Twisted Morality of the Modern Society - by Ashraf Ali Thanawi رحمه الله

Certain fundamentally reprehensible behaviors are now praised under seemingly positive names:

"Progress" is often just greed for money and status.

"Honour" is frequently just pride or arrogance.

"Love for One's Nation" is reduced to a blind, tribal fanaticism that ignores right and wrong.

"Statesmanship" is simply deceit and cunning.

"Keeping Up with the Times" is often just hypocrisy.

"Boldness" is plain shamelessness.

"Being clever" is just ability to cheat.

Virtues Condemned as Vices 

Conversely, truly commendable attitudes are now dismissed and viewed negatively:

Contentment is mistaken for lack of initiative.

Acceptance of God's Will is condemned as idleness or lack of ambition.

Firmness of Faith is labeled as dogmatism or fanaticism.

Courtesy and Humility are seen as meanness or pettiness of mind.

Piety and Fear of God are mocked as mere whimsicality.

Avoiding unnecessary social mixing is considered anti-social.

Vices Practiced Openly

Finally, there are vices that haven't been renamed but are now practiced openly as if they were virtues, including:

Falsely imputing motives to others.

Injustice toward and neglect of the rights of the poor.

Humiliating and showing lack of respect for others.

Malicious gossip, slander, and picking faults, especially targeting religious or pious people.

Vanity, exhibitionism, and squandering money.

Indifference to spiritual and afterlife concerns.

(Taken from Al Intibahaat al Mufeeda by Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanawi رحمه الله )

Social Benefits of Belief in Taqdeer

Along with the Spiritual benefits to Muslims, the belief in Taqdeer (divine destiny) which is one of the six pillars of Imaan, yields several social benefits, profoundly influencing how individuals interact within families, communities, and broader society.

Social Harmony and Reduced Conflict

Belief in Taqdeer fosters contentment, patience, and acceptance when facing adversity or interpersonal challenges, reducing blame, envy, and rancor between individuals.

When people attribute outcomes to Allah’s decree rather than individual efforts alone, social comparisons diminish, which curbs jealousy and rivalry, enhancing community harmony.

Humility and Compassion

Individuals who embrace Taqdeer tend to show humility, recognizing that achievements result from divine will as much as personal effort.

Such humility leads to greater compassion for others, as people recognize that fortune and misfortune are allotted by a higher power, making them less likely to look down on others facing difficulty or boast over their own success.

Trust, Cooperation, and Mutual Support

Communities with a strong belief in Taqdeer emphasize mutual support, understanding that life’s challenges are shared tests from Allah.

People are more likely to console, encourage, and help each other, building networks of trust and interdependence.

The attitude of not blaming oneself or others harshly over setbacks helps prevent social divisions and promotes collaboration.

Resilience, Positivity, and Social Stability

When faced with social or economic hardships, belief in Taqdeer encourages enduring patience and hope, resulting in resilient, optimistic communities.

The attitude of “trying one’s best and accepting results” discourages negative behaviors like fraud, slander, or unlawful actions to secure personal gain at the expense of community welfare.

People become more focused on constructive action, knowing ultimate outcomes are in Allah’s hands.

These social benefits enable families and communities to remain united, compassionate, and harmonious, especially in the face of collective challenges.

How Prophet Muhammad ﷺ Revolutionised the Society:

Some of the ways Prophet Muhammad ﷺ revolutionised the Society:

1. Gave an unchanging, objective and practical moral code which covers all aspects of life for all and properly balances the interests of the individual and the society. 

2. Connected all people directly to God and God's message, thus removing the possibility of spiritual and other forms of exploitation by the priestly class.

3. Freed society from superstition and ignorant practices that had long enabled exploitation by corrupt religious figures (priests, fake clergy, babas & gurus).

4. Encouraged literacy and acquiring knowledge for all people, including the poor and the slaves and within a few years converted an illiterate, lawless, uncivilised and deeply ignorant people into a highly moral, law-abiding and cultured society.

5. Achieved 100% successful ban on female infanticide. Even today India is not able to control the killing of female fetuses.

6. Gave Inheritance, ownership & transactional rights for women. 

7. Made Marriage subject to consent & mutually agreed socio-legal contract, with dowry to be compulsorily given by the man to the bride. This abolished the marriage-related exploitation of girls' families.

8. Divorce: Gave an honourable, step by step method of dealing with failed marriages including provision for divorce, which was not present in any other religion.

9. Made it lawful for slave masters to marry slaves. Something that the laws in the USA and other countries never allowed. Even after slavery was abolished in America in 1865, inter racial marriage was illegal for more than a century after that (till 1967).

10. Made charity compulsory on all Muslims except the poor and devised a system for more equitable and just distribution of wealth in society.

11. Banned interest based exploitation and enslavement. India banned bonded labour in 1976 but still the practice is seen in many areas.

12. Established an economic system based on justice, fair-play and having necessary safeguards against exploitation of farmers and poor by the rich classes.

13. Rooted out all forms of corruption from society.

14. Made justice equal for all races, castes, classes & tribes. This is a relatively new concept as there were always different scales of justice for rich and poor, rulers and the ruled and upper and lower castes.

15. Independent Judiciary: Made judiciary independent of the rulers and even the legislative power is in the hands of totally independent jurists and legal experts (Fuqaha) who have the power and ability to interpret the Shariah laws. 

16. Permanent Divinely protected rights: Even the parliament or supreme court cannot take away the rights given to the people in the Shariah laws. This system is superior to even the modern democratic systems where any party with brute majority in parliament can amend the constitution and take away the guaranteed rights as they please even against the will of the affected people.

17. No dictatorship: Rulers to be chosen by free selection process based on pure merit. 

18. Autonomy to religious minorities: Non-muslims are free to manage their Cultural, Social and Religious affairs according to their own beliefs and to choose their own representatives. This concept was unique in history, till recently.

19. Prohibition of alcohol: Eradicated alcoholism - the root cause of many crimes, social, economic and Health problems - within a few years from a heavily alcoholic society. Many countries have tried and failed, including the USA.

20. Promoted Modesty and chastity and outlawed extra-marital affairs, which strengthens the institution of family and Protects the society from many marital, emotional, social and health problems (STDs).

21. Eradicated all forms of gambling which is destroying lives and ruining countless families world-wide even today.

22. Promoted a simple and natural way of life and strongly discouraged lavish and luxurious living and prohibited wastage of resources. Taught responsible usage of natural resources and prohibited polluting them.

23. United and Transformed the desert Bedouin tribes who were perpetually fighting and killing amongst themselves and were never united before in their entire history - into one of the most powerful civilisations which defeated the two superpowers of the time. 

24. Humanised the battlefield by prohibiting killing of non-combatants, forbade destruction of trees and crops and other strict codes of conduct. In all the battles fought by the Prophet ﷺ during which he conquered the entire Arabia, only a few hundreds were killed in wars on both sides!

25. Almost eradicated all the crimes in a totally lawless tribal society by inculcating moral and spiritual discipline in individuals, tackling the causes of crimes and strictly implementing the divine laws without fear or favour, which made the society almost crime-free within a few years.

26. Ensured the full integration and rehabilitation-with-dignity of the widows, divorces, orphans, abandoned children, disabled people and other neglected groups in the society.

27. Put an end to cruelty towards animals and encouraged planting trees.

If anyone in today's world could achieve even one of the above reforms, that person will be seen as a great reformer worthy of all the praise and awards in this world.  

Lamartine, the renowned historian speaking on the essentials of human greatness wonders: 

"If greatness of purpose, smallness of means and astounding results are the three criteria of human genius, who could dare to compare any great man in modern history with Muhammad?"

"Philosopher, orator, apostle, legislator, warrior, conqueror of ideas, restorer of rational dogmas, of a cult without images, the founder of twenty terrestrial empires and of one spiritual empire, that is MUHAMMAD. As regards all the standards by which Human Greatness may be measured, we may well ask, IS THERE ANY MAN GREATER THAN HE?" (Lamartine, HISTOIRE DE LA TURQUIE, Paris, 1854, Vol. II, pp 276-277)

MICHAEL H. HART in his recently published book on ratings of men who contributed towards the benefit and upliftment of mankind writes:

"My choice of Muhammad to lead the list of the world's most influential persons may surprise some readers and may be questioned by others, but he was the only man in history who was supremely successful on both the religious and secular levels." (M.H. Hart, THE 100: A RANKING OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL PERSONS IN HISTORY, New York, 1978, p. 33)

George Bernard Shaw, the Irish playwright and philosopher said,

“If a man like Muhammad were to assume the dictatorship of the modern world he would succeed in solving its problems in a way that would bring it much-needed peace and happiness.”

(The Genuine Islam Vol. 1, No. 8, 1936)

May Allah enable us to reconstruct our lives, our societies and the whole world according to these golden foundations for the benefit and salvation of the entire humanity. Aameen.