Quran Lays Great Stress on Moral Values and Social Cohesion

By New Age Islam Staff Writer 1 July 2024 The Quran Teaches Citizens To Avoid Confrontation. Main Points: 1. Islam grants personal freedom to citizens. 2. The Quran promotes humility and righteousness. 3. The Quran ensures citizens right to privacy. ------ Today We Witness A Lot Of Violence And Confrontation In Islamic Countries And Muslim Societies Muslims indulge in sectarian violence, killing of innocent people in the name of religion or sect and suffer from avarice, greed, corruption and all other social evils. All these evils and moral vices were also present in the pre-Islam Arab society. They indulged in bloodshed, corruption, greed, licentiousness and other social evils. In other words, today's Muslim society is no different from the pre-Islam Arab society except the fact that the Muslims today display outer religiosity while being devoid of inner piety. They offer prayers, do fasting in Ramzan, make animal sacrifices on Eid-al-Adha and perform hajj. Going by the observance of religious duties, a Muslim performs all religious duties but when we observe the social behaviour and moral standards of the Muslims, we find that they are worse than other religious communities. Other religious communities do not kill themselves whereas Muslims declare each other heretics and worthy to be killed though Muslims claim that they are the best Ummah raised on the earth. The Muslim societies are one of the most corrupt societies in the world. Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan and some African Muslim countries feature high on corruption index. Greed, jealousy, backbiting and lack of social etiquette marks the Muslim society today. This is because the Muslims have laid more stress on rituals and dogma and given less importance to social behaviour and moral values on which the Quran lays great stress in order to create an environment of love, mutual respect, non-violence, communal harmony and peace. The Quran is full of verses preaching humility, harmony, service to mankind and treating human beings with love, care and respect. On the contrary, the Muslims have ignored the Quranic teachings on social behaviour and moral values and have concentrated on the contextual war verses that were revealed during the initial period of Islam. These war verses do not form the core of the Quran but the verses that preach universal brotherhood, love and compassion and outline the true behaviour of the Muslims in a multi-religious and multi-cultural society. Here are some of the social and moral principles of the Quran for a peaceful and harmonious society that have largely been ignored and downplayed by the Muslims. The most important quality that the Quran wants Muslims to nurture among themselves is humility. A true Muslim will be humble, soft- spoken and respectful. He will not have arrogance. A Muslim should be humility and politeness personified. A true believer is one whose words and actions never hurt anyone. The Quran says: "And hold your hands down for those believers who are with you."(Al Sho'ra": 215) A true believer does not take undue pride and is not arrogant. The Quran asks Muslims to discard such behaviour: "And do not strut about in the land for you can neither cleave the earth nor attain the height of the mountains."(Bani Israel: 37) The Quran teaches Muslims to greet every one with an endearing smile and keep their voice low. Again, not being on speaking terms with people on account of petty disputes is an uncivilised and unethical attitude that harms the harmony and unity of the society. The Quran warns: "And turn your face not away from men with pride, nor walk in insolence through the earth. Verily, Allah does not like each arrogant boaster. And be moderate in your walking and lower your voice. Verily, the harshest of all voices is the voice (braying) of the ass."(Luqman: 18-19) The Quran grants right to privacy to every individual. The modern society also does not permit intrusion into ones privacy. The Quran forbids people from spying into others' private life. It says: "It is not piety that you enter the houses from the back but the piety is the quality of one who fears Allah, so enter houses through their proper doors and fear Allah that you may be successful."(Al Baqarah: 189) The verse may suggest that the people in the pre-Islam Arab society did not respect the privacy of others, not even the privacy of their family members. They entered the houses through the back doors perhaps to catch them unawares. It also speaks of the lack of trust among the family members. The Quran disapproved such behaviour. Another social evil of the modern society is the evil of backbiting and whispering. It is generally observed that people backbite and laugh at each other, and to prove them inferior, call them by derogatory names. Such behaviour is strongly condemned by the Quran. Backbiting or ridiculing someone is done due to enmity or jealousy. The Quran warns the Muslims against this practice. "O you who believe! Let not a group scoff at another group, it may be that the latter are better than the former, nor let women scoff at other women, it may be that the latter are far better than the former, nor defame one another, nor insult one another by nicknames."(Al Hujurat: 11) There is another evil practice which is whispering. The Quran has clear stand on whispering. It says that whispering is the act of Satan. "Secret counsels are only from Satan, in order that he may cause grief to the believers. But he cannot harm them in the least, except as Allah permits, and in Allah let the believers put their trust."(Al Mujadilah: 10) In modern times, social media is largely misused to spread misinformation and rumours to cause strife and differences between individuals and communities. In olden days, rumours were spread through word of mouth. The Quran has taken this social practice seriously and has warned people against the ill effects of fake news and rumour mongering through social media and some unscrupulous TV channels. More often rumours and fake news cause violent clashes that create lasting rifts between groups in a society and disrupt peace and harmony. More often people add spice to the rumours without verifying them. As a result, a petty issue is blown out of proportion. The Quran advises people not to believe and act upon rumours blindly but verify them before taking any step. It is better to report the matter to the authorities concerned so that they can make proper inquiry into it. The Quran says: "O you who believe! if a rebellious evil person comes to you with a news, verify it, lest you harm people in ignorance and afterwards you become regretful to what you have done.(Al Hujurat:6) The Quran says on yet another occasion: "When there comes to them some matter touching (public) safety or fear, they make it known (among the people),if only they had referred it to the Messenger or to those charged with authority among them, the proper investigators would have understood it from them."(Al Nisa: 83) Therefore, the Quran teaches societal behaviour and ethical values to the members of the society so that the society remains united, and harmony, peace and prosperity prevails. 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