I've known a lot more than two Muslims. They were fine folks too. Before I educated myself I would have respected their faith. Now I consider any decent Muslim decent DESPITE their faith. Knowing that sharia allows lying and giving misleading impressions for a "good cause," I don't know that I could trust them no matter how decent they seem.
amazon.com
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This review is from: Reliance of the Traveller: The Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law Umdat Al-Salik (Hardcover)
If you want to know what Islam actually teaches its adherents, you need to read this book, not the fluff that was printed up for a Western audience, like "Islam for Dummies". Do NOT turn to books that Muslims do not use to teach themselves. Read their own authoritative books to know what they teach themselves. This is a first-hand, original, authoritative source on Islamic law (sharia) and Islamic doctrine (ijma).
This book is the official English translation of the Umdat al-Salik, the only authoritative Sharia manual for the Shafi'i madhab. While there are four Sunni madhabs (legal schools and two Shia), they all agree on their ijma and sharia. Only their fiqh differs. An example of that difference:
A- Ijma is universal among all four Sunni madhabs (Shafi'i, Hanafi, Malaki, Hanbali), and therefore all agree that the zakat (alms payment) is obligatory on all Muslims and on the eight priorities that zakat collections must support. [ROTT book H, Zakat, esp. h8.7 - 8.18]
B- Sharia among the four madhabs also agrees that the top priority among those eight is the seventh: support for jihad. [ROTT h8.17] Sharia enforces that doctrine with penalties if it is not upheld. [ROTT, h1.1]
C- Shafite fiqh offers slight variations from the Hanafite, Malakite, or Hanbalite fiqh with respect to the payouts based on who is deemed to qualify as a jihadi, and who therefore may receive remuneration from zakat for their jihadi expenditures. [ROTT h8.17]
Unless you have a need for one specific fiqh manual over another, I recommend Reliance of the Traveller over its parallels in the other madhabs for the following reasons:
1- The Hanafi manual, Al-Risala is a 2-volume set, and therefore costs more.
2- The Maliki manual, The Distinguished Jurist's Primer is a 2-volume set, and therefore costs more.
3- The Hanbali madhab did not express its findings in a consolidated "restatement of sharia", but instead refers directly back to the (authoritative, non-abrogated suras of the) Quran and (authoritative, Al-Bukhari and Al-Muslim) Hadiths, so no parallel book exists for Hanbalis.
4- Umdat al-Salik/ROTT comes with the written stamp of approval (Islamic version of imprimatur) from the highest Islamic jurists in: Syria (pages xiv - xv), Jordan (pages xvi - xvii), Muslim Brotherhood (via one of its thousands of front groups, IIIT) together with Saudi Arabia (pages xvii - xix), and, the most important one of all, Al-Azhar University (the most dominant institution in Sunni Islam).
5- Because this is the official sharia manual of the MB, they teach from this and sell this in their mosques, which includes close to 80% of the mosques in the USA (any mosque labeled an "Islamic Society" or an "Islamic Center"). ...IIIT is a US-based MB NGO, headquartered in Herndon, VA.
Direct quote:
Book O, Justice, Part 9.0 (o9.0): Jihad means to war against non-Muslims, and is etymologically derived from the word mujahada, signifying warfare to establish the religion.
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Lying to pursue Jihad:
"whether the purpose is war, settling a disagreement, or gaining the sympathy of a victim legally entitled to retaliate against one so that he will forbear to do so; it is not unlawful to lie when any of these aims can only be attained through lying. But it is religiously more precautionary in all such cases to employ words with give a misleading impression, meaning to intend by one's words something that is literally true; in respect to which one is not lying, while the outward purport of the words deceives the hearer, though even if one does not have such an intention and merely lies without intending anything else, it is not unlawful in the above circumstances." [pages 745-46]
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"Jihad means to war against non-Muslims." (Reliance o9.0.)
It is an annual requirement to donate a portion of one's income to the betterment of the ummah (an obligation called zakat, which is usually, and inaccurately, translated as "charity" - zakat can only be given to Muslims and is designed strictly to fortify the Muslim community, not benefit the less fortunate generally); of this annual donation, one-eighth must be given to "those fighting for Allah, meaning people engaged in Islamic military operations for whom no salary has been allotted in the army roster. . . . They are given enough to suffice them for the operation even if they are affluent; of weapons, mounts, clothing and expenses." (Reliance, h8.1-17.)
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Legislators, Criminal Justice Officials, Educators, Scholars, Journalists, and ordinary citizens who value "truth" may find the passages contained in Book R, Section 8, Lying (pages 744 - 746) quite illuminating.
Lying is permitted in war, settling disagreements, and a man talking with his wife or she with him. If a praiseworthy aim is attainable by lying but not telling the truth, it is permissible to lie if attaining the goal is permissible and obligatory to lie if the goal is obligatory. (p. 745)
"When, for example, one is concealing a Muslim from an oppressor who asks where he is, it is obligatory to lie about him being hidden. Or when a person deposits an article with one for safekeeping and an oppressor wanting to appropriate it inquires about it, it is obligatory to lie about having concealed it, for if one informs him about the article and he then seizes it, one is financially liable (to the owner) to cover the article's cost."(p. 745) Law Enforcement Investigations looking for people or evidence may find this problematic.
"Whether the purpose is war, settling a disagreement, or gaining sympathy of a victim legally entitled to retaliate against one so that he will forbear to do so; it is not unlawful to lie when any of these aims can be obtained through lying. But it is religiously more precautionary in all cases to employ words that give a misleading impression, meaning to intend by one's words something that is literally true, in respect to which one is not lying, while the outward purport of the words deceives the hearer, though even if one does not have such an intention and merely lies without intending anything else, it is not unlawful in the above circumstances." (p.745)
"Lying is permissible when there is a legitimate desired end. And the legitimate desired end may be a personal one." "One should compare the bad consequences entailed by lying to those by telling the truth, and if the consequences of telling the truth are more damaging, one is entitled to lie." (p.746)
Legal provisions for Giving a Misleading Impression (Book R, Section 10 Giving a Misleading Impression) is contained on page 748. "Giving a misleading impression is among the most important topics, being frequently met with and often abused. It befits us to examine the matter closely, and whoever learns of it should reflect upon it and apply it." "Giving a misleading impression means to utter an expression that ostensibly implies one meaning while intending a different meaning the expression may also have, one that contradicts the ostensive purport. It is a kind of deception. It often takes the form of the speaker intending a specific referent while the hearer understands a more general one, as when a person asks a householder, "Is So and so here?" to which the householder, intending the space between himself and the questioner rather than the space inside the house, replies, "He is not here." "Scholars say that there is no harm in giving a misleading impression if required by an interest countenanced by Sacred Law that is more important than not misleading the person being addressed, or if there is a pressing need which could not otherwise be fulfilled except through lying."
Slander, in the Western context, is the utterance of false charges or misrepresentations which defame and damage another's reputation. Within the Sunni Islam tradition, slander means mentioning anything concerning a person that that person would dislike. The truth, then, becomes slanderous when an author or source mentions "anything concerning a person that that person would dislike."
The Reliance of the Traveller further discusses slander. "Slander means to mention anything concerning a person that he would dislike, whether about his body, religion, everyday life, self, disposition, property, son, father, wife, servant, turban, garment, gait, movements, smiling, dissolution, frowning, cheerfulness, or anything else connected with him." (p.730) 'Do you know what slander is?' They answered, 'Allah and His Messenger know best.' He said, 'It is to mention of your brother that which he would dislike.' Someone asked, 'What if he is as I say?' And he replied, 'If he is as you say, you have slandered him, and if not, you have calumniated him. The Muslim is the brother of the Muslim. He does not betray him, lie to him, or hang back from coming to his aid. All of the Muslim is inviolable to his fellow Muslim: his reputation, his property, his blood. Godfearingness is here (the heart). It is sufficiently wicked for someone to belittle his fellow Muslim." (p.730.) This passage has implications for objective assessments of those who do wrong. It may be "improper" to tell the truth and say they have done wrong.
Reliance of the Traveller gives insight to a wide variety of problems confronting the current era of law enforcement and a noticeable skewing of the truth in Islamic scholarship and news coverage. Local, state and federal officials, Criminal Justice officials, scholars, journalists, and those interested in the ongoing clash of civilizations will find the Reliance of the Traveller an invaluable tool in understanding some of the more problematic aspects of Islamic behavior. This book is an invaluable addition to any personal and professional library.
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