FAITH AND HUMAN BEHAVIOUR

conscious of the presence of God between him and the other person. The other person may be rich or poor, weak or strong, but he will always treat him with justice, for he is conscious of the fact that God will take him to task for any shortcoming on his part. This consciousness will make him fully alert to the fact that he must take every step in this world with great forethought of its consequences. According to Islamic belief, everything in this world is designed as a test for human beings. Even social dealings are meant to serve the purpose of divine trial. Any dealings, pleasant or unpleasant, favourable or unfavourable, are always a test paper for the participants. This situation has been created because God wants to test individuals on their behaviour towards others. In Islam, relations in social life are based on total justice. According to Islamic teachings, man must—in all possible situations in life—adhere to justice, be the outcome favourable or unfavourable, beneficial or detrimental. Whatever the issue, he has to observe the principles of justice. This is the true basis of social ethics as far as Islam is concerned. This belief is extremely important. It gives man the necessary courage to do good deeds. He then rises above the mere expectation of reward from his fellow human beings as the upshot of his dealings with them. He has the conviction that God is constantly watching him and that He will reward him for his virtuous deeds, whether or not society itself sets any value on his deeds. The just man leads a principled life without expecting any return from others. Virtue does not consist in whether you face towards the East or the West; virtue means believing in God, the Last Day, the angels, the Book and the prophets; the virtuous are those who, despite their love for it, give away their wealth to their relatives and to orphans and the very poor, and to travellers and those who ask (for charity), and to set slaves free, and who attend to their prayers and pay the alms, and who keep their pledges when they make them, and show patience in hardship and adversity, and in times of distress. Such are the true believers; and such are the God-fearing. (QURAN 2: 177) Man needs to be clothed, but not just externally. He needs inner raiment too: that of piety, fear of God, acceptance of truth, setting the same standard for oneself as for others, regarding oneself as God’s servant, remaining modest and humble, concentrating on the thoughts of the Hereafter instead of being astray in the world. When an individual adopts all these values, it is like a splendid accoutrement of his inner existence, and when he adopts an attitude opposite to this, he divests his inner existence of its entire moral apparel. o