The condemnation in sura nur of suspicion, false charges and gossip in the context of slander, is extended elsewhere general matters
33:70"be careful of (your duty to) Allah and speak the right word"49:12"avoid most of suspicion, for surely suspicion in some cases is a sin, and do not spy nor let some of you backbite others. Would one of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? By no means, [since] you would hate it".
Dishonouring a Muslim brother is likened to consuming the flesh of his dead body. Making mention of ‘dead body’ is owing to the fact that backbiting is done behind people’s back in the same manner that the dead are unable to defend themselves. It is such a gross and cowardly act that the limbs of the backbiter will be made to testify against him 17:36.
All people therefore have the benefit of the doubt and Muslims are told to assume the best rather than the worst in people, unless there are solid reasons for suspicion, especially if they are from one's own community 24:12-18.
One's privacy, including the privacy of public figures, cannot be compromised based on suspicion 49:4-5,24:27-29. The code of law of many developed nations do not issue a search warrant unless there is solid evidence to back up an accusation. This notion reaches such an extent in Islam that one of the early caliphs suspected that a particular individual was committing adultery, jumped over his wall and caught him in the act. The man protested that even the caliph had no right to spy on him in this manner, to which the caliph relented, continued his inspection of the city and mentioned nothing of the man's identity to anyone.
As always, when trying to understand a Quranic passage and even more so a particular hadith, it is with the aforementioned relevant information that one should interpret all related topics. For example when the prophet told Ali to go kill a man rumoured of adultery with Maria the copt, without requiring first the high standard of testimony, then it should be understood, as it was by the scholars of hadith, including as early as Jaafar al Saadiq, that the prophet was teaching those who slandered Maria, that presuppositions can be totally baseless and harmful. It is to be kept in mind that the prophet told Ali that whatever mission he sends him to accomplish, he must first make a proper investigation prior to acting as per the prophet's orders
"Ali said: I said: O Messenger of Allah, when you send me on a mission, should I go and do what you tell me to do (with no delay) or witness and find out what someone who is not there cannot find out? He said: 'Witness and find out what someone who is not there cannot find out".
Ali acted exactly as per the prophet's recommendations, and as it turned out, the man in question was an eunuch, who was consequently left unbothered. The whole incident strongly demonstrated the prophet's as well as the Quran's repeated warnings against false suspicions. This eunuch's name was Jaarih and was gifted to the prophet along with Maria by an Egyptian notable, to serve Maria within the prophet's household. Common sense dictates that the prophet was aware of Jaarih's condition and that the Egyptian ruler had told him about it. There is a reason why the hadith compiler himself did not include that narration in his book of legal judgments and so he did not understand it as setting a legal precedent. Furthermore this was by no means the only rumor spread by the prophet's malicious opponents. There are other occasions where the prophet and his household, as reported both in the Quran and ahadith were the unjust targets of slander and never did the prophet adopt such unilateral, punitive measures against the accusers or the alleged culprits. On would expect to find a precedent, a pattern indicating the prophet's supposed inclination for impulsive, arbitrary judgements the likes his opponents claim in regards the incident with Jaarih.
The Quran reforms society in matters of preservation of sexual morality in the most intricate of ways, not only through issuing threats of sanctions and punishments. Sura nur, the sura of chastity, begins with stipulating the punishment of adulterers, then paves the ground for a sound marriage, speaks of modest clothing for both men and women, prohibiting lecherous staring, warns against slander, ending with children's taking permission at the time of entering parents’ room, so as to preserve them too from being exposed to inappropriate situations. Even immature children are taught not to enter the parents’ room without permission at least at three special times (before morning ritual prayer, after night prayer, and at noon time when parents are taking rest).
The principle of not sitting in judgement of other people's hidden motives the moment they declare their faith or good intentions is again reflected in Nuh's answer to the unbelievers. They questioned his followers' motives because of their past behaviour, but he answered that he is not concerned with their past and they will only have to answer to God when they meet Him. Only then their true worth will be established 11:31,26:111-5. This principle extends to the followers of any system that leads them to
6:52"call upon their nurturing Lord in the morning and the evening, they seek His face".
Muslims should not to be repulsed by such people whose beliefs may not fully answer to the demands of the Quran. Rather they should provide help, explanation and clarifications. Ultimately,
"neither are you answerable for any reckoning of theirs, nor are they answerable for any reckoning of yours, so that you should drive them away and thus be of the unjust".
Similarly a woman who deserts her husband for the sole sake of her new faith, not for any worldly issues, and solemnly declares her Islam, then, in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, this must constitue enough proof of her truthfulness, and she must be integrated within the community. This is because God alone is fully aware of the reality of the hearts
60:10"examine them; Allah knows best their faith".
Wisdom and spiritual awareness are not the monopoly of the elite, and neither is social status a criteria of truth. The Quran demonstrates this point as it quotes the chiefs and the elders of the community who comforted themselves in their opposition to the Quran by arguing that had there been any truth to it, they, as the most eminent and cultivated members of society would have been in the forefront to accept it. Yet only the common people, ie of lesser wisdom and intelligence have adopted it 46:11.
Consequently a society may judge only by external evidence, which comprises a person's words and deeds for only Allah knows what is in the hearts of men 3:29,29:10-11. These hidden thoughts will be inevitably brought to light 47:29, but in the meantime none can perceive the disease of another person's heart except when it surfaces through his social affinities 58:22 or his behavior
47:30"And if We please We would have made you know them so that you would certainly have recognized them by their marks and most certainly you can recognize them by the intent of (their) speech"
and even if one succeeds in hiding his disbelief in this world or seems to meet the standards of righteousness, it does not mean in any way that such a one will succeed in escaping justice in the Hereafter 9:105.
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