Rebranding of Evil – What Haraam have you made Halal?

By

Hiba Magazine Writers’ Team

The story of Allah’s (swt) creation plan stated in the Quran, clearly and repeatedly mentions the nature of good and evil. The difference between Ikhlaas (purity of intent) and Dajl (deception and lies) has stood apart from day one, like black and white. Likewise, the scheme to adulterate Haqq (the truth) and Baatil (falsehood) and intermingle it, has been satan’s plot from day one too. Common people or ignorant and misguided communities and societies fall for fake narratives and appearances unknowingly and hurt themselves and others consequently.  

It all began when, a whole assembly of angels, upon Allah’s (swt) command stood bowing down to a supreme creature created of clay (Prophet Adam as), all except one. A Jinn (Iblis) given the status of an angel because of his immense worship.

By the way this Insaan (Prophet Adam as) was supreme because Allah (swt) created him with His own hands. Next Allah (swt) granted Adam (as) the knowledge of everything based on reality. No other creation shares this honour. And the Sajdah to Adam (as) was actually acknowledgment of Allah’s (swt) majesty, power and knowledge as the One Creator.   

Satan always had a crooked intention which was concealed by his apparent Ibadah. When he was tested, that veneer shed and he was exposed to all. Iblis defied the Creator, unbending to His command, subject to his ego and said arrogantly: “… For he had said, ‘I will surely take from among your servants a specific portion. And I will mislead them, and I will arouse in them (sinful) desires…’” (An Nisa 4:118-119)

And satan’s first strike was against Prophet Adam (as), rebranding the prohibited as something good. The only tree that was ‘forbidden’ by Allah (swt) in the huge delights of Jannah, was painted as ‘the tree of immortality’ by satan.

Allah (swt) allowed this to happen so Insaan understands his own vulnerability and guards himself against satan’s evil. That rebranding shall continue till the end of times with Dajjal’s ultimate deception where fire becomes water and vice versa.

Shaikh Omar Suleiman sheds light on the very perilous concept of the rebranding of evil and how subtly it has seeped into our lives today. Part of the concept is how the modern Muslim goes around looking for opinions/Fatawas that he can use to label something Halal. Some people even twist scholarly opinions and misquote the Shuyookh for ulterior motives.

Take the example of music. The vast majority of scholars both classical and modern are of the opinion that music is Haram. There is a very small minority of scholars that says that music is only Haram in certain contexts (where it is accompanied with lewd gatherings, lyrics and such).

Regardless of the opinion you side with, modern-day music will not be acceptable at all. And if you do side with the minor opinion you will be going against very many honorable scholars, almost all of the classical scholars and you do not want to be in that place as a Muslim. But we see this happening around us all the time.

The Prophet (sa) warned us about this when he said: “People among my nation will drink wine, calling it by another name, and musical instruments will be played for them and singing girls (will sing for them).” (Ibn Majah).

And the sad part of the rebranding of evil as good is that it never starts off like that. It starts with belittling or diminishing the gravity of the sin. “I’m not harming anyone.” “So what if I do this? I’ve seen people these days do much worse.” “This drug doesn’t actually render me useless or make me dangerous, I can still think, it’s not really ‘intoxicating’…” and eventually “it’s not that bad” becomes “this is good”.

Have we not seen drugs becoming legal and acceptable? Have we not heard arguments where a certain percentage of alcohol is deemed acceptable and Halal? Has not alcohol – and other sorts of “Khamr” been rebranded into multiple other names?

Previously, Imam Ghazali has also shed light on this concept of how spiritual diseases have been rebranded as virtue. Greed became “ambition or drive”, Zina became “sexual freedom”, arrogance became “confidence”, cutting off family became “protecting your space”, toxicity became “self-care”, mocking the religion became “comedy”, flaunting your sin hid behind being real or healing, etc.

This doesn’t mean that self-care isn’t a real thing nor that one isn’t allowed to distance himself even from family for a legitimate reason but are we even looking into legitimate reasoning anymore? Aren’t we just looking for reasons for excessive indulgence?

Today people have crafted whole identities around their sin. Countless “Hijabis” post their before and after pictures on the social media, not giving a second thought to what exactly they are posting.

Major sins, have been repackaged. In how many countries across the world do we see unjust murdering being rebranded as something corrective? Something righteous?

Think of adultery, what was PG 13 yesterday, what is PG 13 now? Why aren’t prominent TV shows and movies being counted as porn? Have we not been sold Zina under the headings of sexual expression, entertainment, new skills and novel careers?

Think of Riba, there’s no limit to how many ways it has been rebranded. Think about cheating the weights, modern day scamming?

We would never entrust our financial assets to somebody random but we leap to accept faith from anyone appealing to our desires. This is not seeking and pursuing Haqq!

Prophet Muhammad (sa) said: “From among my followers there will be some people who will consider illegal sexual intercourse, the wearing of silk, the drinking of alcoholic drinks and the use of musical instruments, as lawful. And there will be some people who will stay near the side of a mountain and in the evening their shepherd will come to them with their sheep and ask them for something, but they will say to him, ‘Return to us tomorrow.’ Allah will destroy them during the night and will let the mountain fall on them, and He will transform the rest of them into monkeys and pigs and they will remain so till the Day of Resurrection.” (Bukhari)

The punishments mentioned in this Hadith; of changing a people’s physical appearance are the punishments of the people who went astray before us. Allah’s (swt) wrath descended, when the transgressors became so proud of their lewdness that they no longer even pretended. They boasted of their wrongdoings in front of their prophets, started to worship their desires and twisted the word of Allah (swt). Allah (swt) deformed their appearances and these are the punishments that shall return. It’s time to take heed before this becomes our reality.

The believers should strive to protect themselves from places and things that take them away from Allah (swt). They must not make something Halal on the basis of how they feel about it. Be careful of what you privately struggle with and don’t turn it into public messaging which includes not just social media but also your group of friends.

Moreover, Allah (swt) revealed in the Quran: “And do not say about what your tongues assert of untruth, ‘This is lawful, and this is unlawful,’ to invent falsehood about Allah. Indeed, those who invent falsehood about Allah will not succeed.” (An Nahl 16:116)

Allah Al Mustaan.

Partially adapted from Shaikh Omar Suleiman’s talk “Dajjal’s Rebrand Has Already Started”