THE ISLAMIC WAY OF LIFE — Worshipping God and Doing Good to Man

and mentally in a healthy atmosphere and under the supervision of loving and concerned parents. This training at home helps children enter society equipped with a deep sense of responsibility, respect for human values and other qualities, such as sincerity, which are essential for the better construction and development of any social system. A society composed of such homes or training units where these values are embodied will never suffer from the chaos and destructive instabilities from which modern societies are suffering nowadays. To attain inner peace and real happiness, one has to remain content with what one has been able to earn independently and lawfully. Guidelines for a healthy, happy and meaningful marital life, along with the rights and duties of parents and other members of the family, occupy considerable space in both the Quran and Hadith. A few references in this regard are given below: 1. And your Lord has commanded that you should worship none but Him, and show goodness to your parents. If either or both of them attain old age with you, show them no sign of impatience and do not rebuke them, but always speak gently to them and treat them with humility and tenderness and say: 'O my Lord! have mercy on them as they raised me up when I was little' (THE QURAN 17: 23-24). 2. No parents have ever given to their children any gift better than a good moral education (Al-Adab al-Mufrad). 3. Live with them (spouses) in accordance with what is fair and kind; if you dislike them, it may be that you dislike something which God might make a source of abundant good for you (THE QURAN 4: 19). Legitimate Livelihood Many social evils can be directly attributed to some members of society having an insufficient means of livelihood or others having an excess of wealth. Islam urges that one should earn one's livelihood by all possible but lawful means, so that one's essential needs are properly met and one does not remain dependent on others. According to the Quran and Hadith, traits like greed and the desire for more, niggardliness, holding money back to centralize it in one or a few hands, are the main roots of criminal and destructive tendencies in human society. That is why