to hatred and enmity, and it forces a person to burden himself with what he was never charged to do. You will see the spy—may Allah protect us—now here, now there, moving from place to place, peering at this one and then at that one, exhausting himself in the process of harming Allah’s servants. We ask Allah for safety.

Part of this evil is spying on people’s homes: someone stands by the door, listens to what is being said inside, and then builds upon it false suspicions and groundless accusations. The author then cites the hadith of Abu Hurayrah in its various versions—most of which we have already discussed—but the most significant wording is: “Beware of suspicion, for suspicion is the most untruthful of speech.” This is in full accord with the Almighty’s words: “O you who believe, avoid much suspicion” (Q 49:12).

Notice that the verse says “avoid much suspicion,” not “avoid all suspicion,” because suspicion that rests upon clear indications is unobjectionable. It is human nature that, when strong circumstantial evidence points to a favorable or unfavorable conclusion, a person will be influenced by those clues, and there is nothing wrong with that. What the Prophet ﷺ warned against is bare suspicion, unsupported by evidence; he declared it “the most untruthful of speech.” Once a person succumbs to such conjecture, his own soul whispers to him: “So-and-so did this, he is doing that, he intends such-and-such,” and so on. Regarding this, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said it is the most untruthful of speech.

In another wording of the hadith, not previously mentioned, the Prophet ﷺ added: “Be, O servants of Allah, brothers as you have been commanded,” meaning that one must truly act as a brother toward his fellow Muslim, not as an enemy. Yet some people, when a business transaction takes place between them and suspicion arises, begin to treat one another as foes. This is impermissible. One is obligated to remain a brother to his brother, maintaining love, harmony, and refraining from causing him any harm.