A Sense of Accountability

Spirituality makes you a creative thinker: without creativity, man is little better than a stone statue.

Character Assassination

During the Prophet’s time, there were certain people in Madinah who wanted to defame a member of the Prophet’s family. It was a case of character assassination. At that juncture some verses were revealed in the Quran, which appear in the chapter Al-Nur (Light). The translation of one of these verses is quoted below:

According to Islamic teachings, character assassination is a heinous crime. An act of this kind is against humanity, against ethical values, and against Quranic teachings. Those guilty of any ethical crime of this nature will be severely punished by God Almighty.

If you criticize someone on the basis of undeniable facts which stand up to objective scrutiny, you are acting lawfully and are exercising your moral rights as set forth in the divine book. If your intention is good, your action will be treated as promoting reform. Moreover, you will receive reward from God Almighty.

But if you are abusing someone, or using unethical or immoral language without any evidence to support what you say, then you are committing a crime. The use of abusive language against anyone, which has no factual base, is an act of character assassination. No one has the right to use such language. Criticism based on facts is constructive, but making allegations without any basis in fact is the worst kind of crime.

In this regard, two courses are open to all: if an individual has an accusation to make against anyone and he has undeniable proof in support of what he has to say, then he is allowed to express his views. If, on the other hand, he has an adverse opinion about anyone, but has no evidence to support his negative remarks, then he has to remain silent. No one is allowed to make damaging remarks against anyone if he cannot produce irrefutable proofs of the truth of his statement.