{"id":222,"date":"2012-07-15T10:37:19","date_gmt":"2012-07-15T08:37:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/web\/?p=222"},"modified":"2012-07-15T10:37:56","modified_gmt":"2012-07-15T08:37:56","slug":"respect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/?p=222","title":{"rendered":"Respect (1-3)"},"content":{"rendered":"

The condition of being honoured esteemed or well regarded.\u00a0 This is the most commonly understood definition of respect.\u00a0 In fact, the thesaurus goes on the describe respect as a courteous regard for peoples feelings and links respect to honour, kindness, obedience and tolerance.\u00a0 So what is the role of respect in Islam?\u00a0 Islam states that it is the responsibility of each individual to treat all of creation with respect, honour and dignity.\u00a0 The most deserving of respect is the Creator Himself.\u00a0 Respect begins with loving and obeying the commandments of God and from this respect flow all the manners and high standards of morality that are inherent in Islam.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd whosoever obeys God and His Messenger, fears God, and keeps his duty (to Him), such are the successful ones.\u201d (Quran 24:52)<\/p>\n

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To be one of those who are successful, Islam requires that each individual learn to obey the Creator and thus treat humankind, our environment, the believers and ourselves with respect.\u00a0 Bearing in mind that the believers are one nation, and if one part of the nation is in peril so too are all its parts, respect for each other is essential.\u00a0 Islam teaches us that we are held accountable not only for our thoughts and actions but for the influence, we have over others and the creation. \u00a0Islam asks us to enjoin the good and forbid the evil. \u00a0Islam binds respect to peace, love and compassion, all attributes of the One God, therefore to fulfil our obligation to honour and obey God one must respect the honour, reputation and privacy of others.\u00a0 Respect involves staying completely away from the major sins of backbiting, lying, slander, and gossip.<\/p>\n

Respect for humanity means staying away from sins that will sow discord among the people and lead to destruction.\u00a0 Respect includes loving for our brothers and sisters what we love for ourselves.\u00a0 Respect involves treating others the way we expect to be treated and the way we hope God will treat us \u2013with compassion, love and mercy.\u00a0 Major sins put a barrier between humanity and God\u2019s Mercy and cause all the torment, misery and evil in this world and the hereafter.\u00a0 God commands us to stay away from sin and to strive against our own destructive character flaws.\u00a0 He also singles out suspicion, backbiting and gossip as bringing about nothing but shame and disgrace.<\/p>\n

<\/a>\u201cO you who believe!\u00a0 Avoid much suspicion, indeed some suspicions are sins.\u00a0 And spy not, neither backbite one another.\u00a0 Would one of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother?\u00a0 You would hate it (so hate backbiting).\u00a0 And fear God.\u00a0 Verily, God is the One Who accepts repentance, Most Merciful.\u201d (Quran 49:12)<\/p>\n

Ibn Abbass, a companion of Prophet Muhammad and Quran commentator said God forbade backbiting just as He forbade the eating of dead flesh.\u00a0 Eating dead flesh is something that people naturally have abhorrence to and they should have the same natural abhorrence to backbiting one another.\u00a0 Respect involves caring for one another not shredding characters the way carrion would shred a dead animal.<\/p>\n

Backbiting<\/h2>\n

Some people might say that backbiting is merely words and ask what harm it can do.\u00a0 Words are indeed powerful and have far-reaching effects.\u00a0 In addition to the obvious lack of respect involved in back biting, mere words<\/em> cause pain to the one maligned and consign the backbiter to the fires of Hell. \u00a0Prophet Muhammad, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him, \u00a0warned us of the fate awaiting those who utter disrespect.\u00a0 He said, \u201cA man might speak a word without thinking about its implications, but because of it, he will plunge into the Hellfire further than the distance between the east and west.\u201d<\/a>[1]<\/p>\n

On one occasion, a close companion of Prophet inquired how he could be admitted into Paradise and distanced from the Hellfire.\u00a0 Prophet Muhammad mentioned the virtues of good deeds and asked his companion if he desired to know the foundation of good deeds.\u00a0 The companion answered \u201ccertainly\u201d, where upon Prophet Muhammad took a hold of his own tongue and said, \u201crestrain yourself from this\u201d.\u00a0 The companion asked incredulously \u201care we held accountable for the things that we say?\u201d\u00a0 Prophet Muhammad replied that nothing sends people into the hellfire faster than the \u201charvest of their tongues\u201d.<\/a>[2]<\/p>\n

Having established that backbiting is anything but mere words<\/em> how can we define exactly what it is.\u00a0 Backbiting is talking about somebody in a derogatory way or in a way that would not be pleasing to the one being spoken about.\u00a0 It is called back biting because it is usually done when the person being maligned is absent or \u201cbehind his back\u201d.<\/em>\u00a0 Prophet Muhammad defined backbiting as \u201cto mention about your brother something that he would dislike having mentioned about him\u201d.<\/a>[3] \u00a0Imam An Nawawi commented that backbiting included \u201cwhat concerns his body, his religious practice, his worldly station, his physical appearance, his moral character, his wealth, his parents, his children, his spouse, his servant, his clothing, his activities, his smiles and frowns and anything else that pertains to him.\u00a0 It does not matter if you mention it explicitly by word or implicitly by indication or a gesture\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

In the same saying mentioned above, the Prophet Muhammad was asked about backbiting in relation to truthful comments.\u00a0 He explained the severity of backbiting, and explained the difference between it and slander, by saying, \u201cIf what you said about your brother is true, then you have backbitten him.\u00a0 If what you said about him is false, then you have slandered him\u201d.<\/a>[4]\u00a0 Slander is making a false statement; it is a major sin and deserves a severe punishment.\u00a0 God says in the Quran:<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd those who malign believing men and women undeservedly bear upon themselves the guilt of slander and a manifest sin.\u201d (33:58)<\/p>\n

In another narration of Prophet Muhammad, his beloved wife Aisha made a comment about one of her co-wives by describing her as short, or small in stature.\u00a0 Prophet Muhammad responded in a way that made clear the severity of her words.\u00a0 He said, \u201cYou have said a word that if it was to be mixed with the water of the sea, it would contaminate it.\u201d<\/a>[5]<\/p>\n

Backbiting has become so widespread nowadays that people use it as a way of expressing anger and jealousy. \u00a0Those who engage in it are disrespecting God by disobeying Him and harming others.\u00a0 Magazines and television shows are devoted to gossiping and prying into the private lives of others.\u00a0 There is no respect for privacy, and contrary to popular belief, the lives of others are not source material for gossip sessions. \u00a0The person who habitually engages in backbiting and gossip and who does not struggle against his desires and begs for God\u2019s forgiveness has lost all respect for himself for he no longer fears the fires of Hell.\u00a0 The sin is grave, the punishment severe, but God is Merciful and always accepts sincere repentance.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201c…if any of you does evil in ignorance, and thereafter repents and does righteous good deeds (by obeying God), then surely, He is Oft \u00adForgiving, Most Merciful.\u201d (Quran 6:54)<\/p>\n


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Footnotes:<\/p>\n

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<\/a>[1] Saheeh Bukhari, Saheeh Muslim<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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<\/a>[2] At Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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<\/a>[3] Saheeh Muslim<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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<\/a>[4] Ibid.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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<\/a>[5] At Tirmidhi, Abu Dawood<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The condition of being honoured esteemed or well regarded.\u00a0 This is the most commonly understood definition of respect.\u00a0 In fact, the thesaurus goes on the describe respect as a courteous regard for peoples feelings...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[27,13,41,67,73],"class_list":["post-222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ethics-in-islam","tag-ethics","tag-islam-2","tag-moral","tag-morality","tag-respect"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=222"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":224,"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222\/revisions\/224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}