Quranic Wisdom

but must be adhered to even by relatives and friends. These principles are common and universal. There is no exception to them whatsoever. The spirit of these principles is that the members of society should be each other’s well-wishers. They should try to avoid creating problems for others. Everyone should, from others’ point of view, be predictable in character. All members of society must refrain from ill-feeling towards their fellow men. Verify and then Accept M isunderstanding is a common phenomenon of social life. People tend to believe everything that is reported to them without scrutiny. And it is a common experience for reporters always to report things selectively or in a partial manner. It is selective reporting or partial reporting that creates problems. Sometimes people fall into grave misunderstanding and the result is disastrous. Chapter Al-Hujurat (The Apartments) of the Quran deals with this problem. It gives a clear direction in this regard. The translation of the relevant Quranic verse is as follows: Believers, if an evil-doer brings you news, ascertain the correctness of the report fully, lest you unwittingly harm others, and then regret what you have done. (49:6) There is a background to this Quranic verse. When the Prophet of Islam established a state in Arabia making Madinah its capital, he sent one of his companions, Walid ibn Uqba, as a collector, to a tribe called the Banu al-Mustaliq. When Walid reached the tribal area, he saw that a crowd had gathered outside the town. He feared, due to some preoccupation, that the tribe wanted to kill him or beat him. After seeing this, Walid returned