Islamic Thoughts

• ANALYSES
• 1 Behavior Code of Muslims toward non-Muslims
• 2 September 11 (2001) attacks on America not compatible with Islam
• 3 Ways To Defuse Religious Tensions
• 4 The Value Of The Ten Commandments
• 5 Bright Spot Of The Us Constitution: Religious Freedom
• 6 Lessons from the Prophet's Hudaibiah Treaty.
• 7 Rulers' Roles in Promotion of Christianity.
• 8 Exploring a model definition of 'religion'
• 9 Where islam stands as a civilized religion?
• 10 Proving God's existence through experimental science.
• 11 Roles of man as necessary & God as sufficient condition.
• 12 Human kindness is a Reflection of God's Kindness.
• 13 Why islam is the best choice for the Africans?
• 14 In Old Age, All Roads Lead To Death.
• 15 No Creations Are Without Purposes & Uses.
• 16 Prayer Prevents People From Bad Actions.
• 17 When Haram May Be Excusable: Five-Step Conditions.
• 18 Islamization Of Some Un-Islamic Cultures.
• 19 Greater The Faith, Tougher The Test.
• 20 How Science Can Make A Difference For Muslims?
• 21 The Time Gap Reality Between Sin & Punishment.
• 22 Good & Bad Days Alternate In Cyclic Order.
• 23 Let Moon-Sighting Unite & Not Divide The Muslims.
• 24 Faith Crisis Among Some Intellectuals.
• 25 Islamic Policy Toward Animals.
• 26 Improving The Muslim Performance (Aamal) Standard.
• ARGUMENTS
• 27 How Middle Course Better Than Conservative And Liberal Extremes?
• 28 Why God Is The Best One To Be Worshipped?
• 29 Costs And Benefits Of Belief In The Afterlife
• 30 Bible Is Similar To Hadith But Different From Quran
• 31 Defaming Islam: Freedom Of Speech Or Violation Of Rights?
• 32 How Islam Compares With Democracy?
• 33 Who Is Responsible For '0' Small Pox Since 1980?
• 34 Timeliness Is The Leading Condition For Prayer.
• 35 Ten Arguments For Women's Education.
• 36 Why Physical Fitness Matters For The Muslims?
• 37 Homosexuality Vs Adultery: Which Is Worse And How?
• 38 Countering Abortionist Argument
• 39 Which Is Better: Open Or Secret Prayer?
• 40 Small Or Large Recitation: Which Is Better In Prayer?
• 41 Personal Or Social Suffering: Which Is More Painful & Why?
• 42 Cultural Slavery Vs Cultural Diffusion.
• 43 Why Should America Ban Religious Defamation?
• ASSORTMENTS
• 44 Visible Action Of Invisible God: From Author's Diary.
• 45 Optional Good Deeds Are Like Bodyguards For Compulsory Ones.
• 46 The Gravitation Law Of Performance (Not One Of Newton).
• 47 The Theory Of Relativity (Not That Of Einstein).
• 48 In Good Deeds, "Slow and Steady Wins the Race"
• 49 "Rob Peter to pay Paul" is not for islam
• 50 Muslims Cannot Be "Penny Wise And Pound Foolish".
• 51 Islam Endorses Salad Bowl & Not Melting Pot Theory.
• 52 100% Homosexuality Means Prospect Of 'O' World Population.
• 53 Sinning In Teens To 40's & Suffering From 50's To Death.
• 54 Revenge May Be Lower But Not Greater Than Harm.
• 55 Why Karl Marx Is Irrelevant Forever?
• 56 Is God The Same One For All Religions?
• 57 How God Controls Economy And Livelihood?
• 58 How Muslim Repression In Myanmar Violates Buddhist Principles?
• MISCELLANEOUS
• 59 Grim Reality of Death: Unfailing Lesson for Everyone
• 60 Religion Vs Reason: Which is More Important?
• 61 Islamic Prohibition of Wasting: What, Why & How

17 : WHEN HARAM (ILLEGAL) BECOMES EXCUSABLE: A 5-CONDITION FORMULA

God enlisted all impure food and indecent things as haram. These represent serious nature of prohibition and their violation may translate into severe penalty. The purpose is to bless the society with good things and protect it from all that are bad. Sometimes God also wants to make sure that the burden of this provision does not become heavy enough to wipe out the very existence of people facing extraordinarily unfavorable circumstances. Based on the Quranic verse (2:173), we can arrive at the following 5-step conditions through which a haram may become excusable by God.

(i) Absolutely Essential Need is the first step condition. One such example is being forced to eat prohibited food just for saving life or using drugs with haram ingredients to fight life-threatening diseases. Such example does not cover non-essential purposes like tasting alcohol as a formality of a party or taking pork-based tonic to make your good health better.

(ii) Absence of Any Halal Alternative to meet essential need is the second step condition: For example, during famine or war, in the absence of any halal food at all, you are excused for eating any haram food. In the same spirit, you may use an essential drug made of illegal ingredients if you do not get any with legal components. Similarly, you cannot have your baby delivered by a male gynecologist as long as females are available in this profession.

(iii) Using Minimum Quantity: When the above 2 conditions are in place, you could use haram to avoid your death or other catastrophic consequences. The quantity however shall have to be the lowest minimum which can just meet your crucial need. For example, for treatment by a doctor, you could expose your just needed area of your body part but not the whole of it. Such needed minimum amount cannot be set in exact terms but is to be determined by your god fearing mind with awareness that any higher than required amount may be counted as sin.

(iv) Using Haram with a Dislike: While taking minimum quantity of haram, your mind should be filled with hatred for it. You can never consider it legal or pleasant, knowing that the haram is excusable by God only for exceptional circumstances. When you are forced to a haram, your mind may be briefly visited with a sense of pleasure inspired by Satan (ex: enjoying sweetness of flavor while consuming haram food); you must wash that out from your mind by your will force.

(v) Let Not Your Haram Be Inspirational: While you take recourse to haram fulfilling all the above 4 conditions, you must make sure that your instance should not any way inspire others to follow. Because the above 4 conditions of haram may be acceptable to God for you but not for others. So what is needed for you is to keep your story as private as possible and if it gets public you should explain yourself publicly and repentantly.