Explanation of the Hadith: “When you trade by way of ‘inah, are content with crops, and take hold of the tails of cattle, and abandon jihad, Allah will impose upon you a humiliation that He will not remove from you until
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The Shaykh : As the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) explained that in the well-known hadith in Sunan Abu Dawud, Musnad Imam Ahmad, and others, he said, with his chain of narration, from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) Sunan Abi Dawud 3462Sahih (Al-Albani) So throwing destruction into our own hands is this preoccupation with this world, abandoning jihad in the cause of Allah the Mighty and Majestic, and committing what Allah the Mighty and Majestic has forbidden through the slightest of stratagems. If the Muslims do that, Allah will impose upon them a humiliation. And here is that humiliation beside you; He will not remove it from you until you return to your religion.
In this hadith, there is a reference to two very important matters in understanding. The first matter is that among the causes of the Muslims’ deviation, and among the causes of the Muslims’ weakness and humiliation, is their deviation in their understanding of some of the rulings of their Shari’ah, such as ‘inah, for example. ‘Inah is one of the forbidden sales, and its form is that a person goes to a car dealer, for example, and buys a car from the dealer for one thousand dinars on credit for one year, for example. In reality, he does not want to buy it and has no need for the car; his need is for the dinars. After he carries out this formal transaction and buys the car from him for one thousand dinars on credit for one year, this buyer returns to the seller and sells him the car for less than the previous price in cash. He sells it to him, for example, for eight hundred in cash. He receives the eight hundred dinars, and the car does not move from its place at all. It is registered to him for one thousand dinars, to be delivered after one year. That was the agreement regarding the car. When he returned and sold the car for cash and received the price as stated, that means it is a form of seeking to make lawful what Allah has forbidden, namely riba. Instead of saying to him, “Give me one thousand dinars, give me eight hundred dinars so that I can pay you one thousand dinars after one year,” no, this is an open usurious transaction. These people are religious and Muslim; they would not commit this open sin. But Satan made this sin attractive to them through a means, as some call it a “legal stratagem.” So they introduce the car as an intermediary in making lawful what Allah the Mighty and Majestic has forbidden, namely riba. This is the form of the sale of ‘inah. And ‘inah is derived from the word “ayn” (eye), meaning the very item is sold and bought in one place for two different prices: the cash price is less than the credit price.
The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said, meaning, have you made lawful this sale, which is forbidden because it involves making lawful what Allah has forbidden through the slightest of stratagems? And it has come in some hadiths whose chains al-Hafiz Ibn Kathir graded as good, So this is one of the stratagems of the Jews, whose story Allah the Mighty and Majestic mentioned for us regarding the Sabbath, and it is not hidden from anyone. And among that is what many may not know, which is the saying of the Messenger (may Allah’s prayer and peace be upon him), The meaning of the hadith is that Allah the Mighty and Majestic informs the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), or curses them, Why? The fats of the sacrificial animals they slaughter, which are lawful for them, but the matter is as our Lord, Blessed and Exalted is He, said regarding them, [An-Nisa 4:160] From these good things that were lawful and then became forbidden to them are the fats of the beast they slaughter; they are lawful for them except for the fat in them. By their wrongdoing, this was forbidden to them. So the Jews did not have patience with this prohibition and devised a stratagem against it. What did they do? They took these fats and put them in the pots and lit a fire underneath them, so they flowed and melted and took another form... level after melting. So in their opinion and claim, this form changed the ruling of the Shari’ah regarding this fat; it was forbidden before and became, in their claim, lawful after. So they were cursed because of this and their stratagems regarding the Sabbath and other forms of making lawful what Allah had forbidden them.
And the Messenger (may Allah’s prayer and peace be upon him) informed that this Ummah will follow the footsteps of the Jews and Christians, following them exactly, as he said,Sahih Muslim 2669a And in another hadith in Sunan al-Tirmidhi and others, Al-Mustadrak lil-Hakim 2:145 [intercourse with his mother] on the side of the road, and there would be among you those who do that. And the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) spoke the truth, for here are these Muslims committing stratagems exactly as the Jews did, making riba lawful under names for which Allah has sent down no authority, as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said in another matter, .
So those people changed the form of the fat and made it lawful, and these people also change the form of the usurious transaction into an apparent sale and purchase transaction, wanting behind that to make lawful what Allah has forbidden. Among that is the sale of ‘inah. So the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said, meaning, if you deviate in your understanding of some of the legal rulings by committing the stratagems that the Jews committed, and you make lawful what Allah has forbidden through the slightest of stratagems, such as making ‘inah lawful, Sunan Abi Dawud 3462Sahih (Al-Albani) meaning, you rush after this world and are preoccupied with it, neglecting what you know to be obligatory, which is jihad in the cause of Allah, then your reward at that time is that Allah will impose upon you a humiliation that He will not remove from you until you return to your religion.
So all Muslims today complain, and no doubt, of this humiliation and degradation that has befallen them in their own homeland, which has been occupied by the most humiliated of people previously. All Muslims complain of this, but these Muslims, unfortunately, are still differing and fluctuating greatly regarding the path they must follow to lift this humiliation that has descended upon their homeland,[Hud 11:118-119].
So the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), in this hadith, as I believe, sets out for us the plan to address this humiliation that has befallen us. He says to us, And when we know that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) gave an example in the first part of the hadith of some types of transactions.
... Each of them is a cause for the Muslims to be humiliated. And neither of the examples was mentioned in the hadith by way of specification, but rather the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned each of them by way of illustration. So the sale of ‘inah was given as an example of the types of stratagems that Muslims commit, to which applies what He, Blessed and Exalted is He, said,[Al-Kahf 18:103-104] So the one who makes the sale of ‘inah lawful is dealing in riba, while he thinks that nothing is required of him. He receives eight hundred and pays a thousand, and this is lawful by way of the car, the car as an intermediary.
The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned this by way of illustration of the types of stratagems, not by way of specification. Likewise, he mentioned taking hold of the tails of cattle, tilling the earth, and being preoccupied with that instead of jihad in the cause of Allah as examples of other rulings regarding which the Muslims, praise be to Allah, are still knowledgeable and have not deviated in their understanding, as happened with the sale of ‘inah and the like. But in this matter where they have not deviated in understanding, as is the case with the sale of ‘inah, they have deviated in practice. They know that jihad is obligatory, and they know that preoccupation with this world to the extent that it causes the neglect of other obligations that Allah has prescribed for the Ummah, they know that this is not permissible. And yet they turn away from what they know. So the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned the sale of ‘inah as an example of many instances of deviation from understanding the Shari’ah through stratagem, and mentioned preoccupation with crops and milk as an example of the other instances that Muslims know and then contradict.
When you enter into the inah transaction, hold the tails of oxen, are pleased with agriculture, and give up conducting jihad (struggle in the way of Allah). Allah will make disgrace prevail over you, and will not withdraw it until you return to your original religion.
إذا تبايعتم بالعينة وأخذتم أذناب البقر ورضيتم بالزرع وتركتم الجهاد في سبيل الله سلط الله عليكم ذلا لا ينزعه عنكم حتى ترجعوا إلى دينكمIn this hadith, there is a reference to two very important matters in understanding. The first matter is that among the causes of the Muslims’ deviation, and among the causes of the Muslims’ weakness and humiliation, is their deviation in their understanding of some of the rulings of their Shari’ah, such as ‘inah, for example. ‘Inah is one of the forbidden sales, and its form is that a person goes to a car dealer, for example, and buys a car from the dealer for one thousand dinars on credit for one year, for example. In reality, he does not want to buy it and has no need for the car; his need is for the dinars. After he carries out this formal transaction and buys the car from him for one thousand dinars on credit for one year, this buyer returns to the seller and sells him the car for less than the previous price in cash. He sells it to him, for example, for eight hundred in cash. He receives the eight hundred dinars, and the car does not move from its place at all. It is registered to him for one thousand dinars, to be delivered after one year. That was the agreement regarding the car. When he returned and sold the car for cash and received the price as stated, that means it is a form of seeking to make lawful what Allah has forbidden, namely riba. Instead of saying to him, “Give me one thousand dinars, give me eight hundred dinars so that I can pay you one thousand dinars after one year,” no, this is an open usurious transaction. These people are religious and Muslim; they would not commit this open sin. But Satan made this sin attractive to them through a means, as some call it a “legal stratagem.” So they introduce the car as an intermediary in making lawful what Allah the Mighty and Majestic has forbidden, namely riba. This is the form of the sale of ‘inah. And ‘inah is derived from the word “ayn” (eye), meaning the very item is sold and bought in one place for two different prices: the cash price is less than the credit price.
The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said,
When you trade with ‘inah
إذا تبايعتم بالعينةDo not commit the forbidden things through the slightest of stratagems, like the Jews
لا ترتكبوا المحرمات بأدنى الحيل كاليهودMay Allah curse the Jews. The fats were forbidden to them, so they rendered them and then sold them and ate their proceeds. And indeed, when Allah forbids the consumption of something, He forbids its price.
لعن الله اليهود حُرِّمت عليهم الشحوم فجملوها ثم باعوها وأكلوا أثمانها وإن الله إذا حرم أكل شيء حرم ثمنهAllah has cursed the Jews
لعن الله اليهودThe fats were forbidden to them.
حرمت عليهم الشحومFor wrongdoing on the part of the Jews, We made unlawful for them [certain] good foods which had been lawful to them
فبظلم من الذين هادوا حرمنا عليهم طيبات أحلت لهمAnd the Messenger (may Allah’s prayer and peace be upon him) informed that this Ummah will follow the footsteps of the Jews and Christians, following them exactly, as he said,
You would tread the same path as was trodden by those before you inch by inch and step by step so much so that if they had entered into the hole of the lizard, you would follow them in this also.
لتتبعن سنن من قبلكم شبرا بشبر وذراع بذراع حتى لو دخلوا جحر ضب لدخلتموهEven if there were among them someone who would have intercourse with his mother on the roadside, there would be among you someone who would do that.
حتى لو كان فيهم من يأتي أمه على قارعة الطريق لكان فيكم من يفعل ذلكUntil if there were among them one who would approach his mother
حتى لو كان فيهم من يأتي أمهThere will be among my Ummah people who drink intoxicants and call them by other than their name.
سيكون في أمتي أقوام يشربون الخمر يسمونها بغير اسمهاSo those people changed the form of the fat and made it lawful, and these people also change the form of the usurious transaction into an apparent sale and purchase transaction, wanting behind that to make lawful what Allah has forbidden. Among that is the sale of ‘inah. So the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said,
When you trade with ‘inah
إذا تبايعتم بالعينةhold the tails of oxen, are pleased with agriculture
وأخذتم أذناب البقر ورضيتم بالزرعSo all Muslims today complain, and no doubt, of this humiliation and degradation that has befallen them in their own homeland, which has been occupied by the most humiliated of people previously. All Muslims complain of this, but these Muslims, unfortunately, are still differing and fluctuating greatly regarding the path they must follow to lift this humiliation that has descended upon their homeland,
but they will not cease to differ. (119) Except whom your Lord has given mercy
ولا يزالون مختلفين إلا من رحم ربكSo the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), in this hadith, as I believe, sets out for us the plan to address this humiliation that has befallen us. He says to us,
He will not remove it from you until you return to your religion.
لا يرفعه عنكم حتى ترجعوا إلى دينكم... Each of them is a cause for the Muslims to be humiliated. And neither of the examples was mentioned in the hadith by way of specification, but rather the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned each of them by way of illustration. So the sale of ‘inah was given as an example of the types of stratagems that Muslims commit, to which applies what He, Blessed and Exalted is He, said,
(103) Say, [O Muhammad], "Shall we [believers] inform you of the greatest losers as to [their] deeds? (104) [They are] those whose effort is lost in worldly life, while they think that they are doing well in work."
قل هل ننبئكم بالأخسرين أعمالا الذين ضل سعيهم في الحياة الدنيا وهم يحسبون أنهم يحسنون صنعاThe Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned this by way of illustration of the types of stratagems, not by way of specification. Likewise, he mentioned taking hold of the tails of cattle, tilling the earth, and being preoccupied with that instead of jihad in the cause of Allah as examples of other rulings regarding which the Muslims, praise be to Allah, are still knowledgeable and have not deviated in their understanding, as happened with the sale of ‘inah and the like. But in this matter where they have not deviated in understanding, as is the case with the sale of ‘inah, they have deviated in practice. They know that jihad is obligatory, and they know that preoccupation with this world to the extent that it causes the neglect of other obligations that Allah has prescribed for the Ummah, they know that this is not permissible. And yet they turn away from what they know. So the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned the sale of ‘inah as an example of many instances of deviation from understanding the Shari’ah through stratagem, and mentioned preoccupation with crops and milk as an example of the other instances that Muslims know and then contradict.