be lec 12 islamic perspective

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ETHICSAN ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE

Introduction

• Islam places the highest emphasis on ethicalvalues in all aspects of human life. In Islam, ethicsgoverns all aspects of life. Ethical norms and moralcodes discernible from the verses of theHoly Qur’an and the teachings of the Prophet(SAWW) are numerous, far reaching andcomprehensive

• Moral principles and codes of ethics arerepeatedly stressed throughout the Holy Qur’an

Ethics in Islam

The Prophet (SAWW) also says:

• I have been sent for the purpose ofperfecting good morals. (IbnHambal[1], No: 8595)

Quraan Majeed is

the best book on ethics

The life of Holy Prophet (sawaws)

is the best practical

demonstration of ethics

Where to find the life of

Holy Prophet (sawaws)?

I only follow that

Which is revealed unto me. 10:15

Verily among mankind

who have the best claim to

Ibrahim (AS) are those

who follow him and this

Prophet (SAWAWS) and

those who have believed

and Allah is the Wali of

the believers. 68:3

The Holy Prophet’s (sawaws)

Complaint on the day of Qayamat

O my Lord my Ummat took this

Quraan as a thing to be rejected.

25:30

Why people turn their

back (reject) to Holy Quraan?

And when you make mention

of your Lord alone (toheed)

in the Quraan, they turn

their backs fleeing in

extreme dislike

17:46

And this Quraan is not

such as could ever be

produced by other than Allah

10:37

And indeed We have bestowed

upon you seven of repeatedly

recited verses and the

Grand Quraan

15:87

Is it difficult to understand

the Holy Quraan?

And We have indeed made the

Quraan easy to understand

54:22

And they come not to thee

with a similitude, but we

bring thee the truth

and an excellent

Interpretation.

25:33

Certainly we have brought to them

a Book which We have explained

in detail with knowledge.7:52

See how variously We

Explain the ayaat so that they

May understand. 6:65

Every Muslim should possess a copy of the Holy Quraan so that he can himself get the guidance from it

Quaid e Azam

Dr Safdar Mehmood, The Daily Jang, Dated 29 Dec 2013

All praises and thanks be to Allah,

Who has sent down to his slave

the Book and has not placed

therein any crookedness.

18:1

It is for Us to collect it

and to give you the

ability to recite it

75:17

And who is better in speech

than he who invites to Allah

and does righteous deeds and

Says “ I am one of the Muslims”

41:33

And I am commanded to be

from among the Muslims

27:91

And who can be better in way of life than he who submits(aslama) his face to Allah and is sincere, and follows the faith of Ibrahim(as) the upright. (4/125)

Say thou: this only has been revealed to me; your god is only One God; do you submit (muslimoon) then?

Do you want to know who

is best amongst you?

The best amongst you is

the one who learns and teaches

the Holy Quraan

Holy Prophet(swaws)

You are the best of people

ever raised up for mankind; you

enjoin righteousness and forbid

bad things.

3:110

But warn by the Quraan

50:45

This Quraan has been

revealed to me that I may

therewith warn you

6:19

According to Allah the best way of life is Islam (3/19)

Who Benefits From Guidance

And advise Thou, for advice benefits the faithfuls

Benefits of Guidance

And that I should recite the Quraan, then

whosoever receives guidance, recieves it

for the good of his own self; and

whosoever goes astray, say “I am only

one of the warners”

27:92

Effects of Reciting Holy Quraan

Skin of those who respect their Lord shiver from(reciting) it. Then their skin and their heart soften to the remembrance of Allah.

39:23

Recitation will be Effective If

• Perform Iqamassala from mid day till darkness of the night, and recitation of the Quraan in the early dawn is ever witnessed. 17:78.

• Any one can try it and feel the effect of Ayat on previous slide.

How to Recite Holy Quraan

• And recite the Quraan in a slow style.

73:4

What is Slow Style?

• And We have revealed it to you in slow style.

25:32

How to Recite Holy Quraan

• So when you want to recite the Quraan seek refuge with Allah from Shaitan, the outcast

6:98

• So recite you of the Holy Quraan as much as may be easy for you. 73:20

• Make notes

• Practice, will bring more understanding

• Reflection

Holy Prophet’s Only One Advice

Say, I exhort you to one only, that you stand up for Allah’s sake in pairs and singly, and reflect (Tafakkar), there is no madness in your companion. He is a Warner to you in face of severe torment.

34:46

And those who, when they are reminded of the Ayaat of their Lord, fall not deaf and blind there at.

25:73

Do Not Fall Blind On Ayaat

Mohkamat & Mutashabihat

He it is who has sent down to thee the Book in which some verses are firmly constructed – they are the essence of the book and others consimilar. But those in whose heart is deviation follow only what is consimilar therein seeking dissension and seeking to misinterpret the same. Where as none knows their interpretation save Allah. 3:7

CONSIMILAR AYAT

And the herbs (or stars) and the trees both prostrate themselves ( to Allah)

(6:55)

Quraan Resolves Differences

And we have not sent down the Book to you except that you may explain clearly unto them those things in which they differ. 16:64

Quraan Makes Decision Making Easy

The month of Ramazan, in Which was revealed the Quraan, a guidance for mankind and the criterion.

2:185

Quraanic Ethics

Say the Best Words

• And say to my slaves that they should say those words that are the best. Shaitan verily sows a state of conflict and disagreementsamong them. Surely Shaitan is to man a plain enemy.

18:53

• O you who believe; spend of what we have provided you before the Day arrives when there shall be neither trading nor friendship nor intercession (2/254)

• O you who believe; when you borrow one from another for a time stated write it down

And fill up the measure and balance with equity (6/152)

Freedom of Enterprise

• Islam gives complete freedom toeconomic enterprise. Eachindividual in an Islamic societyenjoys complete freedom in theearning of his livelihood. He canstart, manage and organize anykind of business enterprise withinthe limits set by theIslamic Shari‘ah.

Freedom of Enterprise

• However, freedom does not andmust not operate without a senseof responsibility. An individual isfree to pursue his economicactivities provided he respects thecode of conduct prescribed for theprofession, which broadly meanschoosing things lawful andshunning matters unlawful.

Freedom of Enterprise

• The dictates of the Holy Qur’an andthe teachings of theProphet (SAWW) serve to set ascale in everybody’s mind todistinguish between the lawful andthe unlawful means of earning, andto prohibit or disapprove of allthings that are either morallywrong or socially unacceptable.

Islamic Tenets Concerning Business Transactions

Keenness To Earn Legitimate (halal) Earning

Says the Holy Qur’an:

• Do not devour one another’s propertywrongfully, nor throw it before the judgesin order to devour a portion of other’sproperty sinfully and knowingly. (2:188)

• Do not devour another’s propertywrongfully – unless it be by trade basedon mutual consent. (4:29)

Keenness To Earn Legitimate (halal) Earning

The Prophet (SAWW) is also reported tohave said:• Leave what makes you doubt for things

that do not make you doubt. (Tirmidhi,No: 2442)

• A time will come upon the people whenone will not care as to how he gets hismoney whether legally orillegally. (Bukhari, No: 1941)

Trade Through Mutual Consent

• Mutual consent between the parties is anecessary condition for the validity of abusiness transaction. It, therefore, followsthat a sale under coercion is notacceptable in Islam. A sale transaction isto be regarded as legal only if it is madethrough the mutual consent of the partiesconcerned. Taking advantage ofsomeone’s plight and charging high priceis also a form of pecuniary exploitationand as such forbidden in Islam.

Trade Through Mutual Consent

The Holy Qur’an says:• O you who believe! eat not up your

property among yourselves in vanities:but let there be amongst you traffic andtrade by mutual goodwill: nor kill [ordestroy] yourselves: for verily Allah hasbeen to you Most Merciful. (4:29)

The Prophet (SAWW) is reported to havesaid:• A sale is a sale only if it is made through

mutual consent. (Ibn Majah, No: 2176)

Truthfulness

The Prophet (SAWW) is reportedto have said:

• The truthful merchant [isrewarded by being ranked] onthe Day of Resurrection withprophets, veracious souls,martyrs and pious people.(Tirmidhi, No: 1130)

Truthfulness

The Prophet (SAWW) has also exhorted thebelievers to strictly adhere to truthfulness inbusiness transactions. He says:

• The seller and the buyer have the right tokeep or return the goods as long as they havenot parted or till they part; and if both theparties spoke the truth and described thedefects and qualities [of the goods], then theywould be blessed in their transaction, and ifthey told lies or hid something, then theblessings of their transaction would be lost.(Bukhari, No: 1937)

Trust Worthiness

• Trustworthiness is one of the most important principles ofethical discipline in commercial transactions. It demandssincerity in work and purity of intention from everybeliever. A true Muslim trader will not, therefore, barterhis Akhirah(hereafter) for worldly gains. He will avoidfraud, deception, and other dubious means in selling hismerchandise. The sense of mutual trust demands that thepros and cons of commodity be revealed to the buyer sothat he purchases the commodity in full satisfaction.

Says the Holy Qur’an:

• O you believers! Do not betray Allah and the Messenger,nor knowingly, betray your trusts. (8:27)

Generosity & Leniency

The Prophet (SAWW)invokes Allah’s mercythus:

• May Allah’s mercy be on him who is lenient inhis buying, selling, and in demanding back hismoney [or debts]. (Bukhari, No: 1934)

• The Prophet’s exhortation to Muslims meansthat a creditor should be easy and generousin demanding back his money. The debtor, inturn, should also give back the debt to thecreditor on time with due thanks andpoliteness.

Generosity & Leniency

The Prophet (SAWW) was the best of all people inrepaying the debts.

• Abu Rafi‘ reports that the Prophet (SAWW) took ayoung camel on loan. When camels came to him incharity, he asked Abu Rafi‘ to give the creditor ayoung she camel. Abu Rafi‘ pointed out that therewas no young camel except for a four–year old camelof a very good quality. The Prophet (SAWW) said:‘Give him the best one, for the best amongst you ishe who repays the rights of others handsomely’.(Muslim, No: 3002)

Honoring & Fulfilling Business Obligations

Islam attaches great importance to the fulfillmentof contract and promises.• O you who believe! Fulfill [your] obligations.

(5:1)• A tradition of the Prophet (SAWW) states thus:• The Muslims are bound by their

stipulations. (Abu Da’ud, No: 3120)• Another tradition condemns promise-breaking

as the hallmark or trait of a hypocrite:• If he makes a promise, he breaks it, and if he

makes a compact, he acts treacherously.(Bukhari, No: 32)

Fair Treatment of Workers

The last Prophet of Allah (SAWW) has explained this principle in the following words:

Those are your brothers [workers under you] who are around you, Allah has placed them under you. So, if anyone of you has someone under him, he should feed him out of what he himself eats, clothe him like what he himself puts on, and let him not put so much burden on him that he is not able to bear, [and if that be the case], then lend your help to him. (Bukhari, No: 2359)

Fair Treatment of Workers

The Prophet (SAWW) also said:

I will be foe to three persons on the Last Day: one of them being the one who, when he employs a person that has accomplished his duty, does not give him his due.(Bukhari, No: 2109)

Fair Treatment of Workers

The Prophet (SAWW) is also reported to have said:

The wages of the laborers must be paid to him before the sweat dries upon his body. (Ibn Majah, No: 2434)

Prohibited Matters in Islam

A verse of the Holy Qur’an says:

• Forbidden to you [for food] are:dead meat, the blood, the fleshof swine and that on whichname of other than Allah hasbeen mentioned. (5:1)

Dealing in Haram Items

The Holy Qur’an also says:

• O you who believe! intoxicantsand gambling [dedication of]stones and [divination by]arrows are an abomination ofSatan’s handiwork: so avoid itin order that you may prosper.(5:90)

Dealing in Haram Items

Dealing in Haram Items

The Holy Qur’an also says:

• O you who believe! intoxicantsand gambling [dedication of]stones and [divination by]arrows are an abomination ofSatan’s handiwork: so avoid itin order that you may prosper.(5:90)

The Prophet (SAWW) is alsoreported to have said;

• Allah and His Messenger madeillegal the trade of alcoholicliquors, dead animals, pigs andidols. (Bukhari, No: 2082)

Dealing in Haram Items

The Prophet (SAWW) also said;

“If Allah makes somethingunlawful, he makes its pricealso unlawful”. (Ahmad, No:2546)

Dealing in Haram Items

Hoarding of Foodstuff

The Prophet (SAWW) is reported tohave condemned the hoarders when hesaid:• No one hoards but the traitors (i.e.

the sinners). (Abu Da’ud, No. 2990)

He (SAWW) also said:• The importer [of an essential

commodity] into the town will be fed[by Allah], and the hoarder will have[Allah’s] curse upon him. (Ibn Majah,No: 2144)

Exploitation of One’s Ignorance

One of the most common unethical practices in modern businessis to exploit one’s ignorance of market conditions. Sometimes itmay happen that a buyer arrives in a town with objects of primeand general necessity for selling them in the market. A local tradermay persuade the new-comer to transfer all of the goods to himso that he will sell them on his behalf in the market. He obtainsthe commodities on a price that is lower than market price andthen sells them at a high or exorbitant price. Islam condemns thisact of intermediary intervention which involves exploitation ofone’s ignorance of market conditions. The practice was prevalentin pre-Islamic society. The Prophet (SAWW) has prohibited thispractice through a number of instructions. A tradition reads:

• A town dweller should not sell the goods of a desert dweller.(Bukhari, No: 2006)

Al Najsh (Trickery)

The term Al-Najsh means an action in whicha person offers a high price for something,without intending to buy it, but just to cheator defraud another person who reallymeans to buy it. The person practicing itmay collaborate with the seller to offer highprices in front of the buyers merely as ameans to cheat them. This type offraudulent transaction is totally prohibitedin Islam. The Prophet (SAWW) is reported tohave said:

Al Najsh (Trickery)

• Do not harbor envy against oneanother; do not outbid one another[with a view to raising the price]; donot bear aversion against oneanother; do not bear enmity againstone another; one of you should notenter into a transaction when theother has already entered into it; andbe fellow brothers and true servantsof Allah. (Muslim, No: 4650)

Cheating & Fraud• The traders and businessmen generally have a

tendency to motivate the customers by adoptingfraudulent business practices. Islam stronglycondemns all such practices in businesstransactions (Al-Ghashsh). The Messenger of Allahhas commanded the believers not to indulge incheating and fraudulent practices in businesstransactions. Sale of dead animal, dubious andvague transactions, manipulating the prices, sellingthe items belonging to a desert dweller by atownsman Al-Najsh(trickery), false eulogy andconcealment of defects are all examples of cheatingand fraud i.e. Al-Gashsh. The Prophet (SAWW) hasstrongly condemned all such practices in a numberof traditions and the believer to abstain from them.

SwearingThe traders often take recourse to swearing to emphasizethat their items are of good quality. They claim qualities inthe merchandise, which don’t exist. They try to persuadethe buyers to purchase their commodity by invoking Allah’sname. Swearing in business for such purposes is forbiddenin Islam, be it false or true. False swearing is an act of sinpunishable by hellfire. Swearing by Almighty Allah is toogreat a thing to be used as a means to sell a commodity.The desirable thing in business transaction is that both thebuyer and the seller remain straightforward and truthful intheir dealings, so that no one will feel the need to swear byAllah in order to create conviction in the mind of the otherparty. The Prophet (SAWW) is reported to have said:• Swearing [by the seller] may persuade the customer to

purchase the goods but the deal will be deprived ofAllah’s blessing. (Bukhari, No: 1945)

Dealing in Stolen Goods

Almighty Allah has declared thievery unlawfuland warned of severe punishment such ascutting the hand of the thief if the necessarylegal conditions for the award of punishmentare met. Even if the thief escapes worldlypunishment and gets away with stolen goods, itis not permissible for a Muslim to knowinglypurchase or sell these items. The stolen itemsare neither to be bought nor sold by those whoknow the reality. The Prophet (SAWW) madethe person knowingly buying a stolencommodity a partner to the crime. He said:• The one who knowingly purchases a stolen

good, is a partner to the act of sin and theshame. (Kanz Al-‘Ammal, No: 9258)

Difficult and Easy Life

Then as for him who gives and fears Him and testifies to the good to him We shall indeed make easy the path to ease.

And for him who stints (bakhila) and is unheeding and who belies the good to him We shall make easy the path to hardship

How to Increase Wealth

And recall when your Lord proclaimed: if you give thanks I will increase you, and if you disbelieve my torment is severe

Prophet’s (sawws) Life Style

• Talk softly

• Walk humbly

• Eat sensibly

• Breath deeply

• Sleep sufficiently

• Dress properly

• Interact politely

• Act fearlessly

• Work patiently

• Think truthfully

• Believe correctly

• Learn practically

• Plan orderly

• Earn honestly

FINAL ADVICES FROM MY SIDE?

Must work hard with honesty tolead a happy and successful life

O you who believe; devour not

your property among yourselves

unlawfully.

IMPORTANCE OF DUA

Study and follow the Holy Quraan

BEST GIFTS

FROM MY SIDE

REMEMBERANCE OF ALLAH

HOPE WE WILL ABIDE BY ISLAMIC ETHICS?

MANY THANKS FOR BEARING WITH ME

MY APPOLOGY IF I WAS EVER HARSH WITH ANYONE OF YOU

FEEDBACK

• Three important lessons which you learnt during this course and decided to follow in your life ( you may not write if you don’t intend following).

• Three suggestions for improvement of course contents or teaching methodology

• No need to give your identity