Noble and Good To Be Or Not To Be

To be humble. To be good. To be fair. To be just. To be noble. These are necessary human qualities. Without these man can be reduced to be an animal in the shape of a human being. The desire to be true and fair is the first quality of a noble character. Because of noble character around, men live in peace.

Often men are surrounded by their selfish desires. These desires are blind. At times because of greed they do harm to their fellow-men, if only they would stop and think. He should think: if a similar bad act was done to him, how much would he feel hurt. Before doing any act which is bad or could bring sadness, one must wait and think. There is a law of Nature, There is a law of “tit-for-tat.” There is justice of God.

In the Holy Qur'an God repeatedly calls for high quality of justice and fair play. Human character must be so developed. He says in the Book:

“O ye, who believe

Be always upright for God,

Bear witness with justice

Let not hatred of a people

Make you act unfairly.

Act fairly,

That is nearer to piety -

Fear God,

Truly God knows what you do.”

(Surah Al-Maidah, Verse 8)

Islam demands of a Muslim to be very impartial. Any love or enmity or gain must not come between him and justice.

Ali (a), the great Caliph of Islam, during all his life was the noblest example of justice and fair-play. He said, “Treat another as you would yourself.”

Before Islam, in the land of Arabia, there was ignorance. The Arabs were divided. One tribe fighting against the other. People always supported their tribe. Whether the tribe was on the right or on the wrong, this they never looked into. If the tribe was oppressed they oppressed. If they were being oppressed they fought back. This was the law of the jungle.

During these early days before Islam, Zubair, an uncle of the Holy Prophet, called a meeting of 5 clans of Makkah. Zubair asked the leader of each tribe to bring an end to the unfair practices. To support the just. To fight the unjust. That justice be first and not tribal loyalty. The clans accepted Zubair's suggestion. But it was afterwards, when Muhammad (s) came as Prophet that the whole Arabia accepted the good words of justice in full. They re-made their character to be humble, fair, just and noble. These qualities made Muslims great people.

Sayings:

“Books are the gardens of the learned”.

“By knowledge thou art saved; by ignorance thou art lost”.- Imam Ali (a)