| Islam
has laid down some universal fundamental rights, for humanity as a whole,
which are to be observed and respected under all circumstances. To achieve
these rights, Islam provides not only legal safeguards but also a
very effective moral system. Thus whatever leads to the welfare of the
individual or the society is morally good in Islam and whatever is
injurious is morally bad. Islam attaches so much importance to the
love of God and love of man that it warns against too much of formalism.
We read in the Noble Qur-an: "It is not righteousness that you turn your faces towards East or West; but it is righteousness to believe in God and the Last Day and the Angels, and the Book and the Messengers; to spend of your substance, out of love for Him, for your kin, for orphans, for the needy, for the way farer, for those who ask, and for the ransom of slaves, to be steadfast in prayers, and practice regular charily, to fulfill the contracts which you made, and to be firm and patient in pain (or suffering) and adversity and through out all periods of panic. Such are the people of truth, the God-fearing." (Qur-an, 2:177)  |
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We are given a beautiful description of the righteous and God-fearing man in this verse. He should obey salutary regulations, but he should fix his gaze on the love of God and the love of his fellow men.
This Islamic moral system has four broad headings: |
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This is the standard
by which a particular mode of conduct is judged and classified as good or
bad. This standard of judgment provides the nucleus around which the whole
moral conduct should revolve. Before laying down any moral injunctions,
Islam seeks to firmly implant in man's heart the conviction that
his dealings are with God who sees him at all times and in all places;
that he may hide himself from the whole world but not from Him; that he
may deceive everyone but cannot deceive God; that he can flee from the
clutches of anyone else but not from God's.
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Thus, by setting God's pleasure as the objective of man's life, Islam
has furnished the highest possible standard of morality. This is bound to
provide limitless avenues for the moral evolution of humanity. By making
Divine revelations as the primary source of knowledge, it gives permanence
and stability to the moral standards which afford reasonable scope for
genuine adjustments, adaptations and innovations though not for
perversions, wild variation, atomistic relativism or moral fluidity. It
provides a sanction to morality in the love and fear of God, which will
impel man to obey the moral law even without any external pressure.
Through belief in God and the Day of Judgment it furnishes a force, which
enables a person to adopt the moral conduct with earnestness sincerity,
with all the devotion of heart and soul.
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It does not, through
a false sense of for originality, and innovation, provide any novel moral
virtues nor 'does it seek to minimize the importance of the well known
moral norms, nor does it give exaggerated importance to some and neglect
others without cause. It takes up all the commonly known moral virtues and
with a sense of balance and proportion it assigns a suitable place and
function to each one of them in the total scheme of life. It widens the
scope of man's individual and collective life his domestic associations,
his civic conduct, and his activities in the political, economic, legal,
educational, and social realms. It covers his life from home to society,
from the dining table to the battlefield and peace conferences, literally
from the cradle to the grave. In short, no sphere of life is exempt
from the universal and comprehensive application of the moral principles
of Islam. It makes morality reign supreme and ensures that the
affairs of life, instead dominated by selfish desires and petty interests,
should be regulated by norms of morality. |
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It stipulates for man a system of life, which is based on all good and is free from all evil. It invokes the people, to practice virtue, but also to establish virtue and eradicate vice, to bid good and to forbid wrong. It wants that the verdict of conscience should prevail and virtue must not be subdued to play second fiddle to evil. Those who respond to this call are gathered together into a community and given the name 'Muslim'. And the singular object underlying the formation of this community (Ummah) is that it should make an organized effort to establish and enforce goodness and suppress and eradicate evil. Here we furnish
some basic moral teachings of Islam for various aspects of a
Muslim's life. They cover the broad I conduct of a Muslim as well as
spectrum of personal moral his social responsibilities. |
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