Question:
I’ve been here in Germany for some
time in order to study computer sciences. In reality, life here is not that
easy because it’s a different and society and culture, and a lot of Muslims
here believe that what they’re doing is correct – such as stealing from the
native people of this country because they’re not Muslims, and other similar
things – and I believe this is a big mistake and I need your opinion. Another
thing, for which I need your advice, is regarding food, for I always try to
look at the ingredients of food to make sure they don’t contain anything
unlawful (ḥarām) but I
can’t always be certain. Sometimes, I discover later on that there was some
unlawful ingredient and I don’t know what to do.
Answer:
First of all, the texts that show
that it is unlawful to transgress against the property of others are general (ʿāmmah) and include
both Muslims and others, the exception being when there is a war (ḥarb) between
Muslims and disbelievers, and that’s because war has exceptional rulings that
are exclusive to it. Therefore, whoever says that it’s permissible, for himself
or others, to steal the property of Europeans in the current circumstances of
peace is a dajjāl[1] and liar
against the religion of Allah, Mighty and Majestic. Through his lying and
falsehood he seeks to soil the reputation of Islam with that which it is
innocent of and which will make outsiders hate it.
As for meat in Germany, you should
be able to get some from Turkish Muslims, as there are many of them there and
they have their own slaughterhouses, shops and restaurants.
[Translated from the Imam’s book Mashūrāt Ijtimāʿiyyah (Damascus:
Dār al-Fikr,
1424/2003), p.194-195]
[1] (tn): this is the same word used to describe
the False Messiah (or Antichrist) but linguistically means swindler, cheat,
imposter, quack or charlatan. The point here is that those who lie about
religious matters are similar to the False Messiah.
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