Islam - Its Meaning for Modern Man — Page 233
233 converting an enemy into a firm friend (41:35). Transgression and oppression are condemned because they tend to create disorder and to destroy peace (7:56 ⎯ 57). Scornful behaviour toward other people is forbidden because it tends to set up a vicious circle. If it is persisted in, the weak and the poor, when they attain power and wealth in turn, will seek to humiliate those who used to despise them and to treat them with contempt (49:12). Extravagance is bad because it leads a person into evil company and to the misuse of God’s bounties (17:28). Niggardliness and hoarding, which is the consequence of niggardliness, are condemned because they put wealth out of circulation and deprive its owners as well as others of the beneficent use of it, thus affecting the general welfare prejudicially (47:39). As regards envy, the Prophet has said: “Safeguard yourselves against envy, for envy eats up the sources of happiness as fire eats up fuel. ” As to adultery and fornication, the Quran says: “It is an impurity and an evil way” (17:33). In other words, it is a vice which produces a feeling of secret guilt in the mind and sullies it, and it is a wrong way of achieving the object underlying the sexual instinct, namely, the propagation and preservation of the species. It prevents birth or renders the paternity of the child doubtful, thus imperilling its proper care and upbringing.