Halal/Haram/Islamic economic system/Syeaat/Hasanaat ---Taseer Cheema,MD

The follwoing post is a work in progress and inshalh i will complete this one of these days, initial work is being presented here:
Human life has two spheres, the worldly life and the "personality". For each sphere there are different set of laws. The physical life attains benefit by following the physical laws. Whoever will follow these laws will be benefited regardless of faith or ideology. Similarly who follow the other set of laws pertaining to the development of human personality would also be benefited. A momin is the one who submits to both laws. Kafir is the one who rejects these laws, mushrik is the one who contaminates the divine laws with something from his own. Every law and the action which takes place by following that law, has its own consequences -- which is called taqdeer. And if someone does not follow the set rules to achieve a desired result his effort wud go in vain and thats termed as "habtil aamaal". If someone follows only physical laws he wud be benefited only in worldly affairs ( Thawabud Dunya) but he will not be able to develop his personality ( nafs). Only a Momin who submitts to physical laws and laws pertaining to evolution of personality would be truly benefited in both spheres of life. NOw the question arises whats halal and whats haram Haram: To stop something, to forbid something ( it has been used in other meanings as well but we will focuss only on this aspect at this time) Halal:To liberate someone by cutting the chains/ropes/restrictions. However some restrictions ought to be there to keep the caravan of life going in the right direction and those laws are given by no one but All Knower ( Aalimul Ghaib Washahadah). Otherwise if there are no restriction there would be a crisis/chaos ( Tavaiful malookee).

Allah has made only few things haram , rest is halal but He also added the word "tayyab", and gave consideration to our liking and disliking. We can eat anything halal but we dont have to eat anything whats not Tayyab for us even though its halal. NOw lets see whats Haram and whats Halal 7:33 Say, "My Lord forbids only: - Indecent shameful deeds, open or secret. - Actions that hurt the “Self” and drag down the individual and collective human potential. - Unjust aggression. - Idol worship in any form. It has been completely unauthorized by Allah. - And that you say things about Allah that you know not.” 6:119 Why should you not eat of that on which Allah’s Name has been pronounced (i.e. it is not dedicated to other than Him)? He has explained to you in detail what is forbidden along with certain exceptions in dire need (5:3). Numerous of the clergy mislead people in this matter without knowledge, and with their personal opinions.
Verily, your Lord is fully Aware of those who go beyond moderation. 6:120 Abstain from violating the Divine Commands, whether openly or secretly.
Those who drag down their “Self” by such violations will be awarded what they have earned. (They will live a subhuman existence and meet a befitting consequence). 6:121 Eat not anything (not just meat) unless the Name of Allah has been pronounced first, for that will mean drifting away from Commands. The rebellious among people inspire their companions to dispute with you. If you people heed them, you will be associating others with Allah. 6:145 Say, "I do not find in the Revelation given to me, any food that is prohibited for one who wishes to eat except: Carrion (dead meat), running blood as against organ meats, the flesh of swine for it is disapproved, or anything (not just meat) which, in disobedience, has been dedicated to other than Allah.” If one is forced by dire need without being deliberate and without transgressing, your Lord is Forgiving, Merciful. ('Rijs' = Foul = Unclean = Disapproved. 'Fisq' = Drifting from the Command = Disobedience. 2:173, 5:3). 5:3 Forbidden for you (2:173) for dietary consumption are: - Any Animal that dies of itself. - Blood. - The flesh of swine. - And anything (not just meat) that has been dedicated to any other than Allah (such as an idol, grave or saint). - Any Animal that has been strangled to death. - Beaten to death. - Dies by falling from height. - Gored to death by horns. - Animal eaten by a wild animal unless you are able to slaughter it while it is still alive. -That which is sacrificed on altars (devotional stones or blocks in shrines considered sacred). Also forbidden is dividing the meat through raffling and games of chance (2:219, 5:90). This Day, the rejecting opponents have given up the hope of eradicating your DEEN, System of Life. Clear distinction in matters of the Lawful and the Unlawful draws a tangible line between their ways and your way.

Fear them not but fear Me. This Day, I have perfected your DEEN for you, completed My favor upon you, and chosen for you Islam as the System of Life. (There is no hardship in Islam 2:185). Therefore, if one is forced by hunger to consume the Unlawful, with no intention of exceeding the limits, Allah is indeed Forgiving, Merciful. Eat only the flesh of these animals 5:1 O You who have chosen to be graced with belief! Fulfill your pledges and obligations. Permitted for you is the flesh of every beast that eats plants, except what is specifically forbidden in the Book. Allah has ordained that all hunting is prohibited during Hajj. Verily, Allah Ordains as He deems fit. Marrying the women against their wishes is haram 4:19 O You who have chosen to be graced with belief! It is not lawful for you to force women into marrying or holding on to them in marriage against their will. Pressuring women to remain in wedlock by threatening to take away the marital gift is forbidden.
A wife could forfeit the right to the marital gift only if she has indulged in clear lewdness. You shall treat your wives nicely. Even if you dislike them, it may happen that Allah has placed much good in what you have failed to realize. Only Allah swt has the right to make things halal or haram 7:32 Say, "Who has forbidden the beauty and nice things Allah has brought forth for His servants, and the pure clean things of your choice?” Say, “Such things are for those in this world who practically believe in the Divine Laws. And on the Day of Resurrection they will be exclusively for those who attained Conviction.” We thus explain Our Laws for those who make good use of what they learn". Do not label things halal or haram on your own 16:116 Do not keep uttering in falsehood, "This is lawful and this is unlawful”, thus inventing lies against Allah. Those who fabricate lies against Allah, fail to prosper in their “Self”. 10:59 Say, “Have you considered how Allah sends down to you all kinds of provisions for your minds and bodies? Then you render some of them unlawful and some lawful?” (You go after man-made dogmas thus tampering with the revealed Word of God and declare unlawful His Bounties of sustenance, food, clothing, ornament of life and things of aesthetic beauty such as art). Say, “Has Allah permitted you to do this? Or do you invent lies and attribute them to Allah?” (7:32).

So much as that even a Rasool is not permitted to make halal and haram on his own 66:1 O Prophet! Would you prohibit something that Allah has made Lawful for you, even to please your wives? For, Allah is Absolver of (their) imperfections, Merciful. Hasanaat and Syeaat: These are two comprehensive terms used in Quran. Deeds of Hasanah help shape a balanced personality and remove obstructions in one’s life. ON the other hand “Syeaat” which are opposite of “hasanaat” makes the path uneven and form an unbalanced personality. Syeaat are crafted by human mind and Hasanaat are those deeds which are ordered by our sustainer/nourisher. 4:78 Wherever you may be, death will find you, even if you live in fortified castles. When something good happens to them, they say, “It is from Allah.” And when affliction befalls them they say to each other, “This is from you O fellow-man!” Tell them, “All things happen according to Allah’s Laws.” What is amiss with these people, they understand not a thing? 4:79 Allah never creates evil. Things and events have good and evil aspects. When you act according to the Law of Allah the results are pleasant, and when you act against the Law the results are unpleasant (42:30). So whatever good happens to you is from Allah, and whatever evil happens to you is from yourself. We have sent you as a Messenger to mankind and Allah is Sufficient as Witness. As per Quran our path becomes even and easy to tread by doing Hasanaat and uneven, obstructed if we commit sayeaat.

The reward of Hasanaat and sayeaat is built in 28:84 Anyone who brings actions that benefited others, the reward to him is better than what he has done. And anyone who is unfair in his dealings with others, such will be punished, but not more than the like of what they have done. There are so many examples of Syeaat such as Riba( usury) . This practice has kept the humanity enslaved for thousands of years. If we look around the humanity appears helpless and look towards the heavens for the Creator to help them. There are so many households which are devastated and it has literally made this world a hell. Lets see how Quran liberates the humanity from this monster. Those men who do not follow the Divine Laws have infinite hunger for wealth. 70:19 Verily, man is created with an anxious disposition. (Halooan= whose hunger is never satisfied) He is eager to accumulate wealth 100:8 And behold, in the love of wealth he is ardent. (102:1-2). He is obsessed with wealth 104:2 Whose efforts revolve around gathering material possessions and counting them. (Devoid of a higher goal, he opposes any semblance of reform He believes his wealth is the only thing he can depend upon 104:3 Thinking as if his wealth will help him for forever! He desires only immediate gain 75:20 Nay, but you love instant results. He prefers only life of this world. 87:16 But nay, you prefer the life of this world. They are anxious to grab wealth from all sources 89:19 And you devour the inheritances with greed. 89:20 And you love wealth with boundless love. The spend their whole life to accumulate wealth until death comes to them 102:1 The relentless greed of material gains distracts you (from the real purpose of life). (57:20, 83:26). 102:2 Until you go down to your graves. The human life was dwelling in heaven but when the Divine guidance was ignored the personal rivalry took place and they anchored “wedges” between themselves which left them divided. 2:36 But Satan caused them both (men as well as women) to stumble therein and impelled them out of the happy state they were in. And so We said, “Degraded you have become with wedges of discord among yourselves! There shall be for you on Earth habitation and livelihood for a while.” [Their straying egos and selfish desires had clashed and led them into dividing among themselves for the pursuit of self-interest.
Humanity fell from the height of felicity into contention and rivalry. The plentiful provision of the land that used to be open for all became a matter of private ownership and hoarding. They have since been living in a state of continuous turmoil and strife.] When the life takes this route the disintegration hits the families and the society at large and everyone looks at his/her own interest. 80:34 On the Day when a man will flee from his brother, 80:35 And his mother and his father, 80:36 And his wife and his children. 80:37 To everyone on that Day will be enough his own concern. 74/52( Mafhhom ul Quraan) (It is not that they do not understand what they are being told. They certainly do understand it. But the fact of the matter is that their selfish interests do not allow them to come this way. The Divine Order requires a collective life where everyone’s interests are common. However) Every one of them wants that his business interests be spread out and function independently. They desire that the socio-economic system should not be subjected to any common control; and that it should be left to one's own likes. Instead of striving for collective good, everyone should pursue individual interests4. When this pattern of life becomes fashion of the time the whole nation falls into it . Then a time comes, as promised by Law of Respite, when the whole nation faces the natural consequence of their wrong doings. 7:38 Allah will command them to join the previous uncivilized and civilized communities into the Fire. Every later group will blame the former, "Our Lord! These are the ones who misled us; double their punishment.” He will say, “The punishment is doubled for both.” (The first group violated the Laws and misled others, and the second group was guilty of blind following and misleading their successors). These people (Mutaffafeen) want everything for themselves and do not give out anything for the welfare for the society and even when they give they keep their measures smallest possible [Author’s note] This is the 83rd Surah of the Qur'an. It has 36 verses. The title refers to cheating or defrauding others. Cheating people in business transactions violates human rights.

Another title given to the Surah is Al-Mutaffifin meaning the cheaters or the defrauders. “Tatfif” also denotes unfair dealings, not doing justice to one’s duties, failing to show gratitude respect or honor where it is due. And in general, it signifies being deficient in fulfilling human rights. 83:1 Woe unto the dealers in fraud! These Mutaffafeen demand full measures from others but do not follow the same rules when they have to give it to others. 83:2 Those who demand full measure when receiving from people. 83:3 But give less than due when giving them by measure or weight. (Or diminish the recompense of the laborer). Mutrayfeen: These are those people who do not do anything to contribute towards the betterment of the society but have greed to snatch the earnings of others. This groups consists of all the suppressors of humanity especially priests, rabbis, mullahs etc 9:34 O You who have chosen to be graced with belief! A great many religious leaders, rabbis, priests, monks, mullahs, yogis, and mystics devour the wealth of mankind in falsehood, and debar them from the Path of Allah. All those who hoard up gold and silver and spend it not in the Cause of Allah, to them give tidings (O Prophet) of a painful doom. In a Quranic society every one would do his best, keep what is necessary and donate rest for the betterment of the society but these Mutrayfeen are not in habit of hard work so they are the one who are the staunch opponents of the revolution to establish the Quranic society. They try their best to weaken the support for this system by telling lies to the masses. 43:23 Thus it is. Whenever We sent, before you, a Warner to a community, its luxurious ones said, "Behold, We found our fathers following a certain religion, and we are following their footprints." An amazing point to note here that a capitalist takes risk when he invests but priest does not have to take that risk. His business is riskless and he keeps accumulating wealth without investing any money out of his own pocket.
This is why in 9/34 there is a special mention of priests regarding hoarding the wealth and in fact priesthood is the worst form of capitalism. This was the faith of Mutrafeen and Mutaffafeen now lets see what a Momin believes in The economic system of a Momin is based on “ Anfaqay Fee Sabeelillah” Nafq is that tunnel which is open on both ends. Anfaaq is used as opposite to “bukhal” in Quran. Anfaaq would mean keep the resources open to the society and Bukhal , holding on to the wealth and not sharing with others. The Mutaqeen are those who shared their earnings with the needy and this is what they learned from the Divine Laws 51:19 And in their wealth was the Divine Right of the requester and the deprived (6:142). They are aware of the fact that whatever they spent out of their wealth on others, in fact they are earning something for themselves. This is going to help develop their personality and they will be able to go through the evolutionary stages. 64:16 So be mindful of Allah as best as you can. And listen, and obey, and spend on others (your wealth and person).

That is good for your own ‘Selves’. For, any who is protected from his own greediness - it is they, they who are truly successful. Keeping the earnings open to the society is like you are loaning to Allah swt and He will return you in double. “Qareez”= When an animal ingests something the food regurgitates to his mouth which is chewed thoroughly and returned back to the stomach in a much digestible form, so when u give “qarz” to Allah swt he makes it “digestible” for you. 64:16 So be mindful of Allah as best as you can. And listen, and obey, and spend on others (your wealth and person). That is good for your own ‘Selves’. For, any who is protected from his own greediness - it is they, they who are truly successful. 64:17 If you lend unto Allah a goodly loan, He will multiply it for you and will grant you the protection of forgiveness. Allah is Appreciative, Clement. And they do this out of their free will, there is no compulsion in it and in return they don’t even desire a word of thanks 76:9 (They do all this selflessly) saying, "We provide for you for the sake of Allah alone. We want no return from you, not even a word of thanks.
Work in Progress ----