It is a common observation that if there is an outburst of any lethal disease in any society, responsible & knowledgeable persons of that society admonish people about the causes & potential risks of the same diseases & advice them of what they should and shouldn’t do.Those who pay heed to such admonitions & advices remain relatively safe & vice versa. Moral degradation is not less than a complex and grave disease with scourging deep-rooted consequences. It refers to the process of declining from a higher to a lower level of morality due to overwhelmed greed, selfishness, lustfulness, addiction to intoxicants, gambling, meanness, rage and fury & various such other traits that reduce people to the lowest ebb of degradation. It starts slowly with seemingly harmless choices by some individuals but then it spreads like an epidemic destroying individuals, families, societies & nations alike from within. Going nowhere, talking about our vale,our society is at the peak of moral plight, unfortunately moral decay & Kashmir have become analogous terms nowadays. Every day we would come across the news with regards to the rising incidence of misbehaviour, rampant use of drug addiction, rising rate of suicides, traumatic events of domestic violence, scandals related to immorality & intolerance among our youth. Such incidents that have kept occurring in the past few months in the muslim majority, which is known as the Vale of saints (peer vare) represent the levels of how moral & ethical bankruptcy has engulfed us. It is not the case only with any particular sect but this is our collective failure as a society. Moral decay on overall paradigms is a very serious concern that should be fought before it destroys entire fabric of our society. If we don’t act as wise and responsible, the time is not far when our society will descend into uncouthness & animalism. So there is a need of moral principles & values to be imparted among children & youth in particular to make them a better and responsible citizen. It is moral conduct which is key to hold harmony & peace in society.
We extremely need to guide ourselves and our children to the education of Quran as mentioned above. The Quran is the sole resources that cleanse the insides & help to get rid of the pollutants like jealousy, selfishness, greed, apathy etc that seal the heart & are the root causes of moral degradation. Since its revelation till the end of this world this book has an ability to guide all future generations with its code of ethics for humanity.
We can dream of a kind & honest society only if we nurture moral values & keep our ethos. But all this is mostly possible only, when we put our efforts into equipping the education of Quran among youngsters specially in their adolescence age, as this age is considered age of stress and strain, and can bring an impact in ones behaviour. It is the duty of parents to help their children to learn Quran, so that their foundation becomes strong upon which they grow to become better muslims. The Quran is a book that gives a great deal of information & motivates its readers to do better, strongly proscribes moral degradation like bad behaviour, consuming alcohol, drugs, selfish habits like sexual indecency & adultery, gambling, jealousy, backbiting, arrogance and anger. The Quran purports to preclude moral degradation by:-
(A)Directly disallowing shameless acts and evil deeds.”Verily, Allah forbids from indecency, evil deeds & transgression. He admonishes you, so that perhaps you may take heed”(16:90).The Arabic word Fahsha(Indecency) applies to all those things that are immodest or obscene or nasty or vulgar, not fit to be seen or heard, e.g; adultery, fornications, theft, robbery, drinking, gambling, abusive language and the like(Tafheem ul Quran).Allah u tala prohibits these vices as they ruin individuals and society as a whole. This is the most comprehensive verse of the holy Quran, if acted upon the same; It turns to be an elixir for the perfect prosperity of man’s individual & collective life.
(B)Presenting the holy prophet(saas) as a model of moral excellence;”And you(saas) are surely on exalted quality of character”(68:04).The best description of the holy prophet(saas) has been given by Aishah(rz) in her statement: Kana khuluqu-hul-Quran: the Quran was his character(Abu dawood).This means that the prophet(SAW) had not merely presented the teaching of the Quran before the world but also given his practical demonstration by his personal example. Whatever was enjoined in the Quran was acted upon practically by himself in the first instance. Whatever was forbidden in it was shunned and avoided by himself most of all.
(C) Differentiating right from wrong;”And He sent down the Furqan (criterion of right & wrong)”(3:4).which clearly explicates distinction between falsehood, misguidance and deviation on one hand & truth, guidance and piety on the other hand.
(D)Lastly, warning about the risks & dangers of moral degradation and providing guidance (do’s & don’ts) on avoiding those risks.For example about gambling & wine, the Quran says;”The shaitan wants nothing but to plant enmity and malice between you through wine and gambling, and to prevent you from remembrance of Allah and from the salah. Would you then abstain?” (05:91). Likewise about adultery it comments,” and don’t go near adultery, it is truly a shameful deed & an evil way”(17:32).Same is the case with all other evil deeds that lead to moral decay. To conclude, in order to save our society from the anathema of moral decay, we extremely need to guide ourselves and our children to the education of Quran as mentioned above. The Quran is the sole resources that cleanse the insides & help to get rid of the pollutants like jealousy, selfishness, greed, apathy etc that seal the heart & are the root causes of moral degradation. Since its revelation till the end of this world this book has an ability to guide all future generations with its code of ethics for humanity. May Allah bless us to follow the teachings of Quran & hadith, Ameen!
(The author is a student of Economics at Kashmir University. The views, opinions, facts, assumptions, presumptions and conclusions expressed in this article are those of the author and aren’t necessarily in accord with the views of “Kashmir Horizon”.)
[email protected]
