Chain Letters

Question: The questioner explained that a chain letter is currently circulating among Muslims by e-mail: The letter says that the watchman of the grave of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) had a dream in which the Prophet (pbuh) told him to convey a message to the Muslim community; it includes a threat that something terrible will happen to anyone who receives that letter and does not send it to at least 20 Muslims. The questioner finally asked whether that letter should be taken seriously.

Answer: Siddiqi started by informing about the origin of the chain letter. According to him, that letter has been in circulation for the past 30 or 40 years. It probably started somewhere in India or Pakistan and every now and then someone circulates it to confuse the Muslim community. A few years ago someone translated the same letter into Arabic and began distributing it in Makkah and Madinah, but the Mufti of Saudi Arabia, Shaikh Abdul Aziz bin Baz, called the letter a lie against the Noble Prophet (pbuh) and asked Muslims to disregard it.
He next went deep into the response: In fact, this letter makes fun of Islam and Muslims. It tells Muslims that they must distribute 20 copies of it or else they will loose their jobs or families, or even die; it says that someone who distributed 20 copies became very rich and someone else did not believe in the letter and ignored it and thereby suffered a big loss. These promises and threats have nothing to do with Islam in reality. In Islam no one has authority to give any promise or threat or make anything fard 'obligatory' or haram 'forbidden' on the basis of a dream only, whatever that dream may be. The Qur'an and the Sunnah are the final authorities for Muslims. Whatever Allah Ta'ala and His Messenger (pbuh) have made obligatory is obligatory and whatever they have forbidden is forbidden for Muslims. The author of this letter wants Muslims to believe that his letter is more important than the Qur'an and Hadith, which is sheer blasphemy.
Siddiqi concluded his fatwa as follows: Any Muslim brothers or sisters who have this letter are requested to discard it and not to pass it on to any one. It is sinful to distribute falsehood in the name of Allah Ta'ala and His Messenger (pbuh). If Muslims are interested in passing on something to receive the blessings of Allah Ta'ala, they should distribute the copies of the Qur'an, the authentic books of hadith or some other good Islamic literature.
Source: Questions and Answers
By Muzammil H. Siddiqi
URL: http://www.pakistanlink.com/religion.html
Downloaded August 1997.