Harming your fellow Muslim is Haraam, to deceive him is Haraam, exposing his womenfolk is Haraam. These types of harms are connected to the telephone in the following ways;
A) A growing deception;
It is not permissible for a person who has taken a responsibility to treat it with mistrust and deception. So if a person passes on the telephone number of another person without his permission or him knowing, then this is a type of deception. This is regardless of whether the person wants to call the other for a worldly or religious reason, or whether it is to gain some knowledge, recover some wealth, or anything that is akin to this.
It has been established from the hadeeth of Jaabir ibn Abdullah al-Ansaaree [May Allaah be Pleased with him] who said that the Prophet [May the Peace and Blessings of Allaah be upon him] who said, “If a person tells another something then the man has turned around with a trust.” [Narrated by Ahmad, Aboo Dawood and at-Tirmidhi]
The meaning of ‘turned around’ is that the man has confided in him and has given him information, therefore the person should be warned from turning to his right and to his left with this information, being careful that others don’t hear [See: Fayd al-Qadeer by al-Manaawee 1/339]. Therefore the information that you have been entrusted with is a trust and has been placed only upon you, if you tell others then you will have gone against the command of Allaah. If you fail to uphold this trust, by giving away this information that you have been trusted with, then you will be from the oppressors. Therefore it is obligatory for you to conceal it as it promotes good companionship, concealing the faults of others and it prevents gossiping and backbiting spreading from within the brothers.
It says in Ihyaa ‘Uloom ad-Deen of Ghazaalee, “Spreading the secrets of others is deception and Haraam”.
Marwaadee said, “Exposing another man’s secret to others is worse than exposing your own secrets because it involves being disgraceful from two aspects; it involves deception when you were trusted and it involves you spreading rumours when you have received information. The harms from these two are equal, if not one more than the other then they are both at least equally blameworthy.”
Ar-Raaghib al-Asfahaanee said, “Secrets are given in two ways:
Firstly, one is told a secret and he is told to keep it a secret, this is done verbally.
Secondly, when on tries to find the secrets of others, he does this by spying or eavesdropping.”
So if you save someone’s number on your phone without their permission or them knowing, then this is like you are tricking them, it is a kind of dishonesty and a breach of the possessions of others.
Further to this, if you pass the number on to others then this is even worse, this is increasing in your deception over them. This is ripping apart their rights.
So to summarise, if you record the telephone number of another, without their permission or them knowing, then this is a crime and a deception. This will compromise your trustworthiness and none would do this except for the one who is weak in his religion and manners, especially if one does it in the evil ways that we have mentioned. So fear Allaah, Oh Slaves of Allaah, and don’t betray your trusts and don’t break your promises.
B) Phone tapping;
Modern technology has developed with there being various new inventions available today. Some of these inventions have been designed for the purpose of entertainment or for people to indulge themselves in wasteful activities.
From these inventions is the ability to secretly listen to others people’s conversations. The day and night may go by and the persons conversations are being recorded or listened to and he may not even realise it. This is unlawful and not permissible, whether one of the people in the conversation knows about it or not.
It has been authentically narrated from the narration of Anas bin Maalik [May Allaah be Pleased with him] that the Prophet [May the Peace and Blessings of Allaah be Upon him] said, ”If you hear people conversing and they don’t like you listening, then hot lead will be poured into his ears on the Day of Judegment.” [Narrated by Bukhaaree in his Saheeh and something similar in Adab al-Mufrad]
C) Mixing between the sexes; from the immodest actions is that the people of the house use these telephones to go behind their guardian. They take the phones as an opportunity to do this, spreading diseases and debasing themselves at the same time. They use these phones to mix or make it a cause for physical mixing to occur. The Prophet [Peace and Blessings of Allaah be Upon him] said, “Be careful of entering onto women” [Narrated by Bukhaaree] so we have been commanded to refrain from them.
Therefore it is upon the guardian to block all the paths that lead to this. He needs to guarantee himself that his women are not being idle, being amongst the foolish. From the ways he can do this; he can place the telephone in a public location within his house, therefore nothing will be hidden from his sight. Also, he should reduce the number of phones in the house, especially not allowing his daughters to have their own phones in their rooms. He needs to organise his house in an appropriate manner, so that if someone calls, the people answering the phones have the correct attitude when using the phone. That they are not secluded when talking on the phone, thus the chastity and nobility will be secured and not hidden from him.
D) Excessive calling; be careful of spending too much time on the phone, lest you become afflicted by making excessive calls. For how many people are suffering from this? From the moment they wake in the morning until they sleep, they need the phone. If they are prevented they become like a child yearning for his mother. So they are preoccupied in themselves with talking too much, from one place to another, to one person to another. His soul is entertained whilst he is harming others.
We can’t do anything for these people except to make Dua’a for them to be protected, to advise them about the effects of being excessive.
E) Frightening people on the phone; it is authentically narrated in the Sunnah that frightening another Muslim is from the major sins. It is a great oppression. It has been narrated that the Prophet [May the Peace and Blessings of Allaah be Upon him] said, “It is not permissible for a Muslim to frighten another Muslim.” [Narrated by Ahmad, Aboo Dawood, Tabaranee with a similar wording and al-Bazzar]
Likewise, it is also narrated in the Sunnah that we are prohibited from pointing a weapon at your Muslim brother; the reason being is that it may put fear into him, thus being prohibited. Likewise, scaring your brother on the phone is not permissible.
Types of scaring another on the phone includes prank calls or calling someone and remaining silent.
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