Ethics of Islam

natures would not change, the religions communicated by
prophets would be futile and unnecessary. The training and
punishment methods established unanimously by scholars would
be absurd. All scholars taught knowledge and manners to their
children and it has always been known that education and
training provided useful results. For these reasons, it is as
obvious as the shining sun that human nature is changeable.
However, so deeply ingrained are some habits, –in fact, some of
them have become all but an essential ingredient of the soul–,
that it is an extremely difficult task to change or eliminate them.
Those habits are mostly seen on ignorant and wicked people.
Changing them requires riyâzat and very adamant mujâhada.
Riyâzat means resistance against the harmful and iniquitous
desires of the nafs, and mujâhada means steadfastness in the
useful and graceful behaviour unpleasant to the nafs. Ignorant
and idiotic people adduce the stability of ingrained traits of
character as support for their reluctance to carry on riyâzat and
mujâhada against the nafs, thus trying to rationalize their sloth in
ridding themselves of vices. If we accept their argument and let
everybody follow desires (hawâ) of their nafs and do not punish
the guilty, humanity will be pushed toward iniquities. As a
matter of fact, Allâhu ta’âlâ out of compassion for His human
creatures, sent prophets to train people and teach them good and
evil natures. He chose His beloved Messenger, Muhammad
‘alaihis-salâm’, as the greatest of all the teachers. He replaced all
the previous divine laws with his divine law (Sharî’at, religion),
i.e., “Sharî’at al-Muhammad.” His religion became the final
religion. Thus, his shining religion included all the goodnesses
and methods of training. Those who have wisdom and can
distinguish good from evil should read the books of ethics which
are derived from this religion and learn it. They should plan their
business accordingly so that they may attain comfort, peace of
mind, happiness and salvation in this world and the next and
contribute to the order of family and social life. This is the most
important duty of a human being. Everyone should read and
learn this book, which we have entitled Ethics of Islam
attentively because, with the help of Allâhu ta’âlâ, we have
collected the information which will be helpful in the
achievement of this ultimate goal.
THIRD STAGE: We had divided “Ethics of Islam” into three
parts. In order to understand them clearly, we will provide
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