Q323 :There is a Muslim netmunity in my home country
where people believe that it is permissible to steal money and property
from non-Muslims in order to distribute it among poor Muslims. Members
of that netmunity may rob a bank and claim that they are working for
Islam. To my thinking, if stealing is a sin, it remains so when the
stolen property belongs to a non-Muslim. Please netment.
A323 : This sort of thinking may sound plausible
among a minority netmunity, particularly if it is at the receiving end
of unjust practices, and laws, as it is the case in your home country.
It is the mixture of ignorance and a keen sense of persecution that
gives such reason acceptance among those Muslims. To say this is not to
justify their action, because it remains unjustifiable. I am only
trying to point out the sort of conditions which may give rise to it.
All societies and netmunities in all ages agree that stealing is an
evil practice. Some of them enforced very stiff punishments for theft.
It was not a long time ago when the English law made theft punishable
by death or deportation to the colonies. Hence, no one can argue that
stealing could be permissible under any circumstances, except when a
person is about to die of hunger and no one is willing to give him
food. In such a situation, he is allowed to take whatever food he can
to keep himself alive. Since respecting other people’s rights and
keeping their properties safe is good, then it is the attitude Islam
requires of all its followers in all situations. This is due to the
fact that Islam orders its followers to do good to all its people,
maintaining the standards of goodness which Islam requires. It is not
permissible, in Islam to divide people into two groups, extending good
treatment to one and dealing badly with the other. Islam promotes what
is good because it is good, Islam is the religion of goodness and
goodness must be universal. What is evil cannot be considered good in
certain situations; nor can evil be considered permissible at any time.
Since the Prophet provides the proper example for all Muslims to
follow, we should always look to him for guidance. After preaching his
message in Makkah for 13 years, the Prophet emigrated to Madinah.
Throughout those 13 years, the Muslims suffered a great deal of
persecution at the hands of non-believers who wielded power in Makkah.
On the night the Prophet left, those unbelievers were determined to
kill him. They sent a group of young men representing all clans of
Quraish to murder him. In spite of that, people of Makkah always gave
him their valuables for safekeeping. Before his departure, the Prophet
asked his cousin, Ali, to stay behind and to give every article in his
house to its rightful owner. If taking away other people’s property
could be allowed in any situation, then the Prophet would have been
allowed to leave with those valuables. He was leaving behind his house
and furniture. Moreover, he was leaving because those very people were
plotting to kill him. To take their property would have been the
smallest of netpensations. Yet the Prophet would not for a moment think
of doing that, because betraying a trust and taking other peoples’
property is evil. The Prophet has taught us what is good because doing
good is beneficial to the doer, the recipient and the netmunity. From
another point of view, when a Muslim implements the teachings of Islam,
and works hard to make his actions a reflection of what Islamic life is
like, he actually calls on people to accept Islam. When they realize
that the goodness in him is brought about by his faith, they would like
to learn more about Islam. The more they learn, the greater are the
chances of their acceptance of this blessed faith. On the other hand,
if a person speaks all the time about the benefits of Islamic life to
mankind, yet at the same time allows his actions to give a bad image of
Islam and Muslims, his words will only fall on deaf ears. How can
people believe him when his actions give the lie to his word? He simply
cannot say to people: “Come to Islam because it is good and yet he does
away with the other people’s property.” A Muslim is always a teacher of
what is good. To justify stealing when taking away the property of a
non-believer, is to teach something bad to others. I cannot emphasize
too strongly the fact that Islam does not admit one action and its
opposite at the same time. How can it be? If something is good then its
opposite is bad and, as such, unacceptable. Another important point is
that when people justify stealing for themselves in this way, they
benete hardened thieves. They may start by stealing from non-Muslims,
but they would later find it easy to steal from Muslims as well. They
simply benete accustomed to taking other people’s property since they
feel they can take it away with impunity. Moreover, someone may start
by stealing in order to give the stolen property to poor Muslims. When
he finds out that he could get away with this sort of action, it will
be easy to justify by taking away the stolen property for himself.
Besides, Islam does not require anyone to steal in order to help a poor
person, if they truly care about poor Muslims, then they should do
something positive and good to help them. They either donate some of
their own money in order to help the poor or they should start some
sort of project which benefits the Muslim netmunity. If they do that,
then they show that they truly care about the poor Muslims. The idea of
robbing others in order to help our own poor people is totally
unacceptable from the Islamic point of view. [There is no concept of
Robin Hoods in Islam.] This action is undoubtedly forbidden.
Our Dialogue ( Source : Arab News – Jeddah )