The Terrorist Crime in ... Date Added: 14-05-2023

Enemies Tarnished the Pure ... Date Added: 11-05-2023

Underestimating People of ... Date Added: 10-05-2023

The Hashemite Flag Date Added: 04-05-2023

Statement on the ... Date Added: 23-05-2023

Regarding the Disgraceful ... Date Added: 17-05-2023

The Grand Mufti Commends ... Date Added: 15-05-2023

People`s Honor is ... Date Added: 14-05-2023

Search Fatawaa


Subject : Ruling on Reading Books of other Religions

Fatwa Number : 2005

Date : 14-02-2012

Classified : Miscellaneous Fatwas

Fatwa Type : Search Fatawaa


Question :

What is the ruling of Sharia on reading the books of other religions?



The Answer :

Praise be to Allah the Lord of the Worlds.

A Muslim should spend his time in what is beneficial to him in this life and the next. Useful books are countless that one could read a tiny percentage of them throughout his whole life. Therefore, doing so is more useful than wasting time reading books of other religions. This is unless the reader is cultivated enough to easily separate the wheat from the chaff. On the contrary, such a person is urged to do so to further develop his intellectual potentials and broaden his horizons, because this lies in the best interest of his society. 

As for the ordinary person who has no knowledge in comparative theology or doesn`t have the needed knowledge in that field, it is prohibited, according to scholars, that he/she reads the books of other religions which contradict the Islamic creed, because he could end up believing in falsehood and rejecting the truth. Kindly refer to {Al-Mosannaf, vol.5/pp.312}.

Ibn Hajar says, "It isn`t permissible for other than a learned man of the faith to read a copy of the Torah which he knows that it has been interpolated or had doubts about it."{Tohfat Al-Mohtaj, 1/178}. Al-Sharwani commented on this in his {Hashyah} by saying, "Al-Zarkhashi and Al-Sobkhi have reported scholarly consensus on this." And Allah the Almighty Knows Best. 

 






Comments

 

Name *

E. mail Address *

Country

Comment Title *

Comment *

Captcha
 
 

Warning: this window is not dedicated to receive religious questions, but to comment on topics published for the benefit of the site administrators—and not for publication. We are pleased to receive religious questions in the section "Send Your Question". So we apologize to readers for not answering any questions through this window of "Comments" for the sake of work organization. Thank you.