The phenomenon of cheating

 

The phenomenon of cheating is widespread in society. What is the attitude of Islam towards this phenomenon?

In the Qur’aan, Allaah has condemned cheating and the people who do it, and has warned
them of bad consequences. This may be understood from the words (interpretation of the meaning):

 

“Woe to Al‑Mutaffifoon (those who give less
in measure and weight).

Those who,
when they have to receive by measure from men, demand full measure,

And when they have to give by measure or weight to
(other) men, give less than due”

[al-Mutaffifeen 83:1]

This is a severe warning to those who cheat (by giving
less) in weights and measures, so how about those who steal, embezzle
and withhold from the people the things that are their due? These are
more deserving of the warning than those who cheat in weights and measures.

The Prophet of Allaah Shu’ayb warned his people against
reducing the value of people’s property and cheating in weights and
measures, as Allaah has told us in the Qur’aan.

Similarly the Prophet SAWS (peace and blessings of Allaah
be upon him) cautioned us against cheating and issued a warning to the
one who does this. The Prophet SAWS (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) passed by a pile of food and put his hand into it, and his
fingers touched something wet. He said, “What is this, O seller of the
food?” The man said, “It got rained on, O Messenger of Allaah.” He said,
“Why did you not put it (the wet part) on top of the pile so that the
people could see it? He who deceives does not belong to me.” According
to other reports, “He who deceives us is not one of us,” or, “He is
not one of us who deceives us.” (Narrated by Muslim).

The wording of the version narrated by al-Nawawi, “he
is not one of us”, is sufficient warning against cheating and sufficient
deterrent against indulging in this heinous sin.

We need desperately to instill this message in our hearts
so that we might stir the conscience and be aware that Allaah is watching
all that we do, without the need for any human supervisor.

The way we deal with this phenomenon and other destructive
phenomena that exist in society should not be like a patient who has
a problem in his appendix and needs surgery, but instead they heat up
a poultice for him and put it on that spot to relieve the pain… for
then the patient will die before they even think of calling the doctor.

Here we will examine the phenomenon of cheating, now
that you know the warnings that apply to it.

Definition of cheating:

Al-Mannaawi said: Cheating is that which mixes bad with
good.

Ibn Hajar al-Haythami said: the forbidden type of cheating
is when the owner of the goods knows something which, if the would-be
purchaser knew about it, he would not pay that amount of money for it.

Al-Kafawi said: cheating causes blackness of the heart
and frowning on the face, hence this word (ghish = cheating or
deceit) is also used (in Arabic) to refer to hatred or enmity.

Where cheating takes place:

The one who thinks about what happens in real life will
find that many people engage in some form of cheating in all areas of
their lives. Examples of that include:

1 – Cheating in buying and selling:

How often this happens nowadays in the marketplaces of
the Muslims! It may take the form of concealing faults in goods or other
ways such as deceiving people about the quality of a product, or its
components, quantity, weight, essential features or source.

These are some of the ways in which that cheating is
manifested:

1-    
Some fruit-sellers put
a lot of leaves or papers in the bottom of the basket of fruit, then
they put the best fruit at the top. In this manner they deceive the
purchaser and cheat him by making him think that the basket is full
from top to bottom, and that all the fruit is of the same quality as
that which he sees on the top.

2-    
Some of them get food oil
and mix it with perfume, with the larger proportion being of oil. Then
they put it in glass bottles, and this substance smells like perfume,
and they sell it for a low price.

3-    
Some traders buy a product
in a very light wrapper, then they put it in a much thicker wrapper,
maybe five times thicker. Then they sell the wrapper and its contents,
weighing the whole lot and charging for both the wrapper and the contents.

4-    
Some traders do some light
mending on clothes, then they sell them without explaining that they
have been mended, rather they swear by Allaah that they are new – may
they perish!

5-    
Some of them may wear a
garment until it loses its value, then they shorten it and put some
starch in it, to make people think that it is new, and they sell it
as if it is new.

6-    
Some perfume-sellers put
some products, such as saffron, near water so that they may absorb the
moisture, thus increasing the weight by approximately one-third.

7-    
Some vendors and shopkeepers
make their stores very dark by using coloured lights, so that rough
products will look smooth and ugly ones will look beautiful. The Shaytaan
makes their evil deeds attractive to them.

8-    
Some goldsmiths mix gold
with copper and the like, then they sell it as if it is pure gold.

9-    
Some of them buy clean
second-hand gold, then they offer it for sale at the price of new without
telling the purchaser that it is second-hand.

10-Some vendors
at car auctions put thick oil in the car engine so that the purchaser
will think that it is in good condition.

11-Some of them
turn back the odometer, if it shows that the car has traveled a great
distance, to trick the purchaser into thinking that the car has only
been used a little.

12-Some of them,
if they have a car that they want to sell and they know that it has
a hidden fault, will say to the one who wants to buy it, “Try this car
if you want to buy it,” without telling him anything about it. By Allaah,
this is cheating and deceit.

13-Some of them
describe many faults in the car which are not real, with the intention
of concealing the real faults of the vehicle behind these imaginary
faults.

Even worse than that is when they do not mention the
faults until after the sale has been made and the deposit paid, and
the purchaser is not able to inspect the car and is not allowed to do
so.

14-Some of them,
if they have a car that they want to sell, will praise it and swear
by Allaah that it is good, and they will fabricate reasons why they
want to sell it, but Allaah knows all secrets and that which is yet
more hidden.

15-Some of them
agree with their friends to increase the price so that someone else
will take it. This is the najsh (artificial inflation of prices) which
the Messenger of Allaah SAWS (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) forbade.

16-Another kind
of cheating in selling is when butchers inflate the animal carcass that
they want to sell so that the purchaser will think that it is all meat.

17-Some vendors
at sheep auctions and places where chickens are sold feed the animals
salt [to make them drink more and thus look fatter], so that the purchaser
will think that they are fat when they are not.

18-Some owners
of cattle etc. tie up the teats of milking-animals a few days before
selling them so that this will look like milk when it is not.

19-   

20-  

I leave it for you to add more examples of cheating in
buying and selling that may cross your mind. May Allaah protect you,
if you are a seller or a buyer, from cheating or doing any of the things
described above.

2 – Cheating in matters of marriage

These are some of the ways in which this cheating is
manifested:

1-    
Some fathers may offer
a man who comes to marry one of his daughters his youngest daughter
who is still a virgin, then on the wedding night he finds out that he
has been given the older, previously-married daughter. Some men can
find no escape and no way out from such a marriage.

2-    
Some fathers and guardians
of women show the suitor the daughter who is beautiful, then on the
wedding night he finds out that he has been given a different daughter
who is ugly, but he has no choice but to accept the situation.

3-    
Some fathers may conceal
some sickness or fault that may be present in the daughter, not telling
the suitor so that he may have a clear picture. Then when he goes in
unto her on the wedding night he discovers the sickness or fault.

4-    
Some fathers and guardians
of women, if the suitor asks to see the woman – which is permissible
so long as the conditions stipulated in Islam are met – give him permission
to do so after they fill her face will all kinds of colours and dyes,
i.e. “make-up”, so that she will appear beautiful to him, but if he
looked at her without that mask of make-up he would not be pleased with
her. Is this not cheating which leads to great corruption of the rights
of both husband and wife?

5-    
Some guardians marry off
the female under their care without making the effort to find out about
the suitor and how religiously committed he is or what his attitude
is like. This is a kind of cheating and wrongdoing against the wife.

6-    
Another kind of cheating
in marriage is when the suitor pretends to have what he does not, to
make it appear that he is a man of status and that he owns a lot of
real estate and cars. He may even go to the extent of hiring a luxury
car, spending hundreds of riyals, to give the impression that he owns
it, when in fact he does not own anything.

7-    
Another kind of cheating
is when some people praise the suitor before the people whose daughter
he wishes to marry, speaking of him in the highest terms and describing
him as one who prays and is righteous, even though this suitor does
not even know the way to the mosque.

Enough of this cheating and deception which destroys
homes and breaks up families!

8-    
A form of cheating done
by some women – especially those who are older – is when they file their
teeth to create nice-looking gaps between them, thus making an older
woman look young, so that the suitor will think that she is young, then
when he marries her he discovers that she is very old. The Prophet SAWS
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) cursed the women who file
their teeth for the purpose of beauty and alter the creation of Allaah.

3 – Cheating in naseehah (sincere advice)

The whole
point of giving advice is to help a person meet his worldly objectives
or his religious objectives. One of the mutual rights of brotherhood
among the believers is to be sincere towards one another, and the hypocrites
are cheats.

The believer is the mirror of his brother, so if he sees
some fault in him he should correct it. Sincerity means refraining from
harming the Muslims, teaching them about matters of their religion of
which they are unaware, and helping them to adhere to it in word and
in deed, covering their faults, filling their gaps, warding off harm
from them, bringing things that will benefit them, enjoining what is
good upon them and forbidding what is evil in a kind and sincere manner,
showing compassion towards them, respecting their elders, being merciful
towards their young, giving them good advice and choosing the appropriate
time for doing so, loving for them what one loves for oneself of goodness
and hating for them what one hates for oneself of disliked things.

Al-Haafiz Abu’l-Qaasim al-Tabaraani narrated with his
isnaad that Jareer ibn ‘Abd-Allaah al-Bajali (may Allaah be pleased
with him) commanded his freed slave to buy a horse for him. So he bought
him a horse for three hundred dirhams, and he brought the horse and
its owner to him so that he could pay him the money. Jareer said to
the owner of the horse – look at this sincerity – “Your horse is worth
more than three hundred dirhams. Will you sell it for four hundred dirhams?”
He said, “Yes, O Abu ‘Abd-Allaah.”

He said, “Your horse is worth more than four hundred
dirhams. Will you sell it for five hundred dirhams?” He kept increasing
it by one hundred each time, with the owner agreeing and Jareer saying,
“Your horse is worth more than that,” until he reached eight hundred,
for which price he bought it. And he said concerning that, “I gave my
oath of allegiance (bay’ah) to the Messenger of Allaah SAWS (peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him) that I would be sincere towards
every Muslim.”

4 – Cheating in positions of authority

It was narrated that Ma’qal ibn Yassaar al-Muzani (may
Allaah be pleased with him) said during his final illness: “I heard
the Messenger of Allaah SAWS (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) say: ‘There is no person whom Allaah has put in a position of authority
and he dies on the day he dies cheating those under his authority, but
Allaah will forbid Paradise for him.’” This was narrated by al-Bukhaari
and Muslim; this version was narrated by Muslim. According to one of
the two versions narrated by al-Bukhaari: “There is no Muslim whom Allaah
places in a position of authority over people and he is not sincere
towards them, but he will not smell the fragrance of Paradise.”

This is a stern warning which includes everyone whom
Allaah has placed in a position of authority, whether great or small,
starting from the individuals of a royal family. Everyone must be sincere
towards those who are under their authority, and not cheat or deceive
them.

So an employee must be sincere in his work and do it
in the manner required by sharee’ah, without cheating or deceiving anyone,
and without delaying work for people. He should realize that he will
stand before Allaah and that Allaah has only given him this job so that
he can be sincere towards the Muslims.

Similarly a father must be sincere towards his children
and not neglect their upbringing, rather he must do all that he can
to save himself and his children from a Fire (Hell) whose fuel is men
and stones, over which are appointed angels stern and severe (cf. al-Tahreem
66:6).

Ibn al-Qayyim
(may Allaah have mercy on him) said: “How many people have caused misery
to their own children, the apples of their eyes, in this world and in
the Hereafter, by neglecting them, not disciplining them, encouraging
them to follow their whims and desires, thinking that they were honouring
them when they were in fact humiliating them, that they were being merciful
to them when in fact they were wronging them. They have not benefited
from having a child, and they have made the child lose his share in
this world and in the Hereafter. If you think about the corruption of
children you will see that in most cases it is because of the parents.”

(Tuhfat al-Mawlood, p. 146)

5 – Cheating in exams

How many ways and means of cheating there are among the
students! The reason for that is the lack of any religious deterrent,
weakness of faith, and the lack of any sense that Allaah is always watching.

Our Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Azeez ibn Baaz (may Allaah have mercy
on him) said: “It was narrated that the Messenger of Allaah SAWS (peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: ‘Whoever cheats us is not
one of us.’ This includes cheating in dealing with others and cheating
in exams, including English-language exams. It is not permissible for
students to cheat in exams in any subject, because of the general meaning
of this hadeeth and other similar reports. And Allaah is the Source
of strength.”

These are some of the ways in which cheating is manifested,
and there are others, for this is just a drop in the ocean,

“so that
those who were to be destroyed (for their rejecting the Faith) might
be destroyed after a clear evidence, and those who were to live (i.e.
believers) might live after a clear evidence”

[al-An’aam
8:42 – interpretation of the meaning]

To everyone who has committed some form of cheating,
whether it is mentioned here or not, we say: fear Allaah and remember
that the Knower of the Unseen is always watching you. Remember His punishment
and torment:

“Verily, your Lord is Ever Watchful (over them)”

[al-Fajr 89:14]

Realize
that this world is transient and that the Reckoning will examine the
smallest details; righteous deeds benefit one's children while bad deeds
adversely affect them.  Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning):

“And let those (executors and guardians) have the
same fear in their minds as they would have for their own, if they had
left weak offspring behind. So let them fear Allaah and speak right
words”

[al-Nisa’ 4:9]

Whoever
ponders the meaning of this aayah will fear the bad effects that evil
deeds may have on his children and will refrain from them lest something
like this happen to them.

And it should
be noted that cheating is very harmful, which may be explained as follows:

The harmful
effects of cheating include:

1-    
Cheating is a way that
leads to Hell.

2-    
It is indicative of the
mean and evil nature of a person. No one does this except one who is
ignoble and does not care about his soul, so he causes it to indulge
in that which will cause its doom and destruction.

3-    
It alienates one from Allaah
and from other people.

4-    
It causes one’s du’aa’s
not to be accepted.

5-    
It causes one to be deprived
of barakah (blessing) in one's wealth and one's life.

6-    
It is indicative of a lack
of faith.

7-    
It is the reason that leads
to being overpowered by the oppressors and kaafirs. Ibn Hajar al-Haythami
said: “Because of these evil actions – i.e., cheating – that are committed
by traders, workers and craftsmen, Allaah caused the oppressors to gain
power over them and take their wealth and violate the sanctity of their
women. Indeed, He enabled the kuffaar to gain power over them, so they
took them prisoner and enslaved them, and made them taste all kinds of torment and humiliation.

Cases where the kuffaar gained power over the Muslims, taking them prisoner and confiscating their property, taking their wealth and women, have happened a great deal in recent times, because of evil deeds that traders and others have committed, cheating in many different ways, because of the enormity of these crimes, deceit and trickery by means of which they took the wealth of the Muslims in any way they could, and did not feel that Allaah is always watching them.

Important note to learn and read quran online

 

Find the true guidance through read Quran online, and full fill your deputy to learn Quran online  because holy Quran online is the guidance for all the men kind and Allah speaks the truth so follow the things which Allah messenger prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) have thought us and for Muslim who want to Listen Quran online, for the top quran reciters from learning quran blog Quran Recitation Mishary bin Rashid

Mishary bin Rashid with Ibrahim Walk English Quran Recitation

Mishary bin Rashid with Urdu Translation

Quran recitation sudais

Quran recitation Sudais & Shuraym English Quran Recitation of Naeem Sultan

Sudais, Shuraym with Urdu Translation

Quran Recitation Quri Abdul Basit

Quri Abdul Basit With Ibrahim Walk English Quran Recitation

AbdulBaset AbdulSamad, Urdu Translation