Part Three: Islamic Ethics and Etiquettes
Islam emphasises exceedingly on human ethics, and attaches significant importance to social etiquettes, to the extent that Allah’s messenger, peace be upon him and his pure family, identified the aim of his mission as the completion, perfection and globalisation of noble morality saying, “Indeed I have been sent to complete the noble morals”
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And when Allah Almighty wants to praise His beloved Prophet, peace be upon him and his pure family, He praises him by pointing to his noble morals saying, .and surely you are of a mighty morality.
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And when He wishes to remind the Muslim Ommah of the great mercy that have been gifted to them, He reminds them of the most significant attributes of this mercy, which is the Prophet’s lenient manners and morals saying, [addressing the Prophet Muhammad] .it is by Allah’ mercy that you are gentle to them.
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These, and many other texts in this respect, point to the importance of ethics and etiquettes - akhlaq & adab - in Islam, and the extent of their requirement in a Muslim individual, such that when the Wise Qur’an mentions some of the rulings of punishment, the sacred book follows them with the mention of forgiveness, and accompanies them with moral/ethical rulings, and considers forgiveness in them as being “closer to piety”
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The Pillars of Morals and Etiquettes
Islam made religion and piety the axis of ethics and etiquettes, and identified four pillars for ethics and two for etiquettes, and invited the Muslims to them and instructed them to adorn themselves with them.
Ethics and their four Pillars
The four pillars of ethics are:
1. Purity of the heart and the honesty of intention; On the significance and vitality of the purity of the heart and its wellbeing, and the honesty of intention and its sincerity Allah Almighty declares; .the day when neither wealth nor sons shall profit, except for him who comes to Allah with a sound heart.
that is pure from polytheism, disbelief, and from the unethical manners.
2. Beaming and smiling face;
In the hadith it is reported, “The believer has his happiness and contentment upon his face and his sorrow in his heart”
. “The one who is beaming and smiling gains [Allah’s] love and enters Paradise, and the frown-faced is distanced from Allah and enters the Fire”.
3. Beautiful and nice speech;
Almighty Allah says, .and ye speak kindly to people.
, and Amir al-Mo’mineen peace be upon him said, “I dislike it for ye to utter profanities”
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4. Good dealing and beautiful living with the people; Almighty Allah says; .keep to forgiveness, bid to what is honourable, turn away from the ignorant.
, and the Almighty says; .and when the ignorant address them they say ‘Peace’.
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The Two Pillars of Etiquettes
As to the two pillars of etiquettes, they are: 1. Personal etiquettes, which are related to one’s personal life such as the etiquettes of eating, drinking, while asleep and awake, of wearing and housing, while travelling and at home, of sickness and health, and suchlike that Islam has taught the best of. Adhering to these etiquettes brings one closer to every good and health, and distances one from every evil and undesirable, rendering one happy and praiseworthy.
2. Social etiquettes, which are related to one’s social life such as the etiquettes of living with the parents, the spouse and the offspring, relative, friends and neighbours, the student and the teacher, and with all the people - but rather with all beings, of which Islam has brought the best teachings in these respects, the implementing of which guarantees safety and peace, security and stability, harmony and understanding, affection and kindness between all people, and all mankind.
Distinctions of the Islamic Society
The Islamic society is the society that adheres to the human ethics and social etiquettes that Islam has brought forward, and so it is distinguished from other societies by the following issues:
1. The Islamic society has a characteristic other than that of the society we see today. For it enjoys - after the faith in Allah and the Day of Resurrection - from the Islamic ethics and etiquettes, which regulate the behaviour [of the individual] to the extent that no other earthly system can.
And thus the very lofty and sublime human values will become widespread throughout the society, whereas today’s world speaks of mankind in terms of a mechanical tool, robbing him of all values of good and goodness. Furthermore, in an Islamic society psychological complexities and many of current problems will be extinct, while on the other hand confidence and sociability will prevail, and love and affection will reign in both individual and social terms.
2. Life, in all its aspects and dimensions, will blossom and prosper under the just Islamic system, and thus the country will be revitalised, houses built, the land farmed, the industries developed, trades expand, the wealth grows, and the people will be enriched in an environment wherein there is no wronging or oppression, no terror or violence, no restrictions or conditions, no prison or torture, no suffering or poverty.
It was for this reason that development, progress, love, and confidence were commonplace when Islam was practically implemented, something that the world today cannot find despite the substantial increase in the means and facilities.
3. Every member of the Islamic society is a manifestation of Islam and its teachings through his words and actions, caring for every member of his community and his nation and being responsible for them, promotes virtue and prohibits vice, invites to Islam and calls for a single universal Islamic government .with wisdom and good advice, and reason. for that .in the best manner.
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Islam and Ethics are Twins
The essence of Islam and the reality of the Islamic religion is the essence of the human moral ethics, and the reality of the lofty and sublime social etiquettes. They are twins that may not separate, rather they are one truth for one reality, since there is nothing that morality encourages that Islam does not enjoin to, and nothing that the etiquettes promote that Islam does not encourage and invite to.
So all laws and tenets of Islam and its lofty teachings, ranging from acts of worship to transactions and suchlike are founded on lofty ethical bases, and firm pillars of etiquettes, and as an outline we shall mention briefly some of those that Islam has commanded as obligatory, prohibited as forbidden, or warned as ethically undesirable, or encouraged and called for amongst the etiquettes and morally ethical. We will see that all of them are in harmony with the human nature, concords with his soul and his spiritual values, but even with his body and materialism . while being in the loftiest moral level, and highest peak of human etiquettes.
The Obligatory
Almighty Allah states, .Surely Allah bids to justice and good doing and giving to kinsmen.
, therefore it is mandatory for the Muslim individual to learn the obligatory duties and to act upon them, and we shall mention some of them here:
Believe in Allah, His messenger and the Authorities
• To have faith in Allah and the Day of Resurrection
• To have certainty in Allah and the Day of Resurrection
• To devote entirely to Almighty Allah
• To worship Allah
• To rely on and entrust Allah in [all] affairs
• Seeking the means to attain closeness to Allah
• Seeking the favour of Allah
• Remembrance of Allah under every circumstance
• Humility of the heart and fear from Allah
• To abstain from Allah’s prohibition
• To be content by Allah’s decree
• To speak of Allah’s bounty
• To think about Allah’s bounties and His benefits
• To submit to Allah, and to exalt and glorify Him (i.e. to consider Him free from any false attributes)
• To race to Allah’s forgiveness
• To have good opinion of Allah
• To rule by what Allah has revealed
• To return to Allah through repentance
• Supplication
• To call to the way of Allah
• To heed to Allah’s call and His messenger’s
• To consider prohibited that that Allah and His messenger have prohibited
• To refrain from what Allah and His messenger have prohibited
• To obey Allah, His messenger and the awliya’ peace be upon them
• To adhere to what the Prophet and his Ahl al-Bayt have brought forth
• To visit [the shrines of] the prophet and the imams from his Ahl al-Bayt
• To love Allah and His devotees
• To disassociate from the enemies of Allah and the enemies of His devotees.
Acts of worship and related issues
• To keep the prayers, acts of worship, covenants, and the things deposited in trust
• Night prayers, reciting the Qur’an, worship at night time (after midnight)
• To be in sequence with the imam of the congregational prayers
• To wear beautiful apparel at places of prayer
• Fasting the month of Ramadan
• To perform Hajj
• To pay Khums
• To give Zakah
• To give the due of the crop
To be kind to the parents and relatives
• To thank Allah and the parents
• To be kind and gentle to the parents
• To keep company with the parents and relatives in goodness
• To be kind to kinsfolk
• To love the kinsfolk
Seeking knowledge
• To learn the principles and practices of religion, osool and furoo‘ [issues one is required to know in order to be able act according to Islam in all circumstances, and fulfil his duties accordingly], as well as ethics and etiquettes
• Thorough learning in religion
• Seeking knowledge in general
• To learn from admonitions, and other’s fates and experiences
• Listening to the wise Qur’an
Avoiding evil
• To avoid signing and music
• To avoid worshiping other than Allah
• To avoid thinking bad of others
• To destroy matters of corruption
• To prohibit evil
• To repel evil
• To destroy deviation
Family life
• To marry
• To give the wife her dues and her mahr
• To stay with the wife overnight
• To live with the wife cordially
• To care for the children
• To educate and raise the children
• To protect one’s chastity
• To lower one’ gaze
• To have a fervour or a sense of honour [with respect to one’s wife, etc.]
• For a woman to wear hijab in the presence of non-mahram men
Trustworthiness
• Giving the wealth/property of the orphan [back to them when appropriate]
• To give back the things deposited in trust
• To bear witness [sincerely]
• To give back the right of the people, and the right of Allah
• To seek forgiveness from the person whose been wronged
• To compensate what one has damaged/destroyed
Resilience and perseverance
• To uphold the religion and to practice it
• To remain steadfast in [all] matters
• To keep to the truth
• To keep striving
Virtues
• To regret [committing] a sin
• To repent
• To seek forgiveness
• To persevere
• To be with the truthful
• To advise the believer and support
• To have good and true intention
• To be truthful in speech
• To have beautiful speech
• To disseminate the truth
• To judge by the truth
• To guide the people to the truth
• To facilitate reconciliation between people
• Justice
• Faithfulness
• Cooperation
• Feeding the hungry
• To make room [for others] in assemblies
• To give in the way of Allah
• Seeking sustenance
• Halal earning
• Weighing with correct measure
• To protect oneself and the family from [the punishment of] hellfire
• To take precaution [in one’s behaviour in every aspect]
• To seek permission when entering [others’] house
• To give greeting
• To reply back to a greeting or a letter
• To incline to peace
• To enjoin good and virtue
• To adhere and be enjoined to good and virtue
• To denounce innovators
• To defend the religion and the self
• To show one’s despise to those who commit sin
• To give the wage of the breast-feeder
• Migration
The Prohibited Conducts
Almighty Allah states, .Say: “Come, I will recite to ye what your Lord has forbidden to ye”.
Just as it is compulsory for the Muslim individual to learn his or her obligatory duties and act upon them, it is also mandatory to learn the prohibited matters and refrain from them, and henceforth we list here most of the prohibited matters that are of common cause for concern:
Beliefs
• Not to believe in Allah.
• To consider individuals or things as partners of Allah.
• To believe that Allah has children.
• Praying, prostrating or kneeling for something other than Allah.
• To consider oneself above the worship of Allah.
• To become unconcerned about the wrath of Allah.
• To abandon the practice of remembrance of Allah.
• To protest against Allah on fate and destination.
• Disputing with Allah, Allah’s messenger, the Ahl al-Bayt peace be up on them, and the maraje’ who follow their teachings, on the decrees of the shari’ah rulings.
• To cause difficulties for the Prophet, (S).
• Swearing to disassociate oneself from Allah, the prophets, the Imams and Islam.
• Lying against Allah, the Prophet, or Imams.
• To deny one of the principles of religion
• To deny any aspect of the holy Qur’an or the laws of Shari’ah.
• Blasphemy, especially, in the house of Allah.
• To become hopeless of the mercy of Allah.
• To deny the hereafter
• To deny miracles.
Shari’ah & Religion
• Not to comply with the laws of the Shari’ah.
• Not learning the basic principles of beliefs and the details of the rules of the religion.
• Not teaching the principles and rules of religion to those who are ignorant of them, when they are seen acting or practicing something, which is wrong.
• Innovating in (the laws and practices of) religion.
• Declaring the lawful as unlawful.
• Declaring the unlawful as lawful.
• Giving judgement not in accordance with Allah’s orders.
• To rebel against the Imam (leader) who is just and qualified
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• Denying what is due to Allah (e.g. Khums, Zakah).
• Refusing to pay religious taxes such as Khums, Zakah, or other obligatory dues.
• Delaying one’s dues.
• Not exercising taqiyyah when in danger.
• Migrating to places where one’s religion would be endangered.
• Friendship with the enemies of religion in the absence of an urgent necessity.
• Swearing in general, especially towards Allah, the prophets, the Imams, Islam, Qur’an, and other sacred things.
• To mislead people away from the path of Allah.
Obligations
• Not practicing the principle of “Enjoining Good and Forbidding Evil”.
• To break an obligatory fast such as that due to a vow or fast during Ramadan, without good reason.
• Not fasting for that missed during the month of Ramadan before the commencement of the next month of Ramadan.
• To delay a prayer until its time is over.
• To discontinue an (ongoing) obligatory prayer.
• To abandon obligatory prayers.
• To abandon any other obligation.
• To delay performing Hajj from the year it becomes obligatory.
• Rejecting the orders of the scholars in their Shari’ah verdicts.
• Accepting payment for religious obligations that have to be carried out.
Jihad
• Not taking part in Jihad.
• Fleeing from battlefield.
• Selling arms to the disbelievers who wage war against the Muslims.
Qur’an
• Touching the holy Qur’an without formal purification, Wudu.
• Selling the holy Qur’an.
Mosques
• Making the mosque unclean.
• Working to destroy mosques.
• Preventing people from going to mosques.
• Going to or staying in mosques while in a state of Jonob.
• The above individuals passing through the two grand mosques in Makkah and Medina.
• To violate the sanctity of the holy Ka’bah or any other one the holy sites.
The Believer
• Animosity towards believers.
• To defame a believer.
• To disgrace a believer.
• To hurt or abuse a believer.
• To threat or terrorise a believer.
• To make fun of the believers.
• To ridicule or demean the Muslims.
• To defame a believer in poetry etc.
• Abandoning the believers.
Others’ Rights
• To publicise someone’s secrets without his consent.
• Hoarding goods needed by the public.
• To falsely suspect others and act up on it.
• To falsely accuse people.
• Not to answer the salam greeting.
• Looking for others’ shortcomings.
• Swearing at, beating, wounding or amputating someone’s limb(s).
• Detaining someone for no reason.
• Unlawful killing.
• Denying the rights of people that are due to them.
• Usurping the wealth or property of an orphan.
• Seizing and confiscating others’ property, possession, or wealth.
• Reporting about individuals to oppressors.
• Confining a woman or young people for indecent acts.
• Obstructing the road of Muslims.
Male/Female Interaction
• Muslim woman not wearing Hijab in public.
• For Muslim women to wear anything, in terms of cosmetics, perfume, clothing, etc. which would attract the attention of ‘non-mahram’ men. [A ‘non-mahram’ man is any adult male whom a woman must wear hijab from, and this includes all adult male cousins, brothers-in-law, etc. as well all non-relative male. Editor]
• ‘Non-mahram’ man and woman kissing one another.
• Kissing a person with lust, except for spouses.
• Touching the body of non-mahrams, male or female respectively.
• Touching others with lust, except one’s spouse.
• Women shaking hands with ‘non-mahram’ men (and vice versa).
• Looking at a non-mahram woman (or man respectively) with lust.
• Looking at boys (or girls) or mahram relatives with lust.
• Going to mixed swimming pools, schools, clubs.
• Going to schools that would lead one to corruption.
• Looking at the private parts of others, (except for the spouses).
• To reveal one’s private parts in the presence of others.
• Adultery.
• Homosexuality.
• Lesbianism.
• Paedophilia
• Accusing someone of adultery or homosexuality.
Marriage
• Proposing marriage to a married woman or to a woman during the Eddah period (of four months after divorce or after becoming a widow).
• False marriage (e.g. forcing either of the two parties to marry, or the marriage of a Muslim and an atheist, Ka fir, (excluding People of the Book, i.e. Jews and Christian.))
• To marry one’s mahram relatives, or relatives by marriage, or by breast-feeding.
Marital issues
• For a husband not to have sex with his wife for more than four months.
• Masturbation, which is to cause ejaculation by hand or any other means - it is allowed if it is done by the spouse, for example in foreplay.
• For a husband to have sex with his wife when she is going through her monthly menstruation period.
• For a woman to go out of the house without the knowledge or permission of her husband. (This excludes cases that are considered necessary.)
• For spouses to publicise each other’s secrets.
Children
• Not disciplining one’s children such that it would lead them astray.
• For children to disobey their parents.
• Relating a child to someone other than his natural father.
Personal Conducts
• Lying.
• Fraud.
• Cheating.
• Cheating in weighing and measuring.
• Deception.
• Treachery.
• Hypocrisy.
• Forging a will.
• Stealing and robbery.
• Going against one’s vow.
• Breaking one’s covenant.
• Backbiting or listening to it.
• Slander and defamation or listening to it.
• To be jealous and to act up on it.
• To be haughty.
• To be extravagant.
• To wear gold or silk (applicable to men only).
• To use gold and silver utensils even for decorating reasons.
• Not keeping oneself clean from urine and other unclean substances.
• Endangering one’s own life.
Food & Drink
• Drinking intoxicating liquors.
• Eating animal flesh not slaughtered according to Islamic law, also consuming forbidden animals’ flesh such as pork, etc.
• Eating forbidden parts of the animals such as testicles.
• Eating and drinking of the unclean or that which has become unclean.
• Eating mud or other prohibited things.
Social issues
• To hurt neighbours.
• Looking into the houses of neighbours without permission.
• Sitting at a table where alcohol is served.
• Prevention of good deeds and charitable works.
• Sitting with people who make innovations in religion.
• Justifying or excusing the oppressor and the people who make innovations and supporting them.
• Reaching power by unlawful means (in accordance to Islamic law).
• Extracting confessions through torture.
• Playing chess, backgammon, card games, even if no gambling is involved.
• To work as a pimp.
• Spreading corruption on earth.
• To create commotion by setting individuals against one another.
• To praise one in his presence and abuse him in his absence.
• Exhumation of graves.
• Sitting with those who indulge in meaningless talks about the signs of Allah.
• Frolic and frivolity - to engage in useless activities, which are wasteful and distract from the remembrance and the path of Allah.
• To practice astrology or seek the help of astrologers. (to believe in and take action accordingly.)
• To subdue ghosts, Jinns and angles, etc. or seek the help of those who practice them (to harm others).
• Practicing black magic, witchcraft, or seek the help of those who practice them.
• Using magic to cause separation between husband and wife, or to cause one love the other without their control.
• Hypnotism (except for necessary medical requirements)
• Altering the will of the deceased.
• Issuing decree (fatwa) without being qualified to do so.
• Acquiring people’s money through falsehood.
• Going to a country where one’s religion may be harmed.
• Staying in a country where one cannot protect and keep one’s religion, and practice the Islamic rites.
• To be haughty and arrogant.
Sin
• To consent in sin.
• To publicise one’s sins.
• To publicise indecency.
• To help others commit sin.
• To persist in committing minor sins.
• To order or encourage others to commit evil or sin.
• Considering one’s sins not serious such that this would lead to disregard repentance.
• Promoting indecent acts.
Oppression
• Oppression and transgression.
• Helping an oppressor and condoning his actions.
• To become employees of the oppressors.
• Asking for judgment from an oppressor unnecessarily.
Gambling
• Betting or any form of gambling.
• Manufacturing tools of gambling instruments.
• Betting in ways other then those mentioned in the section of Islamic laws about archery and horseracing.
• Participating in horseracing competitions.
Music, etc.
• Dancing.
• Singing and listening to it.
• Visiting nightclubs, discos, etc.
• Manufacturing, buying, selling, possession, or playing musical or instruments.
• Playing drums, flutes and suchlike.
Truth
• To accept or give bribe to hide a truth or make something false prevail.
• Presenting false testimony.
• Destruction of the truth.
• Swearing a false oath.
• Hiding a testimony.
• Hiding the truth.
Falsehood
• Accepting false religions, like Sufism, Baha’i, etc. • To become a member of parties of falsehood like communism etc.
• Keeping, buying, selling, teaching and publicising false and misleading literature.
• The learning of corrupting subjects, or teaching them to other than those who want to refute them.
Miscellaneous
• Making statues, as well as buying, selling, and promoting them for the purpose of worship.
• Buying and selling swine and fighting dogs.
• Taking and giving usury, managing or dealing with any aspect of preparing or finalising the process of a contract involving usury, and the brokerage about it.
• Shaving one’s or others’ beards.
• To be self-praising about one’s own worships.
• A fury that leads to Haram.
• To break one’s bond with relatives.
• Earning by unlawful things and means.
• To write erotic poetry about a chaste woman or a boy, etc. • The use of intoxicants, whether drinking, serving, selling, buying, farming the plants [of their fruits] for this purpose, making, using their proceeds, taking them to others, renting a property, a vehicle, or anything else for their purpose, and also all uses of them such as treating injuries unnecessarily, and suchlike.
Needless to say, some of the conducts above may be related to others in the list, but they have been included for the seriousness of the conduct, as this has been indicated by various Qur’anic verses or Prophetic Hadith or traditions.
Furthermore, it should be noted that some of the conducts mentioned above constitute kufr (disbelief), some are shirk (polytheism or association), some are kaba’er (major sins), and some are subject to kaffarah (payment of fine or compensation), or subject to hadd (punishment predefined in the Qur’an or the hadith) or ta’zeer (punishment as prescribed by the Islamic judge), all of which are detailed in relevant jurisprudence texts.
The Unethical Conducts
There the habits and traits that are morally abominable and therefore it is imperative for the Muslim individual to avoid them and refrain from them, and they are many. The scholars of ethics have mentioned them in their books and here we shall mention most of them, some of which, according to shari’ah, are even prohibited.
• To seek revenge.
• To boast about oneself.
• To be very optimistic or overconfident about oneself
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• To consider one’s own good deeds as great.
• To belittle other’s good deeds.
• To consider other’s bad deeds as great.
• To belittle one’s own bad deeds.
• Not to care about one’s own bad conduct and ignore other’s protests against it.
• To look down on people.
• To cause inconvenience to others.
• To transgress, even by sitting comfortably
in a packed place.
• Hurting others even though an act causing it may not be unlawful, such as building one’s house such that it blocks sunlight or air from reaching the neighbour’s.
• Insulting others even if not up to the unlawful limits.
• Frightening people even if not to the unlawful degrees.
• Hostility even if less than the unlawful limits.
• The use of swear words even if not unlawful.
• Jealousy that is less than the prohibited.
• Wanting.
• To be rancorous and vindictive.
• To be stingy.
• To be malevolent.
• To be greedy.
• To be hasty.
• To cause commotion.
• To be hardhearted.
• To be awkward and not to get on with others.
• To be bad mannered.
• To be proud
• To be haughty.
• To show off even in non-worship matters.
• To suspect people.
• To be afraid of people.
• Going back on one’s promise.
• To be excessive in sexual lust.
• To have no self-respect.
• To have a low self-esteem and enthusiasm.
• To have no sense of honour.
• To have eager and fervour unnecessarily.
• To publicise matters that are best kept private.
• To cover up the truth, even if it were not mandatory to reveal it, even by keeping quiet.
• To say lies when joking.
• To accuse someone of something in a joke, like “he eats too much”.
• To make fun of others.
• To joke a lot.
• To laugh too much.
• To rely on [or take advantage of] others.
• To burden others.
• To do useless things.
• To talk about things that are not one’s concern.
• To spy on things that is not one’s business.
• Taking good deeds lightly.
• Not caring about desirable acts.
• Persisting on detestable matters.
• To get involved with indecent things.
• Involving one self in undesirable matters, even if they are not unlawful.
• To be materialistic; caring too much for material issues, e.g. clothing and housing, etc. in a similar way to those who lead an extravagant life.
• To express grief in hardship.
• To complain about life.
• To grief about worldly things.
• To have long worldly hopes.
• Not to be content about one’s sustenance in life.
• To be unconcerned about issues of the hereafter.
• Love of being praised.
• Love of leadership or high position.
• Love of this world.
• Love of wealth.
• To be too busy with earning.
• To be too wealthy that would lead to arrogance.
• To be pessimist about Allah.
• Not to have trust in Allah.
• To ignore Allah’s guidance, and warnings, etc.
• Not to care about the rules of shari’ah.
• Discrimination, fanaticism, and racism.
• To get angry without justifiable reasons.
• Not to be respectful to the elders.
• To be unkind to children.
• To be unfair.
• To be ungrateful.
• To be unthankful.
• For one’s outer and inner [approach] to be contradictory even in worldly matters.
• To be insolent.
• To neglect the believers.
• To sleep a lot.
• To have no work or skills.
• Not to observe cleanliness.
• Scrupulosity and obsession (waswasah), even in worldly matters.
• To be either extremist in one’s affairs or indifferent.
• To frown one’s face for no reason.
• To associating with sinners.
• Keeping company of contemptible individuals.
The Ethical Conducts
There are virtuous ethics and praiseworthy traits that Islam encourages to them and has commanded the Muslims to be described by them. It is imperative that a Muslim individual adorns oneself by them and seek decoration by them. They are many, some of which are as follows:
• To have confidence in the promises of Allah.
• To belittle oneself before Allah.
• To spend for the cause of Allah.
• To take comfort with Allah.
• To repent from unlawful things that Allah dislikes.
• To submit oneself to the orders of Allah in all matters.
• To have trust in Allah.
• To love Allah and those whom He has ordered to love.
• To love because of Allah.
• To dislike because of Allah.
• To have fear of Allah.
• To have hope in Allah.
• To be deliberate in one’s affairs.
• To have fairness.
• To be independent of people.
• Altruism or selflessness.
• To help people.
• To train oneself in good matters.
• To encourage others to do good deeds.
• To stop others from doing abominable things.
• To bring reform among people.
• To be sincere in one’s deeds.
• To be good to one’s parents.
• To be humble.
• To visit friends.
• To be friendly.
• To be steadfast in good deeds.
• To be forbearing.
• To be good mannered.
• To protect the rights of the neighbours.
• To be concerned about one’s sins.
• Not to have all hopes in deeds.
• To be considerate with people.
• Not to do or practice anything (spiritually or materially) to the extent that it results in extreme pressure on oneself.
• To be nice with the family and children.
• To be content with destiny.
• To forsake worldly pleasures.
• To be respectful.
• To be protective of people.
• To correct one’s mistakes.
• To be pleasant in one’s speech with others.
• To be thankful of the bounties.
• To reform people .with wisdom and good advice.
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• To spent much in charity and help the weak.
• To maintain good relations with one’s relatives.
• To spread peace and harmony.
• To reach-out for the weak, sick and the orphans.
• To be clean.
• To conceal people’s faults and shortcomings.
• To be the same in out side and in side in all matters.
• To be truthful and stay away from lies even when joking.
• To have patience.
• To be hospitable to guests.
• To accept invitations.
• To give and accept gifts on traditional occasions.
• To forgive people.
• To be chaste.
• To have justice in all matters.
• To have reverence for religious people.
• To stay away from despicable individuals.
• To have courage.
• To love the poor.
• To strife against one’s desires.
• To give loans.
• To help the believers in need.
• To prevent any harm from reaching the believers.
• To keep a secret and not to publicises it.
• To mention people with good names.
• To hurry in doing good deeds.
• To bring one’s self into account.
• To give good advise to believers.
• To intend to do good things.
• To cleanse one’s soul and remove the abominable traits from it.
• To be pious.
• To be God fearing.
• To avoid matters that are doubtful.
• To persevere with avoiding sin.
• To persevere on worship and prayers.
• Remembrance of death and the hereafter.
• To be content.
• To be bashful.
• To have a happy face.
On Repentance and Returning to Allah
The prophet is reported as saying,
“There is not a day whose dawn break is risen and not a night whose dusk is set except that two angels converse a quartet between themselves, with the first saying:
If only these creature were not created,
The other says, now that they are created if only they would do what they were created for,
The other says, or if they do not know what they were created for, if only they act according what they know,
The other says, or if they do not act according to what they know, if only they would repent for what they did”.
When someone in his presence sought Allah’s forgiveness and said astaghfirullah, Amir al-Mo’mineen responded saying, “may your mother mourn you! Do you know what it means to seek forgiveness from Allah? Seeking forgiveness is a rank of the elite, and it is a name underlying six meanings:
The first is regret over what has occurred, The second is the determination not to ever go back to it, The third is to recompense the right of others so that you meet Allah while being plain without any liability upon you.
Fourth is to fulfil any obligatory duty you have missed. Fifth is to eliminate any flesh that may have nourished and grown through a forbidden [thing] through sorrow feelings until the skin touches the bone, and a new flesh grows in between.
The sixth is to make the body taste the pain of obedience just as you made it taste delight of disobedience, and it is then that you may say astaghfirullah.
In another hadith, it is stated, “he who intends to commit a sin but does not do it [the Lord will not reprimand him] but it may be that the servant commits a sin and the Lord - the Blessed and the Mighty - sees him and says, “By my Might and by my Majesty I shall never forgive you after this”.
Imam Sadiq said, “fear the trivial (the dismissed or scoffed at) sins, for they will not be forgiven.” He was asked what are the trivial ones? The Imam said, “That one commits a sin and say, good for me that I do not have [a sin] other than that.”
Amir al-Mo’mineen peace be upon him, said, “the most severe sin is that that one takes lightly”.
Imam Sadiq said, “No by Allah, Allah will not accept anything of His obedience while [one] persists on anything of His disobediences.”
On the Night Prayer and its Virtues
There is ardent emphasis on Night Prayer in the narrations reported from the ma‘soom imams, peace be upon them. The Night prayer is eleven rak‘ah, eight rak‘ah are the Night prayers, two are al-shaf‘ prayer, and one rak‘ah is al-witr prayer. Every two rak‘ah is performed with one salam with the exception of the witr which is one rak‘ah, with one salam. The time of the night prayer is between midnight and the break of Fajr.
It is recommended that in each of the two rak‘ah of the first prayer the surah of Tawheed is recited thirty times [after al-Hamd], and in the rest of the two rak‘ah prayers, the long surahs are recited such as the Cattle (#6), the Cave (#18), the Prophets (#21), if there is enough time. It is recommended to recite the long surah in the first rak‘ah and a short in the second [in the latter three prayers]. It is recommended to recite [the surahs of] al-Falaq, al-Nas, and al-Tawheed in the al-shaf‘ and al-witr
.
Otherwise one may read al-Tawheed in all
.
In the Qunut of al-witr prayer one should pray for forty believers, saying Allahumma ighfir le ‘so & so’, and instead of ‘so & so’ the name of the individual should be mentioned, [and if one wished to pray for a minor, s/he] should not be counted amongst the forty
. [after that] it is recommended in the Qunut to say istighfar seventy times, better still to say it one hundred times. During the saying of the istighfar one may keep one’s left hand raised and keep count with the right hand. This istighfar is recommended to be as follows:
Astaghfirullaha min jamee‘a dulmi wa jurmi wa israfi fi amri wa atoobo ilayh.
However, it would be sufficient to say Astaghfirullaha wa atoobo ilayh.
It is recommended to say seven times hadha maqam-ul-‘a’edhi bika min an-nar.
It is recommended to say three hundred times al-‘Afw, and if one wanted to say them conjointly then it should be pronounced al- ‘Afwa al-‘Afwa . .
The virtues and merit of the night prayer
Allah Almighty revealed to Moses, “Rise up in the darkness of the night, and make your grave a garden of the gardens of Paradise”.
Amir al-Mo’mineen said, “The rising of the night gives health to the body”.
Imam Sadiq said, “the prayer of the night beautifies the face, beautifies manners, freshens up the breath, increases sustenance, pays the debt, repels sorrows, and strengthens the sight”.
Imam Sadiq also said, “he says lies who claims he performs the night prayers while he goes hungry [during the day], for the prayer of night guarantees the sustenance of the day”.
On Childbirth and Childbearing
The first matter
It is recommended to wash the newborn when it is born, and to recite the adhan in its right ear and the iqamah in its left, to do tahnik, which is to apply water of the Furat (the Euphrates) to the upper inside of its mouth
, and to name him on the seventh day. It is recommended to shave the infant’s head on this day and to give to charity the hair’s weight in gold or silver. If he is not shaved on the seventh day it is no longer mustahab. It is also recommended on the seventh day to do aqeeqah using a sheep or a camel - the bigger the better. It is recommended that the midwife is given the entire leg, and if no midwife was involved, the mother is given the share of the midwife and she gives them to whomever she wishes. If the midwife was a Jewess who does not eat the Muslim meat, she is given one-quarter of the price of the sheep. It is recommended to give some of the meat to charity and cook the rest, and to invite ten of the believer over it, the more the better. It is recommended to circumcise the male infant on the seventh day, and if the father or guardian does not perform the circumcision for him, it becomes mandatory for the boy when he reaches the age of puberty.
It is recommended to recite the following du’a when the circumcision is being performed:
O Allah this is Your Sunnah and the sunnah of your prophet, blessings and peace be upon him and his pure progeny, and [this is] our obedience to You and Your prophet, thorough Your will and Your decree, for a matter that You wanted, a command You have made certain, and a matter that You have executed, so You have made him taste the heat of iron in his circumcision and his hijamah for a reason You know better than me. O Allah purify him from the sins, increase in his lifespan, repel the ills from his physique and the pains from his body, and enhance him in richness and prosperity, and repel poverty from him, for You know and we know not.
It is narrated from Imam Sadiq that it is recommended for the boy to recite this du’a before his adolescence if it were not recited at the time of circumcision, for Allah would repel from the boy the ‘iron heat’ such as being killed.
And if aqeeqah is not performed on the seventh day, it is recommended to perform it as long as he is alive, and even after he dies. It is preferred that the aqeeqah is male for a male and a female for a female, failing that, the male aqeeqah should be used, or just the aqeeqah without any specification. The criteria of the sacrifice [sheep for the hajj] are not required for the aqeeqah [sheep]. And if one cannot find one, should wait [until one finds one], and it is not sufficient to give the price of the aqeeqah to charity.
It is permissible for the parents and other [relatives] to eat from the aqeeqah but it is makrooh, and its severity is greater for the mother, and it is also makrooh for any dependent of the father. It is preferred that the aqeeqah is cut part by part and no bone of is broken. As for burying the bones, there is no evidence for it. It is permissible for the aqeeqah to be cut and gifted to the neighbours and others, but it is preferred to cook it and invite a group of the believers.
The aqeeqah is not specified for the poor, and it may be given to the well off and the Sayyid, even if the aqeeqah is for a non- Sayyid.
If the father does not perform aqeeqah for the child, it is recommended for the child to perform aqeeqah for himself, and the sacrifice [that one performs in the hajj] suffices for the aqeeqah.
If the son lives until after noon of the seventh day, it is recommended to perform the aqeeqah for him, and if he dies before noon of the seventh day, aqeeqah is waived.
The second matter
The best food for the infant is milk, and the best milk for the infant is his mother’s milk, but it is not mandatory - [from religious obligation viewpoint] - for the mother to feed the baby without a wage, and her wage must be met by the father. It is permissible for the mother to accept a wage for feeding the infant, even though it is preferred for her not to. Of course if the father was dead, or was not able to meet the cost, then it is mandatory for the mother to feed the infant. If the child had money, it is permissible for the father to pay the wage from that money, and in that case it is not mandatory for the father to pay the wage.
It is recommended for the mother to feed the child from both breasts every time, and the duration of complete breastfeeding is two years, and it is permissible to reduce it by three months, but it is not permissible to reduce it by more than that except for an exceptional condition. As a precaution, breastfeeding should not exceed the two-year period.
Needless to say, the mother has priority to breastfeed the child during this period, if she willingly opts for that or seeks a wage similar to other [breast-feeders], and it will not be permissible for the father to remove the child from her. If the mother sought a wage higher than others, the father may give the child to others [for breastfeeding].
It is the mother’s right to raise the child during the first two years, if it were male, and seven years in the case of a female, if she was a free, sane, trustworthy Muslim and did not have a husband other than him
. During this period the father may not take the child from her, but after the said period, the right of raising the child is the father’s, and if the father dies, the right goes back to the mother as a precaution, and the guardian may not challenge her. Allah Almighty is the knower.
This is the last of what we wished to briefly mention here about the acclaimed teachings of Islam, namely; the science of Osool al- Deen, the science of Foroo’ al-Deen, and the science of Islamic
Akhlaq and Adab, the learning of which is ‘ayniy
obligatory for every male and female Muslim, as well as implementing them, and acting upon them, so that we may attain a happy and prosperous life in this world, and win an eternal and everlasting paradise, InSha’Allah [by the will of Allah Almighty] and Allah is the succeeding, the helper.
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Author: Ayatullah Seyyed Muhammad Sadiq Shirazi
