HALAL AND HARAM

Everything was created by Allahu ta'ala. He is the owner of everything. Things which He has permitted us to use are halal, and things which He has forbidden are haram. For example, He has made it halal for a man to marry one of two (or more) sisters. He has made it haram to marry the second one, too. Haram means something which Allahu ta'ala, who is the owner, the possessor, has forbidden us to use. And halal means to untie the knot of prohibition. Something may be halal for someone while it is haram for someone else. A person who commits a haram in the world will be deprived of it in the next world. Those who use the things that are halal here will be blessed with the originals of these things there. For example, if a man wears silk, which is haram (for men) to wear in this world, he will be deprived of wearing silk in the next world. Silk is an attirement for Paradise. Then, it comes to mean that he cannot enter Paradise unless he is purified of this sin. And a person who does not enter Paradise will enter Hell. For, there is no place besides these two in the next world. Matters of the next world are not like earthly affairs in any respect. This world was created to be annihilated. And it will be annihilated. The next world was created to remain eternally and in such a manner as to be eternal. There is as much difference between this world and the next with respect to their matters and constitutions as there must be between something that will remain eternally and something else which will be annihilated soon. Only their names and descriptions are similar. For instance, the word Jannat (Paradise) means garden in the world, while in the next world it means the place which is called Jannat and where infinite blessings exist.