The teachings covered under the two titles of Muamalat (monetary dealings)
and Muasharat (social conduct) appertain to the needs and urges of our
material and social eistence, and it is a great blessing of God that by
providing rules and regulations with respect to them. He has elevated
them into means of gaining access unto him in this world and of earning
his reward in the hereafter. By Muamalat we mean affairs which have a
monetary aspect to them, such as, business transactions, debt, contract,
service and labour, and the other term. Muasharat, is applied to the behaviour
we give countenance to in our dealings with those with whom we come into
contact either permanently, as with parents, husbands, children, brothers,
sisters and other relatives, and neighbors or temporarily, as, for instance,
fellow travelers in the course of a journey, or office or business colleagues
and partners.
These spheres of human activity command, like morality, a place of great
significance in religion. In fact, from one point of view, they may be
said to be matters of highest importance because they involve the keenest
struggle between the Divine will and one's own inner impulsion. Let us
take an illustration. In business, the profit-motive appears to demand,
and the bidding of the heart also often is, that we should exploit every
situation to the best of our advantage and make as such money out of every
transaction as we can without giving a thought to ethics or morality,
but the verdict of God's religion is that whatever happens, even if it
leads to total loss and bankruptcy, there must be no wavering from the
path of truth and integrity and the law Divinely ordained for the occasion.
Similarly, in the sphere of social behaviour, there is frequently a tussle
between what God wants and our natural instincts desire. Thus, it is in
Muamalat and Muashrat that man's loyalty to God is put to the severest
test.
Furthermore, these departments have a bearing on the rights of man also.
Prayer and fasting, although they make the fundamentals of religion, and,
in view of this, rank only next to the affirmation of faith, are exclusively
the rights of God, and who ever neglects them sins against him alone.
Transgression in respect of them is not incapable of condemnation by the
Lord, in his Infinite Mercy, if suplication is made to him with proper
humility and earnestness. But where duties appertaining to monetary affairs
and social behaviour are concerned, it is vastly different. In their case,
neglect would amount to sin both against God and man, and, we know, how
niggardly we human beings can be when it comes to forgiving and forgetting.
The aggrived among us are not likely to forego their pound of flesh on
the last Day. A Tradition of the Prophet (Peace be upon him) says :
"Some people will take with them from here a large stock of virtue
earned through deeds like prayer fasting, charity and alms-giving, but
their conduct in relation to social and monetary affairs will be poor
they will have aggressed against someone's rights, wounded the feelings
of somebody, indulged in back biting and, so on. When they will arrive
at the place of Reckoning, on the last day, those against whom they have
been guilty of those transgressions will rise up in petition and appeal
to God for justice. The Almighty God will them do justice and deliver
his Judgement : their good deeds will be taken away from them and transferred
to the aggrieved parties, and when these will not suffice, the sins of
the aggrieved parties will be forced down upon them and, ultimately, they
will be thrown into the hell."
It is on account of this, perhaps, that the correction and reformation
of one's conduct in money matters and in the matter of social responsibilities
has been described clearly in a Tradition as a more worthy act than the
carrying out of prayer, fasting, charity and alms-giving. This Tradition
has been reproduced in Mishkat Sharif on the strength of Tirmizi and Abu
Dawood and its narrator is Abu Darda (Razi Allah-o-Ta'ala) who tells that
the Prophet (Peace be upon him) once enquired of him, "May I tell
you something that is superior even to Roza, Sadqa ? "Do, please",
replied Abu Darda (Razi Allah-o-Ta'ala). Whereupon, the Prophet (Peace
be upon him) said, "it is the setting right of mutual relations and
of one's conduct where the monetary factor is involved. Faultiness of
Muamalat and Muashrat is a razor that shaves from the roots (not the hair,but
faith)."
Yet, the blunt truth is that even in the fairly devout religious circles
adequate attention is not paid to the right ordering of life in these
spheres with the result, in Muamalat and Muashrat, the conduct of those
of us whose state as regards the various duties of worship is pretty good
falls short of the standard laid down by Islam. In these circumstances,
it is palpably foolish to expect our prayers to be heard and supplications
to be answered.
In Mishkat Sharif it is reported from Abdullah bin Omar (Razi Allah-o-Ta'ala)
on the authority of Musnad-i-Ahmed, that the Prophet (Peace be upon him)
once remarked that, if a person buys a cloth for ten Dirhams, and out
of them one is tainted (i.e. it has acquired by unfair means), none of
his Namaz will be acceptable to God as long as he wears the cloth".
It is further reported that after Abdullah bin Omar (Razi Allah-o-Ta'ala)
had narrated the Tradition he put his fingers to his ears and proclaimed
before those present : "May I turned deaf if I have heard not the
Prophet (Peace be upon him) say these words."
To quote another Tradition in the same vein, it was said by Prophet (Peace
be upon him) that, "God is pure himself, and accepts only offerings
that are pure. " Then, after urging upon the people the need to earn
a clean livelihood, he related the following parable, "A man undertakes
a long and tedious journey (to supplicate to God at a sacred place) and
arrives (at his destination) in such a shape that his hair is dishevelled
the body is covered from head to foot with dust; he throws up his hands
towards the Heaven and cries out, 'O Lord !, O my Preserver! but his sustenance
is of the impure and he has been brought up on what is polluted how on
earth can his prayer, then, be granted?
The inference, clearly, is that the petition of a person whose business
or professional conduct is not clean and above board and who lives on
dishonest income will never be granted by God even though he travels a
thousand miles to beseech him at a halved place. Yet another Tradition
runs to the effect, "A body that has been reared on unlawful sustenance
shall not gain entry into the Heaven."
The Prophet (Peace be upon him) has expressed his strong resentment against
those who indulge in unfair practices in business. He painly has refused
to have anything to do with them. It is related from Abu Huraira (Razi
Allah-o-Ta'ala) in Saheeh-i-Muslim that the sacred Prophet (Pease be upon
him) once heap and to pass by a heap of grain (which a trader had piled
up). The Prophet (Pease be upon him) trust his hand into the happened
it was discovered that under the surface the grain was moist. On being
questioned, the trader explained that it had been caught in the little
shower that had fallen. The Prophet (Pease be upon him) said, "Then
why did you not place the wet grain on the top so that buyers could know
that it was not dry? " And to this he added the reprimand: "Whoever
deceives in buisness is not mine."
On the social plane, the Holy Prophet is equally severe on those who
do not live upto the Islamic conception of polite behaviour. " He
who is not respectful to his elders", he says, "and affectionate
to those who are younger to him is not one of us." 3 It will, thus,
be seen, in the light of Ibn-i-Taimiyah's dictum referred to in the previous
chapter, that to behave with respect towards those who are younger in
age is a religious and legal necessity in Islam, although it is purely
a matter of social intercourse.
At the base of all cultural refinement and gentleman-liness there lies
the two fold principle; firstly, never to wound any one's feelings, and,
secondly, to do one's best (within the four corners of the Shariat, naturally,)
to bring him solace and comfort, to fulfil his rights and to keep him
well pleased, as may be his due. The degree of excellence required by
Islam in this connection can well be imagined from the under-mentioned
Tradition of the Prophet (Peace be upon him):
"When three persons are sitting togather, two of them should not
start a conversation between themselves, leaving the third alone (it might
hurt his sentiments and make him feel neglected); they should wait for
a four person to join in, who can keep him company. Then they can go to
some other place and have their talk."
Unfortunately, however, we have now sunk so deep in the abyss of moral
and social degradation that we seem to derive pleasure from inflicting
pain and sorrow upon others. We can, indeed, never attain perfection in
our faith or can our living ever become genuinely Islamic until we brought
about a big improvement in our conduct in the domains of Muamalat and
Muasharat.
We will now call a halt to this chapter. Like morality, Muamalat and Muasharat
have also been elaborated upon in proper detail in Islam Kiya Hai. For
a more thorough study of them the reader is referred to one of the standared
collections of the Tradition.
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