يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوٓا۟ إِن جَآءَكُمْ فَاسِقٌۢ بِنَبَإٍ فَتَبَيَّنُوٓا۟ أَن تُصِيبُوا۟ قَوْمًۢا بِجَهَٰلَةٍ فَتُصْبِحُوا۟ عَلَىٰ مَا فَعَلْتُمْ نَٰدِمِينَ

(Sura Hujrat 49:6O) you who believe! If a rebellious evil person comes to you with a news, verify it, lest you harm people in ignorance, and afterwards you become regretful to what you have done.

The Lawgiver issued a stern warning against passing on all that one hears. It was narrated that Hafs ibn ‘Aasim said: The Messenger of Allaah (ﷺ) said: It is enough lying for a man to speak of everything that he hears. Narrated by Muslim in al-Muqaddimah, 6; Saheeh al-Jaami, 4482.

It was narrated from Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet (ﷺ) said: It is enough sin for a man to speak of everything that he hears. Al-Silsilah al-Saheehah, 2025.

Al-Nawawi said: Usually a person hears truth and lies, so if he speaks of everything that he hears, he is lying by telling of things that did not happen, and lying by speaking of something other than the way it happened; and he does not have to do that deliberately (in order to be regarded as telling lies).

Umar (may Allaah be pleased with him) said: Beware of fitnah, for a word at the time of fitnah could be as devastating as the sword.

Praise be to Allah.

History shows us the danger of rumours when they spread among the ummah. There follow some examples of that:

1 – When the Sahaabah migrated from Makkah to Ethiopia, they were safe, but then a rumour spread that the kuffaar of Quraysh in Makkah had become Muslims, so some of the Sahaabah left Ethiopia and travelled until they reached Makkah, where they found that the report was not true, and they met with persecution at the hands of Quraysh. All of that happened because of rumours.

2 – During the Battle of Uhud, when Mus’ab ibn ‘Umayr was killed, there was a rumour that it was the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) who had been killed, so the army of Islam withdrew because of a rumour, and some of them fled to Madeenah and some stopped fighting.

3 – There was the rumour of the slander incident (al-ifk), when the pure and innocent ‘Aa’ishah was accused of immoral conduct, which led to the distress felt by the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and the Muslims with him. All of that was because of rumours.

So what is the proper shar’i method of dealing with news?

There are ways of dealing with news which we will look at in brief:

1 – Deliberation

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Deliberation is from Allah and haste is from the Shaytaan.” Al-Silsilah al-Saheehah, 1795.

The one who deliberates may meet some of his needs whilst the one who is hasty may slip.

2 – Verifying news

The reason why this verse was revealed:

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) sent al-Waleed ibn ‘Uqbah ibn Abi Mu’eet to Banu al-Mustaliq, to collect the zakaah from them. When news of that reached them they rejoiced, and they came out to meet the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). When al-Waleed heard that they had come out to meet him, he went back to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and said, “O Messenger of Allah, Banu al-Mustaliq have withheld the zakaah.”

The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) became very angry at that, and whilst he was thinking of launching a campaign against them, the delegation came to him and said, “O Messenger of Allah, we were told that your envoy returned after coming only half way, and we were afraid that he came back because he received a message from you saying that you were angry with us. We seek refuge with Allah from the anger of Allah and the anger of His Messenger.”

Then Allah excused them in His Book and revealed the words (interpretation of the meaning):

O you who believe! If a Faasiq (liar — evil person) comes to you with any news, verify it, lest you should harm people in ignorance, and afterwards you become regretful for what you have done [al-Hujuraat 49:6]

Al-Hasan al-Basri said: “The believer reserves judgement until the matter is proven.”

Finally: we advise everyone to verify matters and not to rush to pass on news until they are sure that it is true, even if the news is good news, because if it becomes apparent that the one who passed it on is mistaken, he will lose credibility before the people… and anyone who bears a grudge towards him will use it against him. May Allah help us all to do that which He loves and which pleases Him.

And Allah knows best