Reliance of the Traveller: A Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law [Hardcover]

Legislators, Criminal Justice Officials, Educators, Scholars, Journalists, and ordinary citizens who value "truth" may find the passages contained in Book R, Section 8, Lying (pages 744 - 746) quite illuminating.

Lying is permitted in war, settling disagreements, and a man talking with his wife or she with him. If a praiseworthy aim is attainable by lying but not telling the truth, it is permissible to lie if attaining the goal is permissible and obligatory to lie if the goal is obligatory. (p. 745)

"When, for example, one is concealing a Muslim from an oppressor who asks where he is, it is obligatory to lie about him being hidden. Or when a person deposits an article with one for safekeeping and an oppressor wanting to appropriate it inquires about it, it is obligatory to lie about having concealed it, for if one informs him about the article and he then seizes it, one is financially liable (to the owner) to cover the article's cost."(p. 745) Law Enforcement Investigations looking for people or evidence may find this problematic.

"Whether the purpose is war, settling a disagreement, or gaining sympathy of a victim legally entitled to retaliate against one so that he will forbear to do so; it is not unlawful to lie when any of these aims can be obtained through lying. But it is religiously more precautionary in all cases to employ words that give a misleading impression, meaning to intend by one's words something that is literally true, in respect to which one is not lying, while the outward purport of the words deceives the hearer, though even if one does not have such an intention and merely lies without intending anything else, it is not unlawful in the above circumstances." (p.745)

"Lying is permissible when there is a legitimate desired end. And the legitimate desired end may be a personal one." "One should compare the bad consequences entailed by lying to those by telling the truth, and if the consequences of telling the truth are more damaging, one is entitled to lie." (p.746)

Legal provisions for Giving a Misleading Impression (Book R, Section 10 Giving a Misleading Impression) is contained on page 748. "Giving a misleading impression is among the most important topics, being frequently met with and often abused. It befits us to examine the matter closely, and whoever learns of it should reflect upon it and apply it." "Giving a misleading impression means to utter an expression that ostensibly implies one meaning while intending a different meaning the expression may also have, one that contradicts the ostensive purport. It is a kind of deception. It often takes the form of the speaker intending a specific referent while the hearer understands a more general one, as when a person asks a householder, "Is So and so here?" to which the householder, intending the space between himself and the questioner rather than the space inside the house, replies, "He is not here." "Scholars say that there is no harm in giving a misleading impression if required by an interest countenanced by Sacred Law that is more important than not misleading the person being addressed, or if there is a pressing need which could not otherwise be fulfilled except through lying."

Slander, in the Western context, is the utterance of false charges or misrepresentations which defame and damage another's reputation. Within the Sunni Islam tradition, slander means mentioning anything concerning a person that that person would dislike. The truth, then, becomes slanderous when an author or source mentions "anything concerning a person that that person would dislike."

The Reliance of the Traveller further discusses slander. "Slander means to mention anything concerning a person that he would dislike, whether about his body, religion, everyday life, self, disposition, property, son, father, wife, servant, turban, garment, gait, movements, smiling, dissolution, frowning, cheerfulness, or anything else connected with him." (p.730) 'Do you know what slander is?' They answered, 'Allah and His Messenger know best.' He said, 'It is to mention of your brother that which he would dislike.' Someone asked, 'What if he is as I say?' And he replied, 'If he is as you say, you have slandered him, and if not, you have calumniated him. The Muslim is the brother of the Muslim. He does not betray him, lie to him, or hang back from coming to his aid. All of the Muslim is inviolable to his fellow Muslim: his reputation, his property, his blood. Godfearingness is here (the heart). It is sufficiently wicked for someone to belittle his fellow Muslim." (p.730.) This passage has implications for objective assessments of those who do wrong. It may be "improper" to tell the truth and say they have done wrong.

Reliance of the Traveller gives insight to a wide variety of problems confronting the current era of law enforcement and a noticeable skewing of the truth in Islamic scholarship and news coverage. Local, state and federal officials, Criminal Justice officials, scholars, journalists, and those interested in the ongoing clash of civilizations will find the Reliance of the Traveller an invaluable tool in understanding some of the more problematic aspects of Islamic behavior. This book is an invaluable addition to any personal and professional library.

You cannot hope to understand "applied islam" without this text. This is THE book that the islamists do NOT want kufrs (infidels) to read. It absolutely identifies the outcomes of the establishment of Dar al-Islam and the extension of the ummah.

Note: Even this book contains inaccuracies in its translation- see, for example, the linguist Reverend Mark Durie's demonstration that the section on mandatory female genital mutilation is watered down in this English translation from the Arabic. Also, the distinction drawn between "greater" jihad and "lesser" jihad is also a translational fabrication.

However, in the absense of any other English translation, and recognizing the "Good (Islamist) Housekeeping Seal of Approval" on this translation, it really is an essential reference when dealing with Islam (of course, never forget, Islam is a trilogy of works: the Qur'an; the ahadith; and the resulting Umdat al-Salik.)

So I highly Highly recommend this book. You won't be disappointed. In you are look for a good classical text book in Islamic Law.