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Beware of ConjectureTaken from: http://ilmpoint.wordpress.com

Allaah Says:

"O you who believe! Avoid suspicion as much (as possible), for suspicion in some cases is a sin..." [Al-Hujuraat: 12]

Abu Hurayrah narrated that the Messenger of Allaah said:

"Beware of conjecture, for conjecture is the most lying of speech..." [Agreed upon]

1. How much of problems and mistrust take place between the hearts of Muslims due to errors and

(mis)information that comes through conjecture or suspicion? The attribute of the believer is that

they verify suspect information that comes to them, while maintaining Husn ad-Dhan. Therefore, the

believer does not accept anything without checking and does not take a position or build an opinion

on fluid news.

2, And from this is the Muslim leaving that which does not concern him; and thus not insisting upon

asking questions out of curiosity or for reasons of entertainment to fill a void, as Allaah Says when

speaking about the believers:

"And those who turn away from Al-Laghw (vain, dirty, false, evil talk etc.)"[Al-Mu'minoon: 3]

3. The Messenger of Allaah said: "It is enough lying for a man to speak of everythingthat he hears."[Imam Muslim in his 'Muqaddimah', 6; 'Saheeh al-Jaami', 4482 (see also 'Silsilah al-Saheehah', 2025)]

4. Imam an-Nawawi commented in his sharh of Saheeh Muslim: "Usually a person hears

truth and lies, so if he speaks of everything that he hears, he is lying by telling of things that did nothappen, and lying by speaking of something other than the way it happened; and he does not have to

do that deliberately (in order to be regarded as telling lies)."

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5. The Prophet said as part of a beautiful hadeeth: "...And He dislikes gossip foryou..."[Saheeh al-Bukhari, 2231]

Al-Hafidh ibn Hajar said: "With regard to the words and He dislikes gossip [qeela waqaala lit. "it was said and he said"] for you, al-Muhibb al-Tabari said, there are three points of view

as to the meaning of this hadeeth:

i - That it indicates that it is makrooh (disliked/despised) to speak too much, because it leads to

mistakes.

ii - That it refers to wanting to pass on what people say and looking for that in order to tell others of

it, so that one can say, So and so said such and such, and Such and such was said The prohibition

on this is either a rebuke for doing too much of it or it refers to a particular type of talk, which the

person spoken of dislikes to have mentioned.

iii - That it refers to narrating differences of opinion concerning religious matters, such as saying,

This one said such and such and that one said such and such. - The reason why this is disliked isthat speaking of such matters may lead to mistakes. This applies especially to those who transmit

such views without verifying them, merely imitating those whom they hear from without exercising

any caution. I say: this is supported by the saheeh hadeeth, "It is enough sin for a man to speak of

everything that he hears."

6. It was narrated that Abu Qalaabah said: Abu Masood said to Abu Abd-Allah, or Abu Abd-Allah

said to Abu Masood: What did you hear the Messenger of Allaah say about saying"they say?" He said: "I heard the Messenger of Allaah say: 'How bad it is for a manto keep saying, 'They say'" [Silsilah as-Saheehah, 866]

7. Al-Azeemabadi said: "This means, it is a bad way to reach ones objective, by saying,they say. Saying they say is akin to conjecture, i.e. the worst habit of a man is to use the phrase

they say to serve his purposes' therefore he tells of something, merely repeating what others have

said without verifying it, and thus he transmits lies this was the view of al-Manaawi...

Al-Khatabi said:

8. Being ever-mindful of time, we should therefore be competing with each other towards virtue and

goodness as Allaah has Commanded of us; and helping each other in birr and taqwah and not in sin

and transgression. Unnecessarily inflicting trials and penalties of conjecture will continually weaken

faith, increase attachment to this world and make one negligent of the Hereafter.

And from the rest of the original hadeeth (above), the Messenger continued: "...Donot spy or pry. Do not be rivals nor envy one another. Do not cut one another off nor show enmity

to one another. Do not hate one another nor envy one another. Be slaves of Allah, brothers. Be

slaves of Allah, brothers, as you have been commanded to be. The Muslim is the brother of the

Muslim. He does not wrong him nor disappoints him nor despises him. Taqwah is here," and he

pointed to his chest. "It is enough evil for a man that he should despise his Muslim brother. The

blood, honour and property of every Muslim is sacred to another Muslim. Allah does not look at

your bodies nor your forms, but He looks at your hearts and your actions."