FIGURING OUT FIQH

Uh-oh.

Rules, rules and more rules.  

That’s what many people see the religion of Islam as - one big set of cans and can-nots.  

Yesterday a family friend who was visiting from the UK gifted us a box of chocolates. With my insatiable desire for anything sugar and cocoa, I lunged for the brilliantly gold-coloured box of Belgian beauties as soon as I had the chance.

But before I proceeded to greedily devour the joy that lay inside, I gave the ingredients a quick read just in case there was something dodgy in these heavenly bits of chocolaty goodness. 

And sure enough, just below where the main ingredients were listed, was a note in bold from the manufactures saying that these chocolates were infiltrated with alcohol.

Crestfallen, I alerted my family to this revelation and declared my intention to trash the now disgraced box of evil into the darkest, most deepest garbage bin I could find.

But much to my surprise, I was met with resistance.

“Don’t throw it!” exclaimed my grandma, incredulous that I would even consider throwing away uneaten food.

“We’ll give it to our neighbours. They’re Christian right? We can give it to them, they’ll enjoy it.”

Hold on a second.

Alcohol is prohibited because of its ill effects which are both physical and spiritual. Why would I subject my neighbours to these effects even if they consider it to be perfectly okay? 

“But it’s not haram for them!” retorted my granny. “The Jones would love a box of chocolate with a bit of booze. They drink in church every week anyways.”

Sharia, rules, fiqh, jurisprudence - call it what you wish - exists in order to create a morally upright society that is wired towards good and steered away from evil. 

Understanding that we can’t do certain things because it’s for our betterment is a huge step towards strengthening our faith. God doesn't make things impermissible just for the sake of it. Whether we can comprehend it or not, there is deep wisdom behind why we can or can't do things. 

It’s important to remember that the sharia is not meant to restrict us and make our lives boring or tasteless. Rather it’s a comprehensive code of conduct that serves as a guide by which we can live in order to achieve the highest levels of success both in this world and the next.

All it takes is a change of perspective. 

So tell me what you think. 

Would you have given those chocolates to your non-Muslim neighbours?