Seerat Shahina
10-11-2020
Honesty is the greatest moral virtue. Honesty helps in developing good attributes like, truthfulness, sincerity, keeping promises, making fair and objective judgments and decisions,and moral integrity.Honesty promotes authenticity, removes fear from the heart. It makes a person courageous confident, strengthens and improves relationships between people. Speaking truth is a sign of bravery and peace of mind. An honest person enjoys enormous respect and status in society.
True Islam is based upon honesty and justice, and is intolerant of dishonesty in all its various forms. Islam commands the Muslims to be honest to oneself, and to others. A Muslim is ordered by Allah to be honest in his words and deeds, in private and public.
Honesty means saying and acting truthfully in all times, matters, and conditions. Being honest and truthful to oneself is implies obeying Allah’s law i.e. saying the truth and being honest in all dealings including the realm of trade and business, education, learning, communication, marriage, and so on. Honesty in Islam consolidates the notions of truthfulness and dependability, and it lives in all human words, thoughts, relations, and actions.
“O you who have believed fear Allah and be with those who are true.”
(Chapter 9 verse119)
Undoubtedly, no one can be more truthful and honest than the Messenger of Allah. Muhammad (peace be upon him) who proved by his living example that he was the most truthful and honest person of his age. Everyone was impressed by his honesty and truthfulness. He was a poor orphan, who had started trading with his uncle, but in a very short time, owing to his honest and fair dealings with all people, he became well-known and respected person. He was known as As-Sadiq (the Truthful) and Al-Amin (the Faithful). Every Meccan, rich or poor called him by these names.
Muslims are primarily encouraged to practice sincerity in their relationship with God, as well as to be honest in relationships with one another. Sincerity before God is associated with faithfulness in Islam.
Honesty means objectivity in judgment, objectivity in assessment, and objectivity in decisions of all types. Honesty implies the right selection of people and the right promotion of personnel, i.e., selection by merit and promotion by merit, not by temper or favoritism or personal relationships. Muslims should be very particular about their trust and about other people’s rights.
“Those who faithfully observe their trusts and their covenants.”
24:8
“Allah doth command you to render back your trust, to those to whom they are due.” 4:58
Corruption is morally wrong, which reflects dishonesty or foulness. Starting from the domestic level to the state level, people are engaged in several foul activities.At societal level, it has been observed that some employees leave before closing timings because they have their own priorities to catch up with. Academic dishonesty in institution is an increasing issue among students around the globe,companies using misleading data on their products or politicians being incapable of telling the whole truth of a situation. Perhaps we’re afraid that what we say will hurt humanity, , and possibly even cost us in ourjobs, if we speak about the dishonesty that exists within our workplace and families.
Fraud not only includes giving short measure or short weight, but it covers much more than that. It is the spirit of injustice that it is condemned-giving too little and asking too much. This may be rampant in commercial dealings. Plato and Aristotle define justice as the virtue which gives everyone his due. From this point of view justice becomes the master virtue.
“And O my people, Give full measure and weight in justice and reduce not the things that are due to the people, and do not commit mischief in the land, causing corruption.”
12: 84 & 85.
“Give full measure and cause no loss to others” And weigh with the true and straight balance.” 26: 181, 182
It is also obligatory for us to be honest in making and keeping promises, being punctual and not wasting time. Punctuality at work or at an agreed meeting is part of being honest with own selves and other people. Honesty means you don't say things about people that aren't true i.e.make up rumors about someone or share rumors someone else has made up.
Being honest, means you admit to your actions, even if you will get in trouble. You are not being honest if you deny you did something wrong when you really did it.You are not being honest if you say something happened one way when it really happened another way.Being dishonest is a sin in all the religions; however, people practice it for their short time benefits and selfishness. They never become morally strong and their life becomes miserable.
Honesty is an essential requirement in modern time. It is one of the best habits which encourages and makes capable enough to solve and handle difficult situations in life. We should have good intentions towards everyone and everything, to Allah and to all of his creatures. Sincerity, honesty, and goodwill are essential virtues in Islamic teachings. They must guide our behavior at every level with Allah, with people, and within our own selves. Moral ethics of a person is known through honesty. In a society, if all the people seriously practice honesty in all matters of life, then society will become an ideal society and free of all evils.