Ebrahim Moosa – Radio Islam International | 13 Rabi ul Awwal 1437/13 December 2016

It has become an almost ubiquitous feature of WhatsApp chats: the title line of a message sporting the words ‘As Received’.

The contents of the message that follow may be sensitive, scandalous, controversial – dealing with news of accidents, tragedies, deaths, allegations against individuals or containing religious directives. The individuals made mention of therein may be complete strangers to us, the places obscure, the issues complex. We just happened to stumble upon the message during a mundane phone trawl. But, in an instant, the urge to share and feign relevance trumps all else, and we broadcast to the world.

Deep down, we recognise the incendiary potential of some of these messages, our inability to fully grasp their contents, and our limitations or even outright lack of will to verify their source or substance. But instead of allowing any of that to inhibit us, we proceed anyway, simply appending two words to the message to assuage out conscience.

As Received…

Stamping a chat like this may seem a neat piece of netiquette, but we ought to get real. When viewed against the demands of honesty, integrity and overall significance, ‘as received’ messaging is woefully inadequate.

A Prophetic Hadith related by Sayyidina Mughirah bin Shu’bah RA does seem to hold particular instruction relevant to our tendency to proliferate non-beneficial and unverified content of nameless origin.

In it, the Prophet (ﷺ) is reported to have said, “Allah has forbidden you: disobedience to your mothers, to withhold (what you should give), or demand (what you do not deserve), and to bury your daughters alive. And Allah dislikes idle talk, to ask too many questions (for things which will be of no benefit to one), and to waste your wealth”[Saheeh Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

The Arabic phrase Qeela wa Qaala, translated above as ‘idle talk’, has a far more nuanced meaning as is borne out in the explanation of Imam an Nawawi RA.

He writes:

“It is conveying of everything one hears. So a person says, ‘I heard this’ and ‘so-and-so said that’ of things he cannot confirm their veracity, nor does he have any idea about them. It is sufficient to call a man a liar who conveys everything he hears”.

Islam, hence, places a premium on verification before dissemination. But the buck does not stop there. A news item may be proven to be true, but its relevance for propagation to the public may be miniscule. In fact, the harm in spreading it could far outweigh its any potential good.

Sheikh Yasir Qadhi addressed this important consideration in a recent post:

“Our religious etiquette teaches us not only to verify news before we spread it, but also to be wise about what we spread and who we spread it to [as in 4:83]. At times, a news item might be correct, but the harm in spreading it far outweighs any potential good.

“It is of the characteristics of the hypocrites to spread everything they hear, without concern as to its consequences.

“An advice to myself and to all my brothers and sisters: after verifying what you have heard, ask yourself whether there’s any major benefit in spreading that piece of information? Ask yourself whether this information might cause more confusion or harm than good? Perhaps by you posting or spreading a tweet or incident that would otherwise have been forgotten and lost into internet oblivion, you have unwittingly created a large controversy, and dragged a bunch of people into mud-slinging, speaking ill about others, and overall wasting time, that they would have been saved from had it not been for your free advertising.

“What’s worse is if you know your bringing attention to such an incident will only cause more chaos and confusion, and not result in much benefit. Such an intentional desire to tattletale might demonstrate that the real intention is not positive change, but an inflation of one’s own ego.

“Be careful of what you type, post or say, for indeed, the heart, ears and tongue will all be asked on Judgment Day.”

Before giving in to the urges of that forward button, a handy tool for all of us to harness in measuring the benefit of our messaging can be found in what has been dubbed the ‘Triple Filter Test’.

It mechanics are spelt out in a story attributed to medieval times, wherein one day a revered scholar was met by an acquaintance who said, “Do you know what I just heard about your friend?

“Hold on a minute, before telling me anything I’d like you to pass a little test. It’s called the Triple Filter Test.”

The Man: “Triple Filter Test?”

Scholar: “That’s right, before you talk to me about my friend it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what you’re going to say.”

The Scholar continued: “That’s why I call it the triple filter test. The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?”

The Man: “No, actually I just heard about it and…”

Scholar: “All right, so you don’t really know if it’s true or not. Now let’s try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my friend something good?”

The Man: “No, on the contrary…”

Scholar: “So, you want to tell me something bad about him, but you’re not certain it’s true. You may still pass the test though, because there’s one filter left.”

Scholar continued: “The filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me?”

The Man: “No, not really.”

Scholar: “Well, if what you want to tell me is neither true nor good nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?”