When Ibrahim, assisted by his son Ismail, finished raising the foundations of the Ka’aba, he and his son supplicated God, “Our Lord: Send forth from among them a Messenger who shall recite Your revelations and shall teach them the Scripture and Wisdom and shall instil morality in them. Verily, You, only You, are the Mighty, the Wise,” (Al-Baqara: 129). It is commonly accepted that the advent of Prophet Muhammad was the fulfillment of that supplication. This is supported by one Ayah from Surat Al-Imran (164), “God verily has shown grace to the believers by sending to them a Messenger from among them who recites to them His revelations, and instils morality in them, and teaches them the Scripture and Wisdom; although before they were in flagrant error,” and another from Surat Al-Jumu’ah (2), “He it is who has sent among the unlettered ones a Messenger from among them, to recite His revelations and to instil morality in them, and to teach them the Scripture and Wisdom, though before that they were indeed in manifest error.” Instilling moral values is, therefore, one of the defining elements of the message of Muhammad. Indeed, he is reported to have emphatically announced that he was sent to help people attain the highest standards in moral values.
Islam teaches us that humans have a material dimension, “When your Lord said to the angels I am about to create a mortal out of mire” (Sad: 71), and a spiritual dimension. “They ask you concerning the soul, say the knowledge thereof is restricted to my Lord, “(Al-Isra:85). In combination, they form a mysterious entity, An-Nafs, whose dimensions are difficult to discern because of its humanly unlimited potential, “…and the Nafs and He who perfected it, and showed it the way of corruption and that of piety. He is indeed successful who upholds morality and he is indeed a failure who stunts it.” It is this morality that separates humans from other species of the animal kingdom. It very well could be the trust (Amana) that God mentions in Surat Al-Ahzab (72), “We offered the trust to the Heavens, the Earth, and the mountains,; they declined, and humans accepted it while ignorant of the extent of that responsibility.” Thus one may argue that morality is the inner force that transforms an animalistic existence into a human nature. Prophet Muhammad often used to supplicate God, “O God: Help me attain perfect morality, the same as You perfected my creation,” (Ahmad).
Islam, in essence, is a comprehensive way of life which is interwoven with the fabric of ethical practices and moral values. Islam even established moral objectives for compulsory acts of worship. If such objectives are not reached, one’s worship is turned into routine rituals that do not contribute to the moral development of An-Nafs. Prayer “…stops vulgarity and abomination…” (Al-AnKabut: 45), poor-due “…purifies them and polishes their morality…” (Al-Tawba: 103), fasting “…so you may become righteous.” (Al-Baqara: 183), and pilgrimage “…no lewdness nor abuse nor angry conversation on the pilgrimage…” (Al-Baqara: 197).
There are suggestions that acts of worship may become invalid if they do not bear moral fruits. The Prophet is reported to have said, “Many are those who get nothing out of their fasting except hunger and thirst, and many are those who get nothing out of their night prayers except getting tired, “ (Ibn Maja and Ahmad). In another Hadith, the Prophet instructed believers, “Whosoever does not abandon false testimony, God has no interest in him abandoning his food and drink,” (Bukhari, Tirmithi and Abu Dawood) The Qur’an even goes further than that in making moral values an embodiment of true faith. The Qur’an describes believers as, “those who are humble in their prayers, and those who shun vain conversation, and those who pay the poor-due, and those who guard their modesty…and those who honour their pledges and their covenant,” (Al-Mu’minun: 2-8)
There are innumerable authentic Hadiths that associate faith with high moral standards: “Anyone who believes in God and the Day of Judgement should maintain blood relationship, and should refrain from harming his neighbour, and should be a good host to those in his company, and if he has something good let him speak out, otherwise he should refrain from talking,” (Bukhari and Muslim), “A true believer is he who can be entrusted by people to safely guard their lives and their wealth,” (Tirmithi, Nasa’ii, and Ahmad). On the other hand, we read many Hadiths that dissociate faith from people who commit abominations and immoral acts: “No person may commit adultery while he is a believer, and no person may use intoxicants while he is a believer…” (Bukhari, Muslim, and Tirmithi), “He is not a believer who goes to sleep with a full stomach while knowing that his next door neighbour is hungry,” (Tabarani and Bazzar).
Islam insists on considering moral values as the core of the religion, so much so that one can hardly find a Qur’anic Surah or a Hadith that does not call for a moral outcome or discourage from an immoral practice. Among Islamic moral values one may mention: Justice, truth, honesty, honouring covenants, keeping promises, mercy, patience and perseverance in face of difficulties and calamities, bashfulness, humbleness, dignity, courage, generosity, modesty, forgiveness, controlling one’s anger, goodness to parents, looking after the needs of relatives, kindness to one’s neighbours, caring for orphans and aiding those who are desparate. To verify how these moral values are held in high esteem, one may read the beginnings of Surat Al-Anfal and Al-Mu’minun and the middle of Surat Ar-Ra’ad and the end of Surat Al-Furqan and many others.
Abandonment of morality is unlawful and in certain cases can fall under the category of “major sins: Al-Kaba’ir”. Let us consider the following Ayat and Hadiths: “Have you observed him who belies religion? That is he who repels the orphan, and urges not the feeding of the needy,” (Al-Ma’un: 1-3), “He will not enter Paradise, he who has in his heart even the weight of an atom of arrogance,” (Muslim, Tirmithi, and Ibn-Maja), “Enough evil for a person is the practice of ridiculing his Muslim brother,” (Muslim, Abu-Dawood, and Ibn-Maja), and “ A woman entered the Hell Fire because she confined a cat until it died,” (Bukhari and Muslim).
The Islamic notion of Ihsan (seeking goodness) may be considered the moral framework of all Islamic practices. The account reported by Muslim, referred to as Hadith Jibreel, defines Ihsan as “worshipping God as though you are seeing Him, and since you cannot see Him, you should know that He is watching you.” Al-Hasan Al-Basri was once asked about the secret behind his happiness. Among the causes of his happiness, he pointed out, “I knew that God was watching me, so I got embarrassed that He might see me committing a sinful act.” This demonstrates how one’s consciousness of God helps mould his moral behaviour. Thus it is not sufficient that one does something that may appear moral on the surface, but the intention behind it, which is only known to God, has to be moral. God says in Surat Al-Baqara (263), “A kind word with forgiveness is better than a charity followed by injury…” In this context, Ibn’ Ata-ullah said, “A sinful act that generates remorse and humbleness may be better than a lawful act that leads to arrogance.” Along the same line, Al-Fudayl Bin ‘Iyad said, “I would rather choose the company of an ethical sinner over that of a worshiper who has bad manners.”
The Prophet is reported to have said, “God prescribed Ihsan in everything, so when you slaughter an animal, make sure you do it well, and use a sharp knife, and do not let the animal suffer,” (Tirmithi, Nasa’ii, and Ibn Maja). Therefore, morality should shape all the actions of the believer because he is ever aware of the need for Ihsan in everything he does. One may argue that Ihsan entails fear of God which is a negative force within our Nafs. This argument is easily refuted by the fact that fear quite often gets transformed to love through an emotional connection called Raja’ (anticipation). One quite often finds fear coupled with anticipation as it gradually, but surely, gets transformed into real love. Believers are described in the Qur’an as those who call upon their Lord out of fear and anticipation, (Khawfan wa Tama’an). A child may initially refrain from doing something bad for fear of punishment, but later he continues to avoid that action because of his love to his parents and for fear of losing their love. This example typifies the relationship between God and true believers.
One may ask if there is such a thing as absolute morality. The answer is easily found in the myriad of contradictions among different cultures and generations. It is clear to any observer that what is moral in one society or in a particular generation may be immoral in another society or a different generation. Examples are so many to event start counting. The only absolute morality must be immutable without having the tendency to change in time and space. That obviously can only originate with God who knows the best form of Khuluq (moral values) for His Khalq (creation), “We verily created man and We know what his soul whispers to him, and We are nearer to him than his jugular vein,” (Qaf: 16), “Should He not know what He created? And He is the Subtle, the Aware,” (Al-Mulk: 14).
Even though absolute morality originates with God, humans, by nature, are able to detect, deep inside what is moral and what is not. Therefore, the best moral standard against which actions can be judged is the pure innate nature of humans (fitrah). God says in Surat Al-Qiyamah (14), “…man is a telling witness for himself.” In his compilation of Prophetic Traditions, Tirmithi reported that the Prophet said, “Righteousness is akin to morality, and sin is that which traverses the inner self and one is afraid of exposing it.” A similar Hadith is reported by Ahmad, “Seek the answer from your heart. Righteousness is that which your inner self feels content with, and sin is that which traverses the inner self and remains in your chest. Such is the answer even though people may persist to give you different accounts.”
One needs to caution that people may confuse norms with good morality. The popularity of an action in a certain society or during certain times does not render that action moral. It is unfortunate that in certain Islamic societies where cultural norms are deeply rooted, Muslims stop distinguishing religious moral values from such norms. There are many examples of moral violations among Muslims that result from their inability to recognize what is religious and what is cultural. Nowadays, the world is facing a crisis in moral deprivation as people started to imitate popular cultures and distance themselves from true Islamic ethics under the premise of conformation. This has been compounded by communication technology that made everything available with a push of a button. The result of all of this is that Islamic moral values are becoming alien to present day norms. This is indeed what Prophet Muhammad foretold, “Islam started as a strange way of life, and it would become as strange as it started.”