AlMujtaba Islamic Articles > Ethics

“Our Behaviour”

By: Brother Ali Ja’afary.

بِسمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَن الرَّحيم

Foreword:

I have been working on a rather large and elaborate study about the problems facing Islam today and the viruses that seem to be affecting it in many different areas, such a study is certainly not feasible to present as an article, for it touches a great number of detailed points and scientific terms which can be at times a rather long and boring read for those who prefer getting information in an easy and more interesting format. However, I did manage to take out from that project, a chapter that I felt is of great importance and that would fill the specifications of an article, may ALLAH the Most Merciful, the Most Gracious strengthen my weak heart and guide me, and eliminate my inadequate understanding of this task.

‘AL-JAAR’: THE NEIGHBOUR

Sayyid Jawad ‘Ameli, a great Mujtahid, was having his dinner when someone knocked at his door. A servant from his master, Ayatullah Sayyid Mahdi Bahrul-‘Uloom appeared and said, “Your master has asked you to see him immediately. He has just sat down for his dinner but refuses to eat until he sees you”.

There was no time to lose. Sayyid ‘Ameli left his dinner and rushed to Sayyid Bahrul-‘Uloom’s residence. Just as he entered, the master looked disapprovingly at him and said: “Sayyid Jawad! You have no fear of Allah! Don’t you feel ashamed of Allah?”

HOSPITALITY & GUESTS - PART 4

ETHICAL RULES FOR HOSTS:

1. Hospitality should be extended within one's means.

The Holy Prophet (saw) has said: "One should not trouble himself on account of his guest (by doing) what is not possible for himself". (Kanz al-Ummaal)

Harith al-A'war once said to Imam Ali bin Abi Talib (as), "O Ameer al-Mumineen! May my life be sacrificed for your sake. I wish you to honour me by eating at my place". Imam (as) said, "With a condition that you will not trouble yourself" and accepted the invitation. Harith presented the Imam (as) with pieces of bread (and its crumbs)

HOSPITALITY & GUESTS - PART 3

Islam, as a perfect code of life, does not only encourage us to extend hospitality to others but, it has also laid down some ethical rules which are to be observed by both, the host as well as the guest. Let us explore some of these rules.

ETHICAL RULES FOR GUESTS:

Some of the important ethical rules are as follows:

1. Do not enter the house without seeking permission and saluting its inmates.

This is infact a Quranic instruction. The Almighty Allah says:

HOSPITALITY & GUESTS - PART 2

Imam Ali bin Abi Talib (as) has said: "One whom Allah has bestowed wealth should cater for his relatives (Silatur-Rahim) with it and use it to entertain the guests well". (Nahjul-Balaghah)

In the olden days people gave much importance to visitations and entertaining guests.Today,things have changed. Typical capitalist mentality has creeped even into our Muslim society wherein people have become self-engrossed. As a result, even when people do have time, they hesitate to visit each other and guests are usually considered as burden. If only we understood the merits of visiting each other to strengthen our relationship and extending of hospitality, we would have certainly strived, come what may, to find time for the same.

HOSPITALITY & GUESTS - Part 1

Showing hospitality and entertaining guests is highly recommended in Islam. Allah (SWT) is mentioning about the hospitality of Prophet Ibrahim (as) in the Holy Quran:

"Has the story of Ibrahim's honoured guests come to you? When they entered upon him, they said: Peace. Peace, he said. Strangers they are". (51:24/25)

HIRS (GREED)

“And you will most certainly find them the greediest of men for life than even those who are polytheist; every one of them loves that he should be granted a life of thousand years”. (The Holy Quraan 2:96)

This verse points to the greedy nature of some people who wish to live long even upto a thousand years. They are those who either do not understand or do not believe in life after death. As such they are lacking in Islamic belief in second life after death and tend to be more greedy in this worldly life.

AL-JAAR (NEIGHBOUR)

At that night, he was listening to the words of his mother standing in the direction towards Ka’aba in a corner of the room.He was observing his mother praying to Allah prostrating,bowing,standing and sitting at that night, a Friday night.He was still a child;he was watching and hearing his mother praying for all Muslims,men and women remembering them by names and asking the Almighty for their prosperity,felicity and favours;he was carefully listening to her whether she would mention mention and demand something from Allah for herself or not?

Acts that Develops Man’s Reason

By: Sayyid Jan Ali Kazmi
To strengthen the willpower means to perform acts, which help to mature the human wisdom and reason, and which result in the dominance of man’s wisdom and reason over his actions.
There are four different powers and forces in a human being. The first among these is the power of imagination. When this power dominates the thought process of man then he might fear even his own shadow, or might even fear a dead body though it is completely harmless and cannot hurt any one in any way. It is due to the domination (control) of the power if the imaginations that people fear such things as a corpse (dead body).

Actions Speak Louder Than Words

By Muhammad Reza Muttahari
The most important method used by the Prophet of Islam (SAW) was the practical method. He would act according to his words. Because of that, his actions are one of the reliable sources in Islam called the Sunnah (Tradition). He himself acted upon his words and instructions and used to train others to do the same in order to more effectively affect others. The Glorious Qur’an reproaches the people who don’t do what they say. It says:
“It is most hateful to Allah that you should say that which you don’t do.” (61:3)

A Healthy Society under the Grace of Ethics

By: Shaikh Naser Makarem Shirazi

Without ethic, the plan of a healthy society is defeated
We know that man has a social life, and undoubtedly, "society" is the most important factor in development, improvement and or retardation and degeneration of men.
The sociologists believe that man without society loses everything (sciences and knowledge, mental perfection, affections, and even speaking and similar subjects).

A Criterion of Human Values

By: Sayyid Mujtaba Musawi Lari

Personality is that which makes every individual different from others and by means of which we determine the real worth and station of a human being. Despite the fact that all persons possess common characteristics as well as common reactions particular to the human species and are similar in regard to the social instincts, nevertheless, every one of them possesses certain congenital and acquired qualities and certain particular gifts that distinguish him from the rest of his kind.

Do you like it when people are mad at you for doing something? Don’t you wish they just forgot about it? Well that’s what Islam says to do – pardon those who do wrong.

The Prophet Mohammed was commanded by Allah to have the following qualities: “Unite with whoever breaks with you, and pardon whoever wrongs you; give to whoever is bad to you…”

Patience

Islam takes pride in having always encouraged mankind to attain noble characteristics. One of these virtues is patience. God has ordered us to seek patience for our own benefit. God sent down Prophets to encourage this noble quality in man.

God has promised the patient person reward in the after-life by stating in the Holy Koran:

"Say: O my servants who believe! Be careful of (your duty to) your Lord; for those who do good in this world is good, and God's earth is spacious; only the patient will be paid back (in the hereafter) their reward in full without measure." (39:10)

Morals and Manners in Islam

Good Social Relations
Relations between individuals in an Islamic community can be harmonious if certain rules are adhered to. These consist, firstly, of duties toward others, secondly, cultivating essential personal characteristics, and thirdly, avoiding bad personal characteristics.

The School of Humanity

By Ayatollah Morteza Motahhari

Extracted from Spiritual Discourses

The subject of our discourse is 'the school of humanity'. The human being who is the only inquisitive being in the world that we know, has always been subjected to investi- gation and discussion.

The Criteria for Humanity

By Ayatullah Murtaza Mutahhari

Extracted from Spiritual Discourses

I have been asked to discuss the question of the criteria for humanity. If we were to do so from the viewpoint of biology, this would be an easy matter since we would be dealing with the human body and the place of human beings in the animal world, in which case there is no difference between individuals. By the standard of anatomy, medicine, and, even to some extent, psychology, there are no major differences between two or more individuals.

Islamic Bioethics

Islamic bioethics derives from a combination of principles, duties and rights, and, to a certain extent, a call to virtue. In Islam, bioethical decision-making is carried out within a framework of values derived from revelation and tradition. It is intimately linked to the broad ethical teachings of the Qur'an and the tradition of the Prophet Muhammad, and thus to the interpretation of Islamic law. In this way, Islam has the flexibility to respond to new biomedical technologies. Islamic bioethics emphasizes prevention and teaches that the patient must be treated with respect and compassion and that the physical, mental and spiritual dimensions of the illness experience be taken into account. Because Islam shares many foundational values with Judaism and Christianity, the informed Canadian physician will find Islamic bioethics quite familiar. Canadian Muslims come from varied backgrounds and have varying degrees of religious observance. Physicians need to recognize this diversity and avoid a stereotypical approach to Muslim patients.

Sleep

Sleep the sleep of the mindful, do not sleep the sleep of the heedless. For the mindful among the astute sleep only for rest, and do not purposely sleep through laziness.

The Holy Prophet (saw) said, 'My eyes sleep, but my heart does not.'

The Evil Effects of Adultery in this World and the Hereafter

Imam Muhammad al-Baqir (a.s.) says:-

"Fornication has six types of effects. Three are for this world and three for the Hereafter. The three evils which become evident in this world are:-

Social Interactions

Courteous social relations with Allah (SWT)'s creation while avoiding all acts of disobedience to Him is a sign of Allah's excessive generosity with His bondsman. Whoever is sincere and humble before Allah (SWT) in his innermost being will have good social interaction externally.

An Islamic Perspective on Self Honesty

Mariam Al-Haydari

In His holy book, Allah [swt] has said: “And by the soul and Him who made it, then He inspired it to understand what is wrong and right for it” (91:7-8).

Greater Sin: Lying

Lying is another sin which is classified among the Greater sins. The famous scholar, Shaykh Ansari (r.a.) writes in his book, Makasib-e-Muharrama:
"Common sense suggests lying is haraam, all the revealed religions also say so; particularly Islam. The Quran is explicit in this regard. The corpus of hadith (opinion of the majority of the jurists) verifies this tenet and reason also sustains this assertion."

Lying is listed with the greater sins in the narration of Fazl Ibne Shazaan from Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq (a.s.).

Knowledge & Wisdom

We begin our first lesson with Knowledge and Wisdom, which is the first and original pillar of human distinctions and specialities.

In the very first revelation to the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s.) we read, Read in the name of your Lord Who created. He created man from a clot. Read and your Lord is Most Honourable, Who taught to write with the pen, taught man what he knew not.

Acting Accordingly

After describing the verses and traditions showing the excellence of the learned we now come to the ayats and traditions condemning those learned people who do not act according to their knowledge.

Inactive scholars from the viewpoint of Quran

Intention in Teaching & Learning

It is necessary for us to understand that anything that is not done purely for God and without sincerity gives no benefit to man, rather, it is harmful for the hereafter.

Imam Sadiq (a.s.) says: Anyone who aims at getting worldly gains from knowledge has no share in the Hereafter and one who intends to earn in the Aakhirat gets both; worldly and otherworldly benefits from Allah.

The word Riyaa is derived from Rooyat which means pointing to or showing of a deed. Man's aim behind this deed is to attract peoples towards him. He does it in various ways:

A - By his deeds or actions; for example, he prolongs his actions during namaz and makes his face appear fearful and courteous.

Self Deception & Egotism

One of the most dangerous attributes that are mostly seen among the scholars and saints is egotism. It is the same self-centredness for explaining the meaning whereof great teachers of ethics and morals have written much.

Egotism is that man thinks himself to be great due to his material attainments, be those actual virtues in him or only in his imagination.

Eternity of Moral Values
By Ayatullah Murtadha Mutahhari

Before entering the discussion concerning the eternity of moral values it should be noted that according to the philosophies of `being' reality and knowledge as well as moral values are considered to be permanent. Though here I will not be concerned with the permanence of reality, but it is necessary to deal with the question as to why reality and ethics are dealt with separately.

Ethics & Training
By Ayatullah Shaikh Makarem Shirazi

Is it possible to alter individuals' morality and mentality through training?

This is the question, which clarifies the position of ethics, because if we accept that morality and mentality of individuals depend on the structure of their body and soul, ethics will be vain and purposeless. But if we accept that it is changeable, the importance and value of this science is manifested well.

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