format_quote Originally Posted by
Grace Seeker
Thank-you for being patient with me on this.
You're welcome.
As I understand what you are saying here, what makes something haraam here then is not just that it is idle talk, but that the idle talk misleads mankind. Does intent matter?
Misleads mankind from the path of Allah. Er, I can't imagine why someone would misguide people from the path of Allah, i.e. with good intentions... considering the alternate path ends at hell. :X
Perhaps someone is engaging in a joke that they just mean to be funny, but other people find the joke offensive because it uses racial or ethnic slurs. Would such a joke be haraam?
If the joke is racist, then yes, of course it would be haram! Racism is a sin.
And surely as far as doing something that misleads others, wouldn't any activity that misleads people, not just idle talk, be haraam? I would think it is haraam simply to mislead people.
Keeping in mind that it is referring to misleading people from the path of Allah, then yes that is sinful.
Now, look at the quote provided, can you tell me who inserted the parenthetical comment? "I.e" is a latin phrase which basically means "such as". They are listed as examples, but not exhaustive examples. And in this case, I would like to know if the examples were selected by Muhammad, a companion, or were added later? I think this may be important with respect to this verse, but will wait to till I find out which it was before going any further, as your answer may also make it irrelevant.
From what I understand, the main person who interpreted the verse this was a companion of the prophet, Ibn 'Abbas, who was best known for his reliability at interpreting the Quran, (even the Prophet Muhammad pbuh recognised this talent of his). Naturally, he received his understand of the Quran from the prophet Muhammad pbuh himself. It was also interpreted this way by Ibn Mas’ood, another reliable companion of the Prophet.
Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: The interpretation of the Sahaabah and Taabi’in, that ‘idle talk’ refers to singing, is sufficient. This was reported with saheeh isnaads from Ibn ‘Abbaas and Ibn Mas’ood. Abu’l-Sahbaa’ said: I asked Ibn Mas’ood about the aayah (interpretation of the meaning), ‘“And of mankind is he who purchases idle talks’ [Luqmaan 31:6]. He said: By Allaah, besides Whom there is no other god, this means singing – and he repeated it three times. It was also reported with a saheeh isnaad from Ibn ‘Umar (may Allaah be pleased with them both) that this means singing. There is no contradiction between the interpretation of “idle talk” as meaning singing and the interpretation of it as meaning stories of the Persians and their kings, and the kings of the Romans, and so on, such as al-Nadr ibn al-Haarith used to tell to the people of Makkah to distract them from the Qur’aan. Both of them are idle talk. Hence Ibn ‘Abbaas said: “Idle talk” is falsehood and singing.
And:
Al-Sa’di (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: this includes all manner of haraam speech, all idle talk and falsehood, and all nonsense that encourages kufr and disobedience; the words of those who say things to refute the truth and argue in support of falsehood to defeat the truth; and backbiting, slander, lies, insults and curses; the singing and musical instruments of the Shaytaan; and musical instruments which are of no spiritual or worldly benefit. (Tafseer al-Sa’di, 6/150)
http://islam-qa.com/index.php?ref=5000&ln=eng
so, both these interpretations are valid.
Hope that helps!
Bookmarks