening up space for others, and the guarding of tongue, eyes and ears from habits incompatible with good manners like whispering in someone’s ear; eschewing foolish talk; the use of polite language when meeting others and avoiding vulgarity; and the way of sitting properly.
Eating and the way of eating with others; washing the hands before and after eating; to eat only when hungry and to stop eating before being full; how to sit properly before the food; to partake first of all with salt; saying bismillahi-rrahmani-rrahim (in the name of God,
the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate) at the beginning of the meal and al-hamdulillahi Rabb al- ‘alamin (praise be to God, the Lord of the worlds), or similar expressions of thanks to God, at the end.
Drinking water: whether to drink standing or sitting; gulping down the water or drinking in sips; the suitable time to drink.
Making a living and engaging in trade.
Farming.
Keeping healthy: ways of preventing bad health and how best to go about a cure.
Teaching and learning, duties of a teacher and his student, composition, handwriting and memorising lessons.
Business transactions; buying and selling; renting and pawning and related matters.
Buying poultry and birds and how best to look after them.
Keeping the house and the area around it clean and how best to arrange the house and its rooms and so on.
Acquiring livestock and other animals: watering and feeding them; getting them to carry loads and looking after them.
Constructing buildings.
Widening roads, digging wells, opening up canals and rivers.
Profiting from the hidden resources of the world: mines, treasure hoards (sea and land).
Behaviour when travelling or staying in a place.
The prescribed way of slaughtering an animal.
The sentencing of crimes and redress of grievances and matters relating to the judge, the witnesses, the taking down in writing of the court proceedings, documents produced to substantiate a claim, the way a courtroom should be arranged and the hearing of an independent opinion.
Wearing gold and jewellery and looking in the mirror.
Going to the lavatory as regards squatting or sitting, what to say before entering and after leaving and the removal of impurities.
Socializing with relatives and people in general; shaking hands and so on.
Establishing peace and enacting a peace-treaty; war and attacking the enemy.
Boarding and alighting from a vehicle and the like, alighting in the middle of the road, accompanying a friend on a journey.
Someone who is about to die, someone who has died, the funeral procession, the grave, mourning and so on.
How a healthy person treats someone who is ill.
Being rich and being poor.
Telling other people about Islam and how best to guide them to the truth.
The way a judge, religious scholar, preacher, imam of the mosque and other people in authority should behave.
Making a will, matters relating to the carrying out of punishments and judicial retaliation.
Invoking God, the five daily ritual prayers, the other acts of worship and the visiting of holy shrines. There are many other topics for which we would require numerous volumes if we were to cover them in detail. Our aim here was simply to refer to the main themes.
What is forbidden in Islam
5-WHAT IS FORBIDDEN IN ISLAM
Question:
What is the meaning of something forbidden?
Answer:
Something forbidden is what Islam has prohibited and has forbidden being done absolutely.
Question:
Why has Islam forbidden certain things?
Answer:
Because in doing them there is considerable harm.
Question:
If someone does a forbidden thing what will be his lot?
Answer:
Distress in this life and suffering in the world to come.
Question:
Give an example of distress in this life? What is it like?
Answer:
For example: gambling leads to loss of possessions, alcoholic drinks lead to illnesses, listening to songs can cause neurasthenia, adultery has the effect of confusing genealogy, sodomy is the source of venereal diseases and related ailments in both partners, interest brings about disorder in economic balance.
Question:
So why don’t we see these harmful consequences in society despite the fact that most, if not all, of these prohibited acts are widespread?
Answer:
In fact it is the reverse:
Crime has spread throughout the length and breadth of society, the courts are being swamped by criminals and the prisons are full.
Economic imbalance has reached its apex in that some possess millions while others are dying of hunger. Dangerous diseases have got out of control so that thousands of hospitals, clinics and pharmacies and the like are of no avail in getting rid of them or even limiting their scope. Anxiety and confusion have taken over people’s lives to an extent never seen previously in history.
In short, revolutions and wars dominate the history books of our time so that there is no room for anything else: wars which leave in their wake misfortune, tears, blood and catastrophes. After all that we have said above, can it still be claimed that forbidden acts (according to Islam) have no bad effects?
Question:
What are things forbidden by Islam?
Answer:
Islamic prohibitions are numerous, some of which are as follows:
Assisting an unjust person.
Turning away from remembering God.
Wasting money (or any of God's bounties).
(For men), wearing golden trinkets or silk clothes.
Masturbation.
Causing distress to others.
Using gold or silver utensils.
Divulging the secrets of others.
Disobedience of parents by children, and unsubmissiveness of a wife to her husband (in those instances where submission is obligatory).
Spreading rumours about adulterous behaviour and the like.
Hoarding essential commodities.
Endangering one's life unnecessarily.
Charm, magic and so on.
Slander and malicious accusations.
Astrology and the like.
Swindling and fraud.
Altering a dead person’s will.
Spying on others.
Murdering or wounding another or severing one of his limbs.
Withholding what is due to God or to man.
Imprisoning someone unjustly.
Jealousy.
Squandering money held in trust for others.
Drinking any intoxicating liquid: alcoholic beverages or anything else.
Eating the meat of an animal not slaughtered according to Islamic law, eating pork or other forbidden meats, eating or drinking impure things and eating other forbidden things like clay and so on.
Betrayal, deceit and cheating.
Stealing.
Acting as a procurer (pimp) to bring a man and a woman together for illicit sex, or two men or a boy and a girl. 29. Telling lies.
Using insulting language against God, the Prophets, Imams, Islam, the Qur’an or against other people. 31. Hypocrisy in all its kinds, one of which is being doublefaced, that is praising a person when he is present but backbiting him in his absence.
Bribery.
Usury.
Robbing travellers on the road.
Shaving off the beard and the cutting off of any of one’s bodily parts or getting rid of one of the faculties, such as blinding oneself.
The free mixing and intermingling of boys and girls in a forbidden manner.
Approving what is forbidden.
Adultery, sodomy, lesbianism, looking with desire at someone or touching him/her who is not in that degree of consanguinity that precludes marriage.
Punishing others unjustly.
Falsely accusing someone of adultery, sodomy or being illegitimate.
Spreading lies, backbiting, getting involved in useless talk and spreading discord.
Attempting to demolish mosques or desecrate them.
To show someone in a bad light in front of ruthless people.
Making musical instruments, things for gambling, crucifixes.
Women discarding the veil and showing their fineries in public.
Breaking an oath, a vow or a covenant.
Giving a false testimony and concealing the truth.
The playing of chess, backgammon and other such games.
Not looking after those family members who are his dependants.
Oppressing people and violating the rights of others.
Getting worked up about matters of little consequence.
Songs with music.
Spreading corruption or evil ways.
Breaking off ties with one’s close relations, being disobedient to parents, and not looking after one’s children.
Using short weights and tampering with the scales.
Singing love poetry about a chaste woman or man who is not your wife/ husband.
Revealing one’s private parts in front of someone who is outside the degree of consanguinity.
Arguing for the sake of arguing.
Peeping into the houses of neighbours.
Using anything which causes excessive harm to the body and similarly harming others ………… and other prohibitions.
You, esteemed reader, will see at a glance that the reason for most of these prohibitions is clear and obvious, and does not require much reflection. For example, can anyone deny the repugnance of murder, pillaging the property of others or injuring them, spying into other people’s houses or doing harm?
However, some of the matters do require some thought concerning the reason for their prohibition, for instance gambling, alcoholic drinks and women not covering their heads and their dressing immodestly. Anyone must surely realize that gambling leads to anxiety and material loss, alcohol causes numerous illnesses, dressing immodestly can often lead to immorality and the breaking up of families, and so on and so on.
Is there any religion or legal system which has not formulated a list of forbidden things? Nevertheless the question remains, does not the fact that certain things are forbidden lead to a degree of unhealthy repression? The answer is that anything which leads to bad things has to be repressed or restrained in some way and legal systems, in general, are full of attempts to do so.