Series of Answers by the Scholar Ata Bin Khalil Abu Al-Rashtah, Amir of Hizb ut Tahrir, to Questions from his Facebook Page Followers
To Yusuf Adamu
Question:
Assalamu alaykum, may Allah (swt) preserve you for the Ummah and give victory to the Ummah through you. Please I have two questions and prayed may Allah make it easy for you.
- What is your view according to Islam concerning polio vaccination the western worlds and America are claiming to help some third world countries with free-of-charge?
- Is it allowed according to shara'i to buy farm produce e.g. Beans, during period of harvest when they are in surplus in order to store them till the period when the supply is meager and to sell at a profitable or higher price? Jazakallahu Khayran Yusuf Adamu, Abuja, Nigeria.
Answer:
Wa Alaikum Assalam Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh,
First: Vaccination is a form of medication (dawa’), and seeking medical treatment (at-tadawi) is mandub (recommended) and not fard (obligatory). The evidence for this is:
1- Al-Bukhari narrated via Abu Hurairah that he said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
مَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ دَاءً إِلَّا أَنْزَلَ لَهُ شِفَاءً
"Allah has not sent down a disease except that He has also sent down its cure." (Bukhari)
Muslim narrated from Jabir bin Abdullah from the Prophet ﷺ that he said:
لِكُلِّ دَاءٍ دَوَاءٌ، فَإِذَا أُصِيبَ دَوَاءُ الدَّاءِ بَرَأَ بِإِذْنِ اللهِ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ
"For every disease there is a remedy; when the remedy for the disease is applied, the patient recovers by the permission of Allah Almighty." (Muslim)
Ahmad narrated in his Musnad from Abdullah bin Mas'ud:
مَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ دَاءً، إِلَّا قَدْ أَنْزَلَ لَهُ شِفَاءً، عَلِمَهُ مَنْ عَلِمَهُ، وَجَهِلَهُ مَنْ جَهِلَهُ
"Allah has not sent down a disease except that He has also sent down its cure; those who know it, know it, and those who are ignorant of it, are ignorant of it." (Ahmad)
These hadiths provide guidance that every disease has a cure that heals it, acting as an incentive to seek treatment which leads to healing by the permission of Allah (swt); this is guidance (irshad) and not an obligation (ijab).
2- Ahmad narrated from Anas who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
إِنَّ اللَّهَ حَيْثُ خَلَقَ الدَّاءَ، خَلَقَ الدَّوَاءَ، فَتَدَاوَوْا
"Indeed Allah, when He created the disease, He created the cure, so seek treatment." (Ahmad)
Abu Dawud narrated from Usamah bin Sharik, who said: I came to the Prophet ﷺ and his companions as if there were birds on their heads. I greeted them and sat down. Then some desert Arabs came from here and there and said: "O Messenger of Allah, should we seek medical treatment?" He replied:
تَدَاوَوْا فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ لَمْ يَضَعْ دَاءً إِلَّا وَضَعَ لَهُ دَوَاءً، غَيْرَ دَاءٍ وَاحِدٍ الْهَرَمُ
"Seek treatment, for Allah Almighty has not created a disease except He has created a treatment for it, except for one disease: old age." (Abu Dawud) Meaning "except death."
In the first hadith, there is a command to seek treatment, and in the second hadith, there is an answer to the desert Arabs to seek treatment, addressing the servants to seek medical care because Allah did not place a disease without placing a cure for it. The address in both hadiths came in the form of a command (amr), and a command implies an absolute request; it does not imply obligation unless it is a decisive command (amran jaziman). Decisiveness requires a qarinah (indicator) to prove it, and there is no qarinah in either hadith that indicates obligation. Furthermore, hadiths have been reported that indicate the permissibility of leaving treatment, which negates the implication of obligation from these two hadiths.
Muslim narrated from Imran bin Husain that the Prophet ﷺ said:
يَدْخُلُ الْجَنَّةَ مِنْ أُمَّتِي سَبْعُونَ أَلْفًا بِغَيْرِ حِسَابٍ
"Seventy thousand of my Ummah will enter Paradise without reckoning." They said: "Who are they, O Messenger of Allah?" He said:
هُمُ الَّذِينَ لَا يَكْتَوُونَ وَلَا يَسْتَرْقُونَ، وَعَلَى رَبِّهِمْ يَتَوَكَّلُونَ
"They are those who do not use cauterization or seek ruqyah, and they put their trust in their Lord." (Muslim)
Ruqyah and cauterization are forms of medical treatment. Al-Bukhari narrated from Ibn Abbas: He said: ... This black woman came to the Prophet ﷺ and said: "I suffer from epilepsy and I become uncovered, so pray to Allah for me." He said:
إِنْ شِئْتِ صَبَرْتِ وَلَكِ الجَنَّةُ، وَإِنْ شِئْتِ دَعَوْتُ اللَّهَ أَنْ يُعَافِيَكِ
"If you wish, be patient and Paradise is yours; and if you wish, I will pray to Allah to heal you." She said: "I will be patient," then she said: "But I become uncovered, so pray to Allah that I do not become uncovered." So he prayed for her. (Bukhari) These two hadiths indicate the permissibility of leaving treatment.
All of this indicates that the command mentioned "so seek treatment" and "seek treatment" is not for obligation. Therefore, the command here is either for permissibility (ibahah) or recommendation (nadb). Due to the strength of the Messenger's ﷺ encouragement for treatment, the command for treatment mentioned in the hadiths is for recommendation.
Accordingly, the ruling on vaccination is that it is mandub because vaccination is medication, and seeking treatment is recommended and not an obligation. It is permissible to receive treatment from a disbelieving doctor, whether the treatment is for a fee or as assistance without a fee. So, whoever wants vaccination, it is permissible.
There is a matter I would like to remind you of: the assistance of the colonialist disbelievers to Muslim countries, whether it is medicine or otherwise—and especially those they call "free aid"—this aid is usually intended to create entries for the hegemony and influence of the colonialist disbelievers in the country and to loot its wealth and resources. Capitalist countries do not provide free aid for nothing; they do not have spiritual values through which they help the needy. Rather, their values are material, intended to reap malicious interests from behind their aid. Let the Muslims be aware of this.
Second: Monopoly (ihtikar) is absolutely forbidden in Islam; it is prohibited by Shara' because of the decisive prohibition reported in clear hadith. Muslim narrated in his Sahih from Said bin Al-Musayyib, from Ma'mar bin Abdullah, from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, who said:
لَا يَحتَكِرُ إِلَّا خَاطِئٌ
"No one hoards except a sinner." (Muslim)
The prohibition in the hadith implies a request to leave the action, and the condemnation of the hoarder by describing him as a "sinner" (khati'i)—and the sinner is the one who is guilty and disobedient—is a qarinah indicating that this request to leave the action is decisive. Thus, the hadith indicates the prohibition of monopoly.
A monopolist is one who collects goods waiting for their price to rise, whether he collected them by purchase or from the produce of his vast lands because he is the sole producer of that type of crop or because of the rarity of its cultivation. He collects them, monopolizing them until he sells them at high prices, such that it becomes difficult for the people of the land to buy them. From this aspect, i.e., inflating prices for the people, it is also prohibited due to what was narrated from Ma'qil bin Yasar who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
مَنْ دَخَلَ فِي شَيْءٍ مِنْ أَسْعَارِ الْمُسْلِمِينَ لِيُغْلِيَهُ عَلَيْهِمْ، فَإِنَّ حَقًّا عَلَى اللهِ أَنْ يُقْعِدَهُ بِعُظْمٍ مِنَ النَّارِ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ
"Whoever interferes in any of the prices of the Muslims to make it expensive for them, it is a right upon Allah to seat him in a great place of Fire on the Day of Resurrection." (Ahmad)
Thus, monopoly is haram. Consequently, it is not permissible to buy agricultural products at a low price when they are abundant in the market, then store them until they decrease or disappear from the markets, and then offer them for sale at a high price, because this is the reality of monopoly, which is prohibited as we explained above.
Your brother, Ata Bin Khalil Abu Al-Rashtah
Link to the answer from the Amir’s Facebook page