A Letter to a Dear One — Page 87
Muhammad Zafrulla Khan 87 harmonious. The Degrees of Morals Islam has appointed degrees of morals. One can keep them in view to check and reform one’s actions and morals. Allah the Almighty enjoins, « çG…M®HºM ö Z |Id tóG¥ † I ~ G y ã«G±M ä I îMZGy I uM¬G ∑ M ö £I… H ®H›MÆG † G FZ R wI~ I çM¸G¤M ö ZGy I ®G¼ÀH¿ ö ZGy I YóG²M©G¹M ö Z I ãG“ « çGÁMÀG † G y [16:91], “Verily, Allah enjoins you to abide by justice, and to treat with grace, and give like the giving of kin to kin; and forbids indecency, and manifest evil and transgression. ” Within these prescribed limitations the lowest degree of bad deed is that of transgression, next is manifest evil and then indecency. The lowest degree of virtue is that of justice, greater than that is grace and higher than that is to give like the giving of kin to kin. “Transgression” implies those deeds that inflict pain and grief on others, which usurp others’ rights. Verbal abuse, physical assault or thefts, etc. , are all such deeds. In short any such action that causes pain and suffering to another and infringes their rights is transgression. “Manifest evil” entails those deeds which other people dislike, for instance, general verbal abuse or impropriety; disagreeable acts like urinating in a public place or spitting on a clean floor in assembly, or an act that affects the sensibilities of others and hurts their feelings. “Indecency” infers to those deeds, which do not apparently affect others, but if they are not curbed there is a trepidation that evil deeds will stem from them. In this sense such deeds are detrimental to one’s spirituality and morality. Subject to this, undesirable and odious thoughts and imaginations come to mind. As I said before, in Islam thoughts and imaginations are also included in ‘deeds,’ as they are the font of apparent actions. Everyone can check one’s deeds and morals by these references and can pay attention to their personal reformation. Furthermore, one can judge the pace of this development. It is not essential to concentrate on ridding of ‘manifest evil’ only after one is completely rid of the degree