Islam and Honesty

Islam orders the Muslim to be honest to himself and others. This order
repeatedly comes in the Noble Qur'an and the sayings of Prophet
Muhammad (SAWS). Islam orders the Muslim to tell the truth even if it
is against the teller's interest. Orders him not to cheat or deceive
other people. A Muslim is ordered by Allah to be honest in his words
and deeds, privately and publicly alike.

Implication of Honesty

Honesty in words implies telling the truth in all cases and under all
conditions. Honesty also implies fulfilling the promise, whether
written or given orally, in text and spirit. Honesty also implies
giving the right advice to the one who asks for it.

Honesty also implies doing one's work as sincerely and as perfectly as
possible. Honesty also implies carrying out duties as fully as
possible whether the person is supervised or not. Honesty means giving
every person his due rights without his asking for these rights.

Honesty means doing the right thing in the right way at the right
time. Honesty means objectivity in judgment, objectivity in
evaluation, and objectivity in decisions of all types. Honesty implies
the right selection of personnel and the right promotion of personnel,
i.e., selection by merit and promotion by merit, not by temper or
favouritism or personal relations.

Honesty is a blanket term that covers a wide range of traits. It
covers telling the truth, sincerity in work, carrying out duties,
fulfilling one's word, objective judgments, and objective decisions.
Honesty is the opposite of lying, the opposite of bluffing, the
opposite of hypocrisy, the opposite of favouritism, and the opposite
of deceit.

External and Internal Honesty

By external honesty, I mean honesty, which is judged by other people.
By internal honesty, I mean honesty which is judged by the person
himself alone.

The reward of external honesty comes from Allah, from people, and from
the psychological satisfaction the honest person feels. When you are
honest, you are liked by God and people whom you deal with. Your
honesty gives you the social approval you need and here comes the
social value of honesty.

Further, when everybody is honest, a great deal of human problems
disappear including lying, cheating, bluffing, stealing, forgery, and
many other social diseases. In other words, honesty is something you
give and something you take: others enjoy your honesty and you enjoy
their honesty.

In the absence of honesty, many social diseases appear. If a person is
dishonest, he is ready to tell lies, to bribe, to be bribed, to
distort the truth, to cheat, to forge, to deceive others, and to break
his promises. A dishonest person is a totality of diseases. He is
ready to misbehave at any time. Each time he misbehaves, he causes a
great disturbance or harm to one person or to a group of persons or to
the whole nation, in some cases.

Internal Honesty: Thus honesty is a factor in the psychological health
of the honest person himself and the health of other persons whom he
deals with. However, Islam emphasises internal honesty, i.e., honesty
which is judged by the person himself and cannot be seen by other
people.

It often happens that a person acts privately. Sometimes we act with
nobody seeing us. A believer in Allah feels that although no person is
watching him, Allah is watching. This continuous watch of Allah
develops the concept of internal honesty or conscience in the
believer. This means that internal honesty becomes an overall strategy
of the believer.

The Muslim is to be honest, internally and externally, privately and
publicly, whether observed by other people or not, whether he acts or
speaks. This overall honesty makes the Muslim confident of himself, of
his behaviour, and of his words and deeds. Honesty makes the person
feel that he trusts others and is trusted by others.

This mutual confidence makes the believer feel self-satisfied and
socially secure.

Honesty implies unity of behaviour, unity of standards, and integrity
of personality. Honesty implies being away from internal conflicts,
social conflicts and self-contradiction.

Building Honesty

The important question, however, is this: how does Islam build honesty
in the Muslim? Islam builds ethical qualities in general and honesty
in particular in several ways:

1. Instructions. Allah orders the Muslim to be honest in all cases, in
all deeds and words, to himself and others.

2. Reason. Allah shows the Muslim rationally that honesty is the best
policy, even on utilitarian bases.

3. Reward. Allah promises the honest person generous rewards in the
first life and in the second life.

4. Punishment. Allah threatens the dishonest person with severe
punishment for his dishonest behaviour.

5. Practice. Allah develops the habit of honesty in the Muslim through
actual practice, i.e., through fasting and prayer.

Thus Islam builds the habit of honesty in the Muslim through direct
instructions, through rational arguments, through the reward and
punishment principles, and through practice.

The Practice of Honesty

Taking fasting as an example, when a Muslim fasts, he should abstain
from any kind of food or drink from dawn until sunset. This means that
a fasting Muslim should not eat or drink for several continuous hours,
including not engaging in sexual intercourse with his wife or her
husband.

The important thing here is that a fasting Muslim does not allow a
drop of water to go into his mouth from dawn until sunset in spite of
his thirst, because he has learned to be honest, i.e., internally
honest. The only observer of a fasting person is Allah and the person
himself. Here is an actual and real practice of honesty exercised
during the whole month of Ramadan.

Of course, one of the components of honesty is refusing to submit to
temptations and impulses. In Ramadan, the Muslim is thirsty, but he
does not drink; he is hungry, but he does not eat. In Ramadan, water
is spatially near but psychologically far from the Muslim; water is
near to the Muslim but far from his desire. This is a practical
exercise of self-control and internal honesty.

So, Islam instructs the Muslim to be honest and trains him to be so.
The outcome is a healthy self and a healthy social atmosphere that
leads to the happiness of both the individual and the group.

"hamada" wrote in message
...
Islam and Honesty

Islam orders the Muslim to be honest to himself and others. This order
repeatedly comes in the Noble Qur'an and the sayings of Prophet
Muhammad (SAWS). Islam orders the Muslim to tell the truth even if it
is against the teller's interest. Orders him not to cheat or deceive
other people. A Muslim is ordered by Allah to be honest in his words
and deeds, privately and publicly alike.

Implication of Honesty

Honesty means doing the right thing in the right way at the right
time.

Does Honesty mean that if I don't live like you do and praise your god, you
have to kill me?

Kswck wrote:


"hamada" wrote in message

...
Islam and Honesty

Islam orders the Muslim to be honest to himself and others. This
order repeatedly comes in the Noble Qur'an and the sayings of
Prophet Muhammad (SAWS). Islam orders the Muslim to tell the truth
even if it is against the teller's interest. Orders him not to
cheat or deceive other people. A Muslim is ordered by Allah to be
honest in his words and deeds, privately and publicly alike.

Implication of Honesty

Honesty means doing the right thing in the right way at the right
time.

Does Honesty mean that if I don't live like you do and praise your
god, you have to kill me?

That's how adherents of most religions interpret their scriptures.

--
Dan Goodman
"I have always depended on the kindness of stranglers."
Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Expire
Journal http://dsgood.livejournal.com
Futures http://clerkfuturist.wordpress.com
mirror 1: http://dsgood.insanejournal.com
mirror 2: http://dsgood.wordpress.com
Links http://del.icio.us/dsgood

On May 21, 12:08*pm, "Kswck" wrote:
"hamada" wrote in message

...

Islam and Honesty

Islam orders the Muslim to be honest to himself and others. This order
repeatedly comes in the Noble Qur'an and the sayings of Prophet
Muhammad (SAWS). Islam orders the Muslim to tell the truth even if it
is against the teller's interest. Orders him not to cheat or deceive
other people. A Muslim is ordered by Allah to be honest in his words
and deeds, privately and publicly alike.

Implication of Honesty

Honesty means doing the right thing in the right way at the right
time.

Does Honesty mean that if I don't live like you do and praise your god, you
have to kill me?

No, and 99 percent of Muslims don't think that, either. The so-called
Islamic terroristst that the administration has been scaring you about
for the past seven years are to real Muslims as the KKK is to
Christians. -aem

aem wrote:
"Kswck" wrote:
"HAMada" wrote:

Islam and Honesty (oxymoron)

Does Honesty mean that if I don't live like you do and praise your
god, you have to kill me?

No, and 99 percent of Muslims don't think that.

Nonsense, all muslims want everyone else dead, they even enjoy killing
each other... muslims don't need an excuse to commit mayhem.

What kinda real muslim is gonna have the name HAMada... the spawn of a
pig is who.

aem wrote:


Does Honesty mean that if I don't live like you do and praise your god, you
have to kill me?

No, and 99 percent of Muslims don't think that, either. The so-called
Islamic terroristst that the administration has been scaring you about
for the past seven years are to real Muslims as the KKK is to
Christians. -aem

That may be, but they seem to subscribe to the teaching about the importance of
honesty and fair play.... with other Moslems. During my years in commercial
vehicle enforcement I ran into a lot of liars. Whenever I heard someone utter the
phrases "Honest to God", "I swear to God" or "as God is my witness" the next
thing that came out of their mouths was almost certain to be a lie. Certain
groups were more likely to lie than others, and I have to say that I never ran
into any one group that was more apt to lie than the Moslems.

The absolute worst one was a Somali who was driving a small bus. He never did
produce a drivers licence and when I asked him for his name, address and date of
birth the name didn't show up on her driver licence records. Apparently he
misunderstood and thought I wanted the information about the company owner ( bus
owner who doesn't have a licence to drive a bus.. or even a car??) . So he gave
me another name, address and DoB. No record. That one was a cultural
misunderstanding. Apparently , over in Somalia they give their names in a
different order. But I couldn't get a straight answer about the exact order, so
each name was used as a surname along with the DoB. No records . Then he came
clean and gave me his real name.... except it wasn't

Meanwhile we ran the history of the vehicle ownership and came up with a name,
checked his licence and the digital photo. It was him. He didn't have the proper
class of licence and his licence was under suspension. Nope. he claimed that
wasn't him. The cops came to arrest him and all of a sudden he admits his real
name.... and he was the owner of the company.

As I started handing him the tickets he is getting on the spot and about the
summons that will be delivered later.... fail to surrender driver licence, fail
to identify, drive a co commercial vehicle with the wrong class of licence, no
insurance, no safety stickers, equipment defects, and several more, he starts
whining that I am being hard on him. He admitted that he lied and apologized and
thought that he had taken responsibility for his actions. That goof gave me a
series of phoney names, address and DoBs, is driving a bus with a load of foreign
passengers, no safety inspection stickers, no insurance, no safety equipment. and
no licence to haul for hire, and he thinks that all he has to do is to apologize
for lying and everything is forgiven.


The first time he shows up in court he asks for an adjournment. He has to go to
Somalia because they had just the day before got a call from Somalia that the kid
had been located in a refugee camp and he has to go to get him. The next time
he comes to court he asks for another adjournment. His uncle had died the night
before. The old guy died right in his arms. Looking at me for a reaction and
seeing none he added "and my wife died last week".

Granted, they weren't all that bad. He was such a liar that it became funny.
They have absolutely no qualms about lying.

On Wed, 21 May 2008 15:08:48 -0400, "Kswck"
wrote:


"hamada" wrote in message
...
Islam and Honesty

Islam orders the Muslim to be honest to himself and others. This order
repeatedly comes in the Noble Qur'an and the sayings of Prophet
Muhammad (SAWS). Islam orders the Muslim to tell the truth even if it
is against the teller's interest. Orders him not to cheat or deceive
other people. A Muslim is ordered by Allah to be honest in his words
and deeds, privately and publicly alike.

Implication of Honesty

Honesty means doing the right thing in the right way at the right
time.

Does Honesty mean that if I don't live like you do and praise your god, you
have to kill me?


yes. but i assume it's just like in this country in that you don't
have to mean it.

your pal,
blake

On May 21, 4:53*pm, Dave Smith wrote:
aem wrote:

Does Honesty mean that if I don't live like you do and praise your god, you
have to kill me?

No, and 99 percent of Muslims don't think that, either. *The so-called
Islamic terroristst that the administration has been scaring you about
for the past seven years are to real Muslims as the KKK is to
Christians. * * -aem

That may be, but they seem to subscribe to the teaching about the importance of
^^^^^
honesty and fair play.... with other Moslems. *During my years in commercial
vehicle enforcement I ran into a lot of liars. Whenever I heard someone utter the
phrases "Honest to God", "I swear to God" *or "as God is my witness" the next
thing that came out of their mouths was almost certain to be a lie. *Certain
groups were more likely to lie than others, and I have to say that I never ran
into any one group that was more apt to lie than the Moslems.

The absolute worst one was a Somali who was driving a *small bus.

[...]

They have absolutely no qualms about lying.
^^^^^^^^^^^

They who?

So, let me get this straight. Hundreds of pasty-faced white dudes lie
to you and that's a character flaw at worst, but *one* (count them,
*one*) Somali lies to you and it a cultural (and yes, you're also
implying a religious) trait?

Cause, even if you didn't mean to sound like you had a negative bias
towards swarthy immigrants, that's how it comes off, unless you
believe the other *they* (meaning all white people) have absolutely no
qualms about lying either.

Even if there were say twelve Muslims, how does that compare to the
number of white guys who lied to you?

Sheldon wrote:

aem wrote:
"Kswck" wrote:
"HAMada" wrote:

Islam and Honesty (oxymoron)

Does Honesty mean that if I don't live like you do and praise your
god, you have to kill me?

No, and 99 percent of Muslims don't think that.

Nonsense, all muslims want everyone else dead, they even enjoy killing
each other... muslims don't need an excuse to commit mayhem.

What kinda real muslim is gonna have the name HAMada... the spawn of a
pig is who.


I've said it before and I'll say it again: "The BEST muzlim is a DEAD
muzlim"...

The world we be a MUCH better place if EVERY SINGLE muzlim was erased
from the earth...they are useless shite - stirrers who cause NOTHING
but TROUBLE whatever place they infest...


--
Best
Greg

Dave Smith wrote:

aem wrote:

Does Honesty mean that if I don't live like you do and praise your god, you
have to kill me?

No, and 99 percent of Muslims don't think that, either. *The so-called
Islamic terroristst that the administration has been scaring you about
for the past seven years are to real Muslims as the KKK is to
Christians. * * -aem

*That may be, but they seem to subscribe to the teaching about the importance of
honesty and fair play.... with other Moslems. *During my years in commercial
vehicle enforcement I ran into a lot of liars. Whenever I heard someone utter the
phrases "Honest to God", "I swear to God" *or "as God is my witness" the next
thing that came out of their mouths was almost certain to be a lie. *Certain
groups were more likely to lie than others, and I have to say that I never ran
into any one group that was more apt to lie than the Moslems.


Arabs are another group of CONGENITAL liars, never met an honest
one...

There is a reason why Muzlim and Arab places are real shite holes to
live in, it's because of the mentality of the P - E - O - P - L -
E ...same with most Russians, most all black Africans, etc. They'll
never be a part of advanced society, they are LAZY liars and thieves
and so are incapable of civilised behaviour...


--
Best
Greg