49:12 Suspicion... What is the limit?
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4912 O you who acknowledge, you shall
avoid much suspicion, for some
suspicion is sinful. Do not spy on one
another, nor shall you gossip one
another. Would one of you enjoy eating
the flesh of his dead brother? You
certainly would hate this. You shall
observe God. God is Redeemer,
Compassionate.Regarding suspicion (if this is the right translation of the word) I am having difficulty following this. I am finding myself in many situations where I feel as though I am missing something. I want to give my father some nuts and seeds, but I don't because I suspect he may throw out and waste some of them and I would rather eat them myself to prevent that from happening. It's small and simple things like these. Another example, my cat is sick and I suspected she might have been given a medicine that doesn't help her main illness, but I hesitated to speak about it because I didn't want to be suspicious. But then I did anyway because this is about a life, there could be the possibility that I am not understanding this right. I have a small safe with money inside. I want to hide the key but then I think I might be suspicious that a family member might steal it... There must be some sort of limit to this, maybe a verse somewhere in the Qur'an explaining this further.
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I think, from the content of the aya it is clear that suspicion is to be shunned when it may maen harm and injustice to somebody else.
The nuts with your father I would not call that suspicion. Either he throws up when eating those nuts or not. If not you do not have to suspect anything unless there is a medical condition for it, and if has thrown up at another times. Just weight the likelihood bearing all facts in mind. You are not suspecting that your father does it on purpose, do you? Because THAT would be wrong, but not wrong that youhave an aproximate idea of what could happen, that is caution.
The same with the key to your treasure. If you feel at easy putting in a key, do it. You are not pinting neither litterally nor figuratively a finger to anybody. It is just a general measure of caution. Someone may open the safe just out of curiosity, inadvertence, and then you might get really suspicious. If you feel that somebody might directly be suspected without reason, then it is for you to weight, the hurt to you may inflict that person and your own peace of mind.
I think that the aya points to not saying a word to anybody if a suspicion crosses your mind. Keept it to yourself. I think the qur'an is social mores is mostly common sense. We know what gossip is, we know when a person is confiding us something because he or she need to confide or vent his or her stresses or anguishes, and when he or she is merely giving in to the need of "eating somebody else's flesh". We should listen and try to apease those who simply need to get out of themselves what anguishes them without harm nfor anybody else and to stop and discourage those who want to gossip never mind whether someones reputation or peace of mind is at stake. Eating somebody else's flesh is a very eloquent description of the deed. It is a matter of compassiona and justice. We are all poor wretches many times, we should differentiate between a need of somebody who feels unsafe or misunderstood or not understood and the desire to point spears at somebody else while feeling safe and spitting venom.
We should be cautious with everything we do and say. Not suspicious. Cautious, mindful of the harm something may mean to different people.
Salaam
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4912 O you who acknowledge, you shall
avoid much suspicion, for some
suspicion is sinful.sus?pi?cion
(plural sus?pi?cions)
noun-
feeling of something wrong an unsubstantiated belief that something is the case, especially a belief that something wrong has happened or that somebody may have committed a crime
a sneaking suspicion that she was the one who ate the last cookie -
mistrust or doubts a feeling of mistrust or doubt, especially because something wrong has happened and has not been explained
an atmosphere of suspicion -
condition of being suspected the condition of being suspected of something, especially wrongdoing
is a thought, an understanding, a conclusion or belief based merely on conjecture; presumptive or assumptive in nature; and to know something but no by ocular perception.
O those people/you, who proclaim to have accepted-become believers, listen;
You people consciously avoid most of the conjectures; conclusions based on presumptions and assumptions. Remain mindful of the fact that some conjectures; conclusions or understandings based on presumptions and assumptions are certainly dilapidating in effect. -