Cordyceps sinensis

س: هل يجوز للمسلم أن يشرب (أو يأكل) هذا الشيء لزيادة القوة و الصحة؟ في الدول الشافعية (ماليزيا، إندونيسيا) - المكملات الغذائية بهذا الشيء  - عندهم شهادات حلال من علماء مذهب الشافعي في هذه الأمكنة (يعني من المؤسسات الدينية المحلية التي تشتغل بتقديم شهادات حلال)؛ و لكن أريد أن أدري رأي الحنفية. شكرا جزيلا (المكملات الغذائية - food supplements)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cordyceps_sinensis

Giving zakaat to someone without informing him that it is zakaat

Q: My Brother in Law (husband of My sister) has Died. My Sister has 3 Children. As a brother I am helping my sister more and more in financial matters. Also she is receiving some money from the company where my brother in law had worked. But some times this money is not enough. I tried to give my Zakat to my sister but she refused to accept it and said I will never accept zakat or Sadqa. In this situation can I give zakat to my sister without telling her or if she asked can I hide or tell a lie that I am giving her zakat.

Questions relating to iddat

Q: My Father recently passed away. I am now confused as to what is now forbidden for my mother for the next 4 months 10 days period. I know jewellery, accessories, kohl, perfume is not allowed. Can you please clear my doubts with a hadeeth or a ruling in Quran.

  1. My mother is insisting on wearing only white while I feel regular, humble, simple everyday clothes are allowed. We are Indians and she wears fully covering shalwar kameez and covers her hair with a dupatta/shawl. Can you specify which colors are forbidden?
  2. She refuses to speak to anyone on the phone and not involve herself in the day to day activities of the house like ordering  groceries, meat and billing e.t.c. even while staying indoors.
  3. She also feels eating with the family together is not allowed and prefers to eat alone.
  4. Moreover after a husband passes away my relatives have told her that the nikah becomes invalid/over and touching my father after he passed away and seeing my father in his funeral shroud was a mistake and she should have been inside or at a distance. Please clarify if the nikaah is broken through some hadith. Her other doubt is if nikah is over how can she live on my father's money and on property that they both brought.
  5. She also refuses to step out on the verandah which is inside our house boundary wall and get some sunlight and stays in a dimly lit room throughout the day and night. Is going out within the boundary of your home allowed just to get some fresh air.
  6. Moreover after 40 days of my fathers passing my paternal and maternal family gifted my mother new clothes. I personally thought this was hurtful and a Hindu custom and hence is biddah. Please clarify.

Can you please describe in detail as to what is/is not allowed?

Questions relating to umrah

Q:

  1. I'm travelling for umra with my family in a few days. I have 4 children's, they are 11 (daughter) 9, 7 & 4 (sons) years of age. Will they have to wear ihram and does the rules of ihram/umra apply to them equally?
  2. My late father made a vow to take my youngest brother and perform umra with him. I'm planning to fulfil this vow. The only thing is my younger brother is disabled (Down syndrome). Does he have to wear ihram and does the  rules of umra apply to him?
  3. Which is more rewarding to perform nafal umra or nafal tawaf?
  4. If I perform a nafal tawaf/umra does it have to be for only one person or can I perform 1 nafal tawaf/umra for more then 1 person?

Rebuking a person saying "You are not a Muslim" due to him not fasting

Q: Many years ago I was having a heated argument with an individual. This individual at the time and now does not pray, rather rarely they do and I think it was in Ramadan and I think this individual was not fasting on this particular day and it was something like they were going out with their friends. I am not a knowledgeable person now nor was I then and I said something like this: "You are not a Muslim," Astaghfirullaah. I don't think I realised the seriousness of what I said and I realise the graveness of the words I uttered. From then till now I have repented for saying this, and obviously have had ghusl and said Shahadah many times. What do I have to do? What affect do my words have on me?

Speaking a lie in order to get a job

Q: There's a guy we know who is 34 (almost 35) year's old, single (never married), and has spent decades unemployed.  He has also never had any real stability in his life as he has come from a broken home yet has managed to get some education, though while studying his studies was invariably being interrupted and disturbed by domestic circumstances and so his education wasn't of a decent quality.  He cannot do anything about this now because his circumstances are still not ideal for him to re-study or train to be something else, and he would rather find work so that he can start living a normal life.

He has intermittently worked but only for very short stints throughout his life with the longest period being one job for 6 months and the rest between one and two months, but the gaps between them were significantly long, usually over a year or more.  He has had many interviews but none successful apart from the unskilled, menial jobs he had managed to get, which were either temporary, subjecting him to unbearable environmental conditions, or haram.  The system in the country he lives in is set up to punish people who are unemployed for substantial periods by making it virtually impossible for them to find work, intentionally creating an underclass.

As a result of this chronic unemployment, he has become seriously depressed and has been suffering mentally.  In addition to his unemployment, it
certainly doesn't help being born and brought-up in a country that has ostracised and ousted him based on his ethnic, religious, and social background, and this has been among the factors that have made him feel compelled to leave that country.

As for his financial circumstances, his income is very low (unemployment benefit) and his rent is very high, so he is barely surviving, and has to
depend on people giving him food regularly, and with the economy not getting better, it can only get worse for him.  He has very little saved, which a large percentage of will have to go to a debt because of his former flat mate who wasn't able to pay his rent, which led to both of them getting evicted. Although there is no immediate requirement to pay what's owed, he wants to pay asap because he doesn't want to remain in debt.

Being unemployed for so long, the government has forced him onto what they call "work programme", which hasn't helped him whatsoever find work even though it was set up to do so.  However, what they call an "employment councillor" had mentioned to him that he doesn't know how to lie and that he, the employment councillor, got that job through lying, alluding that not lying was a factor that was preventing him from finding work.  The employment councillor was not the only person who had mentioned lying as a successful tactic to gaining employment: a colleague of his once told him something along the lines of "it seems that you have to lie to get a job", and an acquaintance, who is also a teacher, advised him to say that he had the experience employers required as they wouldn't check up on it, after coming back from working abroad.

Recently, well just under a year ago, he did a course in teaching English that was free for him as he was and still is unemployed, so he could teach
abroad, specifically Saudi Arabia.  He had heard that it was easy to get a job as a teacher there and they pay relatively well.  Unfortunately, when he
had finished his course and started to look for work he noticed that all the jobs required  1 or more year's experience but most required at least two
year's or more.

It dawned on him that most of those people he knew or heard of going to Saudi Arabia and other countries to teach must have lied to get those jobs.
Countries like Saudi Arabia are investing heavily on foreign staff to teach their people; this also includes giving money to specific nations by
intentionally employing their citizens and promoting their universities, certificates, and citizenships.

He is committed to the religion and doesn't want to do anything haram but he does not understand why it has been so difficult for him to live and find work.  We know that under certain exceptional circumstances it is permissible to lie; so my question is: does the circumstances of this man qualify as one of those instances whereby it is permitted to lie, so as to obtain and maintain employment and nothing more?

Studying the Qur'an and Hadith independently

Q: Some time ago I asked about a hadith with the words whoever leaves something for the sake of Allah, Allah will grant him something better in return. My curiosity got the better of me and I managed to find the following on a google search. I would like you to please check its authenticity.

It was reported from the Prophet (peace be upon him) that he said: "Anyone leaves something for the sake of Allah, Allah shall compensate him a better one for that."

This Hadith is Da`if (a Hadith that fails to reach the status of Hasan, due to a weakness in the chain of narration or one of the narrators) and was not authentically reported from the Prophet (peace be upon him) by these wordings even if it is well known to many people.

The Hadith was authentically reported by another wording from the Hadith of Abu Qatadah and Abu Ad-Dahma' who said: We came to a man from the people of the desert and asked him: Did you hear a Hadith from the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)? He said: I heard him saying: “You will never leave something for the sake of Allah, but Allah will give you something better in return.”

Musnad Al Imam Ahmad (5 / 363). Al Haythamy said in Majma` Az-Zawa’id (10/296) “The Hadith is narrated by Ahmad with different chain of narrations and its narrators are the narrators of the Hadiths that were reported in the two books of authentic Hadiths.

Sitting and performing Fardh and Waajib Salaah without a valid excuse

Q: If a person prays a fardh or waajib  prayer sitting down, without a valid excuse, is his prayer considered invalid? I recently heard from a Mufti that the prayer itself would be valid, since he did not miss a fardh element of prayer by sitting down (and not standing). What is the position of the Hanafi madhab in this regard?

Reciting softly in fajr when one is performing Salaah individually

Q: I was praying my Fardh Fajr Salaah and I did not recite loud like I do in the loud prayers and more like how I recite in the quiet prayers and so I continued reciting how I was so as to keep consistency in the salaah. At the sitting position in the second rak'ah, I said up to "Ashhadu anna Muhammadan 'Abduhu Wa Rasooluh." and said "Assalaamu 'alaykum wa Rahmatullaah" to my right then faced forward and prostrated (I intended to do the two prostrations of forgetfulness for not reciting out loud like I usually do for Fajr Fardh). During this, I got up from prostrating and raised my index finger and was about to start reciting "Attahiyyatu lillaahi Was-Salaatu Wat-Tayyibaatu." But then, I was confused whether I prostrated once or twice, and I leaned to the decision that I had only prostrated once so far and so I said "Rabbighfirlee" three times and prostrated for what I assume to be my second prostration. I sat back up and said the Tashahhud, Durood and Du'a, then I said both Tasleem. Now I wonder is my salaah valid?