Q. I was shocked to read your answer to a reader justifying the payment of a bribe to get something to which the payer is already entitled. How can you justify this when it is clearly forbidden to give a bribe or to receive it? If you make such a statement in the US, or any Western European country, people will immediately say that you are at fault. Besides, how can you justify this in the light of verses 2: 155-156?
Abd Asl-Sattar, Seaview Township
A. There is no doubt that bribery is a grave sin, which invites God’s curse to the one who takes it as well as the one who pays it. A person who facilitates bribery, as a go-between, also receives strong censure for his behavior. But all this applies when a person pays a bribe to an official so that he is able to circumvent the law, or deprive others of their rights, or to get a privilege that is unlawful to him. In such a case, he commits a grave sin, and the one who receives the bribe is also guilty of the same transgression.
What I wrote about was something totally different. It is a case of an official denying a person his right, unless he receives some payment in return. This is normally the case in many countries, some of which are Muslim. Such corruption is indeed widespread. The result is much injustice and people failing to have what is perfectly legitimate and sometimes absolutely necessary.
Take the case of a person who wants to have a permit to build a house for his family. The matter should be easy once certain formalities are completed. The man completes the formalities but finds the permission delayed time after time, because he would not pay the official concerned. If corruption is widespread, then no amount of complaint will get him his building permission unless he pays the bribery demanded. Should he refuse to pay, he and his family will be deprived of a home, to which they are entitled. If he tries to sell the land on which he wants to build, its price is terribly reduced because he has no planning permission. Can we say to such a person that if he pays under duress, he is committing the same offense as one who bribes to get something unlawful?
Of course, the way to stamp out corruption is to resist it. But this is not enough on its own. What is needed is a government drive to put an end to it. But failing that, what are people to do in order to get what is rightfully theirs?
When a person is coerced to pay for what is rightfully his, he is not paying a bribe in the true sense. He is only paying to free himself from an injustice. This is legitimate according to many eminent scholars.
My reader mentions Western countries where this would be unacceptable. You can’t say all Western countries are free from this evil. Maybe it is not as widespread as in Third World countires. I admit that in certain Western countries individuals are able to obtain what is their right under the law without resorting to unlawful means. By and large it is under dictatorship that corruption flourishes, and when ordinary citizens are unable to obtain their rights, they may do so if they have to fork out some payments to officials who exploit their position in order to obtain people’s money unlawfully.
As for the two verses cited by my reader, they are not relevant to the subject under discussion.
Haunted by memories of past sins
Q. Someone often remembers his past sins which he committed prior to his marriage. He tries to forget them, but the harder he tries, the more he is haunted by them. Does this amount to adultery?
(Name and address withheld)
A. No it does not amount to adultery. These are mere thoughts, God does not hold us accountable for our thoughts. However, having said that, I stress that if one thinks about past sins, cherishing their memory, one is certainly at fault. If one slipped in the past and committed what God has strongly forbidden, one must repent and be genuinely sorry for having flouted God’s orders.
If he exalts in such sins, then such exaltation is forbidden. What is more, such memories will continue to haunt him until he repeats his past actions. That is very serious indeed.
To get rid of all this, one must develop a proper Islamic sense which will tell him that his past actions were sinful. As such they should be hateful to him.
He should pray God, most sincerely, to forgive him his slips and to strengthen him so that he would not commit any more in future.
When one has sincerely repented and rationally determined not to go back to such forbidden practices, God will support him in maintaining the right path.
Thoughts of vengeance
Q. I lead a very wretched life, as I am often the victim of injustice at the hands of people who are close to me. When I complain, the result is often repeated abuse. I frequently think of cursing those people who cause me agony but then I refrain from doing so. Sometimes when I offer my prayers I burst out crying. Should I stop and repeat the prayer again when I am calm and able to concentrate better? Is it a sin to even think of cursing people for their injustice?
(Name and address withheld)
A. The short answer to both parts of the question is simply, ‘No’. When you pray, try to concentrate as much as you can on your prayers, but if your emotions overpower you and you are in tears, just take the matter calmly, and wait a while until you are able to compose yourself and continue your prayer. May be a short supplication for God’s help to remove your distress can get you to calm down more quickly. But do not interrupt your prayer for such an overpowering emotion. Continue with it as best as you can, giving yourself a chance to cool down.
When we think of doing something forbidden, but do not carry out that intention, God does not hold us to account for such thoughts. This is part of God’s grace which He bestows on us all.
However, thinking about cursing people when they have caused us harm, or done us injustice, is a natural feeling. But a curse is not the proper thing to do in order to seek God’s help to remove the injustice inflicted on you.
When we are in a position of weakness, unable to remove injustice, we can put our complaint to God and appeal to Him to help us to remove it and punish the perpetrator. This is the proper way.
Another thing we may do is to try to get support from others who may have an influence on the offender. If this is not possible, then we may consult some people who may appreciate the problem and give us advice. But it is important to try hard to break away from such injustice as you have described.
My advice to you is: 1) to seek God’s help in solving your problem; 2) to get someone respected by the other party to talk to them on your behalf; 3) to defy those unjust people and, if necessary, to break away from them.
Certainly it is wrong to be in a situation where one is subjected to repeated ill-treatment, with no solution in sight.
