{"id":5027,"date":"2021-10-14T07:37:58","date_gmt":"2021-10-14T06:37:58","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2021-10-14T08:00:08","modified_gmt":"2021-10-14T07:00:08","slug":"ethical-values","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shiastudies.com\/en\/5027\/ethical-values\/","title":{"rendered":"Ethical Values"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ethical Values<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Ethical Values: <\/strong>Islam has great respect for the mutual rights and duties of the neighbors
\n\u201cAnd (be good) to the neighbor who is your relative and to the neighbor who is not a relative \u2026\u2026\u201d (Qur\u2019an, 4:36).
\nIslam has great respect for the mutual rights and duties of the neighbors. The Holy Prophet (S.A.) has said: \u201cGabriel always used to advise me to be generous with the neighbors, till I thought that Allah was going to include the neighbors among the heirs of Muslim\u201d.<\/p>\n

The rights of neighborhood are not meant for Muslim neighbors only. Of course, a Muslim neighbor has one more claim upon us \u2013 that of Islamic brotherhood; but so far as the rights of neighborship and concerned, all are equal. Explaining it, the Holy Prophet (S.A.) said: \u201cNeighbors are of three kinds:
\n(1) that one who has one right upon you;
\n(2) that who has got two rights upon you; and
\n(3) that one who has got three rights upon you.
\n\u201cThe neighbor having three rights upon you is the one who is also a Muslim and a relative. The neighbor having two rights is the one who is either a non-Muslim relative or a non-relative Muslim.
\n\u201cThe neighbor having one right is the one who is neither a Muslim nor a relative. Still he has got all the claims of neighborhood-rights upon you\u201d.
\nHere are some more traditions which show the Islamic love towards the neighbors:- The Holy Prophet (S.A.) has said: \u201cThat man is not from me who sleeps contentedly while his neighbor sleeps hungry\u201d
\nImam Zainul-Abedeen (A.S.) (son of Imam Husain) (A.S.) has said: \u201cThese are your duties towards your neighbor: Protect his interests when he is absent; show him respect when he is present; help him when he is inflicted with any injustice. Do not remain on look-out to detect his faults; and if, by any chance, you happen to know any undesirable thing about him, hide it from others; and, at the same time, try to desist him from improper habits, if there is any chance that he will listen to you. Never leave him alone in any calamity. Forgive him, if he has done any wrong. In short live with him a noble life, based on the highest Islamic ethical code\u201d.
\nNow, let us ask our self a very significant question; \u201cAre we a good neighbor\u201d.<\/p>\n

Change of Heart<\/strong>
\n\u201cO people, there has come to you a direction from your Lord, and a healing for the (diseases) in your hearts\u201d. (Qur\u2019an: 10:57)
\nPeople have started changing their hearts \u2013 literally. Still it is not easy for them to change their hearts \u2013 idiomatically.
\nTransplantation of an organ of a human body reflects the progress of science within the past few decades. But it also reminds us of the vast gap between our material progress and spiritual poverty. Nothing shows this more vividly than the fact that the first successful transplantation of heart was accomplished in the \u2018Republic\u2019 of South Africa \u2013 the standard-bearer of racialism.
\nNow is the time to reflect upon the healing power of a heavenly book like the Holy Qur\u2019an. The above-quoted verse describes it as a \u201chealing for the diseases in your hearts\u201d. Nobody can guess how much change of heart has this book affected in how many people in all these long centuries.
\nI think the best explanation was given by one of my non-Muslim friends when he glanced through a few pages of a translation of the Holy Qur\u2019an and said: \u201cThe key-word in this book is \u2018Allah\u2019.\u201d
\nHe was right. This book creates a confidence in Allah which subdues every other feeling. A Muslim should not long for anything but the love of Allah; he should not fear anything but the displeasure of Allah.
\nOnce an enemy of the Holy Prophet (S.A.) found him asleep under a tree. He drew his sword; then thought it un-manly to kill a sleeping man. He awakened the Prophet, (S.A.) advanced towards him with sword in hand and asked contemptuously: \u201cTell me, who can save you now from me?\u201d Calmly, the Holy Prophet (S.A.) replied: \u201cMy Allah.\u201d
\nThis calm confidence in Allah unnerved the pagan, and the sword fell from his hand. Deliberately, the Prophet (S.A.) picked the sword up, and now it was his turn to ask: \u201cAnd who can save you from me now?\u201d The pagan said: \u201cNobody\u201d.
\nThe Prophet (S.A.) threw the sword away and said: \u201cNo, you are wrong. The same Allah who is my protector is also your protector: He would save you too\u201d.
\nThe enemy of a few minutes ago was now a faithful follower of the Holy Prophet (S.A.). This is the change of heart which really matters.<\/p>\n

To Acquire Knowledge<\/strong>
\n\u201cAnd say, O\u2019 My Lord, Increase my knowledge\u201d. (Qur\u2019an, 20:114).
\nRecently two functions were held in Tanzania. The Holy Prophet\u2019s birthday and the Literacy Week. It was a very appropriate coincidence as the following paragraphs will show.
\nDay in and day out, the Holy Prophet urged his followers to strive to create divine attributes in themselves to the maximum extent possible; and over all the attributes he gave precedence to knowledge. He made its acquisition as a duty of every Muslim man and woman.
\nThe Qur\u2019an repeatedly and emphatically asks man to exercise his intellect to acquire knowledge by study of nature ad history; to travel through the land and observe things; to ponder and reflect over the laws of Universe; and to seek the help of God in acquiring knowledge by praying to Him. O\u2019My Lord, Increase my knowledge.
\nThe main purpose of the Qur\u2019an, according to Dr. Iqbal, is to awaken in man the higher consciousness of the manifold relations with God and Universe. It was in view of this essential aspect of the Qur\u2019anic teaching that Goethe, while making a general review of Islam as an educational force, said to Eckermann; \u201cYou see, this teaching never fails. With all our systems, we can not go, and generally speaking no man can go, farther than that\u201d.
\nThe emphasis of the Holy Prophet of Islam on acquisition of knowledge was directly responsible for the fact that, in the words of George Sarton, \u201cWhen the West was sufficiently mature to feel the need of deeper knowledge \u2026.. it turned its attention first of all, not to Greek sources, but to the Arabic (i.e. Muslim) ones\u201d. (Introduction to the History of the Sciences).
\nBrifault says in \u201cMaking of Humanity\u201d: \u201cThe debt of our science to that of Arabs does not consist only in starting discoveries or revolutionary theories: science owes a great deal more to Arab culture; It owes its very existence. Science is the most momentous contribution of Arab (i.e. Muslim) civilization to the modern world\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Great Fellowship<\/strong>
\n\u201cAll who obey Allah and the Apostles, are with those on whom is the Grace of Allah \u2013 the Prophets and the sincere ones and the witnesses and the righteous; and what a beautiful companions they are!\u201d (Qur\u2019an, 4:69).
\nIt is an ayat of the deepest spiritual meaning. Even the humblest man who accepts Islam and obeys Allah and His Prophet, by doing good, becomes at once an accepted member of a great and beautiful spiritual fellowship. It is a company which lives perpetually in the sunshine of Allah\u2019s Grace. It is the glorious hierarchy of which four grades are specified:
\n1. The highest is that of the prophets or apostles, who got direct inspiration from Allah and taught mankind by providing perfect examples from their own lives. The highest position of that highest rank is held by the Prophet of Islam.
\n2. The next are those whose badge is sincerity and truth, they love and support the truth with their person, their means, their influence and all that is theirs. That rank, in Islam, was held by the special companions of the Holy Prophet.
\n3. The next come the noble army of witnesses, who testify to the truth. The testimony may be by martyrdom, or it may be by the tongue of the true preacher or the pen of a devoted scholar.
\n4. Lastly, there is the large company of the righteous people, the common folk who do their ordinary business, but always in a righteous way.
\nThis is the beautiful fellowship in which each has his place; but at the same time derives from the common association.<\/p>\n

Obligations of a Believer<\/strong>
\n\u201cThose who establish prayers, and hand over \u2018zakat\u2019 and believe in the life hereafter\u201d. (Qur\u2019an, 48:3).
\nThese attributes of the believers refer to the three main aspects of religious obligation is Islam.
\nA Muslim must fulfill his obligations towards God, toward fellow human beings and towards himself.
\nIn this \u2018ayat\u2019, prayer is the symbol of the obligations towards God. It is considered so important that \u201cif a man\u2019s prayers would be worthy of acceptance by God, his all other virtuous performances would be accepted; but if his prayers are rejected (because of his base intentions), all other acts would be rejected\u201d.
\nThe right of the fellow human beings is symbolized by giving the religious monetary dues. It should be enough to say that, in more than 80 places in the Qur\u2019an, the exhortation to establish prayers is followed by that of paying the \u2018zakat\u2019.
\nLast, but not the least, is a man\u2019s responsibility towards himself. I do not mean his right to the worldly enjoyments, though it may be considered a part of the over-all picture, within the limits of the religious laws. What I mean, and Islam means, by this phrase is that a man owes it to himself to save his soul from disgrace when all will be assembled together on the day of reckoning. Hence the mention of that belief in the above-quoted verse.
\nAccording to Islam, if a man commits a sin which does no harm to any other person in any way, he fails in his duty towards God (by disobeying Him) and towards himself (by putting himself liable to the displeasure of God). Yet, such a man has more hope of being forgiven by God than the one who has committed a sin against another person. The latter has failed in all three aspects of his duty: he has displeased God, has harmed another person and has disgraced himself. Such a person will not be forgiven by Allah unless he is pardoned by the person whom he had wronged.<\/p>\n

On \u2018Trust\u2019<\/strong>
\n\u201cVerily, Allah commands you to return the \u2018Amanat\u2019 to their owners\u201d. (Qur\u2019an, Sura 4:58).
\n\u2018Amanat\u2019 (the word used in the ayat mentioned above) means keeping the trust faithfully and returning it without any change or alteration whenever demanded by the person who gave it to you. It is one of the highly emphasized virtues in Islam. The Holy Prophet himself was the embodiment of \u2018Amanat\u2019. Long before he received the call from Allah to declare his Prophethood, he was popularly known as \u2018As-Sadiq-ul-Amin\u2019 (The Truthful and Trustworthy) among the people of Arabia.
\nIt is very revealing to see that after the declaration of his Prophethood (at the age of 40) his opponents accused him of everything from being a poet or sorcerer to being possessed by a genie; but never once, in this long period of conflict, did they accuse him of being untruthful or untrustworthy.
\nOn the contrary, that very person, who was conspiring to silence the voice of God by killing him, continued to deposit their valuables with him \u2013 the very man whose destruction was the only aim of their life.
\nWhen the Holy Prophet had to leave Mecca because of the said plots, he left his cousin, Ali bin Abi Talib, behind, instructing him to return all those things to their rightful owners before joining the Holy Prophet at Medina.
\nImam Zainul Abedeen, son of Imam Husain, used to say: \u201cIf the murderer of my father gives me in trust the sword which he used in killing my father (martyred at Karbala), I will return it to him whenever he comes back demanding its return\u201d.<\/p>\n

Zekr (Remembering God) is as Virtuous as Dua<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n