سماجی اطلاق: رشتوں اور معاشرے کی اصلاح میں قرآن کریم کے مقاصد

By Dr. Ahmed Mohamed Ali Abouseif, President of the American Imams Academy.

The Objective of Justice: The Balance of Society's Standing

"Indeed, God orders justice and good conduct and giving to relatives." [al-Naḥl: 90]

The verse gathers the objectives of society in three gradations: justice that regulates rights so that no one is wronged — the minimum upon which society's standing rests; then benevolence that surpasses bare right to grace and giving, dissolving rancor and making affection; then the joining of kinship that builds the family bond. Whoever reads it in an objective-based way knows that the welfare of society does not rest upon legal justice alone, but is completed by the benevolence that fills the void the law is unable to reach. A society without benevolence is a cold society, even if justice is established in it.

The Objective of Consultation: Participation in the Decision

"And their affair is [determined by] consultation among them." [al-Shūrā: 38]

The objective of the verse is grounding the principle of participation and the exchange of opinion in the affairs of the community, whether small like the family or great like the Ummah. Reflect that it made consultation a necessary attribute of the believers, pairing it with prayer and spending, so it is a firmly rooted character trait, not a passing procedure. Its objective nurtures respect for the other, involving him, and esteeming his intellect, and guards against despotism in opinion and the exclusion of people. The Muslim who is aware of this objective consults his family in his home and his colleagues in his work, and does not act alone in a decision that concerns others; for he knows that consultation builds belonging and distributes responsibility.

The Objective of Reconciliation Among People

"So make reconciliation between your brothers and be mindful of God that you may receive mercy." [al-Ḥujurāt: 10]

The Qur'an made reconciliation between disputants a collective obligation addressed to the whole society, and praised it so that it excepted it from the censure of secret counsels, saying: "No good is there in much of their private conversation, except for one who orders charity or kindness or reconciliation between people." [al-Nisāʾ: 114]. Its objective is mending the rift and preserving the unity of the community from fragmentation. The objective-based society does not leave a quarrel to spread between two individuals until it widens; rather its members hasten to reconciliation seeking this objective, and they consider silence over a quarrel to be negligence.

The Objective of Safeguarding Society: Avoiding What Demolishes It

"O you who have believed, avoid much suspicion... and do not backbite one another." [al-Ḥujurāt: 12]

The Qur'an forbade ill suspicion, spying, and backbiting in a single verse, because its comprehensive objective is protecting the fabric of society from disintegration; these three afflictions are pickaxes that demolish trust among people: ill suspicion corrupts hearts, spying violates sanctities, and backbiting wounds honor. The prohibition of them is not a constriction upon people, but a safeguarding of a greater objective: a society pervaded by tranquility, good opinion, and concealment of faults. Whoever understands this objective restrains his tongue not merely out of fear of punishment, but out of preservation of the society in which he lives.

How greatly we need this objective in the age of social networks! Backbiting has come to be written and published, read across the horizons; ill suspicion and spying have come to wear the garb of "comments" and "following"; and honor is demolished by a clip that is re-published. The objective-based reader keeps present that the objective of the verse is the protection of society, so he makes for his fingers on the keyboard what he makes for his tongue: he publishes no scandal, delves into no one's honor, and harbors no ill suspicion over a post that bears a [benign] interpretation. The preservation of the digital society is part of the preservation of the real society.

This is followed by the tenth article: "A Psychological Application: The Objectives of the Qur'an in the Tranquility and Healing of the Soul."

| A takeaway for life: Choose a single relationship this week — a neighbor, a relative, or a colleague — and apply in it the objective of a social verse: be good to one who fell short, reconcile two disputants, or refrain from a backbiting you had grown accustomed to. The reform of society begins from your near circle — a verse translated into a single sincere act. | |---|