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Tearing up money in jest

Answered as per Shafi'i Fiqh by Qibla.com

Answered by Shaykh Amjad Rasheed
Translated by Ruqayyah Ahdab

A person while joking and playing around tore up some money and then later pieced and taped them back together. Is what he did unlawful? I heard another person disapprove of this action and forbid him to do it on the grounds that it can be a source of corruption in the dealings of people (???)

Answer:
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

The great scholar Ibn Hajar al-Haytami has mentioned in his book Al-Zawajir `An Iqtiraf al-Kaba’ir that a number of scholars deemed the breaking of minted monetary coins to be an enormity (kabira). They used as proof for this the words of Allah in the verse, “There were nine groups in the city who made mischief in the land and did not set things right.” (27:48) When commenting on this verse, the scholars of Quranic exegesis relate from Zayd b. Aslam that these people used to break silver coin currency. Another proof that they used is the hadith of Abu Dawud, “The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) forbade the breaking of the prevalent minted coins of the Muslims unless they were defective (illa min ba’s).”

After mentioning this scholarly position, Ibn Hajar goes on in his book to disagree it, saying, “There is no proof in this [h: hadith for holding that the destruction of money is an enormity]. …” He then goes on to say, “The relied-upon position [h: regarding breaking minted coins] is that it is only prohibited when the minted money thereby diminishes in value. The hadith–if it is authentic–will apply to this case only.”

So, based on what Ibn Hajar says above, if tearing paper money decreases the monetary value of the bill, then it would be forbidden; otherwise not. Even if we say that it is not permissible to tear money when done in a manner that doesn’t diminish its value, at the very least it would be a pointless action that Muslims should abstain from, especially given that a number of scholars have deemed it to be prohibited and a a number of them have even deemed it an enormity, as mentioned above.

السؤال : يقوم شخصٌ على سبيل اللعب والهزل بتمزيق النقود الورقية، ثم يقوم بلصقها بعد ذلك، فهل هذا الفعل حرام، فقد سمعتُ شخصاً أنكر عليه هذا الفعل بحجة أنه إفساد في عملة الناس؟

الجواب : ذكر العلامةُ ابن حجر الهيتمي في “الزواجر عن اقتراف الكبائر” أن بعض العلماء عدَّ كسر الدراهم والدنانير كبيرةً، وقد ذكرها ابن حجر في الكبيرة الخامسة والستون، قال: واستدل – أي ذلك البعض – بقوله تعالى : ( وكان في المدينة تسعة رهط يفسدون في الأرض ولا يصلحون ) نقل المفسرون عن زيد بن أسلم:
أنهم كانوا يكسرون الدراهم. ولخبر أبي داود :” نهى رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم أن تكسر سِكَّة المسلمين الجائزة بينهم إلا من بأس “. قال ابنُ حجر :” ولا دليلَ في ذلك بل الكلامُ في حرمة ذلك فضلاً عن كونه كبيرة “. اهـ ثم قال :”
والوجهُ أنه لا يحرم إلا إن كان فيه نقصٌ لقيمتها, وعليه يحمل الحديثُ إن صح “.اهـ
وعليه إن كان فعلُ ذلك الشخص ينقص قيمةَ تلك النقود الورقية حرم عليه ذلك، وإلا فلا، ومع عدم الحرمة لا يخفى أن ما يفعله ذلك الشخصُ إنما هو عبثٌ ينبغي للمسلم التنـزهُ عنه، خصوصاً أن البعض جعله من المحرمات بل الكبائر كما
مرَّ نقله عن “الزواجر”.

This answer was indexed from Qibla.com, which used to have a repository of Islamic Q&A answered by various scholars. The website is no longer in existence. It has now been transformed into a learning portal with paid Islamic course offering under the brand of Kiflayn.

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