Surah Al-Baqarah — Verse 188

Do not take each other’s wealth unjustly: robbing it or taking it by force or by cheating, and then making it a legal dispute in order to obtain other’s wealth wrongfully, when you know that Allah has prohibited that. Committing a sin knowingly is the worst of things and has the greatest of punishments.

And eat up not one another's property unjustly (in any illegal way, e.g., stealing, robbing, deceiving), nor give bribery to the rulers (judges before presenting your cases) that you may knowingly eat up a part of the property of others sinfully (188)

Ali bin Abu Talhah reported that Ibn 'Abbas said, "This (Ayah 2:188) is about the indebted person when there is no evidence of the loan. So he denies taking the loan and the case goes to the authorities, even though he knows that it is not his money and that he is a sinner, consuming what is not allowed for him." This opinion was also reported from Mujahid, Sa'id bin Jubayr, 'Ikrimah, Al-Hasan, Qatadah, As-Suddi, Muqatil bin Hayan and 'Abdur-Rahman bin Zayd bin Aslam. They all stated, "Do not dispute when you know that you are being unjust."

It is reported in the Two Sahihs that Umm Salamah narrated that Allah's Messenger ﷺ said:

أَلَا إِنَّمَا أَنَا بَشَرٌ، وَإِنَّمَا يَأْتِينِي الْخَصْمُ، فَلَعَلَّ بَعْضَكُمْ أَنْ يَكُونَ أَلْحَنَ بِحُجَّتِهِ مِنْ بَعْضٍ فَأَقْضِيَ لَهُ، فَمَنْ قَضَيْتُ لَهُ بِحَقِّ مُسْلِمٍ فَإِنَّمَا هِيَ قِطْعَةٌ مِنْ نَارٍ، فَلْيَحْمِلْهَا أَوْ لِيَذَرْهَا

(I am only human! You people present your cases to me, and as some of you may be more eloquent and persuasive in presenting his argument, I might issue a judgment in his benefit. So, if I give a Muslim's right to another, I am really giving him a piece of fire; so he should not take it.)

The Ayah and the Hadith prove that the judgment of the authorities in any case does not change the reality of the truth. Hence, the ruling does not allow what is in fact prohibited or prohibit what is in fact allowed. It is only applicable in that case. So if the ruling agrees with the truth, then there is no harm in this case. Otherwise, the judge will acquire his reward, while the cheater will acquire the evil burden.

This is why Allah said:

وَلَا تَأْكُلُوا أَمْوَالَكُم بَيْنَكُم بِالْبَاطِلِ وَتُدْلُوا بِهَا إِلَى الْحُكَّامِ لِتَأْكُلُوا فَرِيقًا مِّنْ أَمْوَالِ النَّاسِ بِالْإِثْمِ وَأَنتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ

(And eat up not one another's property unjustly, nor give bribery to the rulers (judges before presenting your cases) that you may knowingly eat up a part of the property of others sinfully.)

meaning, 'While you know the falsehood of what you claim. ' Qatadah said, "O son of Adam! Know that the judge's ruling does not allow you what is prohibited or prohibit you from what is allowed. The judge only rules according to his best judgment and according to the testimony of the witnesses. The judge is only human and is bound to make mistakes. Know that if the judge erroneously rules in some one's favor, then that person will still encounter the dispute when the disputing parties meet Allah on the Day of Resurrection. Then, the unjust person will be judged swiftly and precisely with that which will surpass whatever he acquired by the erroneous judgment he received in the life of this world."

Previous verses dealt with injunctions relating to fasting in which the use of lawful things has been forbidden during a fixed period and fixed timings. Now in this verse, the acquisition and use of Haram or unlawful wealth or property has been forbidden. This has a thematic congruity since the real purpose behind fasting, an act of worship, is nothing but to make man get used to abstaining from what is lawful for him. If he can do that, there is every likelihood that abstaining from what is totally unlawful will become all the more easier for him. There is yet another correspondence here. It is necessary that one must make an effort to break his or her fast with what is halal. Anyone who goes through the rigours of fasting throughout the day but ends up breaking his fast in the evening with what is Haram shall only find his fast unacceptable in the sight of Allah.

Commentary

This verse forbids the acquisition and use of wealth and property by unlawful means. It will be recalled that the acquisition and use of things by lawful means has been stressed upon in Verse 168 of Sarah al-Baqarah as follows:

يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ كُلُوا مِمَّا فِي الْأَرْ‌ضِ حَلَالًا طَيِّبًا وَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا خُطُوَاتِ الشَّيْطَانِ ۚ إِنَّهُ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّ مُّبِينٌ ﴿168﴾

O mankind, eat from whatever is on earth [ that is ] lawful and good and do not follow the footsteps of Satan. Indeed, he is to you a clear enemy.

Again, the same command appears in Surah al-Nahl:

فَكُلُوا مِمَّا رَ‌زَقَكُمُ اللَّـهُ حَلَالًا طَيِّبًا وَاشْكُرُ‌وا نِعْمَتَ اللَّـهِ إِن كُنتُمْ إِيَّاهُ تَعْبُدُونَ ﴿114﴾

So, eat from what Allah has provided for you, permissible and good, and be grateful for the blessing of Allah, if it is Him you worship. (16:114)

The criterion of good and evil in earning

The whole world agrees that money and materials are needed and that life depends on them. So does it agree that there are favoured and permissible ways of acquiring them and there are undesirable and forbidden ways as well. Virtually the whole world looks down upon theft, robbery, and fraud, but people do not generally have some sound criterion to determine if these means are permissible or impermissible, may be this is just not possible since it relates to the well-being of the peoples of the entire world and affects humanity as such. Therefore, a universal criterion, sound and reasonable, can only come from the Lord-Creator of all the worlds through the medium of revelation. Otherwise, if human beings were themselves given the choice of forging their own criterion, naturally, those who give it a legal framework will think more about their nation, country or community and, as customary, this would be different from what would be thought about other nations and countries. Even if this exercise was done through an international body representing the whole world, that too, as experience shows, cannot satisfy all human beings. As a result, there will be legal injustice ending up in nothing but wars and chaos.

The virtues of the Islamic economic system

The Law of the permissible and the forbidden enforced by the Shari'ah of Islam comes clearly through divine revelation, or is derived from it. That law - reasonable, natural and comprehensive - is the only law that can work for every nation, country and community and could be the much wanted guarantee of peace. The reason is that everything of common utility has been left as such under this divine law, specially things to which all human beings claim equal rights, such as, the air, water, vegetation, heat, un-owned forests and the produce of uninhabited mountain growth. These are the commonly shared property of all human beings; it is not permissible for anyone to take these over as an owner.

Then there are things which, if shared, would disturb human society, or generate conflict and violence. For these the law of private ownership is promulgated. The law that governs the initial ownership of a land or its produce is different from the law of the transfer of ownership. The law has been so formulated that no human being shall be left deprived of the necessities of life, of course, on condition that he puts in his effort to acquire these. Special attention has been given to the consideration that no man usurps the rights of others, or brings loss to them, and thereby, concentrates capital in the hands of a few individuals. Under the law of the transfer of ownership - whether it is in accordance with the divine injunctions relating to post-death inheritance or takes effect through buying and selling as agreed upon by parties concerned - it was made binding that there should be absolutely no fraud or deception in the transaction and also, there should remain no such ambiguity or insufficiency which might lead to mutual bickering and dispute in the future.

Also taken into consideration is the factor of consent in transactions. It has to be made sure that the consent given by parties concerned is genuine and that such consent has not been extracted under pressure. In Islamic law, all transactions known as void, invalid or sinful have some defect inherent in the deal. At places, it could be plain fraud, at others, a return for some unknown thing or act. On occasions, someone's rights are usurped or self-interest is promoted by bringing loss upon others, or the rights of the general public are illegally disposed off. A very important reason why interest, gambling and their likes have been prohibited is that they are harmful to public interest. As a result of their evil presence in a society, some individuals get to grow as parasites while the whole community is thrown into poverty. Even if such transactions were to be carried out by a mutual consent of the parties involved, such transactions shall not be permissible because they are nothing but a formalized crime against the whole community. The present verse covers all such impermissible situations and aspects. It is interesting to note that the Holy Qur'an uses the word' أَمْوَالَكُم : (amwalakum) in وَلَا تَأْكُلُوا أَمْوَالَكُم بَيْنَكُم ، translated as 'and do not eat up each other's property by false means' which basically means 'your property'. This expression has a subtle indication to the fact that those who encroach upon the property of others must think that the other person would also have the same sort of love and concern for his property as the encroacher has for his own. If the defendant was to encroach upon the offender's property unlawfully, he would certainly be hurt.

In addition to this, the verse may be releasing yet another suggestion. When someone encroaches upon the property of someone else, and if everybody else started doing this as common practice, the natural consequence would be that others would encroach upon his property, giving him what he gave to others. Looked at from this angle, encroaching upon someone's property unlawfully is really an invitation to others to come and encroach upon the encroacher's property, equally unlawfully. For a moment, imagine what would happen to a society where the cult of adulteration in articles of daily use becomes a common practice. There will be a dealer, who earns a little more by adulterating butter with cheaper oil or fat, who will then go to a milk shop and the milkman will give him milk adulterated with water. If he needs spices, these will be adulterated. The same experience will be repeated when he goes to buy medicines. So, one person earns more by adulteration while the other person takes that extra earning out of his pocket and the third person does the same to the second and the vicious circle goes on and on add nauseas nausea. Makhan38The adulterer feels good about what extra he puts in his coffers but he never looks at the hole under it for he keeps nothing of that extra in reality. Therefore, anyone who snatches the other person's money or property by false means, in fact, opens the door to the unlawful plundering of his money and property.

In relation to this verse, there is yet another point one should bear in mind. The words of this divine injunction are general: And do not eat up each other's property by false means'. This includes the usurping of someone's property, and theft, and robbery, through which money or property belonging to someone is taken away by force. Then, there is interest, gambling, bribery and all defective sales and transactions which are also impermissible under the dictates of the Islamic law, even though, there be the certitude of consent given by concerned parties. Again, any money or property acquired through lying or a false oath, or earnings which have been prohibited by Islamic law, even though one has personally sweated out to earn it, are all haram, unlawful and false. Though the words of the Qur'an forbid 'eating' quite clearly, but the drive of the meaning here is not restricted to 'eating' as such, instead, it means 'using' in the absolute sense; it could be by eating, drinking, wearing or by any other mode of use. Metaphorically, all such uses are covered under the expression 'to eat,' for instance, A ate up the property of B, which is only a manner of saying, even though all that may not be what can be 'eaten'.

The Background of Revelation

This verse was revealed in the background of a particular event which relates to a land dispute between two of the noble Companions. The case came up for hearing in the court of the Holy Prophet ﷺ . The plaintiff had no witnesses. The Holy Prophet ﷺ asked the defendant to take an oath in accordance with Islamic legal norm. He was all set to take the oath when the Holy Prophet ﷺ recited the following verse before him as a matter of good counsel:

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يَشْتَرُ‌ونَ بِعَهْدِ اللَّـهِ وَأَيْمَانِهِمْ ثَمَنًا قَلِيلًا أُولَـٰئِكَ لَا خَلَاقَ لَهُمْ فِي الْآخِرَ‌ةِ

Surely, those who take a small price out of the covenant of Allah and out of their oaths, for them there is no share in the Hereafter. (3:77)

When the Companion heard this verse which warns those who try to take over someone's property through a false oath, he abandoned his intention to take that oath and surrendered the land to the plaintiff. (Ruh al-Ma'ani)

So, this was the background under which this verse was revealed. To begin with, it forbids the acquiring of someone's property by unlawful means, then towards the later part, it warns against the filing of false cases, taking of false oaths and the giving or commission-ing of false witnesses. Forbidding all these, it has been said:

وَتُدْلُوا بِهَا إِلَى الْحُكَّامِ لِتَأْكُلُوا فَرِ‌يقًا مِّنْ أَمْوَالِ النَّاسِ بِالْإِثْمِ وَأَنتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ

which means: 'Do not take property cases to the authorities, so that through them, you eat up some portion of the property of the people sinfully while you do know that you have no right therein and you are simply putting up a false case.'

The words وَأَنتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ (while you know) at the end of the verse tell us that a person, who claims something on the basis of misunderstanding and files a suit in the court to acquire it, will not be covered by this warning. In an event of this nature, the Holy Prophet has said:

انما انا بشر و انتم تختصمون الی و لعل بعضکم ان یکون الحن بحجتہ من بعض فاقضی لہ علی نحوما اسمع منہ فمن قضیت لہ بشٔی من حق اخیہ فلا یاخذنہ فانما اقطع لہ قطیۃ من النار (رواہ البخاری و مسلم عن ام سلمہ ؓ)

I am human and you bring your disputes to me. May be one of you is more eloquent with his case than the other and I decide in his favour on the basis of what I hear from him. So, should he get anything from what is the right of his brother, he should not take it because, in that case, I shall be alloting him a plot from Hell. (Bukhri and Muslim from Umm Salmah (رضی اللہ تعالیٰ عنہا

The Holy Prophet ﷺ has made it clear in his saying quoted above that a Muslim judge may give a judgment under some misunderstanding in which the legal right of one party is being unlawfully given to the other, then, such a court judgment will not make the thing lawful for him. Also true is the converse, that is, it does not become un-lawful for one to whom it is lawful. In short, the judgment of a court does not make the lawful unlawful, or the unlawful lawful. If anyone succeeds in grabbing something belonging to somebody else through a court by means of fraud, false witness or oath, the curse of having done that will weigh heavy on his shoulders and he should, thinking of the ultimate accountability in the Hereafter and appearance in the court of Allah, the A11-knowing, the All-Aware, leave it off.

However, according to Imam Abu Hanifah (رح) ، if in transactions involving a contract or an annulment where the Qadi or judge have authority under Islamic law, the Qadi قاضی gives a judgment, even if it be on the basis of a false oath or witness, that judgment will render the contract or the annulment valid under the Islamic law. The rules of lawful and unlawful will stand imposed on it, although, the curse of lying and engineering false witnesses will hang round his neck.

Halal brings blessings; Haram produces evil:

There are several places in the Holy Qur'an where the abstention from the unlawful and the acquisition of the lawful has been stressed upon in many different ways. It has also been pointed out in a verse that human deeds and morals are enormously affected by eating what is lawful. If one does not eat and drink halal things, it is almost impossible to expect good moral and righteous deeds coming from that person. It was said in the Holy Qur'an:

يَا أَيُّهَا الرُّ‌سُلُ كُلُوا مِنَ الطَّيِّبَاتِ وَاعْمَلُوا صَالِحًا ۖ إِنِّي بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ عَلِيمٌ ﴿51﴾

0 messengers, eat of the good things and be righteous in deeds. I am aware of what you do. (23:51)

In this verse, it will be noted that eating of the lawful has been combined with the command to do what is righteous. The hint is that righteous deeds can issue forth only when man eats and drinks what is lawful. The Holy Prophet has himself made it clear in a hadith that the address in this verse is, no doubt, to prophets, but this command is not restricted to them alone, instead, all Muslims are charged with it. Towards the end of this hadith, he also said that the prayer of a person who eats what is unlawful is not answered. The Holy Prophet a adds that there are many people who take great pains in their acts of worship, then raise their hands in prayer before Allah Almighty and say, '0 Lord, 0 Lord' but what they eat is haram حرام ، what they drink is haram حرام ، what they wear is haram حرام ، if so, how can this prayer of theirs be answered?

A great portion of the teachings of the Holy Prophet ﷺ has been devoted to the great task of saving his ummah from the unlawful and calling it to the use of what is lawful. He said:

'One who ate halal حلال ، followed the sunnah and people were not hurt by him, he will go to Paradise.' The blessed Companions ﷺ said, '0 Messenger of Allah, right now these things are common in your community. Most Muslims observe these strictly.' He said:' Yes! In future too, in every age, there will be people who shall abide by these rules.' (This hadith has been reported by Tirmidhi and he calls it sahih)

In another hadith, the Holy Prophet $ is reported to have said to the blessed Companion ` Abdullah ibn ` Umar:

There are four traits, if these are in you and you have nothing else in the world, they shall suffice you. Those four traits are: Guarding a trust, telling the truth, good morals and being particular in eating what is halal حلال .

The blessed Companion Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas ؓ requested the Holy Prophet ﷺ to pray for him so that he may become one of those whose prayers are accepted. He said:

O Sa'd سعد ، make what you eat permissible and pure, and you shall become one whose prayers are responded to. And by Him in Whose hands rests the life of Muhammad ﷺ ، when the servant of Allah slips a morsel of what is Haram into his stomach, no deed of his is accepted for the next forty days. And a person whose flesh is made of unlawful acquisitions, for that flesh the fire of Hell is the only recipient.

The blessed Companion ` Abdullah ibn Masud ؓ reports that the.Holy Prophet ﷺ said:

By him in whose hands rests my life, no servant of Allah becomes a Muslim unless his heart and tongue become Muslim and until his neighbours become secure from his distressing deeds. And when a servant acquires the unlawful and then gives it in charity, that is not accepted; and if he spends out of it, it stays deprived of blessings; and if he leaves it behind for his inheritors, it becomes his wherewithal for the trip to Hell. Surely, Allah Almighty does not help an evil wash off another evil, but He does help the washing away of an evil deed with a good deed.

The Questions; man must answer on the Day of Resurrection

The blessed Companion Mu` adh ibn Jabal ؓ reports that the Holy Prophet ﷺ said:

ما تزال قدما عبد یوم القیامہ حتی یسال عن اربع عن عمرہ فیما افناہ و عن شبابہ فیما ابلاہ وعن مالہ من این اکتسبہ وفیما انفقہ وعن علمہ ماذا عمل فیہ (البیہقی۔ ترغیب)

No servant of Allah shall move a step on Doomsday unless he is made to answer four questions; firstly, about his life, in what did he spend it out; secondly, about his youth, in what did he consume it; thirdly, about his wealth, where from did he earn it and in what did he spend it; and fourthly, about his knowledge, how far did he act in line with it.' (Al-Bayhaqi, Targhib)

The blessed Companion, ` Abdullah ibn ` Umar ؓ reports that the Holy Prophet ﷺ once gave a sermon in which he said:

O Emigrants, I seek the refuge of Allah Almighty against five traits of character lest they should grow into you: firstly, against immodesty, for when immodesty prevails in a people they are hit by plagues, epidemics and ever-new diseases not even heard of by their elders; and secondly, against cheating in weights and measures, for when this disease grips a people, they are hit by famine, price-hikes, rigorous labour and overwork and oppressive rulers; and thirdly, against nonpayment of Zakah زکوٰۃ ، for when people do not pay Zakah زکوٰۃ ، rains are stopped; and fourthly, against the religious apathy of people, for when a community breaks its covenant with Allah and His Messenger, then Allah Almighty makes alien enemies sit over them who snatch away what belongs to them without any justification; and fifthly, against the apathy of ruling authority, for when the rulers of a people fail to decide matters in accordance with the Book of Allah, because the injunctions revealed by Allah Almighty do not suit their fancies, then Allah Almighty causes mutual hatred and disputations descend upon them. (This narration has been reported by Ibn Majah, al-Bayhaqi and others and al-Hakim has called it 'Sahih' according to the standard set by Muslim.)

May Allah Almighty give us and all Muslims the most perfect ability to stay safe against such unfortunate happenings.

Thus the life of a believer is one of renunciation. For his entire life he has to keep himself away from certain things. The month of Ramadan serves as training for this. A life of restraint during the month of fasting gives us the lesson that the true servant of God is one who worships God at the level of taqwa, and lives a life of piety and fear of God. God will answer the call only of those who bring themselves closer to Him by living a life of sacrifice.