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The General Iftaa` Department Warns Against Attacks on Religious Fundamentals
Author : دائرة الإفتاء العام
Date Added : 15-11-2026

The General Iftaa` Department Warns Against Attacks on Religious Fundamentals

The General Iftaa` Department affirms its firm stand against extremism, terrorism, and violence committed in the name of religion, and its commitment to exposing the ideas of extremists and refuting their false claims. It does so on the basis of the tolerant Islamic creed and the rulings of the upright religion of Islam, which rejects violence and extremism and calls for tolerance, moderation, and balance. At the same time, it warns against attempts to exploit the circumstances the Muslim Ummah is going through in confronting extremism and violence in order to attack Islam, or to assail religious figures, religious institutions, and the faculties of Sharīʿah. Such conduct inflames feelings, stirs up fitnah (strife), and creates a fertile environment for extremist ideas and violent practices. Indeed, this behavior is itself extremism in the opposite direction, and it leads only to strife. As the saying goes: “Strife is asleep; may Allah curse whoever wakes it.”

The General Iftaa` Department also affirms that it, together with all the religious institutions of this blessed country, has been and remains a safety valve in our beloved homeland. It represents a moderate religious authority that has been able to present the true image of Islam, free of extremism, violence, and terrorism, and so has formed an impregnable barrier against the attempts of those who go to excess (ghulāh) to undermine the principles and values of the upright Islamic religion. The Department, along with the religious institutions and the Sharīʿah faculties in Jordan, has been a fundamental pillar of a society that has stayed united and has not drifted into chaos or extremist and terrorist ideas.

The General Iftaa` Department has charted a course in harmony with the Amman Message, the message of tolerant Islam launched by His Majesty King Abdullah II ibn al-Hussein (may Allah protect and keep him). It calls for defending Islam and showing its radiant image, and for answering the doubts raised by Islam’s enemies in a sound, scholarly way, without weakness or emotional reaction. Hope rests on the scholars of our Ummah to illuminate the minds of our young generations, the adornment of our present and the strength of our future, with the truth of Islam and its great values. This will guard them against sliding into paths of ignorance, corruption, closed-mindedness, and subservience, light their way with tolerance, moderation, the middle way, and goodness, and keep them from the pitfalls of extremism and rigid zeal that destroy both spirit and body.

We ask Allah the Exalted to unite the Muslims, to join their hearts together, and to protect our country from evils and strife. And all praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds.

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Summarized Fatawaa

What is the ruling of Islamic Law on participating in the prize draws (raffles) that commercial stores hold for their customers?

Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings upon our master, the Messenger of Allah.
There is no objection to participating in the prize draws (raffles) that commercial stores hold for their customers, provided that the buyer's intention in purchasing is not merely to enter the competition without any need for what is bought — rather, the purchase must be genuinely intended for the item itself, and one must not pay more than the item's fair market price. This is because paying an amount above the market price would effectively be paying a fee to enter the prize draw, which would render it a form of gambling (qimār).
These prizes are, in essence, gifts that businesses offer through a random drawing (qur'ah) to those who purchase from them, as a means of encouraging sales, without the customer bearing any additional monetary cost for participation. So long as the aforementioned conditions are met, there is no objection to benefiting from the prize offered by the store, as it is considered a lawful prize from the viewpoint of Islamic Law.
It is stated in the resolutions of the "Jordanian Iftaa' Board" (Resolution No. 47), in the context of outlining the conditions for permissible prizes: "The price of the ticket [or item purchased] for the sake of the prize must not exceed its original price, so that there is no payment of money in exchange for participation in the draw." And Allah, the Most High, knows best.

Is the Saying "Whatever is Taken by the Sword of Shyness is Forbidden" an Authentic Ḥadīth?

All praise is due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon our master the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
The saying "Whatever is taken by the sword of shyness is forbidden" is not an authentic ḥadīth, though its underlying meaning is sound. The established sharʿī principle is that a Muslim's wealth is not lawful for anyone to take except with his wholehearted consent, as Allah the Almighty says {what means}: "O you who have believed, do not consume one another's wealth unjustly, but only [in lawful] business by mutual consent." [Al-Nisā/ 29] And the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Listen to me and you will live well: do not wrong others, do not wrong others, do not wrong others. Indeed, a man's wealth is not lawful except with his full, willing consent." (Reported by Aḥmad in his Musnad.) Whatever is taken through the pressure of shyness or social embarrassment runs directly counter to genuine, wholehearted consent.
The jurists have explicitly stated that whatever is taken by means of the "sword of shyness" carries the same ruling as that which is taken by coercion — it must be returned to its rightful owner.
Ibn Ḥajar al-Haytamī, may Allah have mercy upon him, states in al-Fatāwā al-Kubrā (Vol.3/P.30): "Do you not see the reported scholarly consensus that whoever has something taken from him purely out of shyness, without his genuine consent, does not pass ownership of it to the one who took it? They reasoned that this constitutes a form of coercion through the 'sword of shyness,' comparable to coercion at the point of an actual sword. Indeed, many people would rather submit to the literal sword and endure the pain of its wound than submit to this first kind of coercion, out of fear for their dignity and standing — which people of sound judgment hold dear and guard most fiercely." And Allah the Almighty knows best.

Which takes precedence: the 'aqīqah or the uḍḥiyyah?

All praise is due to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon our Master, the Messenger of Allah.
The 'aqīqah is an act of worship through which a servant draws closer to Allah the Almighty in gratitude for the blessing of a newborn child. It is a confirmed Sunnah for those who are financially capable, and Allah does not burden any soul beyond what it can bear.
However, the uḍḥiyyah takes precedence, as it is a confirmed Sunnah established from the Prophet ﷺ through stronger and more numerous narrations — indeed, the Ḥanafī scholars hold it to be obligatory. Furthermore, its time is narrow and limited, expiring with the passing of the days of Eid, whereas the 'aqīqah may be delayed until one becomes financially capable of performing it.
And Allah Almighty knows best.

What is the virtue of performing ‘Umrah in Ramadan?

Ibn ‘Abbas narrated: "When the Prophet ﷺ returned from his Hajj, he said to Umm Sinan Al-Ansariyyah: ‘What prevented you from performing Hajj?’ She replied: ‘Abu So-and-so (referring to her husband) had two camels—he performed Hajj on one of them, and the other was used to irrigate our land.’ The Prophet ﷺ then said: ‘Performing ‘Umrah in Ramadan is equivalent to Hajj with me.’" [Narrated by Al-Bukhari]
The Prophet ﷺ also said: "An ‘Umrah in Ramadan is equivalent to a Hajj." [Narrated by Al-Tirmidhi]
For those who miss the opportunity to perform ‘Umrah in Ramadan, there are many other ways to earn great rewards. One of them is praying Fajr in congregation, then remaining in the mosque remembering Allah until sunrise, and praying two rak‘ahs.
The Prophet ﷺ said: "Whoever prays Fajr in congregation, then sits remembering Allah until the sun rises, and then prays two rak‘ahs, will receive the reward of a complete Hajj and ‘Umrah—complete, complete, complete." [Narrated by Al-Tirmidhi]