Khalifahklothing - Response to the lies of Sunday Mercury news - Abu Usamah

A response to the recent article in the 'Sleazy' newspaper 'The Sunday Mercury' and also some advice to the Muslims.Here is the article by the Sunday Mercury newspaperhttp://www.sundaymercury.net/news/midlands-news/2012/08/12/birmingham-mosque-cleric-accused-of-sexual-harassment-66331-31604262/___________________________________It is well known that verifying news is required according to sharee'ah, because Allah says (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]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 -- DeliberationThe Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah 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 newsAllah says (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]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 Allaah 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 Allaah 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]See: al-Silsilah al-Saheehah, 3085.What is meant by verifying is making the effort to find out the truth of the matter, so as to establish whether this can be proven or not.Verifying means making certain of the truth of the report and its circumstances.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 Allaah help us all to do that which He loves and which pleases Him.