| Islamic Way of Living |
by Dr. Sayed Abdul Wadud
(1) RESPECT FOR HUMANITY
All children born in this world are equal by birth on account of their being human beings. None of them is rich or poor, high caste or low caste, officer of servant. But these differences are brought into being, soon after birth. Everybody shall try to take care of rich parents' child, but few shall try even to look at a child born in a poor house. A child born inside the room of a bungalow and the other one born in the servant quarters of the same bungalow, become differentiated immediately after birth. All shall pay respect to the child of an officer, but shall rebuke the child of a servant. It is no fault of any one child to take birth in a poor house and it is no virtue of any other child to take birth in a rich family. Thus it is unjust to differentiate one from the other. Similarly it is absolutely a wrong attitude to distinguish between people as one of low caste and the other of high caste.
Allah has said:
Walaqad karramna banee adama (17/70)
" We have honoured humanity as a whole."
Therefore all human beings, belonging to any country, nation or race, speaking any language, having been born in a rich or poor family and belonging to any religion, are equal and worth of respect.
Then what is the criterian of one's position in a society? The Quran says:
Walikullin darajatun mimma AAamiloo
"And to all are (assigned) degrees according to the deeds (which they have done). (46/19)
One who does good deeds is more respectable than the one who does bad deeds. On the other hand one who performs good deeds, if he begins to do bad deeds, his position in the society shall be lowered. Similarly the one who does bad deeds if he begins to do good deeds, his position shall be gradually raised in the society. Thus one's position in the society shall be in proportion to the quality of his deeds. The Quran says:
Inna akramakum AAinda Allahi atqakum
"The most honoured of you, in the sight of Allah is he, who is more obedient to the laws of Allah." (49/13)
BOYS AND GIRLS -- Most of the people attach more importance to boys as compared with the girls and men are considered superior to women. This is a bad thing. According to the Holy Quran men and women are all human beings, equal to each other by birth and equally worth of respect. As said earlier, the criterion of respect and of being high or low, among all human beings, men as well as women, is the quality of their deeds. The Quran says:
La odeeAAu AAamala AAamilin minkum min thakarin aw ontha baAAdukum min baAAdin
" Never will I allow the work of any of you to be lost may he be a male or a female. You are part of one another. (3/195)
(2) PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY
We all know that morning physical exercise is good for health. But if a certain person who wants to improve his health himself keeps lying on the bed and asks his servant to go and have a daily three miles walk in his place, do you think it shall do him any good? The answer is No. This is not possible. Similarly it also cannot occur that a boy studies regularly everyday but the intellect of another boy, who never studies by wastes time in play, increases instead. Thus the Holy Quran proclaimed the law:
Laha ma kasabat waAAalayha ma iktasabat
"It gets every good that it earns and it suffers every ill that it earns. (2/286)
It means that one who does good shall be rewarded and one who acts badly, shall suffer the loss.
The Quran also declares:
Alla taziru waziratun wizra okhra
" That no bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another." (53/38)
Everybody shall be responsible for this own act. The responsibility, of what one does, cannot be transferred to anybody else. This is called Allah's law of Requital (مكافات). Thus according to this law, every act shall be exactly repaid