Miscellaneous

Avoiding the sin of gheebat

Q: If ones family member backbites another to express their frustrations with their behaviour, and does it constantly, what should they do? 

Telling them to stop breaks the ties of trust and closeness, and listening to it incurs sin. What should I do? 

If one makes tawbah, will they still lose their deeds on Qiyamah?

Calling a woman wearing the niqaab a "ninja"

Q: If someone (Muslim) calls a niqabi a "ninja" (not in a derogatory way or to mock niqab, nor to make fun of the person for wearing niqab), will it be kufr? 

What if the niqabi didn't think much of it and just passed it over as a joke, because she believes that the person was just joking and not trying to degrade her or something. 

Basically, a ninja can be considered good or bad, but it depends on what the ninja does (apparently).

Keeping a dog for security reasons

Q: I’d like the ruling on keeping a dog. I know that it is impermissible to keep them as pets and that it is allowed to keep them for security purposes. But between keeping them as pets and keeping them for security, I am unsure which category I fall into. 

I’ve never liked dogs in my life due to the cleanliness aspect of them. After moving into a house, we get the odd yard break in and theft from our yard. We therefore have chosen to keep a dog to deter criminals from entering. At the moment, our main purpose is for security reasons but we find ourselves enjoying the dog. When we go out they run to us and we pet their heads and due to their excitement, they lick our hands and clothing. We utterly detest this and feel disgusted by it and we make sure to wash our hands and clothing immediately afterwards. 

My question is, even though we have them for security purposes, would giving them attention and petting them fall into the category of keeping them as pets also? We have also taken a fond liking to them as they are very playful and they need attention. But we do not want to risk our good deeds being destroyed and risk the angels not coming to our home. Please advise based in my situation.

Speaking lies when complimenting people

Q: When complimenting someone, do we have to actually mean what we’re saying to them? 

For example: If I tell someone I like their clothes to be nice, do we have to actually like their clothing to be able to compliment them? 

What if we don’t think anything of it or don’t actually like it or dislike it, for example, would this be lying or deceit?

What about when it comes to marital relationships? Compliments would be good for the relationship I think but do you have to mean them every time you compliment your spouse? Or would it be okay to just say it to make them happy even if you don’t actually think that lying to one’s spouse is permissible. I think I’m pretty sure but is that only when they ask you, for example: "how do I look?" and you respond with a lie to not hurt their feelings. 

Can it also be without them asking too, like you spontaneously tell them for example “you look nice today” when you might not actually think so?

Sleeping after fajr

Q: Sometimes, I get up and perform tahajjud one hour before the time of Fajr, but after performing my Fajr, I often go back to sleep and put my alarm for ishraaq salaah to get up again. Is it permissible for me to do that?