Answered by Faraz Rabbani Question My parents buy machine-slaughtered chicken with a halal certificate. Furthermore, most restaurants serve such meats and label them halal. It is difficult for me to ensure that the meat is hand-slaughtered. The meat is physically pure (tahir) because the birds bleed out properly, so it does not affect my tahara […]

Answered by Faraz Rabbani Question A local chicken shop sometimes gives me one or two more wings than I paid for. This is sometimes intentional, for example, when the wings are small, but I cannot always tell whether it is intentional or accidental. Must I try to return the extra whenever I notice it? If […]

Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani Question Is it permissible to playfully hide someone’s things, or tease them while playing, if it causes only momentary fear or annoyance rather than real distress? For example, when my small nephew keeps trying to get all the pillows onto the bed, I throw each one back so he has […]

Answered by Faraz Rabbani Question I paid an illustrator, using grant money, to draw a children’s book on a blood disorder. The human characters have detached heads and limbs, closed eyes, and no nose or ears. May I go ahead and print it? Answer In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. […]

Answered by Shaykh Irshaad Sedick Question I sell halal clothing and advertise it on TikTok. My videos usually have clean background music. Am I allowed to do this? Does it make a difference that the music is there to sell rather than to entertain? Can I follow the scholars who allow it? Would vocals with […]

Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani Question I am considering a UK glaucoma research role that partly involves experiments on rabbits, humanely euthanized at the end, under the 3Rs framework. Is the job and its income halal, and would my other duties be affected if the animal work were not? Answer In the name of Allah, […]

Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani Question I agree with an influencer that they will do a promotion for £1,000, then negotiate £2,500 with the brand and keep the difference. The influencer does not know what I charged. Is that permissible? Answer In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. You want to […]

Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani Question I’m a Muslim woman, and I have been invited to join a Masonic lodge. My motives are purely worldly, such as networking, mutual support, and professional opportunities. I know Freemasonry is associated with views on secularism and Zionism, and that some members practice sorcery. I would adopt no belief […]

Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani Question May a man compete in a Men’s Physique contest in board shorts that sit two to three centimeters below the navel and end at the top of the kneecap, and if that attire falls short of the Shafiʿi requirement, how serious is the shortfall? Answer In the name of […]

Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani Question I follow the Hanafi school. My wife lives abroad, we have never lived together, and both families have agreed to end the marriage. There was no consummation, and I do not believe there was valid seclusion: I kissed her briefly once or twice when I visited, but we were […]

Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani Question A video game company included content disrespectful to Islam in some of its older games. Some of it was later removed, though perhaps not all, and its modern games seem free of such material. The same is true of other companies, whose older works contained offensive content alongside much […]

Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani Question My father has designed and printed wedding cards for twenty years, including cards for non-Muslims that carry images of the gods they worship. Is this work lawful? Answer In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. May Allah reward you for asking, and put baraka in […]

Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani Question My software training agreement said that if I got a job through the program, I had to work for that company for at least one year and sign a separate one-year bond. I was hired by a team connected to the training company, but I never signed the bond, […]

Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani Question A friend offered me Kvass, a fermented bread drink with about 0.5% alcohol from natural fermentation, and I declined out of caution. In Hanafi sources, I read that the Imams of the school differed over drinks made from wheat and barley, and I also found a Hanafi fatwa permitting […]

Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani Question I learned sound and useful things about the qualities of a good and a bad spouse from videos that also contained unlawful material. Can that understanding still be counted as a gift or guidance from Allah, and might it be Allah preparing me to choose well in marriage? Answer […]

Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani Question All prophets rank above all non-prophets. How great is that gap? Is the rank of the least of the prophets nearer to that of the Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace), or nearer to that of Sayyiduna Abu Bakr? Answer In the Name of Allah, the […]

Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani Question My friends and I say “oh my God” in a sexual or mocking voice as a joke, sometimes with sexual gestures, sometimes imitating how we think a gay person speaks, or putting on an Indian accent. I am now frightened that this is disbelief, because we are using Allah’s […]

This is the ninth and last in a series on mastering the Hanafi school, drawn from a seminar delivered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani and Shaykh Talal al-Azem. The full seminar is available here. A person may rightfully ask what the history of the Hanafi school means for us today. Did Islamic jurisprudence freeze with the […]

This is the eighth in a series on mastering the Hanafi school, drawn from a seminar delivered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani and Shaykh Talal al-Azem. The full seminar is available here. After progressing from Nur al-Idah to Radd al-Muhtar, a student should appreciate the entire history of the Hanafi school. At this stage, the student […]

Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani Question I am a Muslim digital artist opening art commissions for stylized human characters that have a head, hair, eyes, and ears, but no nose or mouth. Can I take payment for drawing them? Answer Taking commissions to draw these characters is not permitted. In the Hanafi school, an image […]

Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani Question Severe waswasa keeps telling me that my intention is corrupt, because I have come back to worship mainly in the hope of one particular thing I long for in Paradise. Is my intention sound? Answer May Allah Most High bless you and relieve you of such misgivings. Your intention […]

This is the seventh in a series drawn from a seminar delivered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani and Shaykh Talal al-Azem on mastering the Hanafi school. The full seminar is available here. Curricula differ from teacher to teacher. No single order of books is prescribed. Yet shared principles run beneath the different traditions. Those principles point, […]

يجيب عن السؤال الشيخ فراز الرباني السؤال في المذهب الحنفي: هل الفرضُ ثابتٌ بدليلٍ قطعيٍّ حتى يكونَ جحدُ كلِّ فرضٍ كفرًا، بخلاف الواجب؟ وكيف يثبت الدليلُ القطعيُّ في أركان الصلاة والزكاة والحج؟ الجواب بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم، الحمدُ لله ربِّ العالمين، وصلى الله على سيدنا محمدٍ وعلى آله وصحبه وسلَّم. أصبتَ في الشطر الأول: فالفرضُ […]

Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani Question Is raising the index finger in the tashahhud incumbent upon a woman the way it is incumbent upon a man? Answer In the Hanafi school, raising the index finger in the sitting (tashahhud) is a sunna for a woman exactly as it is for a man, and it is […]