1. A recent khutbah on the subject of weddings has thrown me into some confusion. The Imam said that a Sunnah wedding consists of a very simple and modest ceremony. I'm going to get married this summer and my parents want to threw a large party with a Qawwali group performing religious songs and wedding songs. It will involve some expense but aren't weddings supposed to be joyous occasions? Would we be wrong to splash out?
The Imam is right. It is the advice of the Prophet (s.A.w.) not to be spendthrift. But it is not intended to prevent people from having a good time and enjoying what is a memorable and happy occasion. Entertaining guests with food and Qawwali is actually a Sunnah of the Prophet. Aisha (may God be pleased with her) had a maid who was preparing to marry an Ansari and the Prophet (s.A.w.), asked her whether she had arranged for singers at the wedding. Aisha enquired as to what they might sing and the Prophet sang some simple lines of instruction.
I am completely opposed to the idea of splashing out. There is a Hadith of the Prophet which says "The worst wedding dinner is the one which is given to the rich and denied to the poor." If there is going to be an expensive dinner party, then it should make provisions for the less well off in the community. There are a wealth of causes deserving of our wealth and there could be no better start for the newly-weds than to invoke the blessings of Allah by not forgetting the needy.
(122 - Munakahat 9)
2. Are Muslims allowed to go on strike if there is no contractual arrangement between employers and the employed specifically allowing it?
Strikes are a relatively recent development - a feature of modem industrial relationships in democratic societies. In Islamic law, it would fall under the category of 'Urf (custom) which is considered a legitimate basis for lawmaking. The Fiqh works talk about 'Urf which is peculiar to a political locality or a group of people such as workers today (Unions).
As-Shatibi, one of the great constitutional jurists (Faqih), speaks about customs changing from time to time. Once these customs become a way of life they have to be considered as a basis for the Shari'ah.
Imam as-Suyuthi, a Shafi'i scholar said: "Know that consideration of customs is referred to in so many Fiqh problems that nobody can enumerate them."
Strikes have evolved as an industrial practice that can be called a custom.
Muslims may not jump headlong into strikes because some scholars say that an employee has no right to withdraw his work or his skill unless there is first a negotiation between him and his employer. So the first step from an Islamic point of view is for the worker to air his grievance and seek arbitration. In the event of the employer becoming intransigent the employee should indicate that unless his grievance is addressed, he is going to cause disruption.
Of course, Ibn Taimiyyah says that if an employee has no grievance, he is not allowed to withdraw his labour. In such a case, he continues, the authority has the right to compel the employee to work - with reasonable force.
(160 - Muamalat 14)
