Once a man asked the Holy Prophet: “What is the best of all actions?” The Holy Prophet replied: Akhlaq.”
Akhlaq ( ) is an Arabic word meaning behaviour or character or more accurately moral character.” The Holy prophet himself was praised by Allah because he possessed all the virtues and qualities of highest moral character. God said: “Indeed thou art of the highest peak of good manners.”
The Holy Prophet has also said: “You should create within yourselves the Akhlaq (behaviours) of Allah.” For example Allah is merciful, we should be merciful to others. Allah is forgiving: we also should forgive other when they are at fault. Allah treats even his enemies with love and magnanimity, we also do likewise.
And herein lies the basic difference between an “Akhlaq” based on love of god and the modern “Akhlaq” based on self-interest. Today nations have progressed materially to a level which was undreamed of even 50 years ago. Contacts between man and man, and nation and nation, have increased due to trade, industry and commerce. There is exchange of students, scholars and technicians. The size of the earth has been reduced by modern aircraft.
Now, Motivated by instinct of self-preservation, nation are trying to evolve international moral codes. But these codes are observed more by violation then by adherence. Why?
The answer in simple words is one and only one. We have build these codes on a wrong foundation. We have tried to build our moral behaviour (which requires some “Sacrifice). On self-interest (which allows for no sacrifice). The only way to emancipate mankind from moral bankruptcy is to restore our faith in Allah, and believe in the life hereafter.

On self Criticism

In Islamic terminology, one aspect of human soul is called Lawwamah (self-reproaching spirit). It is one of the surest means of perfecting one character and behaviour. As Hazrat Ali (a.s) said: “Check your account (of deeds) before you are called to render it (after death, in presence of God)” we must check our account and make up the short comings before it is too late.

Realistic self evaluation and self-criticism, are essential for the development of the soul. Only in this way can we save ourselves from being a prey of conceit and pride. Before we go to sleep we must revive the whole day, seeing whether our behaviour was upto the required standard of spiritual perfection.

If we detect any slips, any wrong or any impurity, we must firmly resolve to amend it at once and repent sincerely.

If we cultivate this habit of continuous self-criticism, we will progress, in no time at all, towards that stage of spiritual perfection which is called in Islam Mutamainnah when a soul feels rest and satisfaction by grace of Allah. But this self-criticism must begin before our vision has blurred, before evil makes a slave of our soul. Other wise, we will fail to recognise the evil when we see it.

When a murderer justifies (nay, really feels justified in) his crime; when a robber thinks that, by his actions he is rectifying the imbalance of the society, then only the special grace of God can save him from plunging into the lowest Hell of disgrace.

Unfortunately, modern society is heading blindly towards that same degradation. Social thinkers spends their whole energy in inventing new excuses for law-breakers. Stealing is white-washed by the impressive name of ‘kleptomania’ ; sex perversion and dirty habits are explained away as ‘just a protest against society.’ Criminals are afforded more protection in law than their helpless victims, under the disguise of ‘Liberty of the individuals.’ And the real tragedy is that all of it is done in the name of ‘progress.’

Is the ‘conscience’ of modern nations merely stunned or really death?

On Righteousness

“Righteousness is not just to turn your faces towards East or the west (in prayers). But the true righteous is he who believes in Allah and the last day and the angles and the Book (Qur’an) and the Prophet’s; and gives his wealth, for love of Allah to the kindered and the orphan and the poor and the traveller and to those who ask(for help), and for ransoming the captives.............

(Qur’an 2: 178)

just to observe some external rites is not Islam. True faith and good actions are the primary requisite of a Muslim. Faith is the seed which give birth to good deeds; and if the faith does not create an urge in us to perform noble deeds, our faith is dormant, and we must try to awaken it by conscious efforts.

If a Muslim does not help needy persons, if he does not bestow love and kindness upon the orphans, if he turns out the people who are in need of assistance, then his claim of righteousness is just a claim- and nothing more.

Often we have seen our kith and kin in distress, several times we have been approached by the stranded travellers seeking shelter and food, daily we hear the cries of starving persons in famine stricken areas, so many times we have looked upon a child whose very countenance was a monument of affliction and hardship. What has been our usual reaction in these circumstances? Have we parted with some of the wealth to help the poor fellows?. And have we done it with kindness and a sense of gratitude? And above all, have we done it ‘For love of Allah’? Let us search our soul!

The above mentioned ayat of the Qur’an exhorts us to have faith, and to support that faith by charity and good deeds, based upon “Love of Allah.” We should realise that the fellow human-beings are in the eyes of Islam, ‘dependents of Allah’, and that our wealth is, in fact, a property of Allah, given to us in trust. When we help our fellow brethren, we should remember that we are giving the property of God to the dependents of God. It should be based upon love of Allah, without any shade of worldly motives. A secret desire to enhance our social prestige by a charity destroys the fibre of that charity. A help given with a motive to gain political advantage is a body without soul.

Alas, how many good actions are ruined by unworthy motives!

Have faith, bestow charity; and bestow it ‘for love of Allah.’ That is the basic teachings of Islam.

On Trust

“Verily, Allah commands you to return the ‘Amanat’ to their owners.”

(Qur’an 4: 58)

‘Amant’ (the word used in the ayat mentioned above) means keeping the trust faithfully and returning it without any change or alteration whenever demanded by the person who gave it to you. It is one of the highly emphasized virtues in Islam. The Holy Prophet himself was the embodiment of Amant. Long before he received the call from Allah to declare his Prophethood, he was popularly known as as-Sadiq-ul-Amin (the Truthful and Trustworthy) among the people of Arabia.

It is very revealing to see that after the declaration of his Prophethood (at the age of 40) his opponents accused him of everything from being a poet or sorcerer to being possessed by a genie; but never once, in the long period of conflict, did they accuse him of being untruthful or untrustworthy.

On the contrary, those very persons, who were conspiring to silence the voice of God by killing him, continued to deposit their valuables with him-the very man whose destruction was the only aim of their life.

When the Holy Prophet had to leave Mecca because of the said plots, he left his cousin, ‘Ali bin Abi Talib (a.s), behind, instructing him to return all those things to their rightful owners before joining the Holy Prophet at Medina.

Imam Zainul-Abedin (a.s), son of Imam Husain (a.s), used to say: “If the murderer of my father gives me in trust the sword which he used in killing my father (martyred at Karbala), I will return it to him whenever he comes back demanding its return.