Page:Maulana Muhammad Ali Quran.djvu/15

Rh connections: it requires men to be chaste, but not by castration; it requires them to serve God, but not as monks: it enjoins them to spend their wealth, but not in such a manner as to sit down "blamed and straitened in means"; it teaches them to be submissive, but not by losing self respect; it exhorts them to forgive, but not in such a manner as to bring destruction upon society by emboldening culprits; it allows them to exercise all their rights, but not so as to violate those of others; and, last of all, it requires them to preach their own religion, but not by abusing the religion of others.

The brotherhood of Islam.

In the first place, Islam abolishes all invidious class distinctions. "Surely the most honourable of you with Allah is the one among you most careful of his duty" sounds a death-knell to all superiority or inferiority based on rigid caste or social distinctions. Mankind is but one family, according to the Holy Qur-án, which says: "O man, surely we have created you of a male and female and made you tribes and families that you may know each other: surely the most honourable of you with Allah is the one among you most careful of his duty" (49:13). Islam thus lays down the basis of a vast brotherhood in which all men and women—to whatever tribe or nation or caste they may belong and whatever be their profession or rank in society, the wealthy and the poor—have equal rights, and in which no one can trample upon the right of his brother. In this brotherhood all members should treat each other as members of the same family. The slave is to be clothed with the clothing and fed with the food of his master, and he is not to be treated as a low or vile person. Your wives, says the Holy Qur-án, have rights against you as you have rights against them. No one is to be deprived of any right on the score of caste or profession or sex. And this great brotherhood did not remain a brotherhood in theory, but became an actual living force by the noble example of the Holy Prophet and his worthy successors and companions. The strict rule of brotherhood is laid down in the following words in a saying of the Holy Prophet: "No one of you is a believer in God unless he loves for his brother what he loves for himself."

Reverence for authority.

But while thus establishing equality of rights, Islam teaches the highest reverence for authority. The home is the real nursery in which the moral training of man begins, and therefore the Holy Qur-án lays the greatest stress upon obedience to parents. Here is one of the passages of the Holy Qur-án: "And your Lord has commanded that you shall not serve any except Him, and goodness to your parents. If either or both of them reach old age with you, say not to them so much as 'Ugh,' nor chide them, and speak to them a generous word. And make yourself submissively gentle to them with compassion, and say, "O my Lord! have compassion on them, as they brought me up when I was little'" (17:23-24). It is elsewhere said that they should be disobeyed only if they compelled one to serve others than God. This high reverence for parents is the basis from which springs up the high moral of reverence for all authority. And thus the Holy Qur-án plainly says: "Obey Allah and obey the Apostle and those in authority from among you" (4:62). By those in authority are meant not only the actual rulers of a country, but all those who are in any way entrusted with authority. It has been remarked by the Holy Prophet: "Every one of you is a ruler, and every one of you shall be questioned about those among whom he is in authority." Therefore, Islam requires all men to obey those who are in immediate authority over them, and thus cuts at the root of all kinds of