Whenever the subject of moral inappropriateness in our modern times is raised a debate over the disoriented conception of the “split” between Islamic attitude and good moral character immediately becomes the focus of the argument. Good morals have repeatedly been highlighted in the Quran and Sunnah as cornerstone for a true Muslim character, if not an essential faculty of integral Islam. I recall this Hadith wherein An-Nawwas ibn Sam’an said, “I asked the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, about piety and wrong action. He said: ‘Piety is good character and wrong action is what is hatched up in your self and you do not want other people to know about.”—Recorded by Imam Muslim. And in another Hadith tackling the same subject matter; Abu’d-Darda’ reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: “There will be nothing heavier in the balance of the believer on the Day of Rising than good character. Allah dislikes foul language.” Recorded by at-Tirmidhi. A profound analysis of people’s foremost suffering in our “modern age” would identify explicit violation to the ethical norms and moral standards set by Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) as the root cause of what I call moral decadence of an age that has all that is required for principled and cultured morals, if we took our level of social and civilization advancement as a standard for evaluation. But it seems that the more civilized nations become the more uncivilized they act- Similarly the more modern we become, the more backward we turn to be. Time and again I hear people complaining of obnoxious and degraded manners of those around them; manners which unequivocally taint their own attitudes- those who are themselves complaining. So may be if we decided to reversely look at our own behavior we would be able to adjust it, thereby sharing in altering people’s manners on the wider scale of this glitch. Now let’s identify some of the most persisting ill manners characterizing our age. Bigotry: a rampant social comportment ripping nations apart. Bigotry can be seen between adherents of different religions, those of different nationalities, between Arabs and people of the West, supporters of competing sports teams, proponents of different trends of thoughts-Liberals Vs Islamists, Conservatives Vs traditionalists, and Westernized Vs Arabized, among other varying extents and forms of racist and bigotric behaviors that feed negative sentiments and are sure capable of instigating cruelties and even waging wars. Ambivalence is one moral we genuinely lack in this not the least contemporary age. Another virtue that ceases to exist is honesty; superseded by prevailing lying and deceit, taking various forms and using varying excuse, ranging from warding off possible criticism to avoiding public embarrassment. For some people, twisting facts is not lying, and for others saying only half of the truth is also not lying but rather concealing what doesn’t have to be told or may be acting wise. Of course all this is absolute heresy. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: “Do not ever lie, because lying leads to very abhorrent sins, and those in turn lead to Hellfire. One keeps on lying and seeks to do that until one is recorded as a liar in books of Allah.” — Narrated by Ibn Majah. I furthermore wish not to forget one shameful moral degradedness, one that’s commonly accredited for much of our social predicaments- it is intervening and meddling with other people’s affairs, giving wrong advices at times, creating envious sentiments at others, and at best removing a crucial barrier of privacy, which once violated, people become exposed to much backbiting and social condemnation, let alone acting as a catalyst in spreading rumors. Yahya related to me from Malik from Ibn Shihab from ‘Ali ibn Husayn ibn ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: “Part of the excellence of a man’s Islam is that he leaves what does not concern him.” – Narrated by at-Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah. Another despicable moral deficient in our modern times is mall-treatment of the parents. Look around and you can find people of different ages and representing various social upbringings, treating their parents as if they were their servants. Don’t you ever think you can win people’s respect and mercy if you’re not practicing the same with the closest people to you, i.e. your family, and particularly your parents. Instead befriend them and you’ll sense a life-altering change that you cannot compromise. A man came to Allah’s Messenger (pbuh) and said: “O Allah’s Messenger! Who is more entitled to be treated with the best companionship by me?” The Prophet (pbuh) said: “Your mother.” The man said, “Who’s next?”, The Prophet (pbuh) said: “Your mother.” The man further said, “Who’s next?”, The Prophet said: “Your mother.” The man asked (for the fourth time) “who’s next?” The Prophet said: “Your father.”—Narrated by Abu Hurayrah- recorded by Imam Bukhari. Of course these are not the only sources of the moral predicaments we’re living nowadays, but may be they’re the most abhorrent of all, or perhaps the ones acting as the origin causes of our modern age moral decadence rendering people more of dead souls than living humans. And unfortunately Muslims are not singled out of this deficiency, and that’s simply because they’ve forsaken their foremost role model that is the perfected character of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). More into that would be tackled in a series of articles discussing all sorts of social ailments we greatly suffer but never address. May Allah help us mend such persisting paucity of moral goodness, He is All-Knowing, All-Powerful. Wassalaam, Maha Youssuf maha@muslimtribune.org Posted on: July 1, 2011