An Examining the Acceptance of Gifts by Officials in Hadiths

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1  Assistant Professor of Theology and Islamic Education, Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University, Tehran, Iran.

2 Master student of Quran and Hadith sciences, Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Presenting and receiving gifts is praised and appreciated and emphasized in Islam. However, from some narrative interpretations such as “Hadiyyah al-Umara Gholulun” or “Hadaya al-Ummal Ghololun” it appears that exchanging (presenting or receiving) gifts with officials is prohibited. On the other hand, in contrast to this prohibition, there are traditions that allow people to accept gifts from officials. Therefore, we are faced with two types of narrations that conflict with each other superficially. With the aim of resolving the conflict between the aforementioned narrations, using the method of description and analysis, the present research first collects all the narrations related to the subject from the Hadithi sources of the two major Islamic sects and examines them documented-base, then by looking at the opinions of commentators and narrations-experts and analyzing the text of the narrations, finally analyzes the conflict between them in such a way that the narrations of the group “Hadaya al-Ummal Ghololun” are about “ascribing the infinitive to the object” and indicate “prohibition of officials from accepting people's gifts”, and the opposite, i.e. “accepting the gift of the officials from the people” will be right as long as it does not lead to corruption.

Keywords


Volume 9, Issue 17 - Serial Number 17
Year 9, No. 17, Fall and Winter 2023
March 2023
Pages 345-362
  • Receive Date: 07 December 2021
  • Revise Date: 17 May 2022
  • Accept Date: 07 June 2022