Tricks
كتاب الحيل
Chapter 1: Avoiding the use of tricks
The Prophet (ﷺ) said, 'O people! The reward of deeds depends upon the intentions, and every person will get the reward according to what he has intended. So, whoever emigrated for Allah and His Apostle, then his emigration was for Allah and His Apostle, and whoever emigrated to take worldly benefit or for a woman to marry, then his emigration was for what he emigrated for."
Chapter 2: (Tricks) in As-Salat
The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Allah does not accept prayer of anyone of you if he does Hadath (passes wind) till he performs the ablution (anew).
Chapter 3: (Tricks) in Zakat
That Abu Bakr wrote for him, Zakat regulations which Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) had made compulsory, and wrote that one should neither collect various portions (of the property) nor divide the property into various portions in order to avoid paying Zakat.
A bedouin with unkempt hair came to Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) and said, "O Allah's Messenger (ﷺ)! Tell me what Allah has enjoined on me as regards prayers." The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "You have to offer perfectly the five (compulsory) prayers in a day and a night (24 hrs.), except if you want to perform some extra optional prayers." The bedouin said, "Tell me what Allah has enjoined on me as regards fasting." The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "You have to observe fast during the month of Ramadan except if you fast some extra optional fast." The bedouin said, "Tell me what Allah has enjoined on me as regard Zakat." The Prophet (ﷺ) then told him the Islamic laws and regulations whereupon the bedouin said, "By Him Who has honored you, I will not perform any optional deeds of worship and I will not leave anything of what Allah has enjoined on me." Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "He will be successful if he has told the truth (or he will enter Paradise if he said the truth)." And some people said, "The Zakat for one-hundred and twenty camels is two Hiqqas, and if the Zakat payer slaughters the camels intentionally or gives them as a present or plays some other trick in order to avoid the Zakat, then there is no harm (in it) for him.
Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "On the Day of Resurrection the Kanz (Treasure or wealth of which, Zakat has not been paid) of anyone of you will appear in the shape of a huge bald headed poisonous male snake and its owner will run away from it, but it will follow him and say, 'I am your Kanz.'" The Prophet (ﷺ) added, "By Allah, that snake will keep on following him until he stretches out his hand and let the snake swallow it." Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) added, "If the owner of camels does not pay their Zakat, then, on the Day of Resurrection those camels will come to him and will strike his face with their hooves." Some people said: Concerning a man who has camels, and is afraid that Zakat will be due so he sells those camels for similar camels or for sheep or cows or money one day before Zakat becomes due in order to avoid payment of their Zakat cunningly! "He has not to pay anything." The same scholar said, "If one pays Zakat of his camels one day or one year prior to the end of the year (by the end of which Zakat becomes due), his Zakat will be valid."
Sa'd bin 'Ubada Al-Ansari sought the verdict of Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) regarding a vow made by his mother who had died before fulfilling it. Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "Fulfill it on her behalf." Some people said, "If the number of camels reaches twenty, then their owner has to pay four sheep as Zakat; and if their owner gives them as a gift or sells them in order to escape the payment of Zakat cunningly before the completion of a year, then he is not to pay anything, and if he slaughters them and then dies, then no Zakat is to be taken from his property."
Chapter 4: Tricks in marriages
Nafi narrated to me that 'Abdullah said that Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) forbade the Shighar. I asked Nafi', "What is the Shighar?" He said, "It is to marry the daughter of a man and marry one's daughter to that man (at the same time) without Mahr (in both cases); or to marry the sister of a man and marry one's own sister to that man without Mahr." Some people said, "If one, by a trick, marries on the basis of Shighar, the marriage is valid but its condition is illegal." The same scholar said regarding Al-Mut'a, "The marriage is invalid and its condition is illegal." Some others said, "The Mut'a and the Shighar are permissible but the condition is illegal."
`Ali was told that Ibn `Abbas did not see any harm in the Mut'a marriage. `Ali said, "Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) forbade the Mut'a marriage on the Day of the battle of Khaibar and he forbade the eating of donkey's meat." Some people said, "If one, by a tricky way, marries temporarily, his marriage is illegal." Others said, "The marriage is valid but its condition is illegal."
Chapter 5: What tricks are disliked in bargains
Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "One should not prevent others from watering their animals with the surplus of his water in order to prevent them from benefiting by the surplus of grass."
Chapter 6: At-Tanajush
Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) forbade the practice of An-Najsh.
Chapter 7: Cheating in bargains
A man mentioned to the Prophet (ﷺ) that he had always been cheated in bargains. The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Whenever you do bargain, say, 'No cheating.'"
Chapter 8: Playing of tricks by the guardian of an attractive orphan-girl
That he asked `Aisha regarding the Verse: 'If you fear that you shall not be able to deal justly with the orphan girls, marry (other) women of your choice.' (4.3) `Aisha said, "It is about an orphan girl under the custody of her guardian who being attracted by her wealth and beauty wants to marry her with Mahr less than other women of her status. So such guardians were forbidden to marry them unless they treat them justly by giving them their full Mahr. Then the people sought the verdict of Allah's Apostle for such cases, whereupon Allah revealed: 'They ask your instruction concerning women..' (4.127) (The sub-narrator then mentioned the Hadith.)
Chapter 9: If somebody kidnaps a slave-girl and claims she is dead but her master finds her (alive)
The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "For every betrayer there will be a flag by which he will be recognized on the Day of Resurrection. "
Chapter 10: Chapter
The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "I am only a human being, and you people have disputes. May be some one amongst you can present his case in a more eloquent and convincing manner than the other, and I give my judgment in his favor according to what I hear. Beware! If ever I give (by error) somebody something of his brother's right then he should not take it as I have only, given him a piece of Fire." (See Hadith No. 638. Vol. 3)
Chapter 11: (Tricks) in marriage
The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "A virgin should not be married till she is asked for her consent; and the matron should not be married till she is asked whether she agrees to marry or not." It was asked, "O Allah's Apostle! How will she (the virgin) express her consent?" He said, "By keeping silent." Some people said that if a virgin is not asked for her consent and she is not married, and then a man, by playing a trick presents two false witnesses that he has married her with her consent and the judge confirms his marriage as a true one, and the husband knows that the witnesses were false ones, then there is no harm for him to consummate his marriage with her and the marriage is regarded as valid.
A woman from the offspring of Ja`far was afraid lest her guardian marry her (to somebody) against her will. So she sent for two elderly men from the Ansar, `AbdurRahman and Mujammi', the two sons of Jariya, and they said to her, "Don't be afraid, for Khansa' bint Khidam was given by her father in marriage against her will, then the Prophet (ﷺ) cancelled that marriage." (See Hadith No. 78)
Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "A lady slave should not be given in marriage until she is consulted, and a virgin should not be given in marriage until her permission is granted." The people said, "How will she express her permission?" The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "By keeping silent (when asked her consent)." Some people said, "If a man, by playing a trick, presents two false witnesses before the judge to testify that he has married a matron with her consent and the judge confirms his marriage, and the husband is sure that he has never married her (before), then such a marriage will be considered as a legal one and he may live with her as husband."
Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "It is essential to have the consent of a virgin (for the marriage). I said, "A virgin feels shy." The Prophet; said, "Her silence means her consent." Some people said, "If a man falls in love with an orphan slave girl or a virgin and she refuses (him) and then he makes a trick by bringing two false witnesses to testify that he has married her, and then she attains the age of puberty and agrees to marry him and the judge accepts the false witness and the husband knows that the witnesses were false ones, he may consummate his marriage."
Chapter 12: The trick by a woman with her husband
Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) used to like sweets and also used to like honey, and whenever he finished the `Asr prayer, he used to visit his wives and stay with them. Once he visited Hafsa and remained with her longer than the period he used to stay, so I enquired about it. It was said to me, "A woman from her tribe gave her a leather skin containing honey as a present, and she gave some of it to Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) to drink." I said, "By Allah, we will play a trick on him." So I mentioned the story to Sauda (the wife of the Prophet) and said to her, "When he enters upon you, he will come near to you whereupon you should say to him, 'O Allah's Messenger (ﷺ)! Have you eaten Maghafir?' He will say, 'No.' Then you say to him, 'What is this bad smell? ' And it would be very hard on Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) that a bad smell should be found on his body. He will say, 'Hafsa has given me a drink of honey.' Then you should say to him, 'Its bees must have sucked from the Al-`Urfut (a foul smelling flower).' I too, will tell him the same. And you, O Saifya, say the same." So when the Prophet (ﷺ) entered upon Sauda (the following happened). Sauda said, "By Him except Whom none has the right to be worshipped, I was about to say to him what you had told me to say while he was still at the gate because of fear from you. But when Allah 's Apostle came near to me, I said to him, 'O Allah's Messenger (ﷺ)! Have you eaten Maghafir?' He replied, 'No.' I said, 'What about this smell?' He said, 'Hafsa has given me a drink of honey.' I said, 'Its bees must have sucked Al-`Urfut.' " When he entered upon me, I told him the same as that, and when he entered upon Safiya, she too told him the same. So when he visited Hafsa again, she said to him, "O Allah's Messenger (ﷺ)! Shall I give you a drink of it (honey)?" He said, "I have no desire for it." Sauda said, Subhan Allah! We have deprived him of it (honey)." I said to her, "Be quiet!"