Exposing HIV positive Muslims

Abd_Al_Hadi

لبيك يا الله
:salam2:

I know its wrong to expose fellow Muslims, however, if you know a Muslim man has a dangerous and contagious disease, should you warn others about him? Is there a fatwa on such scenario?


A man from the neighborhood has his wife back home in Yemen. He recently passed AIDS to her. His family knew beforehand, but never warned her. Their defense was, "it will be exposing his sins."


??
 

Sidra Rasib

MUSLiiM PRiiNCESS
I think what they done was wrong, because that's just mean ... plus that's his wife so it wouldn't really be a big issue to her .. well not bigger than her having aids herself now...

I think you should tell others because it would affect their life ... just because his doing the sins doesn't mean you shouldn't let others now and put them into danger ...


just giving my thoughts on it

Jazakallah
 

xAllahKnowsBestx

Junior Member
:salam:

Maybe only the future spouse needs to know because it affects them.. other than that, I don't think the person should be exposed.

*just my opinion*
 

strive-may-i

Junior Member
:salam2:

I know its wrong to expose fellow Muslims, however, if you know a Muslim man has a dangerous and contagious disease, should you warn others about him? Is there a fatwa on such scenario?


A man from the neighborhood has his wife back home in Yemen. He recently passed AIDS to her. His family knew beforehand, but never warned her. Their defense was, "it will be exposing his sins."


??
Whats your take on this?
 

Sidra Rasib

MUSLiiM PRiiNCESS
:salam:

Maybe only the future spouse needs to know because it affects them.. other than that, I don't think the person should be exposed.

*just my opinion*

Only the people that are around him ... like people in his neighbourhood .. like isn't that dangerous not telling them ..

btw I didn't mean tell everyone ... jus the people around him

:)...
 

Abd_Al_Hadi

لبيك يا الله
Whats your take on this?


I would like it that the wife at least knows. But I wouldn't want to get in the middle of the mess. Obviously the brother cheated and committed sin. What if the wife killed him? It would be my fault if I passed the message. Thats what confuses me.
 

xAllahKnowsBestx

Junior Member
Only the people that are around him ... like people in his neighbourhood .. like isn't that dangerous not telling them ..

btw I didn't mean tell everyone ... jus the people around him

:)...

If I'm not mistaken, AIDS is not transmitted through casual contact. It's only transmitted through intercourse or blood - like needles and stuff? So it's not dangerous for the people around the person.

And yea sis, gotcha :)
 

Abd_Al_Hadi

لبيك يا الله
BTW, this actually happened. I'm just wondering if this sort of thing can be prevented in the future. A sister now has AIDS because of this. Allahuma3afeena.
 

Aapa

Mirajmom
Assalaam alaikum,

Here it is the law to notify your intended spouse. And in many states you have to take a blood test.

And we have the hadith do we not of the woman with leapersy who was about to wed the Prophet, swas. He sent her back with a lot of gifts but did not marry her.
 

Aisya al-Humaira

الحمدلله على كل حال
Assalamu`alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh,

Brother, it should be noted that while sins should be concealed and the sinner should repent and ask forgiveness to Allaah, there are certain circumstances where it is permissible to reveal it.

For instance, in the situation you stated. In fact, it is actually a MUST for him to convey it to the bride-to-be about the disease as marriage is not a one day commitment, but a life time and the effect will not only be to the wife but their future children.

Is it permissible to marry one’s daughter to an AIDS patient?

Praise be to Allaah.

He should not marry his daughter to him unless he has explained his situation and said, “I have such and such a disease.” Then if they agree to that, then that is fine, otherwise the marriage should not proceed, because if he conceals the matter from them he may have cheated them and deceived them, and the woman may pass the disease to her husband, or the husband may pass it to his wife, and to their children after that. But if she accepts you and agrees, and accepts the will and decree of Allaah, then that is OK

http://www.islamqa.com/en/ref/11137/AIDS

However in your case [story], then it is best if the husband let his wife knows about it, or else he is actually deceiving her and not protecting her honor and dignity because they will probably have AIDS infected children. Her family is doing a misconduct by not letting her know about it. If it were to revealed to her before marriage, she has every rights to REJECT the proposal.

In another circumstance when a sin is permissible to be revealed is the wife exposing the husband's incompetency to the judge. For example in a custody case, if the husband isn't competence to take care of the child due to his lack in responsibilities, doesn't come home until late night (not of work but due to clubbing etc), does not give the wife any money or even hits her, then it is permissible for the wife to tell it to judge.

:wasalam:
 

Abd_Al_Hadi

لبيك يا الله
JAk,

I tried not to give the whole details of the story, because I don't know too much about how it began. But, he was ALREADY married. His wife was in his country at the time, and he was here in the US for work. He apparently contracted this disease from a mistress or __, ...Allah Knows Best. He eventually got a green card and brought his wife and children over, and then thats when the mess began. His brothers back home knew about it before the wife departed to America, but never told her.


I guess this changes the fatwa? I don't know
 

strive-may-i

Junior Member
Preventing Contagious disease (like plague)
It is haraam (forbidden) to enter or leave any town that has been stricken by the plague. This implies its haraam to cause spread of contagious disease, when we can prevent disease from spreading further.


By extension Aids prevention
By spreading (AIDS) to another human, they committed a bigger sin, by not preventing the harm. The wife should have been disease free, she has the right to know. Islamically its clear. .
PERIOD

Wife should have known. Wife is core family, she is one who is affected by HIV infected spouse. So he was tested HIV positive family knew it, its of no use the family knowing and wife not knowing about the HIV positive. To notify wife, inform the risk of HIV, ways to lead married life without spreading HIV infection, educate the alternatives and give her the choice to decide the status of marriage are her rights. From there its a matter between husband and wife, how they handle it. This will mean, the human HIV-agent, the guy in this case shows maturity and takes necessary steps to ensure it does not spread. But this does not happen and you see the headcount of infected increase every year across the globe.

Spread of AIDS
The spread of HIV around world speaks the urgent need for a remedy, either vaccine or changes in law / society approach to life so as to contain the spread of AIDS.

Impact of HIV on humans , its spread, is widely discussed, but that has not helped much. Its in a way a harsh measure of morality. Maybe some would harden and say justified! We must remember that this disease has not only physiological effects, but also major psychological effects. Medical workers see it as a societal problem, which needs empathy and approaching it with a positive mindset, is way forward.
 

strive-may-i

Junior Member
Abd_al_hadi, Your so called self-confessed confusion, thread title and your responses speaks volumes.

There is a difference between "HIV Patient Identification, treatment and remedy" v/s "Exposing HIV positive Muslims"
 

Aisya al-Humaira

الحمدلله على كل حال
Brother Abd Al Hadi, if you know the man personally, then you might want to advice him to repent to Allaah. Advice him to stop sleeping around and carry out his obligatory duties to his family. It is best that you do not spread his sins to others [in real life and I believe you didn't] but help the brother to come back to Allaah, inshaa Allaah.

May Allaah helps the affairs of his family. This is indeed a test for his wife. May Allaah showers His Mercy on her and the children. Ameen.
 

Abd_Al_Hadi

لبيك يا الله
strive-may-i,
You're not getting it, habibi. You're telling us the right thing to do if we were the carriers. But I'm asking what we would do if we KNOW a carrier. Two different things here. Would that be considered exposing the guy? Obviously an STD means that he must have had sexual contact with either a woman or a probably even a man.

Him getting treatment is not my concern. His wife being at risk AND the possibility that me "instigating" could lead him to being harmed are my concerns


Sister Aisya al-Humaira, its too late. The wife now has AIDS. Unfortunately :(
 

islamerica

1 Ummah under God
He committed adultery, he and he's family should have confessed about this disease. This way the wife has the her islamic right to divorce him on grounds of infidelity as well as protecting herself from harm, as well as protecting her kids. He could marry the women he was sleeping around in the west. I think she should still dump him and take her kids with her, go back home and expose him and his entire family as an example to other who might try to be sneaky about about such serious matters.
 

Hassan

Laa ilaha ilaa Allah
Staff member
:wasalam:

Who needs to know? The wife. And it was the husband's responsibility to tell her, not his family's.

The things he did are sins, and telling people who can speak to him and try to support him to stop is trying to prevent a brother from sinning. HIV is not a sin, telling people (apart from the wife) is gossip.

So, if I understood this, now the wife, who did nothing wrong, is living in a place where the neighbours know. I pray Allah swt gives her strength and shows her mercy.

Just my opinions. Anything I said right is from Allah, anything I said wrong is from me.
 

saima abdullah

my life iz 4 Allah
asalam o alykum wr wb
the first thing HIV can be transmitted by many other means then adultery ,,,(we should never say this if we don't have 4 witnesses against him)
second in case of marrying it is allowed to tell a person faults of that person, as a women came to Prophet S.A.W and asked that two men purposed her and He S.A.W told her some bad habits of one of them that he beats his wives....but not to tell whole town, the main reason when its seems that its gona harm a person only then you are permitted to get activated with a "fair intention" of saving a "life" not to take taste of back biting ..
wsalam
 

Aisya al-Humaira

الحمدلله على كل حال
The circumstances on the permissibility to expose one's sin and doesn't fall under the category of gheebah

Al-Nawawi (may Allaah have mercy on him) said in his commentary on Saheeh Muslim (Sharh Saheeh Muslim):

“But gheebah (speaking about a person in his absence) is permissible if it is for some legitimate (shar’i) purpose, which includes six reasons:

The first is complaining about unjust treatment: it is permissible for a person who has been mistreated to complain to the ruler or judge, or other people who have the authority or power to deal with the person who has mistreated him. He can say, So and so mistreated me, or, he did such and such to me.

The second is seeking help to change some evil action, and bring a sinner back to the right path: so he may say to the person who he hopes can help: So and so is doing such and such, so try to stop him, and so on.

The third is seeking a religious ruling or fatwa: whereby a person may say to the Mufti: So and so – or my father, or my brother, or my husband – has treated me unjustly by doing such and such; does he have the right to do that? How can I deal with this and protect myself from his mistreatment? etc. This is permissible in cases of need. It is preferable to say in the case of a man or a husband or a father or a son that someone did such and such [i.e., describe it indirectly], but naming names is permissible, because of the hadeeth of Hind who said (to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him): Abu Sufyaan is a stingy man.

The fourth is warning the Muslims against some evil: this may take various forms, such as mentioning the faults of narrators, witnesses and authors. This is permissible by scholarly consensus. Indeed, it is obligatory, in order to protect the sharee’ah. It also includes describing faults when one is consulted [about a person, for a serious reason such as business, marriage, etc.], and speaking up if one sees someone buying faulty goods or a slave who steals or commits zinaa or drinks wine etc. – he should mention that to the would-be purchaser if he does not know about it. This is by way of sincere advice, not to cause harm or offence or corruption. Also, if you see a seeker of knowledge frequently visiting a person who is immoral or who follows innovations, and taking knowledge from him, and you fear that he may be harmed, you must advise him by explaining the situation to him, with the aim of offering sincere advice. If you see a person in a position of authority which he cannot discharge properly because he is not qualified for it or because he is corrupt, you should tell whoever has authority over him and explain what he is really like so that he will not be deceived by him and so that he will discipline him – this is not gheebah, and it is obligatory to put things right.

The fifth is if a person is openly committing immoral deeds or following bid’ah: such as drinking wine, confiscating people’s property unlawfully, collecting extortionate taxes, being in charge of illegal activities etc. It is permissible to speak of what he is doing openly, but it is not permissible to speak of other things except for another reason.

The sixth is for the purposes of identification: if a person is known by a nickname such as al-A’mash (rheumy-eyed), al-A’raj (lame), al-Azraq (blue), al-Qaseer (short), al-A’maa (blind), al-Aqta’ (missing a limb) etc., this is permissible for purposes of identification, but it is haraam to use such names for the purpose of belittling a person, and if it is possible to identify them by using other words, this is better. And Allaah knows best.”

But if there is no useful purpose to be served by speaking about a person, or if the aim is to make fun of him or expose him, this is gheebah and is not permitted. And Allaah knows best.

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