What is the Islamic view of bowing when we greet someone?
Any action which is similar to an act of worship is forbidden in Islam when it is offered to anyone other than Allah. To bow one's head or to do any similar gesture when one meets another person is to do something akin to an act of worship. Therefore, it is unacceptable from the Islamic point of view. As you realize, bowing is part of our prayer. Even when you do not bow fully as you do in prayer, to lower your head in order to greet someone falls in the same category as doing something which is similar to worship, but you are offering it to a human being. That cannot be sanctioned by Islam.• Boy meets (or goes out with) a girl
I have tried to find a ruling in the Qur'an or the Hadiths on a man going out with a woman, but I could find none. Since it is only natural to be attracted to the opposite sex, it seems to me that such a meeting, or going out, is permissible. If you disagree, how could you justify your ruling, when it is Allah who has made this mutual attraction part of our nature?
It is true that Allah has placed this attraction in our nature. Otherwise, humankind would not have been preserved. Allah, however, wants us to satisfy our natural desire in a clean, legitimate way. Therefore, He regulated the relationship between the two sexes on the basis of marriage.
This applies to every natural desire common to all mankind. We need to eat in order to live and there is a natural desire to eat which is common to all people. Unlike animals, which satisfy their hunger in a mechanical, instinctive way, man has refined his approach to food so as to make it part of human civilization. It is natural for men to enjoy tasty food. If you are walking along a country road and you see a fruit tree, heavy with ripe, tasty fruit, you are not allowed to pick one and eat it without the permission of the owner. Yet, if you do, you are only satisfying a natural desire which is closely related to your existence. As you know, without food we cannot live more than a few days. All human beings agree that only goods obtained in a legitimate manner are permissible to eat. You cannot just take what does not belong to you. You have to buy it or be given it as a present. Otherwise, you commit a sin if you take it away. The same applies to the satisfaction of natural tendencies of establishing a relationship which must be legitimate and the only legitimate relationship in this connection is that of marriage. The fact that the attraction is natural does not mean that we can seek its satisfaction in an unruly or undisciplined manner. Its satisfaction is regulated within the marriage institution. This distinguishes Islamic society by its clean, healthy relationship.
It is forbidden in Islam for a man to be alone with a woman who is not his wife, or a very close relative (i.e. one whom he cannot marry), in a room where they cannot be seen. This is not due to any lack of trust in either the man or the woman. It is only meant to strengthen them against any temptation. Abdullah ibn Abbas quotes the Prophet as saying: "Let no one of you be alone with a woman except in the presence of a relative whom she may not marry." (Related by Al-Bukhari and Muslim) Ahmad also relates a Hadith in which the Prophet is quoted to have said: "He who believes in Allah and the Last Day must not be alone with a woman without the presence of a close relative of hers which she may not marry. Otherwise, Satan would be the third one with them." This applies even to a relative whom the woman may marry such as her cousin. She must never allow herself to be alone with him where they cannot be seen.
• Bribery viz.-a-viz. coercion
In my country, corruption has become so widespread among government officials that it is almost impossible to obtain one's rights without having to pay some official or another. In some cases, people have to pay government officials just to be allowed to carry on with their business which is legitimate and allowed by the government. If the official is not paid, he creates untold problems. Scholars in our locality say that paying such bribes is permissible. Please comment.
There is no doubt that bribery is forbidden. The Prophet curses the one who pays bribery and the one who receives it. We have, however, to be clear about what constitutes bribery. The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines it as: "Money, etc. offered to procure (often illegal or dishonest) action or decision in favor of the giver." This is indeed the sense of the Arabic word "Rashwah" which the Prophet has used in the Hadith which invokes Allah's curse on both the briber and the bribed. The reason is that through bribe the giver gains an unfair advantage. The practice is, therefore, an unjust one since it causes another person to be deprived of his rights. Moreover, the recipient of a bribe uses his position in order to give unfair advantage to the giver. [ Be it just the fact that the giver gets his perfectly legitimate work done - out of his proper turn. Thus, another person's turn is delayed and an unfair advantage is obtained by the giver. This is equally unacceptable.) This is corruption if any action deserves the description of being corrupt.
What you are speaking about, however, is something different. A government official makes use of his position in order to procure for himself something which he cannot otherwise get. Moreover, what he is receiving is paid to him by people against their will. Had the matter been left to them, they would not have paid him a single halalah (one hundredth of a riyal). Therefore, we cannot describe it as paying bribery. One is actually paying a penalty or a fine, for nothing wrong one has done, but simply to be allowed to carry on with one's legitimate business.
Keeping that in view, I would say that if you are absolutely certain that what you are doing is absolutely legitimate and you are not seeking to have unfair advantage and you are paying that official simply to avoid whatever trouble he can cause you, then it is not forbidden to pay him. If you can do without payment, it is all the better, but if you cannot get your right without giving a "sweetener", as the expression goes, then you have no option.
Some scholars take a stricter view and say that when we pay such officials, we are actually encouraging them to use their position unfairly. If many of us stand up to them and refuse to pay them, then they will not be able to demand payment. This is certainly true, but we are often in a position where we cannot do anything about our immediate situation. (We submit to coercion.) We should try hard to stop such a practice, but until we are able to do so, we may have occasionally to play the game as it is.
| Back | Contents | Next |