FW: Fw: Living The Age of Email Forwards
I am concerned about emails that Muslims are sending out to "everyone on their lists." It seems that a lot of them are not really based on the teachings of Islam, that is the Quran and authentic Hadiths. What should we do?" This is the email that just came to me and would like for you to confirm or refute the contents of the "Dream of Sheikh Ahmed in Madinah".
Bismillah Rahman Rahim
Thank you for your question about these types of emails and this one (Dream of Sheikh Ahmad) in particular, and for putting such confidence in our ability to answer such questions. At the end of this answer, please click the link to more about "Lies And Liars" insha’Allah.
Actually, we have written on this subject a number of times. It is not permissible according to Islam, to forward these types of emails without first verifying and confirming the content, especially when there is mention of "the Prophet, (Peace and blessings be upon him) said…", nor to mention them, nor to forward emails about them. This is not the proper way to handle the situation. In fact, this is exactly what the enemies of Islam want us to do. In many cases they pretend to be Muslims or friends of Islam who are supposedly "helping Islam and the Muslims." To those who are not familiar with some of the basics of Dawah in Islam, these may not seem like a big problem. However, it is never acceptable in Islam to try to accomplish some good by doing something Haram (forbidden). It is never, ever possible to spread Islam by lying or using deceptive practices.
Why would anyone do such a thing?
Good question.
Because of Muslims promoting the wrong message.
Think about this: Muslims continually send out messages like the one that you just sent and then they tell everyone to do the same thing. Right?
Remember that the devil only has ONE GOAL - to put as many of the sons of Adam in the Hellfire as he can. That is it. He does not really care how they get there. And it works - for the enemy.
Shaytan (the devil) knows that most Muslims are ignorant of their religion and think that they know enough that they don't need to ask anyone about what they are doing. Or else, he counts on the fact that they will consider that it looks like something that will "help" the Ummah (Muslim community) to do good deeds, even if it is a "little white lie."
But keep in mind that by lying about what our Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him), says (whether in a Hadith or a dream by some mystic sheikh, supposedly in Madinah), it is still a lie and could cause the one who sends it on to others to go to HELL, FOREVER.
And it is working!
We must discourage this practice of just "forwarding this to everyone on your list." You see many Muslims today do not really know a lot about Islam and they are easily confused by these people who know how to make up things to fool us or mistranslate or misrepresent the verses of the Quran and the Hadith of the Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him). As a result I have a number of emails coming to me from different countries wherein the youth are asking me about things that have really messed them up, all of it stemming from these teachings.
For the above reasons you can see why it is Haram to forward these emails.
What should we do?
Good question:
First, when you receive email with any statements about dreams or visions -
DO NOT FORWARD IT TO EVERYONE ON YOUR LIST.
Second, send a copy to our office, email it or fax it.
Third, begin to visit and promote the websites that are dealing with the real issues of being a Muslim in this place in these times. This is critical.
Finally, DO COPY & EMAIL this answer to everyone ON YOUR LIST!
We can all make a difference. But it takes cooperation and dedication. We must not play with this subject. We must work hard at promoting the real Islam based on the Quran in the Arabic language and the authentic Hadith.
Our Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him) warned us of times like these and here we are. So, let us make an agreement to work together for Allah.
Jazak Allah Khayr Was Salam Alaykum,
Yusuf Estes